Firstly, British comics need some explaining.  They are unique.  A 'comic strip' in Britain is this sort of thing.  Peanuts, on the other hand, is a 'cartoon strip' to us.  A 'comic' is what a comic strip like Skid Kidd appeared in.  The best way to explain how a comic looks would be to imagine a US Sunday Funny from 50 years ago, when Polly and her Pals and Krazy Kat had a full-page to themselves, so,  full-pages, sometimes two or three, of one character, or group of characters, all by different artists, all wrapped up in the same cover.

 When I submitted ideas to IPC, in the 1980s, they were one of the two comic-producing superpowers in the UK, with a wide range of comic titles.  Of these, two giants, IPC was the most interesting, featuring, as it did, the work of several Punch cartoonists, Guardian editorial cartoonist, Steve Bell, and most of the British underground scene.

 

 

 

Cartoons and illustrations, in line and in color, by Rod McKie have been published for more than 20 years in a variety of publications including Punch, Accountancy, Penthouse, Mayfair, Club, and all the UK's national press. He has worked as a writer/artist on IPC Magazines Buster comic, and continues to do some work in the UK for Prospect Magazine, and other titles. He now work mainly in the USA for a number of clients, including The Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and Readers Digest.

 
 

 

 

When I began writing and drawing the Mike Kidd character, for Buster, I had a number of clear intentions, one was to draw at least two pages a week (or there was no point doing it, financially), which would also allow me to write an ongoing story that would span several issues.  And another was to draw the panels  as sort of key - animation scenes.  I also wanted the comic strip to feature a cast of regular villains and super machines, rather than the usual IPC juvenile comic style, which was one joke, one page, one punned-ending. 

I got my way for only a very short period of time.  I was eventually given a writer to work with and the character was given the standard punny, one-page adventures.

 

 


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