Jim Petrie

From Jim himself and Craig who wrote with Jim Petrie 23rd Nov 2007-
Hello Peter,
Brings back memories.Craig Ferguson & myself were chuckling over Fatty F last month-Craig wrote the scripts for the FF feature as well as Minnie

I had forgotten some of the characters U showed on the JP site.!! Just getting acquainted again. Thank U ,Peter.I dont have a Comp but I use the Council ones now & again. 2 Russian women told me that I had been spotted on Google-they are Scientists at the Uni.so here I am.

I saw Gordon Cook on the Sparky site-must add a comment there.T-lady was to be 2pages but no page rate increase so I kept to 1page-wasnt sure of how much mileage in T-lady too! The Creative Scriptwriters arent recognised for their 1st class work. R.D. Low ,Managing Ed. spoke of the Creative teams in DCT and how 1/3 of the pages could carry the Comic, He wasnt keen on artists meeting others. John Geering wanted to meet everyone when he started here-official line was Dont mix writers and artists.It didnt work !! Best wishes Jim

Hi Peter,
Having seen Jim's emails to you on the comics UK forum, I felt compelled to contact you with a little more background info. Working with Jim on the Fatty Fudge stories, and later Minnie, was one of the highlights of my working life. Jim is a supremely talented guy and one of the nicest people it has been my good fortune to meet. Together we produced over 70 Fatty adventures, beginning in 1989, I think. We covered everything from sci-fi (2001 A Space Obesity, Star Tuck), James Bond (Fishfinger, Live and Let Diet), Spaghetti Westerns (A Fistful of Dollops, For a Few Dollops More) to books, plays and even pantomine (Kebabs in the Wood)! My particular favourites were: The Sword in the Scone, Fatman of the Apes by Edgar Rice Pudding and King Solomon's Mince! Euan Kerr, the then Beano Editor, prohibited two suggestions as being 'too Scottish', Single White Pudding (from contemporary film 'Single White Female') and the musical, Seven Bridies for Seven Brothers!

I later wrote Minnie from 1992 until 1997, when I left the Beano. Jim preferred only the bare bones of a script (dialogue and very little direction) which gave him free rein to work his lively and humorous magic. I was only too happy to work that way, as I had been a fan of his since childhood and wouldn't have dared to give him the greater direction I would have seen as the norm for less experienced artists. I'm delighted to say that, although Jim has now retired, we still meet up every little while for a beer and many laughs!
Thanks again for reminding people of Jim's great contribution to the comics world! Kind regards,
Craig Ferguson.


My comments-I really like this artist....he is great at drawing action...the multipling head, tongue and legs to show speed. The tongue was the best drawn by Jim...its almost his logo...The funny way the body can be twisted to funny poses...
The writing for Minnie the Minx was super...every theme, telly program, newspaper story and fad was explored...
One I enjoyed in the 80's was the Europe holiday visiting different countries each week with all the fun sterotypes.... Jim really drew Minnie as she should be dynamic...Wow! every panel was buzzing...Also liked the title panel for the word Minnie the Minxs was different every week....Fatty Fudge doing spinoffs from films and telly with a food theme was also very good.

The Sparky people are the behind the scenes at Sparky...it really shows a window to what office life was like in the 70's...other than computers I don't think much as changed...David Tennant proved that!
Incredible Sulk was great.loved his drawing of a sulk with the lower lip covering the nose.
The Cavers was very funny...all Jim's work is action packed...a lot of comic artist could learn from him......

Cheers to Jim and happy retirement..thanks for 40 years of comic classic fun. Though I like Minnie drawn by other top artist past and present...Jim's Minnie is my favourite...Peter