Guardian of the Reef

Today's comic strip comes from the 1960 Express Super Colour Annual and features some early work by one of the great British comic artists whose work has spanned seven decades! This early example is very different from the style that most fans are familiar with so I won't name him until you've looked at the strip. See if you can guess who it is!

John M. Burns (1938- ) began his career working for Junior Express and School Friend in the mid-1950s. His body of work is far too big to list here but I'll give you some of the highlights:

Wrath of the Gods - Boys' World/Eagle and Boy's World
Kelpie the Boy Wizard - Wham!
The Seekers - Daily Sketch
Space Family Robinson - Lady Penelope
Catch or Kill/Front Page - TV Century 21
Countdown - Countdown
UFO/Mission: Impossible - TV Action
Danielle - Evening News
The Tomorrow People/Space: 1999/The Bionic Woman/Buck Rogers - Look-in
George and Lynne - The Sun
Modesty Blaise - Evening Standard
Eartha - News of the World Sunday Magazine
The Fists of Danny Pike - Eagle
Jane - Daily Mirror
The Tripods - Beeb
Dan Dare - Eagle
Judge Dredd - 2000AD/Judge Dredd Megazine
Nikolai Dante - 2000AD
Sable and Fortune (Marvel)
Jane Eyre/Wuthering Heights - (Classical Comics)

And that's just scratching the surface!

Thanks to Colin from the John M. Burns Art  Facebook group for the scans of Guardian of the Reef.