Ken Bald

• Born 1920-08-01 · Died 2019-03-17

Ken Bald was a long time comic book artist, illustrator, and one-time holder of the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest working comic book artist. He did work in the Jack Binder studio that appeared in Street and Smith, Fawcett, Pines [Better], Feature Publications, and Lev Gleason. After serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Second World War, Bald would go on to work with Marvel, Ace, and American Comics Group. Ken Bald set up shop with writer Stan Lee to create material for other companies in the late 1940s. Bald illustrations for Street and Smith and Martin Goodman's pulp magazines sometime in the late 1940s. Bails reports Bald also did illustration work for David Cook Publishing's adaptation of The Bible. After comic book work, Bald moved into syndication work and he worked on: Judd Saxon daily (King Features Syndicate, 1957 series), pencil and inks, 1957-04-08 - 1961-XX-XX; Did You Know (?, ? series), pencils and inks signed just Ken, 196X-XX-XX - 196X-XX-XX [1961 dates known. Advertising comic panel sold in batched and varying frequencies to businesses.]; Doctor Kildare daily (King Features Syndicate, 1962 series), pencils and inks, 1962-10-15 - 1984-04-21; Doctor Kildare Sunday (King Features Syndicate, 1962 series), pencils and inks, 1962-10-21 - 1984-04-16; Dark Shadows daily (NEA / Dan Curtis Productions, 1971 series), writer, pencils, and inks under pen name K. Bruce, 1971-03-15 - 1972-03-11; and Dark Shadows Sunday (NEA / Dan Curtis Productions, 1971 series), writer, pencils, and inks under pen name K. Bruce, 1971-03-14 - 1972-03-05. After comic strip work, Bald had an extensive career in advertising. He first worked in the late 1970s for Diamond Studios and then, as Creative Director, for Gem Studios, from 1981 to 2004. With Diamond and Gem, he helped create art storyboards for television commercials for advertising agencies. Among the advertisements worked on included celebrity campaigns for Miller Lite and Right Guard, and the first AFLAC duck commercial in December 1999. Other known clients work was done for included Air France, General Electric, FedEx, Hertz, Xerox, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Warner Bros., Black Book directories, and Guinness.