Roger Fletcher

Roger Fletcher (born 11 June 1949) is an Australian cartoonist and illustrator. His first comic strip, Torkan appeared in the Australian Sunday Telegraph in 1976 and his second comic strip, Staria, has appeared in the pages of the Australian Daily Telegraph since May 1980. Fletcher has taught children and adults the art of cartooning in the east coast of Australia and Ireland.

Biography Born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, in 1949, Fletcher was captivated by newspaper comic strips and comic books from an early age. He has cited inspiration from English comics like Battler Britton, Paul Wheelahan's The Panther and Monty Wedd's Captain Justice.

Fletcher's first job after leaving high school was in the shipping industry

During the early 1970s, Fletcher began developing a comic strip about an Australian soldier-of-fortune, titled Nathan Cole, until he was introduced to the world of sword and sorcery by science-fiction writer Fritz Leiber that had a profound impact on his future. In particular, the pair of characters called Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser influenced Fletcher greatly.

Fletcher put Nathan Cole aside and set about creating a sword and sorcery strip, titled Orn the Eagle Warrior, in 1974. and immediately struck a chord with readers. Torkan continues to win new generations of readers; something which Flectcher believes is attributable to the character's enduring appeal. Flectcher claims that "the paradigm for heroic adventure was first written in the Bible, as David and Goliath. Whether it's in Arthurian legend or Harry Potter, the paradigm itself doesn't change much – but fashions do change."

Encouraged by the success of Torkan, Fletcher began work on his next comic strip idea in 1977—a science-fiction series called Staria.