On this day, 29 January 1972: Tiger and Jag
Cover artwork: Yvonne Hutton
On this day, 29 January 1972 … four years before he was given his own comic, Roy Race was thrilling young football comic readers up and down the comic in the pages of Tiger. In fact, he had been doing just that since 1954 but I’ve been keen to feature one of these examples from the early 1970s because of the fantastic covers from that time featuring Roy of the Rovers by artist Yvonne Hutton. Yvonne was one of the leading football artists. It seems to me that it required quite a gift to be able to render the dynamism, athleticism and atmosphere of football in a way that provided both exciting narrative and realism, and Yvonne was one of the few who achieved this consistently. She’s one of the greats, and I am sad to learn that she died in a car accident in 1991 at just the age of 50.
This particular cover features not Roy but Rovers’ number 4 Geoff Giles, who was going through a bit of a hot-headed period at this time. Elsewhere in the comic there was further footy action with the nepotistic Football Family Robinson. Wrestler Johnny Cougar faced the enormous Mighty-Man in the ring, Martin’s Marvellous Mini’s participation in a round-the-world race led to peril in Burma and Skid Solo was making new friends.
Roy of the Rovers: Tom Tully (writer), Yvonne Hutton (artist)
The Tigers: Ron Turner (artist)
Johnny Cougar: Barrie Tomlinson (writer), Sandy James (artist)
The Barbed-wire XI: James Bleach (artist)
Football Family Robinson: Fred Baker (writer), John Gillatt (artist)
Martin’s Marvellous Mini: Fred Baker (writer), David Sque (artist)
Skid Solo: Fred Baker (writer), John Vernon (artist)
Speed’s Sportshow: creators unknown
