Golden Age comic book artist Ken Bald, best known for his work on the Dr. Kildare and Dark Shadows comic strips, passed away on March 17, 2019. He was 98 years old.
Ken Bald was born on August 1, 1920 in New York City, New York. Growing up, Bald always expressed an interest in the arts, primarily within the comic field. At 14, a piece of fan art drawn by Bald was published in More Fun Comic #9 from DC Comics precursor National Allied Publications. The artist went on to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, along with studying at the Ontario College of Art in Canada. Bald went on to join comic creator and art packager Jack Binder at his studio in New Jersey. His first professional work at this time was the seven-page story “Justice Laughs Last,” in Captain America Comics #7 from Marvel Comics precursor Timely Comics.
By 1942, Bald began drawing features including Golden Arrow, Captain Marvel, Captain Midnight, Bulletman, Bulletgirl, and Spy Smasher for Fawcett Comics. At the end of that year, Bald enlisted in the Marine Corps and served with the 5th Marine Regiment-1st Marine Division, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. Upon his return home, Bald met Stan Lee and became a frequent artist for Timely Comics. His credits include work on Captain America, The Human Torch, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Blonde Phantom, Sun Girl, Miss America and Namora, which he co-created with Lee. He also wrote and drew a number of Millie the Model and illustrated the teen-humor character Cindy in Georgie and Judy Comics and Junior Miss.
Throughout this time, Bald also worked for the American Comics Group on titles such as Adventures into the Unknown, The Clutching Hand, Forbidden Worlds, Out of the Night, Romantic Adventures, Lovelorn, and Spy-Hunters and Operation Peril. Along with advertising art for clients including Air France, Hetz and Xerox, Bald drew illustrations for pulp magazines as well as Judd Saxon for King Features Syndicate. During the 1960s, Bald and writer Elliot Caplin produced the daily strip Dr. Kildare, based on the television show of that name. Bald continued to draw the Dr. Kildare strip for 22 years, long after the television series had ended. Also based on a television series, Bald created the Dark Shadows comic strip.
When the Dr. Kildare strip ended in 1984, Bald officially retired from comics. However in 2016, he came out of retirement to illustrate a variant cover for Marvel’s Contest of Champions #2. This work led Guinness World Records to declare him the world’s oldest comic book artist and the oldest artist to illustrate a comic book cover, at age 96. His papers, including more than 2,900 pieces of original artwork for the Judd Saxon and Dr. Kildare comic strips, currently reside at Syracuse University Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Kenneth is survived by his wife of 76 years, the actress Kaye Dowd Bald, their five children, Karen Kondisko, Kenneth Bald III, Chris Averkiou, Victoria Dollon, and Valerie Scott, and their 11 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
