"Koko the Pup", The Magic Comic
Edgar Henry (Harry) Banger (rhymes with "danger") was born on 27 February 1897 in Norwich. After leaving school he had sports cartoons published in the Eastern Daily Press, and later began to work freelance for the Amalgamated Press, beginning in 1926 with "Steve Sticket" in Butterfly, "Enoch Hard" in Comic Cuts, and "Curly Crusoe" in Illustrated Chips. He worked for the AP for the rest of the 20s and most of the 30s, drawing for The Monster Comic, Crackers, Funny Wonder and Jolly, before moving to DC Thomson, where he drew "Koko the Pup" on the cover of The Magic Comic in 1939-41. From 1940 he worked for Gerald Swan's comics, where he signed his work "Bang", and after the war, for Paget Publications, Martin & Reid and Target Publications until the mid-50s. One of a small group of comic artists based in Norwich, along with Don Newhouse, Roy Wilson and Louis Briault, he died in 1968.
References[]
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, pp. 7-8
