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| Copyright REBELLION |
Back in the 20th century - 1973 to be exact - an envelope addressed to myself popped through the letterbox one morning. Being only 14 or so, receiving personal mail wasn't a regular occurrence for me, so naturally enough I wondered what it was. I soon found out - a postal order for £1, along with a cover-note telling me that my "Creepy Creation" would be featured in the very next issue of SHIVER & SHAKE.
When the day arrived, I rushed out and bought a copy. Nevertheless, thrilled as I was about my moment of fame (to say nothing of my untold wealth), I was surprised to see that it seemed to be my actual drawing that had been printed - albeit with a super-duper, touch-up inking job by the mighty KEN REID. I'd hoped that my original drawing would be good enough to be published as is, but I was resigned to the likelihood that it would be completely redrawn by Mr. Reid himself.
But no - all the glaring imperfections of my original art were still all-too obvious - surely Ken would've fixed them if he'd completely redrawn my submission from scratch? Honest - that really appears to be my basic drawing under the super-slick inking style of the artist of FRANKIE STEIN and FACEACHE and loads of other characters. The wings are a bit more ornate than I would've rendered them, but what you're looking at is a genuine Robson/Reid collaboration.
Ken wasn't the only one to recognize quality when he saw it, though. (Relax - my tongue is half in my cheek.) A few years later, someone traced my character and submitted it to a competition in one of MARVEL's U.K. weeklies - and was one of a 100 runners-up. To add insult to injury, I'd also entered the competition and was amongst the top ten of those 100 runners-up, but my prize of a Treasury Edition must have been lost in the Twilight Zone because I never received it.
So feast your eyes - the only Kid Robson/Ken Reid drawing in existence. (I suppose his name really should come first - but it's my blog. And he got paid far more than a £1 for his share of the work.)
6 comments:
Ken was paid 12 pounds for this one :)
Huh! And I did at least half the work! There's no justice. (In fact, I'd have paid him another £12 for making my drawing look good with his added embellishment.)
Not many folk can claim that team-up,Kid.
I guess not many people would be so bold, Baab.
You really gave Basil Wolverton a run for his money there, Kid.
Thanks, JA, but that's really down to Ken Reid's inking. He's been compared to Basil Wolverton a few times, and I believe BW was an influence on his work. Not to overstate the case, but the original imperfections in my drawing remain, so if Reid didn't ink over it directly, then I believe he must have traced over my original before inking it in his detailed style. It's too exact to my original to be otherwise.
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