Moira Bertram facts for kids

Moira Bertram was a talented Australian artist. She was born in Sydney in 1929. Moira became famous for drawing and illustrating comic books and comic strips.

Early Life and First Comics

Moira Bertram was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1929. She learned portrait painting from a famous artist named Antonio Dattilo Rubbo. Even while studying, she loved to write and draw her own comic books just for fun! Moira once said that she decided to draw and write comics when she was still in school. She felt she was always good at it.

When Moira was still a teenager, her first comic strip was published! It was called Jo and appeared in the Daily Mirror newspaper in Sydney starting in 1945. Jo was a fantasy adventure story. She even started drawing comics when she was only 14 years old. Moira told the publishers she was 16 because she was worried they wouldn't publish her work if they knew her real age.

The Adventures of Jo

The comic strip Jo featured a beautiful dancer with dark hair. She had a magic cape that helped her. Jo worked with her American fighter pilot boyfriend, Serge Shawn. Together, they fought against gangsters and the Japanese. This comic strip quickly showed everyone how creative and imaginative Moira Bertram was. Her drawings often featured strong, brave heroes and glamorous, beautiful women.

Moira's Unique Art Style

Moira Bertram had a very special way of drawing comics. Experts say she was different from many male artists at the time. She understood how to make comic book pages exciting and full of action.

• She used very large panels in her comics.
• Her drawings had interesting designs and surprising angles.
• She often drew things from high up, making the reader feel like they were looking down on the action.
• Her use of big, bold sound effects, like "CRASH!" or "POW!", was similar to the style of 1960s 'Pop' artists like Roy Lichtenstein.

Ingrid Unger, another expert, noted that Moira's style included clever use of changing angles. This helped create both drama and humor in her stories. Moira's comics were full of action but not too violent. They often included humor and featured strong female characters.

Later Work and Other Comics

After working on the Daily Mirror, Moira signed a contract with a publisher named Frank Johnson in 1945. Her comic Jo & Her Magic Cape then appeared in many Frank Johnson Publications between 1945 and 1946.

Moira was described as a proud and attractive person. Her strong personality showed in her artwork. She never married. When the comic book industry changed, she started drawing portraits and illustrations for magazines.

In 1949, Moira and her sister Kathleen worked together. Kathleen did the lettering for the comics. They decided to publish their own comic book called Red Finnegan. They released four issues of this comic.

In the 1950s, Moira worked for several different companies. These included Horwitz Press and Invincible Press. For Invincible Press, she drew comics like The Thrilling Adventures of Dan Eagle and romance comics such as Bring Back My Love and Rivals in Love. She also worked for Calvert Publishing, illustrating covers for 'Carter Brown' novels. Moira also contributed stories to the 'Silhouette Romance Library'. She stopped drawing comic books in the late 1950s.

Another exciting comic book Moira created was Flameman. This comic was published by K.G. Murray Publishing Company in 1946. It told the stories of a super-powered character known as a 'genie of the sun'.

John Ryan, in his book Panel by Panel, described Moira Bertram's work as very stylish and confident. He noted that she experimented with perspective. For example, she would place large shapes in the front of a drawing. This helped make the story more visually dramatic. She also often placed the reader's view above the action in her drawings.