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KENNETH (KEN) BALD

BiographyAmerican comic book and comic strip artist born 1920 in New York City. Kenneth (Ken) Bald graduated from Pratt Institute in New York and immediately started working in the comic book field. He was first with the Binder shop then moved to the Beck-Costanza studio. His credits for this period (1941-43) include, either under his own name or the pen name "K. Bruce": "Captain Marvel" and "Bulletman" for Fawcett; "Doc Strange" for Pines; "Doc Savage" for Street & Smith; "Black Owl" for Prize; and "Captain Battle" for Gleason. In 1943 Bald was called to serve in the Marine Corps. He fought in New Guinea and New Britain, served as an intelligence officer in Okinawa and in Peking before being discharged with the rank of captain in 1946. Back in civilian life Ken Bald resumed his career as an advertising and comic book artist, drawing romance comics for Marvel and doing illustration work. In 1957 King Features Syndicate asked him to draw the newly-created "Judd Saxon," about a young executive on his way up in the business world. In 1963 he abandoned "Saxon" to illustrate the comic strip version of "Dr. Kildare" which was then a hit television series. In 1971, in addition to his work on "Kildare," he took up the drawing of "Dark Shadows" (also based on a TV show) but the strip was dropped the following year.

Person TypeIndividual