John Michael Butterworth was born in Nottingham on 10 January 1924. He trained as an artist and Camberwell College of Art, and for a time taught drawing at Nottingham College of Art and worked as a salesman, before submitting work the Amalgamated Press. His art samples were turned down, but his scripts were accepted. He started out on western strips like Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill, and he wrote many historical series for The Comet, Sun and Thriller Picture Library, including the adventures of Napoleonic soldier Max Bravo and World War II pilot Battler Britton. He also edited comics, including Playhour and Valentine, and the teenage girls' magazine Honey. In 1965 he created The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire for Ranger, which continued in Look and Learn after Ranger folded. His first novel, The Soundless Scream, was published in 1967, and he published many novels after that, including gothic romance novels under the name Carola Salisbury. He also wrote Vampirella for Warren in the USA. His wife, Jenny Butterworth, was also a comics writer. He died on 4 October 1986.
References[]
- Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, p. 32