The Origin of the Lion Rock WWII artworks

[kresge1]

German paratrooper

[kresge1]

German mountain trooper

[kresge1]

Chinese guerrilla

[Agent4125]

German mountain trooper

Ah, I always feel nostalgic when seeing a GESTERN WAR'S box ...

Here are more versions of the Mountain Trooper artwork:



The French boxart (left) is nearly identical to the German version, but if you look closely there's a small swastika on the soldiers cap.
It had been removed from the German version, for legal reasons.

On the Italian box (right) there is a very different version, in dark blue colors. The insignia on the cap is completely different.

The book "The Art of War" includes a beautiful double page reprint of (part of) the original art:



The artwork was done by Graham Coton for Battle Picture Library #697 (March 1973).

[Agent4125]

And the Chinese Guerilla again, but different Lion Rock box (Italian box) and different Fleetway comic (Battle Picture Library #493):



The artist, once again, was Graham Coton. Battle #493 was released in October 1970.

[kresge1]

I like the subtle differences with the different box issues

[kresge1]

That double art page of the German mountain trooper is amazing too

[Wee67]

Still can't get over tis great detective work and treasure trove of background info!

[kresge1]

Bump
Just because

[Agent4125]

Yeah, it's time for an update. But there's not much to report, unfortunately.

I continued my search for the last few artworks (US Frogman, US Marine and Russian Officer) but so far I didn't find any comic or magazine.
I even contacted a few people that I thought might recognize them:
I e-mailed Steve Holland, who seems to be an expert for old British comics, and asked if he had seen those paintings.
I also asked 3 sellers that have a lot of old Fleetway comics for sale, if they recognized any of them.
But no one could place them.

It's starting to feel like searching the needle in the haystack, ... when you don't know if there is a needle .
Maybe a few artworks were done exclusively for Mego/LR ? Who knows.

I did notice one thing: In the lower right on the Marine artwork (the "Iwo Jima" painting) there seems to be a name.
I think it's "COTON". So this would be another artwork by Graham Coton.
But I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just seeing things?



Also did a few more searches for an image of the US paratrooper booklet or box.
But the only thing I found was this very small image from an auction house in Arizona.
It seems they sold several loose figures with booklets, back in January.
Unfortunately, the image doesn't show the cover art on the booklet.

[Agent4125]

The research continues...

I recently contacted Oliver Frey, the artist who created the "Italian Partisan" painting.
He was working for Fleetway in the mid 70s, so I thought he might know something
about the deal between Mego and Fleetway. But unfortunately he never heard of Mego before.

Here is part of what he wrote me:
"...Well, the things one learns!
When I painted covers for Fleetway, the deal was that they made a one-off payment for all rights.
So I never heard about any other deals they made with anyone else, and got no extra payments.
...
Truth is I had never heard of Mego Corporation until your query.
..."

[sprytel]

I apologize if I've said this before... but this has been one of my all-time favorite threads.

Thanks for reaching out to the artist. You uncovered way more than I ever thought would be possible, especially all these years later.

[Agent4125]

Now, this a really awesome piece :



It's the original "British Commando" painting.
It was created by Picchioni Franco for Battle Picture Library #331 (published in January 1968).



A size comparison (my childhood figure, a Fleetway comic, a Mego box (French release) and the original art board):



The size of the painting is 29.5 x 38.5 cm (11.61 x 15.16 inch). The art board size is 36.5 x 50.5 cm (14.37 x 19.88 inch).

One interesting detail: All the copies of this artwork that I have seen don't show a few centimeters of its right side.
So the signature of the artist was always missing, as well as the silhouette of one of the soldiers in the background.

Now here is that soldier in the background that was missing :

[Agent4125]

Today I stumbled upon this cover of a magazine named stag (which I never heard of before).
I thought: "Wait, this looks somewhat familiar!".



That artwork looks very much like the cover art for Fleetways Front Line #8,
which later was changed into the art for the Fighting Seabee:



The magazine is from July 1959.
According to some auction listing, the artist for the magazine cover was Mort Künstler.

[kresge1]

Bump
Because it deserves it and I have nothing new to add