death_date birth_place imagesize ink nationality name pencil birth_date write article_title birth_name occupation
05 september 1983 cassilis , new south wales , australia 150 y australian lloyd piper y 31 october 1923 y lloyd piper
 lloyd william piper cartoonist , graphic designer , art teacher , painter
lloyd piper

lloyd piper -lrb- 1923 -- 1983 -rrb- was an australian cartoonist and art teacher , best known as the third artist to take on the iconic australian comic strip , `` ginger meggs '' , which he drew from 1973 until his death in 1983 .
lloyd william piper was born on 31 october 1923 in cassilis , new south wales to thomas william piper and alice mabel née byfield .
he grew up in rural new south wales during the great depression .
at age nineteen piper enrolled in the australian army , serving in the 2nd/2nd australian field regiment in new guinea from 1942 until 1946 , he was discharged in november 1946 .
following his war service he completed a rehabilitation training course and moved to sydney .
piper illustrated comic strips including `` catman '' and `` kalar the caveman '' for frew publications ' comic book , super yank comics .
`` catman '' was a feline-styled caped crusader who , unlike the original american version of the character , had no secret identity or powers .
the other noticeable difference was that catman 's sidekick was changed from a young girl , kitten , to a young boy , kit .
`` catman '' ran for 19 issues , between 1951 and 1952 .
according to jim shepherd -lrb- the late publisher and managing director of frew publications -rrb- , `` co-founder , ron forsyth had an almost strange habit of changing things in the imported titles he published .
he did n't like females having or sharing top billing , hence his request to replace kitten with kit -- but he probably also thought it might be some sort of plug for the young phantom character , also known as kit . ''
piper also created `` steel barr '' for opc 's hurricane in 1946 and `` lemmy loo '' as a filler strip for k.g murray 's captain triumph comics -lrb- october 1949 -- february 1950 -rrb- .
`` steel barr '' was resurrected by young 's merchandising in 1950 , under the title `` steel barr and the phantom man '' .
australian comic book researcher , kevin patrick , describes `` steel barr '' as being `` a granite-jawed district commissioner who patrolled the african jungles , battling myriad threats while searching for his elusive opponent , the phantom man . ''
piper subsequently became an advertising layout artist , working in the advertising industry for the next twenty two years .
he also taught graphic design part-time , from 1970 until 1983 , at the national art school .
in october 1972 the sunday telegraph commissioned piper to draw a comic strip , `` wolfe '' , for which ran for six years before it was dropped in favour of a syndicated american superhero .
`` wolfe '' was a wandering adventurer .
according to john ryan , in his australian comic anthology , `` panel by panel '' , '' `` wolfe '' 's strength was its strong storyline and the fact piper restricted his wanderings to australia , giving readers an opportunity to identify with the various suburbs and country towns -- and it was these aspects that attracted a large following for the strip . ''
following the death of ron vivian piper was invited by jimmy bancks 's family to take over the role of writing and illustrating ginger meggs , which was also published by the sun telegraph .
piper was the first of bancks ' successors permitted to sign his name to the strip .
on 27 august 1977 the ginger meggs strip moved back to sun herald replacing long time rival comic strip , fatty finn .
piper claimed he kept as close as he could to the bancks style with ginger meggs , and in an interview in 1983 , stated `` i have worked 30 years in advertising .
i understand all the aspects of other peoples wants .
i have striven to maintain bancks ' character , but admit that his sense of humour was so individual , his successors can hope for , but never really match it . ''
he also told friends it was `` just a job '' , and that `` they do n't pay me much and they get what they pay for '' .
