View source for Ken Reid (comics)

{{Short description|British comic artist and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2013}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_place   = [[Manchester]], England, UK
| death_place   = [[Pendlebury]], [[Greater Manchester]], England, UK
| nationality   = British
| area          = 
| cartoonist    = y
| write         = y
| art           = y
| pencil        = 
| ink           = 
| edit          = 
| publish       = 
| letter        = 
| color         = 
| alias         = 
| notable works = [[Roger the Dodger]]<br>[[Jonah (comics)|Jonah]]<br>[[Faceache]]<br>[[Fudge the Elf]]
| awards        = Best Writer and Best Artist, [[Society of Strip Illustration]], 1978
| website       = 
| birth_date={{Birth date|1919|12|18|df=y}}
| death_date={{Death date and age|1987|2|2|1919|12|18|df=y}}
}}
'''Ken Reid''' (18 December 1919 – 2 February 1987) was a British comic artist and writer, best known as the co-creator of ''[[Roger the Dodger]]'' and ''[[Jonah (comics)|Jonah]]'' for ''[[The Beano]]'' and [[Faceache]] for ''[[Jet (comic)|Jet]]'' (later appeared in ''[[Buster (comic)|Buster]]'').

==Biography==
Born in Manchester, Reid drew from an early age. At the age of nine he was diagnosed with a tubercular hip and was confined to bed for six months, during which time he drew constantly.<ref name="hansen">Peter Hansen, {{cite web|url=http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Interviews/KenReid/KenReidOverview.asp |title=Ken Reid, the Comic Genius (1919-1987) |access-date=2011-07-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304202443/http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Interviews/KenReid/KenReidOverview.asp |archive-date= 4 March 2009 }}</ref> He left school at thirteen and won a free scholarship to Salford Art School,<ref name="britton">[http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/kreid.html Ken Reid interviewed by David Britton], Savoy Books, 1979</ref> but was expelled shortly before graduation after being caught in a local café when he should have been in class.<ref name="hansen" /> He set himself up in a studio as a commercial artist, with little success until his father offered to act as his agent, and bluffed his way into an interview with the art editor of the ''[[Manchester Evening News]]''. Reid was invited to submit ideas for a new children's section for the paper, and proposed ''[[Fudge the Elf|The Adventures of Fudge the Elf]]'', which first appeared in 1938 and ran until 1963,<ref name="MEN">{{cite web|url=http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Interviews/KenReid/NewspaperCutting.htm |title=''Father of Fudge Dies'' |access-date=2010-09-05 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309153600/http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Interviews/KenReid/NewspaperCutting.htm |archive-date= 9 March 2009 }}, ''Manchester Evening News'', 7 February 1987</ref> with a break from 1941 to 1946 when Reid was on National Service.<ref name="hansen" />

After a brief period contributing to ''[[Comic Cuts]]'' in the late 1940s, Reid proposed a full colour strip called ''Zooville'' to the ''[[Eagle (comic)|Eagle]]''.<ref name="britton" /> At the same time, [[Dundee]]-based publishers [[D. C. Thomson & Co.]], to whom he had been introduced by his brother-in-law, fellow cartoonist [[Bill Holroyd]], invited him to contribute to ''[[The Beano]]''. Their managing editor, [[R. D. Low]], travelled to Manchester to discuss a proposed new strip, ''[[Roger the Dodger]]'', with him. Reid accepted their offer, and ''Roger'' first appeared in ''The Beano'' on 18 April 1953.<ref name="hansen" />

Over the next decade he drew a number of successful strips for ''The Beano'' and its sister comic ''[[The Dandy]]'', including ''[[Jonah (comics)|Jonah]]'', a strip about a jinxed sailor who brings bad luck to every ship he sails on, written by [[Walter Fearne]]. Reid later recalled how much Fearne's scripts made him laugh, but he made many visual alterations to them, cramming as many as thirty panels to a page.<ref name="hansen" />

In 1964 Reid and fellow artist [[Leo Baxendale]] left DC Thomson to work for [[Odhams Press]]' new titles ''[[Wham! (comics)|Wham!]]'' and ''[[Smash! (comics)|Smash]]'', which allowed Reid to write as well as draw his strips. He began to explore his interests in "comic horror" and gruesome imagery, which would characterize the latter part of his career, with ''[[Frankie Stein (comics)|Frankie Stein]]'' and ''The Nervs'', the latter of which he took over from Baxendale.<ref name="hansen" /><ref name="stringer">Lew Stringer, [https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/04/ken-reid-and-nervs.html Ken Reid and the Nervs], 3 April 2007</ref> ''Frankie Stein'' was a goofy take on [[Frankenstein's monster]], about a harmless Frankie living with his mad scientist father, Professor Cube, at Mildew Manor. Frankie doesn't know his own strength and constantly ends up breaking everything. The Professor, meanwhile, is always scheming, and failing, to rid himself of Frankie. ''Frankie Stein'' ran in ''Wham!'' until the comic's cancellation in 1968.

One of his first strips for ''Smash!'', in 1966, was ''The Queen of the Seas'', a short-lived masterpiece of comic artistry. The two main characters were drawn in the likeness of comedians [[Stan Laurel]] and [[Oliver Hardy]], and the strip's humour was based on their movies.

For ''[[Pow! (comics)|Pow!]]'' in 1967, Reid created ''[[Dare-a-Day Davy]]'', a character who could not resist dares set for him by readers. One episode, in which Davy was dared to resurrect [[Frankenstein's monster]], was too gruesome for the editors and eventually saw print in the UK small press magazine ''Weird Fantasy'', published by [[David Britton]], in 1969.)<ref>[http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/weird1.html Review of "Weird Fantasy 1,"] Savoy History website. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2021.</ref><ref name="hansen" />

Reid's work on ''The Nervs'' in 1968–1969 turned it into an extremely surreal, even visceral, strip, achieving a rare level of hilarity and bawdiness. Its subversive presentation of comical horror again alarmed IPC's management.<ref name="Career history of artist Ken Reid">Maguire, Peter. [http://www.fudge-the-elf.com/downloads/kenreid.doc ''Fudge the Elf: Ken Reid: The Laura Maguire Collection''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193252/http://www.fudge-the-elf.com/downloads/kenreid.doc |date=3 March 2016 }}, Fudge-the-elf.com (2019). Retrieved 7 Feb. 2021.</ref>

In 1971 he created ''[[Faceache]]'', a boy who could ''scrunge'' his face into any shape, for ''[[Jet (comic)|Jet]]'', which later moved to ''[[Buster (comic)|Buster]]'' where it continued until Reid's death. Reid revived ''Frankie Stein'' in 1973 in ''[[Shiver and Shake]]''; the strip was taken over in 1974 by [[Robert Nixon (comics)|Robert Nixon]] in ''[[Whoopee! (comics)|Whoopee!]]'', with Frankie ultimately becoming "editor" of ''[[Monster Fun]]''.) Through the 1970s and 1980s he created horror-themed strips for a variety of comics, including ''Creepy Creations'' for ''Shiver and Shake'', ''Martha's Monster Make-up'' for ''Monster Fun'', and ''Tom Horror's World'' for ''Whoopee!''. ''Martha's Monster Make-up'' was similar to ''Faceache'' – about a girl with a mysterious jar of magical cosmetic cream that temporarily transformed someone's face into that of a hideous monster. The strip survived the end of ''Monster Fun'' and moved to ''[[Buster (comics)|Buster]]'' in 1976.{{fact|date=March 2025}}

Reid was named Best Writer and Best Artist by the [[Society of Strip Illustration]] in 1978.<ref name="hansen" />

On 2 February 1987, while drawing a page of ''Faceache'' at his home in [[Pendlebury]], [[Greater Manchester]], Reid suffered a stroke and died in hospital.<ref name="hansen" /><ref name="MEN" />

==Bibliography==

===''Manchester Evening News''===
*''The Adventures of Fudge the Elf'' (1938–1941, 1946–1963)

===''Comic Cuts''===
*''Super Sam''
*''Billy Boffin''
*''Foxy''

===D.C. Thomson===
* ''[[The Beano]]''
**''[[Roger the Dodger]]'', 1953–1959
**''[[Grandpa (comics)|Grandpa]]'', 1955–1957
**''[[Jonah (comics)|Jonah]]'', 1958–1963
**''[[Jinx (comics)|Jinx]]'', 1963–1964
*''[[The Dandy]]''
** ''[[Little Angel Face]]'', 1954–1955
** ''[[Bing-Bang Benny]]'', 1956-1960
** ''[[Ali Ha-Ha and the 40 Thieves]]'', 1960–1963
** ''[[Big Head and Thick Head]]'', 1963–1966

===Odhams/IPC===
*''[[Frankie Stein (comics)|Frankie Stein]]'', ''[[Wham! (comic)|Wham!]]'', later ''[[Shiver and Shake]]'', 1964–1968, 1973–1974
*''[[Jasper the Grasper]]'', ''Wham!'', later ''[[Cor!!]]'', 1965–1972
*''[[Queen of the Seas (comics)|Queen of the Seas]]'', ''[[Smash! (comics)|Smash!]]'', 1966
*''[[Dare-a-Day Davy]]'', ''[[Pow! (comics)|Pow!]]'', 1967-1968
*''[[The Nervs]]'', ''Smash!'', 1968-1969
*''[[The Robot Maker]]'', ''[[Cor!!]]'', from 1970
*''[[Faceache]]'', ''[[Jet (comic)|Jet]]'', later ''[[Buster (comic)|Buster]]'', 1971–1987
*''[[Wanted Posters]]'', ''[[Whoopee! (comic)|Whoopee!]]'', 1974
*''[[Martha's Monster Make-up]]'', ''[[Monster Fun]]'', 1975–1976, moved to ''Buster''
*''[[Tom Horror's World]]'', ''[[Whoopee! (comic)|Whoopee!]]'', 1981–1983

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.fudge-the-elf.com/ Fudge the Elf]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090304202443/http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Interviews/KenReid/KenReidOverview.asp Comics UK biography of Ken Reid (1919-1987)]
* [http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/picts2.html Reid's banned ''Dare-A-Day Davy'' Frankenstein strip], published in ''Weird Fantasy''&nbsp;#1 in 1969, Savoy Pictures website

{{Buster}}
{{D. C. Thomson Comics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Ken}}
[[Category:British comics artists]]
[[Category:British humorists]]
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Manchester]]
[[Category:The Dandy people]]
[[Category:The Beano people]]