Jack Edward Oliver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jack Edward Oliver (born 19 June 1942) is a British cartoonist. He is more usually known as J Edward Oliver or JEO.

He originally achieved fame in late 1970 with a long running strip in the UK music paper Disc (and Music Echo), later Record Mirror. The strip had many fans including John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It included characters from TV, film and music, with a large section for readers' contributions (Win a Plastic Warthog). One character proved particularly enduring, a dinosaur called Fresco-Le-Raye, - who was named by Alan Shaw from Liverpool - who appeared in the music paper Disc and later Record Mirror. J Edward Oliver still creates Fresco strips which can be seen on the Web site or by free subscription.

In 1977, the strip was deemed not contemporary enough and was ended. Oliver went to work for IPC Magazines Ltd, creating comic strips including Buster's Master Mind (1980-1983), Cliff Hanger (1983-1987) and Vid Kid, as well as drawing The Champ in Whizzer and Chips from 1979 to 1981. Many of his strips included puzzles and games. In 1984, Oliver also wrote the words for a musical called Swan Esther which was performed at London's The Young Vic and on BBC radio.

When Buster ceased publication at the beginning of 2000, Oliver was the last artist left, and drew the only non-reprint material in the comic's final issue ("How It All Ends", which looked back at how all the Buster characters ended). With Buster gone, Oliver investigated other work, including newspaper strips and first day covers for stamp collectors under the Phil Stamp name.

In 2000, a Web site about Oliver's work revived interest in it, and a new, e-mailed (and free) weekly strip involving Fresco-Le-Raye has hundreds of subscribers.

Among Oliver's trademarks in his strips were little signs reading "Abolish Tuesdays" and regular sightings of a tiny cube with a crank handle attached. The latter was never explained. Oliver also had something of an obsession with the British actress Madeline Smith, drawing several appearances by her into his work, which she later complained about. Oliver reacted characteristically, producing a strip about her complaint.