Ron Turner (1922 to 1998) was a British comics writer, artist and letterer who entered the industry in 1936 at the age of 14, as an apprentice at publishers Odhams. By 1938 he was providing illustrations for the magazine The Modern Wonder, but his career was temporarily interrupted by World War II when he was required to join the army. He returned to illustration in the late 1940s, drawing comic strips for Scion's Big series about the crew of The Atomic Mole. He returned to Odhams to draw numerous covers for their new line of paperback fiction but left to go freelance in 1953, having found himself in demand. He convinced Tit-Bits to let him create Tit-Bits Science Fiction Comics, a 64 page monthly, but the workload was far heavier than he had anticipated even with assists from other artists, and the title was discontinued after seven issues (the last of which was only published in a French edition). Around this time, he also began drawing Space Ace for Lone Star comic, and Rick Random for Super Detective Library, a strip he stayed on for five years. He almost left comics in the early 1960s for other forms of illustration, but in 1965 began working for TV Century 21 on a strip based on Gerry Anderson's Stingray, the first of several Anderson strips he would illustrate for the title over the next few years (including Thunderbirds, Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet). He also drew Star Trek, amongst other strips, for the Joe 90 Top Secret Annual 1969, and replaced original series artist Richard Jennings on the long running strip The Daleks, which he remained on until its conclusion in 1967. For Fleetway, he later worked on The Robot Builders for Tiger, before moving on to work on titles including Whizzer and Chips, Cor!! (on Super Spook), more Star Trek for TV21, and Thunderbirds for the 1972 Thunderbirds Annual and the 1973 Countdown Annual. He would later draw several Judge Dredd strips, Tharg's Future Shocks and a revival of Rick Random, all for for 2000AD (though his style was not thought right for Dredd by the editors), and various strips for Action and Battle Picture Weekly. In the 1980s he drew Action Force for Battle, as well as Journey to the Stars for the short lived title Speed. Turner moved on to other titles such as Battle Picture Library and War Picture Library but by 1984 both titles had folded. Turner announced that he was retiring at that time, but later drew some material for independent small press titles, and also began drawing book cover illustrations again, as well as penciling a new six part Daleks strip for Doctor Who Magazine. He died in 1998 after suffering a stroke and a heart attack.[2]
Bibliography[]
2000AD work[]
- Judge Dredd
- Tharg's Future-Shocks
- Rick Random
Associated work[]
- The Amstor Computer - Eagle
- Rick Random - Super Detective Library
Other work[]
- Tit-Bits Science Fiction Comix
- Giants of the Second World (1953)
- Terror of Titan (1953)
- Lone Star
- Space Ace
- Amalgamated Press
- Whizzer & Chips
- The Space Accident (1969)
- Wonder Car (1969)
- Spinball
- Dan Dare (1985)