Hugo Pratt’s influence on comic art can still be felt today, he was one of the 20th century’s greatest artists. In 1967 he created the internationally popular comic book character, Corto Maltese, but he had already been working in comics for 20 years before then. In 1959 he moved to London where he worked for Fleetway on their War Picture Library line of comics. He won countless awards for his work before he died in 1995.

Val Holding served in World War II in the Parachute Regiment and then worked at Gamages department store in London as a store detective before writing many War Picture Library comics for Fleetway. He also wrote Paddy Payne, a fighter ace story for Lion. In 1961 he became Managing Editor of Juvenile Publications at Fleetway, and he established Martspress with Leonard Matthews in the 1968.