The text of this post is part of Ken Reid biography that I wrote for a project that now seems to be dead, which I think is very sad...
“Dare-A-Day Davy”
in POW!, illustrated by Ken Reid and written (mostly) by Walt Thorburn, featured a boy who couldn’t
resist a dare. Dares were supplied by “POW!” fans who were offered a pound for
every idea used. In the beginning of each episode Davy was torn between common
sense and an irresistible urge to take on the dare, no matter how crazy or dangerous
it was.
Vance
Gledhill of Blackpool, Lancs., dared Davy to no less than dig up
Frankenstein-monster’s remains and bring him back through the kiss of life.
Davy had done lots of naughty and nasty things before but until then he’d never
desecrated a grave or kissed a worm-infested fungus-covered skull, so Bart and
Alf decided to spare the readers of “POW!” of the gory tale.
Ken, however,
wasn’t the only person responsible for its horridness: “Frankenstein” was drawn
to Walt Thorburn’s script, so the writer was at least partly culpable
Odhams
Press didn’t reject the episode or contact Ken about it. Ken received his check
for the artwork and there is no evidence of his knowledge that the page was
withheld from print. It was rescued by Steve Moore, then an Odhams Press’
employee, later a comics writer whose work featured in most of the major
British comics, and printed in the first issue of “Weird Fantasy” comics
fanzine published in the Winter of 1969 by David Britton – a British author and
artist, later a co-founder of the publishing house “Savoy Books” that reprinted a couple of Ken's original Fudge books.
Contrary
to what some people believe, “Frankenstein” was not the last episode of
“Dare-A-Day Davy”. The reason which may have given rise to the belief was the
number “90” hand-written by Ken at the
top left corner of the original “Frankenstein” artwork reprinted in “Weird
Fantasy”, implying that this may have been the 90th episode of “Dare-A-Day
Davy”, whereas only 86 issues of “POW!” had been published. “Frankenstein” was in fact the 64th episode of those drawn by
Ken, while the “90” was the result of an error in Ken’s paybook when he turned
a new page and started the numbering of his “Dare-A-Day Davy” episodes at 74
instead of 47, and carried on with it until the very end of the run.
Below
is the cover of the fanzine that reprinted the Frankenstein episode, followed by
the inside pages with the episode itself, the editor’s comment on Ken Reid and
an artist’s take on Fudge, drawn in the style of American underground comix of
the times (1969 or thereabouts).
