Maurice Bramley
| Maurice Bramley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Maurice William Bramley 11 September 1898 New Plymouth, New Zealand |
| Died | 15 June 1975 (aged 76) Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| Occupation | Cartoonist, illustrator |
| Nationality | New Zealand/Australian |
| Period | 1934–1989 |
Maurice Bramley (11 September 1898 – 15 June 1975), was a New Zealand born Australian cartoonist and commercial artist.
Maurice William Bramley was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 11 September 1898, the eldest son of William Bramley. He migrated to Australia in the mid-1920s, settling in Sydney. Bramley came to prominence as a commercial artist/illustrator during the 1930s, working principally for Sun Newspapers (later Associated Newspapers) magazines such as The World's News and Woman and Woman's Budget, before commencing his long association with the Transport Publishing Company (later Horwitz Publications) during the mid-1940s. John Ryan, in his Australian Comic anthology, Panel by Panel, describes Bramley as a "meticulous draftsman, whose detailed pen work and realistic drawings were a cut above many of the illustrators in the field." During the Second World War Bramley worked for the Department of National Service producing recruiting posters. One of which 'Join Us in a Victory Job' (published in 1943), was subsequently used as a postage stamp in 1991.
After the conclusion of his magazine illustration work, Bramley turned to comics, illustrating scores of comic book covers (and short filler stories) for Horwitz Publications' range of comics. These comics were predominantly US reprints, ranging from war (Combat Kelly, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos), westerns (Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid) (published from the late 1950s) to superhero titles (published in the early 1960s), drawing the 'silver age' of Marvel superheroes, such as Iron Man, Thor and The Incredible Hulk.
As well as Horwitz and Page Publications comic covers, he worked on issues of Frogman,Navy Combat and The Phantom Commando, taking over the later from John Dixon. Dixon was only able to write the first three issues before handing the responsibility over to Bramley, who continued to draw it on an irregular schedule until 1965. Toby Burrows in Comics in Australia and New Zealand describes him as follows, "As a straight illustrator, Bramley, can more than hold his own with those artists mentioned above [ Monty Wedd, John Dixon, Hart Amos, Stanley Pitt, Vernon Hayles, Moira Bertram and Phil Belbin], and in some cases a lot better". Bramley later drew some entire issues of Page Publications' The Fast Gun in the early 1970s.
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