Skip to main content

Kōrero: Comics and graphic novels

Terry and the gunrunners, 1982

Bob Kerr and Stephen Ballantyne produced three volumes of the Terry comic book series between 1982 and 1990. It centres on Terry Teo, a young boy who gets into adventures and scrapes alongside his sister Polly and older brother Ted. These are the opening three pages from the first in the series, Terry and the gunrunners. Terry stumbles upon a bumbling gang of criminal gunrunners and gets into all sorts of sticky situations before vanquishing the baddies. 

Kerr and Ballantyne collaborated by mail - Ballantyne sent the words to Kerr, who drew the illustrations before posting them back. These pages were the first batch to go to and fro. Drag the images to see the rest of the frames.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Private collection

Reference: Bob Kerr and Stephen Ballantyne, Terry and the gunrunners. Auckland: Collins, 1982

by Bob Kerr

Courtesy of Stephen Ballantyne and Bob Kerr

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Tim Bollinger, Comics and graphic novels – Comics for adults, 1980s to 2000s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/zoomify/41831/terry-and-the-gunrunners-1982 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Tim Bollinger, i tāngia i te 5 June 2013.