RICH BEYOND THE DREAMS OF AVARICE...

Back in the 20th century -1973 to be exact - an envelope addressed to myself popped through the letterbox one morning. Being only 14, receiving personal mail wasn't a regular occurrence, so naturally enough I wondered what it was. I soon found out - a postal order for £1 and a letter telling me that my "Creepy Creation" would be featured in the next issue of SHIVER & SHAKE.

When the day arrived, I duly 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 had 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 that had been inherent in my original drawing were still all-too obvious - surely Ken would have fixed them if he had completely redrawn my submission? Honest - that really seems to be my basic drawing under the super-slick inking style of the artist of FRANKIE STEIN and FACEACHE and dozens of other characters. The wings are a little more ornate than I would have originally rendered them, but what you're looking at above is, in all probability, a genuine Kid Robson/Ken 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 MARVEL UK's THE TITANS -  and was one of a 100 runners-up. To add insult to injury, I had 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.)