Help support the Mego Museum
Help support the Mego Museum

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Origin of the Lion Rock WWII artworks

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Agent4125
    Museum Super Collector
    • Aug 23, 2007
    • 182

    The Origin of the Lion Rock WWII artworks

    The Origin of the Lion Rock WWII artworks

    Back in 1977 when I was playing with the GESTERN WAR'S figures
    one thing that I found fascinating were the artworks on the back of the boxes.
    There were these colorful, exciting (for a 9 year old, at least :-) paintings of battle scenes.
    And each of the 32 figures came with an individual box artwork!

    I recently asked myself: Who created these artworks? Where did they come from?
    So I did some research. Here is what I found.

    The starting point for my research was the painting on the Africa Corps box.
    There is a small white text in it: "COTON". I thought: Could that be the name of the artist?



    A google search revealed the name of Graham Coton, a British artist living from 1926 to 2003.
    The google image search found several paintings by him, painted in that style. It seemed, I was on the right track.

    The name Coton can also be found in the artworks for the Japanese Soldier and the German Mountain Trooper.
    But there were other names, too:

    "FREY" on the artwork for the Italian Partisan:



    That could be the signature of Oliver Frey, born in Switzerland in 1948.
    (please note that the painting is mirrored - at least on the French release box)

    And "Fernandez" on the artwork for the Scottish Guard box:



    That could be the signature of Fernando Fernandez, living from 1940 to 2010.

    Further searches on google and amazon lead to two books, about cover artworks for old British comic books
    that were published during the 60s and 70s. And that is what these painting were originally created for!

    Lets take a look inside the first of the books. It's called "Aarrgghh!! It's War".
    On page 54 we find the artwork from the Japanese Officer:



    According to the book, that painting was done by Jordi Penalva for a comic cover in 1963
    (13 years before the Lion Rock line was produced!)

    On page 68 we find the artwork for the US Officer:



    It was created by Alessandro Biffignandi, for a comic book that was released in 1967.

    If you compare the US officer artwork to that on the Lion Rock box you will notice that
    on the box the helmet doesn't have the two stars on it. Instead there is a roman II.
    I found several examples where the artworks seemed to have been modified for use on the Lion Rock boxes.
    I can post more examples, if there is enough interest in this topic… ;-)

    I was curious what these comics look like in person, so I bought four of them on eBay.
    They are from the "War Picture Library" series.
    Here is a comparison shot of the Desert Rat box (French version) and one of the books:



    The cover artwork for the Desert Rat can be found in the second book that I found, which is called "The Art of War".
    Page 157 tells us that the artwork was created by Graham Coton (there he is again!) in 1970.

    The comic story itself is drawn in black and white and these books have around 60 pages.

    Did anyone here (who grew up in Great Britain) read some of those comics?
    Last edited by Agent4125; Jul 14, '17, 9:54 AM.
  • boss
    Talkative Member
    • Jun 18, 2003
    • 7204

    #2
    Great detective work. It's very interesting.
    Fresh, not from concentrate.

    Comment

    • fallensaviour
      Talkative Member
      • Aug 28, 2006
      • 5620

      #3
      I can relate the artwork was a major draw for me as well.
      They reminded me of the covers of the "Victor books for boys".
      Thanks for all your hard work,I know I'm interested in seeing more.
      “When you say “It’s hard”, it actually means “I’m not strong enough to fight for it”. Stop saying its hard. Think positive!”

      Comment

      • kresge1
        Museum_Bozo
        • Jun 20, 2001
        • 5134

        #4
        Awesome job Jens!!
        Just made my favorite Mego line that much more amazing
        Now , on to the hunt
        Looking for Remco Phantom. Mego mailer boxed figures

        Comment

        • palitoy
          live. laugh. lisa needs braces
          • Jun 16, 2001
          • 59204

          #5
          This is fantastic!
          Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

          Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
          http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

          Comment

          • Agent4125
            Museum Super Collector
            • Aug 23, 2007
            • 182

            #6
            Spot the difference:

            Last edited by Agent4125; Jul 14, '17, 9:55 AM.

            Comment

            • Gorn Captain
              Invincible Ironing Man
              • Feb 28, 2008
              • 10549

              #7
              Agent 4125 is a terrific spy. He gets all the answers.
              Very interesting info indeed!
              .
              .
              .
              "When things are at their darkest, it's a brave man that can kick back and party."

              Comment

              • Evel KMego
                Museum Daredevil
                • Apr 26, 2006
                • 1444

                #8
                Wow! Awesome job. I've gotta start picking this line up.

                Comment

                • Agent4125
                  Museum Super Collector
                  • Aug 23, 2007
                  • 182

                  #9
                  The mystery of the Tank Commander artworks:

                  Shown on the left is one of the cover artworks from the British comic books - as shown in "Aarrgghh!! It's War",
                  on the right you see the box artwork for the French Tank Commander (Italian release).


                  Notice how they modified the artwork, adding long sleeves and replacing the beret and headphones by a helmet!

                  But the original artwork had been used, too, it seems.
                  I found the following picture of a Johnny Action booklet for the British Tank Commander:

                  Last edited by Agent4125; Jul 14, '17, 9:56 AM.

                  Comment

                  • hedrap
                    Permanent Member
                    • Feb 10, 2009
                    • 4825

                    #10
                    This is truly fantastic. Great research sleuthing. Major, major props.

                    Comment

                    • Carmelkettle
                      Museum Patron
                      • May 26, 2015
                      • 101

                      #11
                      This is fantastic, great work. I was truly one of those kids that played with the packaging more than the toys, and I was always fascinated by realistic and compelling artwork that drew the viewer into the action. I've often thought there would be interest in selling framed reproductions of box art.

                      Comment

                      • Wee67
                        Museum Correspondent
                        • Apr 2, 2002
                        • 10586

                        #12
                        This is great research. Absolutely impressive. Thanks for sharing as I eat this kind of trivia up!

                        I wonder if Lion Rock commissioned these artist for work done years before or if they paid the comic publisher. I assume it is the latter.
                        WANTED - Solid-Boxed WGSH's, C.8 or better.

                        Comment

                        • kresge1
                          Museum_Bozo
                          • Jun 20, 2001
                          • 5134

                          #13
                          I have been Looking up a lot of auctions for the war and battle picture library and the paintings for these issues are just amazing . There are some differences between the actual covers and the box work covers that are issued on the lion rock boxes . It's actually really interesting to see what they have done
                          Last edited by kresge1; Jun 23, '15, 4:27 PM.
                          Looking for Remco Phantom. Mego mailer boxed figures

                          Comment

                          • kresge1
                            Museum_Bozo
                            • Jun 20, 2001
                            • 5134

                            #14
                            Here is the German luftwaffe pilot, they inverted the image for the lion rock boxes and removed the swastika



                            Last edited by kresge1; Jun 23, '15, 5:49 AM.
                            Looking for Remco Phantom. Mego mailer boxed figures

                            Comment

                            • kresge1
                              Museum_Bozo
                              • Jun 20, 2001
                              • 5134

                              #15
                              Here is the english paratrooper , some omissions and additions



                              Looking for Remco Phantom. Mego mailer boxed figures

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              😀
                              🥰
                              🤢
                              😎
                              😡
                              👍
                              👎