Ogri

Ogri
Ogri in his early days on a Norvin-style motorcycle
Author(s)	Paul Sample
Current status/schedule	Running
Launch date	1972 [1]
Syndicate(s)	Back Street Heroes magazine
Publisher(s)	Ocean Media Group Limited, London

Ogri is a cartoon character of a British rocker-style biker created by English cartoonist and illustrator Paul Sample in 1972 for UK magazine Bike^[1] until January 2009, when it was dropped but quickly taken up by Back Street Heroes, the custom motorcycle magazine. Four book collections of Ogri strips have been produced, and a VHS video. Ogri is a tough, leather-jacketed biker with Thor-like wings attached to his helmet. The actor Ewan McGregor is a fan^[2] and owns an Ogri leather jacket, bought from Paul Sample on eBay.

Paul Sample draws in black ink line and colour from 1997,^[3] in a style similar to Robert Crumb. As with some other cartoonists, such as Carl Giles, a lot of the pleasure in the cartoons comes from looking at the detail in the cartoon frames; there is almost inevitably a subplot going on. The funny and well observed stories about British bikers usually take place within one page, though two-pagers are sometimes drawn.

Several compilation cartoon books collecting the strips have been published in the UK. Sample also produces a variety of Ogri-related memorabilia, including T-shirts, coffee mugs, posters, greetings cards, and badges. The Paul Sample archive, including many original Ogri strips along with other Paul Sample artwork, was auctioned in Shrewsbury in January 2010.^[4] There is also an Ogri Motorcycle Club (Osnabruck Garrison Riders Institute), founded in Germany in 1978 when all the members were serving in the Army or RAF.