Owen McCarron has passed away.....
Posted: Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Posted By: Phil Latter
Sad news, folks.
My friend, Canadian local Halifax, Nova Scotia comic book and newspaper artist Owen McCarron, has passed away. He was 76.
He sadly passed away yesterday, Monday, June 27, 2005.
Own McCarron in the 1960's and 1970's, born and raised in Halifax, published innumerable, dozens upon dozens more self-published Canadian full-colour comic books, which were giveaways.
He wrote, drew, coloured and self-published them under his own company, Comic Book World, in Halifax. Some of them were done with the help of his sometimes assistant, Mr. Robin Edmundston.
Owen McCarron was a historian, art director, he loved children (most of his comics were filled with smiling children); he was a husband, a father and a grandfather. He worked for thirty-two years for the Halifax Herald Limited, publishers of the daily Nova Scotian newspapers The Chronicle Herald and The Mail Star, which are distributed throughout the entire province.
His 'Owen McCarron's Fun and Games' comics were published once a week in the 1970's and 1980's in the Mayflower TV supplement of Halifax's The Chronicle Herald and The Mail Star daily newspaper as well as throughout other portions of these newspapers, many in full colour.
Taking this concept to Marvel Comics, Stan Lee himself thought that this was a Marvelous idea, and he commissioned Mr. McCarron to draw a very long-running series of them under the heading Marvelous Fun and Games.
Additionally, Owen McCarron drew numerous original covers for many of Marvel's trade paperback sized reprint books, as well as many other Marvel puzzle books and colouring books. I am always, as an Owen McCarron collector, always looking for further information on what else exists of these.
In the 1960's and 1970's, Owen McCarron was a Canadian daily newspaper comic strip artist, who had a regular daily comic strip serialized in both Ottawa as well as Halifax newspapers.
Despite his age, Owen McCarron always had art in-progress on his drawing board.
For several years, Owen McCarron drew once a year multiples of full page comic strips on the Halifax Explosion in the aforementioned daily newspapers, on the tragedy's yearly anniversary of December 6.
He was well-served to annually document this very real tragedy of Dec 6, 1917 with his great talents, which occurred in World War One in Halifax Harbour, with great loss of life. For he was a historian, a writer, as well as an artist.
The walls of Owen McCarron's home, as I learned when I interviewed him in his Halifax home in May of 2003, were festooned with innummerable framed original art examples, signed original art by Charlie Brown's Charles Schulz, Alex Raymond, and endless famous others, gifts to their fellow comics artist, Owen McCarron. There were also signed letters from President Ronald and Nancy Reagan as well as Bill Clinton, thanking Owen McCarron for his lifetime of comic art-!
I regarded Owen McCarron as a friend. My hours of taped interview at his home in May of 2003 is, as yet, unplaced for publication at this date.
I only learned of his passing this afternoon at work, when I received a call from CBC radio, who requested I pop down to their studio in Halifax, where I gave an impromptu radio interview on the life and works of Owen McCarron, who I have been a fan and collector of, my entire life. This radio interview aired on the radio just within the last hour on CBC radio, 90.5 FM in Canada. My lady at home had the presence of mind to tape the program.
I'm still reeling from the shock of the passing of my friend Owen. He is already greatly missed.
It should be further mentioned that Owen McCarron drew many, many war and western comics for Charlton Comics in the 1960's and 1970's, later did a brief stint at DC, and he still later drew some series for Marvel Comics, including the motorcycle riding 1970's Ghost Rider, and the for the younger readers' Spider Super Stories, to name but a few.
Phil Latter
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada |
