Captain biplane

Captain Biplane. Art or Comic Strip?

Captain Biplane is one of the most enigmatic creations of artists of the 1960s. It was a comic strip, never published, but worked on for twelve years from the mid-sixties, and finally exhibited in art galleries [e.g. Southwold Gallery] in East Anglia UK. [The work was exhibited in its entirety as well as the artists model constructions in 1977 and 1978 at Essex University UK] and once described by a reviewer as 'A cross between Roy Lichtenstein and The Beano.' It was the creation of Bib Edwards, who went on to illustrate the 'Dodo' children's books.

The plot is a meandering battle between a First-world-war flying ace improbably battling a range of fantastic alien creatures flying space-ships easily identifiable as household objects such as Vacuum cleaners, soap bottles, and mowing machines. It is in full colour and breathtaking in their imagination and scope.

The Author

Bib Edwards was a pupil of the artist John Addyman, who Bib met whilst working for the gas board in the late 1950s. They met at Clacton's Jazz Club (Essex UK). [Interviews by Andrew Clarke with Bib Edwards Summer 2007 ] Bib then worked as a professional artist for many years. Bib's most renowned work was in the East Anglian Landscape school based on the work of John Nash (artist), Addyman and, of course, Cedric Morris and the Benton End school. However, for twelve years, from 1965 to 1977, [personally witnessed!] Bib laboured on a vast project of 74 large pictures, in a style inspired by 1950s comics such as the Dandy, Beano and, above all, Captain 3D. However, Bib himself gives Dan Dare as his inspiration and Edgar Rice Burroughs as his chief influence. [Telephone interview with Bib Edwards Summer 2007 by Andrew Clarke 28 Sep 2007]

Attempts to publish in Print form

Bib tried for years to get the canon of work published but the colour printing process of the time could not economically reproduce the work and eventually much of the work was sold off individually as works of art and are in many private collections around the world. Bib moved into more lucrative book-illustration work before becoming an Art Master at a local independent school. He is now retired and living quietly in Bildeston, Suffolk.

All was not lost with Captain Biplane, as Bib worked on redrawing the sections of the work that he'd sold off, in the hope that, someday, the work would be seen in its entirety. It now is reconstructed and Bib occasionally gives slideshow of the work. Sadly the full comic 'Captain Biplane', has never been printed as a book and may be unpublishable due to the large size of the individual plates. [this is the account given by Bib in Summer 2007] However, there are moves afoot by long-term fans of the work to publish the comic strip in all its 74 pages as a website. [Simple Talk Publishing, Cambridge]

References

Bibliography

As Dead as a Dodo Worlds Work.

The Dodo is a solitary bird Worlds Work

Mad Dan Dodo in Outer Space Worlds Work

= External links =