British Comics For Boys (and girls)
This Cartoon Museum (British cartoon & comic art from the 18th century to the present day), has the potential to be a great resource, not just for cartoons, but for British comics of this era, and importantly as a resource to show our history.
Unfortunately the museum is hidden away in a back street, in rented premises, and it receives no financial support from government both national or local.
The exhibition at the time of my visit in November 2016, was on that great British institution ‘Punch’. Unfortunately I would guess due to staffing limitations, the exhibition has not been noted, other than a banner on the Homepage on their website at the time of writing this article. To do the showing justice you would have need to spend a few hours, both at looking at the drawings and also in attempting to reflect back on the history at that time.
Also there was little at the time I visited that you might want to buy to remember the Punch exhibition.
I am of an era when my weekly stable of comics were the Rover & Wizard, The victor, The Hornet, The Hotspur – not for me the American Marvel(s), I preferred homegrown characters like:
Wilson the Wonder Athlete
Wolf of Kabul
Alf Tupper – The Rough of the track
I Flew with Braddock
And for me the thing I really loved, was that in general the Rover &Wizard was mainly words, with just one introductory picture (or at least that is how I remember it).
So of course I asked if they had any of these comics in museum’s collection, and unfortunately was told no. Though they are a museum dedicated to British cartoons and comics, they have not been in a position to obtain any for their collection.
OK I can accept that getting items like these may be difficult, but at the very least you would have thought they would have links to suitable websites to spark interest and show that the museum cared. Instead all I have found is one short paragraph mention of these comics (The British Comic: 1884 –)
The Cartoon Museum is located at 35 Little Russell Street, London WC1 2HH
Always check to see if they are open, usually Tue-Sun, by ringing on 020 7580 8155
Further reading: