Ian Kennedy

[colcool007]

To start the ball rolling here is the link from Vic Whittle's website (Vic, I salute you ) of all of Ian Kennedy's Commando covers to date.
http://www.britishcomics.20m.com/kennedy.htm One interesting fact is that Death Of A Wimpey featured both Kennedys as the artist for the internal art is Cam Kennedy.

Hotspur Johnny Of The Secret Jets started issue 775 dated 24 Aug 74 to issue 782 dated 12 Oct 74.

[philcom55]

For several years during the 1950s mild-mannered William Bonney donned the black outfit and mask of 'Billy the Kid' every week to fight the good fight in the pages of the Amalgamated Press's Sun. These long (generally about 6 pages), self-contained stories were drawn by a select group of artists which included Ian Kennedy from August 1954 to January 1956. The following list of Kennedy stories is taken from the excellent Sun Collector's Guide compiled by Steve Holland and David Ashford back in the early 1990s, and is pretty comprehensive as far as I can tell:

SUN (Amalgamated Press)
"Billy the Kid - Lone Avenger":

no.289 (21 Aug 1954)
no.293 (18 Sep 54)
no.297 (16 Oct 54) - with Geoff Campion
no.298 (23 Oct 54)
no.301 (13 Nov 54)
no.303 (27 Nov 54)
no.305 (11 Dec 54)
no.308 (1 Jan 55)
no.310 (15 Jan 55)
no.312 (29 Jan 55)
no 316 (26 Feb 55)
no.318 (12 Mar 55)
no.321 (2 Apr 55)
no.324 (23 Apr 55)
no.327 (14 May 55)
no.332 (18 Jun 55)
no.335 (9 July 55)
no.363 (21 Jan 56)

- Thereafter he went on to draw several 'Battler Britton' stories in the same 6-page format. Unfortunately Holland & Ashford don't list these in the Guide, but going by my own patchy collection I can definitely place him as the artist in no.387 (7 July 56) and no.392 (11 Aug 56), both of which are signed "Chas Ian Kennedy", and probably for the unsigned story in no. 396 (8 Sep 56) as well.

These last stories are particularly interesting as, despite a strong Eric Bradbury influence, they show Kennedy just beginning to develop the unique style of battle art that he later became so famous for in his Commando covers.

Finally, in order to help people to recognize his artwork from this early period I've uploaded the following page from the Battler Britton story in Sun no.392:
[img:562:748]http://uk.geocities.com/philcom55/bbrit.jpg[/img]

- Phil Rushton

[Shaqui]

I certainly wouldn't have recognised Kennedy's style from that... anyone know when his distinctive 'angular' (Like me he seems to draw in straight lines!) style...? Certainly I've seen early 70s girls annuals where this is already apparent and recognisable... strips like 'Jenny Appleseed' (Judy annual 1972), and 'Big Sister' (Judy Annual 1977).

Adding to the list:

Dan Dare annual 1979, drawing the main 'Dan Dare' strip
and
Dan Dare annual 1987, cover and main Dare strip again.

Also

Blake's 7 Monthly: issues 1 to 4, 6 and first pages of issue 7 (Kennedy was injured in a car crash, and it looks like Barrie Mitchell inked the next few pages of Kennedy's pencils, then did the final few on his own.

[Kashgar]

Right chaps. First instalment of Ian Kennedy's work for D C Thomson. In the 1950's a lot of IK's work for Thomson's appeared in their boy's story papers in the form of single heading blocks for text stories. Most of his work appeared in Adventure but as his first piece of work in this regard was, chronologically speaking, published in Rover let's start with that title.
It's Wickets that Count 1505-1518(1954)
Sandport Lifeboat Stories (individually titled) 1515-1531(1954)
The Mystery of Runway 4 1583(1955)
The Chequered Flag 1607-1618(1956)
The Dandy of the 99th(1615-1626)
He was also responsible for three one-off war features for the title
The Raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal 1674
One-Armed Mac 1693
The Battle of the River Platte 1694
In 1961 when Rover and Adventure were amalgamated IK was a quite regular contributor to the picture features in their Epic Races, Famous Fighters, Ace Sportsmen etc series
11/3/61 Siena's Palio
25/3/61 The Grand National
13/5/61 The American Grand Prix
26/8/61 Carmen Basilio
11/11/61 Geoff Duke
9/12/61 Harry Hawker
30/12/61 The Ascot Gold Cup
27/1/62 Moto-Cross des Nations
26/5/62 The Derby 1867
28/7/62 The Three-Day Event
8/9/62 International Polo Match England v America 1913
22/12/62 The 1954 Grand National
12/1/63 The first British ascent of the Mountain of Mystery
19/1/63 The courage of Ronnie Moore
23/3/63 The Calgary Stampede
13/4/63 The Alps
11/5/63 St Andrews
15/6/63 Graham Hill
Then in the combined Rover & Wizard he did two full colour back covers in their Battles of Britain series
1/2/64 Bosworth Field
28/3/64 Prestonpans
He was also responsible for 20 full colour picture covers for these combined titles. Dates as follows
21/4/62, 14/7/62, 22/9/62, 10/11/62, 22/12/62, 2/3/63, 9/3/63, 4/5/63, 8/6/63, 20/7/63, 27/7/63, 10/8/63, 21/9/63, 26/10/63, 2/11/63, 9/11/63, 30/11/63, 4/1/64, 25/1/64 and 22/2/64.
He also provided artwork for both of the last two Rover Books 1958 and 1959. In the 1958 book he provided the illustrations for the text story 'The Dandy of the 99th' and in the 1959 edition he provided the illustrations for the text story 'There's no such thing as luck', a four page picture feature 'The story of the Wells Fargo Express' and most interestingly a six page strip featuring 'Braddock V.C' thus making him the first artist to draw a strip featuring Thomson's ace pilot of WWII.
Next time I'll turn my attention to his much more extensive work for Adventure and then on to his early strip work for Bunty and the New Hotspur. BTW Johnny of the Secret Jets first appeared in Hotspur issues 173-180 in 1963, the 1970's series being a reprint of this.

[colcool007]

Also his 2000AD credits.

M.A.C.H. One Issues 1 and 2 Vulcan
Invasion! Issues 6 and 36 Wembley and Jump Jet
Judge Dredd Issue 423 99 Red
Tharg's Future Shock Issue 210 The Collector

Eagle (V2)

The Amstor Computer Issue 86 289301 - The Hero
Dan Dare 1979 Annual Untitled
Dan Dare Issues 1 to 83 Return of the Mekon (1 to 33) The Dare Report (34 to 38) Fireflight (39 to 83)

Starlord

Ro-busters Issues 5 to 6 Mid-point
Time Quake Issues 1 to 13

[Shaqui]

Eagle (V2):
Dan Dare Issues 1 to 83
Return of the Mekon (1 to 33)
The Dare Report (34 to 38 )
Fireflight (39 to 83)

Starlord:
Time Quake Issues 1 to 13

Sorry Col (I hate picking holes but the crosschecking/policing is what we wanted ...) but Ian Kennedy only did issues 1 and 3 of 'Time Quake'. Issue 2 was John Cooper, and 4 to 13 Salinas.


Also, Gerry Embleton did the first parts of 'Return of the Mekon'... Ian Kennedy did the cover of the issue dated 10 July 1982, then Oliver Frey took over the 'Dan Dare' strip the following week. Kennedy started the strip from the issue dated 31 July 1982.


Kennedy did 'Dan Dare' up until October/November 1983 (don't have exact issue to hand) when Oliver Frey took over again.

[colcool007]

Shaqui, that's not a problem. This is why it is better to do the groundwork on here before we start sticking any of it on Wikipedia. I knoew that the 2000AD stuff was rock solid, but I picked up the Eagle stuff from http://www.2000adonline.com Plus, my PC fell over so I have lost the 200 covers to my Victor index that I added this month. Grrr! So I wanted to add something positive.

The giveaway on the thumbnail is the plane. While the rest of it appears to be ghosted style, the Walrus is pure Kennedy. Is it also worthwhile adding that Ian did the covers from the Leuchars Air Show programmes from 85 to 95? Thanks to my job, I managed to acquire copies of these! The originals are in various crewrooms around RAF Leuchars.

[Kashgar]

Ian Kennedy's work for Adventure as follows. PS = picture strip. All other work heading blocks for text stories.
Red Skull Branson (PS) 1598-1636 (1955)
The Phantom Fleet 1630-1647 (1956)
The Spy in Black 1648-1655 (1956)
Big Jack's Rag-Tag Railway 1654-1667 (1956)
Betrayed by a Ghost Train 1671 (1957)
'Danger' was spelt X-R-A-Y 1976 (1957)
The Khaki Tiger 1673-1690 (1957)
The Lame Duck 1691-1702 (1957)
Fighting Phantoms of the S.S.B 1703-1710 (1957)
Frazer of the Frogmen 1710-1722 (1957)
The First Sniper 1711-1719 (1958)
Kubal the Great 1721-1734 (1958)
Splasher swims to Danger 1733-1742 (1958)
Death stalks on silent Moccasins 1735-1745 (1958)
West of Crimson Canyon 1746-1763 (1958)
Jimmy with the Jitters 1756-1765 (1958)
The Galloping Goose 1766-1771 (1958)
Nightingale Nobbs 1772-1790 (1959)
Dixon Hawke stories (individual titles) 1791-1799 (1959)
Nippy Nelson- Apprentice Cricketer 1800-1805 (1959)
The Wild Boy of the Backwoods 1806-1821 (1959)
Happy Andy (PS) 1822 (1959) redrawn first episode of strip originally the work of Calder Jamieson.
Commando Jim (PS) 1852-1874 (1960) full colour on covers.
Of his work for the boy's story papers we finally come to Hotspur
The Rockets Red Glare 1134-1143 (1958)
Kit Carson- Mountain Boy 1144-1153 (1958)
Cover Illustrations 1128, 1140 1164, 1181 and 1191 (1958-1959)
The Mystery of the Sleeping Athletes 1156-1177 (1959)
The Red Zig-Zag 1177-1190 (1959)
The Soap-Box Special 1191-1197 (1959)
Feature pages 1162 Weird Planes Found / Their names have numbers
1172 The Curious Captain.
After issue 1197 Hotspur was revamped as a picture paper 'The New Hotspur' with numbering starting again fron No1. IK continued to work for the new title.
The Soap-Box Special (cont from old title) 1-12 (1959)
Young Blondin- the boyhood of a tightrope star 13-120 (1960)
Over the top and the best of luck 30-42 (1960)
The Snappy Wanderers 43-58 (1960) not in 47,53,54
Son of the Shark 47 (1960)
We're tough in the Texas Rangers (picture feature) 49 (1960)
The Road of a thousand Blisters 55-71 (1960)
Wheels on his Heels 72-86 (1961) not 75
from here on all the rest are picture strips
The Spy in the Sputnik 155-162 (1962)
The Last Cavalry's last Charge 160 (1962)
Johnny of the Secret Jets 173-180 (1963)
The Blind Bowler 190-198 (1963)
I Fought in the Battle of Britain 209-216 (1963)
Chained to his Bat 244-255 (1964)
In 1962/1963 he also drew three western cover strips for the title.
The Truth about Quantrill's Raiders 158 (1962)
The Cannonball Crackshot 163 (1962)
The First Iron Tomahawk 171 (1963)
In the late 1950's early 1960's he also provided four strips for the girls comic Bunty. Details as follows
Kay Hamilton - Show Jumper 51-64 (1959)
The Pink Piano 117-128 (1960)
Girls of Pony Patrol 259-270 (1962)
Soldier Sally 306-314 (1963)
I'll post more details as they come to hand. Although off the top of my head I can also include at this point his work for the Topper Book 1967-1971. In the 1967 edition he provided the artwork for a strip titled 'Barlow's Boneshaker' and in the next four editions 1968-1971 he drew 'The Sky Shark' strip. More anon.

[moose]

he also did some battle covers, i'll have a look, but i know i've scanned some covers he did of johnny red.

[Shaqui]

I recall he also did some covers for 'Tornado' in the late 70s but no longer have the issues to check dates/numbers...

[moose]

from the clean lines on them, i'd say 21st april, 7th july and 21st july.

[philcom55]

Adventures With Scalextric:

'Speedmaster...in The Race Of Death'

• Chapter One: "Back from the Dead"
  Chapter Two: "The Challenge"
  Chapter Three: "Win or DIE!"

[img:578:800]http://uk.geocities.com/philcom55/scalex.jpg[/img]

Packaged by Dez Skinn in 1980 for Hornby Hobbies Ltd this lavishly produced 40-page magazine was a combination comicbook/toy-catalogue, starring a car-racing superhero called Speedmaster. Apart from the cover shown above it contains a complete 21-page Speedmaster story written by Dez himself and illustrated in colour throughout by Ian Kennedy. This is punctuated by a further 18 pages of adverts for Scalextric sets, many of which also include Kennedy spot-illustrations in which characters from the strip enthusiastically say things like "Speed along to your local dealer right now!" (...Dez would probably be the first to admit that, though a first class editor, he was never the world's greatest writer! )

At the end of the strip readers were asked if they wanted "to see more of Speedmaster?", but this was the only issue I ever came across. I'd be interested to to know if any Scalextric fans out there can remember seeing him in other adventures at the time...or was he just a One-Race-Wonder?

- Phil Rushton

[moose]

hey...i had that. i'm off to my parents' house to look in the loft.

[philcom55]

Wildcat (Published by Fleetway from 22 Oct 88 - 25 March 89 )

[img:571:789]http://uk.geocities.com/philcom55/wildcat.jpg[/img]

Preview Issue (shown above): Includes a new 12-page story drawn by IK. B&W with colour cover and centrespread.

No. 1 - Cover, Free 'Alien Monster Poster' and 5-page 'Turbo Jones' story by IK.
No.2 - Cover and 3 Free 'Alien Monster Stickers' by IK.
No.3 - 3 Free 'Alien Monster Stickers' by IK.
No.4 - IK Cover.
No.6 - IK Cover.
No.10 - IK Cover.

Wildcat was finally discontinued after one Preview and 12 fortnightly issues. It merged with Eagle.

IK also contributed a free colour poster to the 17 June 89 issue of Eagle & Wildcat in which several Wildcat characters joined forces with the Mekon and two versions of Dan Dare to battle a particularly nasty Bug-Eyed Monster!

- Phil Rushton

[colcool007]

Another one to add in is Morgyn's Mob from Crunch and there is a few early Wizard Mk2 stories to be added in like Bill's Bowmen and assorted others. Don't have any of my Wizards to hand (No Harry Potter jokes please! ) so can't give any definite dates or additional info.