Oliver Frey (; 30 June 1948 – 21 August 2022) was a Swiss artist, who was based in the United Kingdom. He was known for his book and magazine illustrations, especially for British computer magazines of the 1980s. Under the pen name Zack, he became known for his erotic illustrations and

erotic comics Erotic comics are adult comics which focus substantially on nudity and sexual activity, either for their own sake or as a major story element. As such they are usually not permitted to be sold to legal minors. Like other genres of comics, they c ...

in British gay male porn magazines of the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life

Frey was born in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland, on 30 June 1948. He grew up fluent in Italian and German. His family moved to Britain in 1956 but subsequently returned to Switzerland.Roger Kean: ''The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey'' (Thalamus Publishing, 2006), During his high school years in Switzerland, Frey enrolled in the American

Famous Artists School Famous Artists School is an art correspondence course institution, in operation since 1948. The school was founded by members of the New York Society of Illustrators, principally Albert Dorne and Norman Rockwell. History The Famous Artists ...

correspondence course.

Career

After spending six months in the

Swiss army The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

and dropping out of Berne University, Frey moved back to Britain and started a two-year course at the

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London, United Kingdom, and is situated in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

, during which he supported himself with freelance work, including illustrating ''

War Picture Library ''War Picture Library'' was a British 64-page "pocket library" War comics, war comic magazine title published by Fleetway, Amalgamated Press/Fleetway (now owned by IPC Media, IPC Magazines) for 2103 issues. Each issue featured a complete story, ...

'' comic books. As a child Frey had loved '' The Eagle'' comics magazine, and as an adult worked on the 1980s revival, drawing the strip ''

Dan Dare Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic series ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in ...

''. Also during the 1970s, he illustrated for

IPC Media TI Media Ltd. (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of it ...

's ''

Look and Learn ''Look and Learn'' was a British weekly educational magazine for children published by Fleetway Publications Ltd from 1962 until 1982. It contained educational text articles that covered a wide variety of topics from volcanoes to the Loch Ness ...

'' magazine, including the strip '' The Trigan Empire''. He was commissioned to create 1930s-era comic book art for the pre-title sequence of the 1978 movie ''Superman''. Through the late 1970s and the 1980s Frey was a prolific creator of gay erotic art, usually published under the pen name ''Zack''. These included a comics series featuring a big, muscular bad-boy hero named "Rogue" for ''HIM Magazine'', a monthly gay male pornography publication which he and his partner Roger Kean owned, along with related titles. He also produced, edited, and illustrated several issues of ''Man-to-Man Magazine''. Frey illustrated twelve of the ''HIM Libraries'', the first two written by Kean, the remainder by various authors who submitted manuscripts. The company was raided by the police in 1981, and all of its stock was destroyed under then-current laws. His gay pornographic work was also featured on front covers and in volumes of the ''Meatmen'' series of gay erotic comics. Russell T. Davies, writer of the British television series ''Queer as Folk'', praised Frey's serial "The Street" as an important influence on his ground-breaking gay TV drama. When Roger Kean and Frey's brother Franco founded the computer magazine '' CRASH'' in 1983, Oliver Frey became the magazine's illustrator. He went on to illustrate for ''CRASH''s sister magazines ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' is a computer games magazine covering games for computers manufactured by Commodore International, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazi ...

'', ''

Amtix ''Amtix'' (stylized as ''AMTIX!'') is a magazine that originally reviewed Amstrad CPC computer software in the mid-1980s, published monthly by Newsfield Publications Ltd. Unlike ''Zzap!64'' and '' CRASH'' (its more successful sister publications ...

'', and ''The Games Machine''. He illustrated the comic strip "Terminal Man", written by

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 ...

, which was serialised in both ''CRASH'' and ''Zzap!64'' in 1984, and published as a complete story in a large format book in 1988. During the late 1990s, Frey worked as publishing director for Thalamus Publishing in Shropshire, which specialised in illustrated historical reference titles. Thalamus Publishing went into receivership in August 2009. Frey and Kean formed Reckless Books in

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

, specialising in young adult action-adventure, historical, and gay adult reading. Several of Frey's painted front covers for Fleetway and IPC ''War Picture Libraries'' were reproduced from the original art in two of David Roach's books, ''Aaargh! It's War'' in 2007, and ''The Art of War'' in 2008. Frey is the illustrator of over 16 books under the name Oliver Frey and over 12 under the pseudonym Zack. Classic video gaming magazine ''

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering Retrogaming, retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' ...

'' has featured Frey's artwork on its cover. In July and August 2014 his gay erotic work was included in an exhibition at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, where he was interviewed by novelist and reporter

Rupert Smith General (United Kingdom), General Sir Rupert Anthony Smith, (born 13 December 1943) is a retired British Army officer and author of ''The Utility of Force''. He was a senior commander during the Gulf War, for which he was recognised with the aw ...

Personal life

Frey lived with his long-time partner

Roger Kean Oliver Frey (; 30 June 1948 – 21 August 2022) was a Swiss artist, who was based in the United Kingdom. He was known for his book and magazine illustrations, especially for British computer magazines of the 1980s. Under the pen name Zack, he b ...

in the United Kingdom. He died on 21 August 2022, at the age of 74. Kean died on 3 January 2023 from

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

."Roger Kean (TL 1961) dies aged 74"
oldcholmeleians.org. Retrieved 4 May 2025.

Selected bibliography

As Oliver Frey

* ''

'': ** "Return of the Mekon" (in Eagle #17–18, 1982) ** "Belendotor" (in Eagle #84–93, 1983) * Roger Kean: ''The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey'' (Thalamus Publishing, 2006), * Oliver Frey, artist: ''The Terminal Man'' (Reckless Books, 2012) * Roger Kean, author; Oliver Frey, illustrator: ''Living in the Ancient World Set'' (Chelsea House Publications. 2008) * Oliver Frey, illustrator: ''Exciting Stories Of Fantasy and the Future'' (Hamlyn 1982) * Roger Kean, author; Oliver Frey, illustrator: ''The Complete Chronicle of the Emperors Of Rome'' (Thalamus Publishing, 2005) * Chris Wilkins and Roger Kean, authors; Oliver Frey, illustrator: ''Ocean, The History'' (Apple 2014) * Roger Kean, author; Oliver Frey, illustrator: ''Forgotten power: Byzantium: Bulwark of Christianity'' (Reckless Books, 2013)

As Zack

* ''Twisted Blade in the Arena'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2017) * ''Desert Studs'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2014) * ''The Satyr of Capri'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2015) * ''Deadly Circus of Desire'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2014) * ''The Warrior's Boy'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2013) * ''The Wrath of Seth'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2016) * ''Zack: The Art'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag, 2012) * ''Bike Boy'' (Bruno Gmünder Group, 2010) * ''Hot For Boys: The Sexy Adventures Of Rogue'' (Bruno Gmünder Group, 2011) * ''Bike Boy Rides Again'' (Bruno Gmünder Group, 2012) * ''Boys of Vice City'' (The Adventures of Gil Graham & Mike Smith #1) (Bruno Gmünder Group, 2011) * ''Boys of Two Cities'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2012) * ''Raw Recruits'' (Bruno Gmunder Verlag 2013)

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Oli 1948 births 2022 deaths Gay male erotica artists LGBTQ comics creators Pseudonymous artists Swiss comics artists British comics artists British erotic artists Swiss erotic artists Swiss magazine illustrators British magazine illustrators British illustrators Artists from Zurich 20th-century Swiss illustrators 21st-century Swiss illustrators 20th-century British artists 21st-century British artists British science fiction artists Swiss science fiction artists