Ian Kennedy (22 September 1932 – 5 February 2022) was a British artist who worked initially for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, then later for

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

Biography

Educated at the Clepington Primary School and then at

Morgan Academy Morgan Academy is a Secondary School in the Stobswell area of Dundee, Scotland. History The building was designed in 1862 by the Edinburgh architects John Dick Peddie and Charles Kinnear, opening in 1866 as the Morgan Hospital, a charitable in ...

, both in Dundee, Kennedy was employed after leaving school by D. C. Thomson & Co. He was taken on as a trainee illustrator in their Art Department in 1949. He recalled that his first published work was

inking Inking may refer to: *Inking (attack), act of throwing ink on other person *Inking, a defensive activity of certain cephalopods and sea hares * Inking (comic book production) *Pen computing Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using ...

the black squares in the weekly ''

Sunday Post ''The Sunday Post'' is a weekly newspaper published in Dundee, Scotland, by DC Thomson, and characterised by a mix of news, human interest stories and short features. The paper was founded in 1914 and has a wide circulation across Scotland, N ...

crossword A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the ans ...

. In 1953 having become married, Kennedy managed to get work in Amalgamated Press's '' Knockout'' via a local agent. In 1955 he began working for D. C. Thomson again, this time as a freelance artist. During the 1950s Kennedy mainly illustrated war comics such as '' Thriller Picture Library'' and ''Air Ace'' and his work appeared in a range of comics including '' Hotspur'', '' Buster'', and ''

The Wizard Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to: * Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic * Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...

''. From the 1970s onward, Kennedy began to extend his range to

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

comics, regularly producing work for IPC's '' 2000AD'' and '' Star Lord''. He also worked for ''

Battle Picture Weekly ''Battle Picture Weekly'', at various times also known as ''Battle Action'', ''Battle Action Force'', ''Battle'' and ''Battle with Storm Force'', was a British war comic book magazine published by IPC Magazines from (issues dates) 8 March 197 ...

'', ''Buddy'', ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first ...

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

'' ( Dan Dare), ''

M.A.S.K. M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) is a media franchise created by Kenner. The main premise revolved around the fight between the titular protagonist underground task force and the criminal organization V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network o ...

'', ''Victor Summer Special'', ''

Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

'' and D. C. Thomson's pocket books (including ''

Commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

''). Kennedy also produced many covers over the years for different comics and annuals, working mainly in

acrylic paint Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. De ...

. In the late 1980s and 1990s Kennedy began creating the covers for the annual RAF Leuchars Air Show's programmes. He went into semi-retirement in 1997, but still continued to draw covers and features for ''

'' until his death. A definitive career-spanning interview with Kennedy appears in the Spring 2009 edition (Vol.11, No.1) of the "

International Journal of Comic Art The ''International Journal of Comic Art'' is a journal about comics art, published twice a year. It was established in 1999 by John Lent (Temple University), who is also the editor-in-chief. The journal is independently published and does not main ...

". Kennedy died in February 2022, at the age of 89.

Bibliography

Comics work includes: *''Jeff Craig Detective'' ('' Buster'') *''Tiger McTaggart'' ('' Wizard'') *''Typhoon Tennyson'' ('' Wizard'') *'' M.A.C.H. 1'': "Vulcan" (with Robert Flynn, in '' 2000 AD'' #2, 1977) *''

Invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

'': ** "Wembley" (with

Gerry Finley-Day Gerry Finley-Day (born 1947, Broughty Ferry, Dundee) is a Scottish comics writer, prolific from the 1960s to the 1980s, best known as the creator of "Rogue Trooper". Career He began his career at D.C. Thomson & Co., before becoming the edito ...

, in ''2000 AD'' #6, 1977) ** "Jump Jet" (with

Chris Lowder Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

, in ''2000 AD'' #36, 1977) *''

Ro-Busters ''Ro-Busters'' is a British comic story that formed part of the original line-up of '' Starlord''. Similar in premise to that of the '' Thunderbirds'' television series, it was created by writer Pat Mills and was drawn by Carlos Pino and Ian ...

'': ** "Midpoint" (with Chris Lowder as Bill Henry, in '' Starlord'' #5-6, 1978) ** "Farnborough Droid Show" (with

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather ...

as V. Gross, in ''Starlord'' #13-14, 1978) *''Time Quake'' (with Chris Lowder, in ''Starlord'' #1-13, 1978) *'' Dan Dare'': ** Untitled (in ''

Annual 1979'', 1978) ** "Return of the Mekon" (with Barrie Tomlinson,

John Wagner John Wagner (born 1949) is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. ...

and

, in ''Eagle'' #19-26, 1982) ** "The Dare Report" (with Pat Mills, in ''Eagle'' #34-38, 1982) ** "Fireflight" (with Pat Mills, in ''Eagle'' #39-83, 1982) *''

Tharg's Future Shocks ''Tharg's Future Shocks'' is a long-running series of short strips in the British weekly comic '' 2000 AD'' in 1977. The name originates from the fictional editor of 2000 AD and the book titled ''Future Shock'', written by Alvin Toffler, publi ...

'': "The Collector" (with

Kelvin Gosnell Kelvin Gosnell is a British comics writer and editor. He was involved in the founding of the long-running comic '' 2000 AD'' in 1977, and was its second editor (1977–1978). He also edited '' Starlord'' (1978) and ''Tornado'' (1979). Biography ...

, in ''2000 AD'' #210, 1981) *''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of '' 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology comic. He is the magazine's longest-running ...

'': "99 Red" (with

/ Alan Grant, in ''2000 AD'' #423, 1985)

Covers

Covers work includes: * over 1,600 covers for ''Commando'' * '' 2000 AD'' #96, 446, 1961 * '' Starlord'' #20 * ''

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

'' #5-6, 10, 13, 16 and 18 * ''

'' #42, 47, 50-83

References

Ian Kennedy
at Lambiek's Comiclopedia
Ian Kennedy
at British Comics Art *
Ian Kennedy
at Barney

External links

Art of Ian Kennedy
- Ian's website *
"The art of a happy life: Comic book legend Ian Kennedy on why he’s still drawing at 88"
by Murray Scougall ''The Sunday Post'', 21 June 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Ian 1932 births 2022 deaths British comics artists Artists from Dundee