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In August
1981, Gerald Lip, the Express strip editor, asked John to return to
draw new James Bond strips for
the
Daily Star (the last original
James Bond newspaper strips to appear), which he did for three
years.
John
eventually retired due to ill-health and no longer cartooned, and
also due to health reasons sadly had to give up playing the violin,
Punch & Judy puppeteering, and his occasional art lectures. |
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I
first met John McLusky in 1981 during my research for the first complete
history of the illustrated James Bond for a feature in 007 MAGAZINE. The
last time I visited John in his artist’s studio during the Nineties (where
he also lived by that time), he painstakingly prepared me a delightful
meal, over which we shared a bottle of wine and chatted about the state of
the world in general and his memories of the stress and pressure of
producing a James Bond strip six-days-a-week every week for years at a
stretch. Although it was something that paid regularly and put quality
food on the table, it was also something that brought strain into his
personal life.
John McLusky was also a watercolour artist
of considerable talent, I remember some of his impressive work graced the
walls of his studio home, many of which would have looked equally at home
in the Royal Academy. During his retirement he took up an extensive
programme of reading, which he said was to fill in all the knowledge gaps
due to the many years of slaving over a drawing board.
John was also great
character and communicator, and someone who, together with his work, I
will always fondly remember. With his passing yet another important link
in the evolution of the James Bond character has passed into history,
however, his work lives on courtesy of Titan Books in their excellent
compilation albums of his Daily Express James Bond strip cartoon work, and
in the pages of 007 MAGAZINE.
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John at the drawing board illustrating The
Paradise Plot serialized in The Daily Star in 1981-82 |
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