Fred Kida facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fred Kida |
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Fred Kida, late in life
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| Born | December 12, 1920 Brooklyn, New York City |
| Died | April 3, 2014 (aged 93) |
| Area(s) | Penciller, Inker |
| Pseudonym(s) | Kid, KID |
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Notable works
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Airboy |
Fred Kida (born December 12, 1920 – died April 3, 2014) was a talented Japanese-American artist. He drew many comic books and comic strips. He is best known for his work on the 1940s aviator hero Airboy. He also drew for Marvel Comics and its earlier version, Atlas Comics. In the 1980s, he drew The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. Kida also helped artist Dan Barry with the Flash Gordon strip.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Start in Comics
Fred Kida was born on December 12, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York City. He grew up in Manhattan. He went to the American School of Design to study art.
In 1941, Kida started working in the comic book field. This was during the "Golden Age of Comic Books". This period, from the late 1930s to the 1950s, saw comic books become very popular. He began as an inker, adding ink lines to drawings. His first known work was "Phantom Clipper" in Military Comics #9 in 1942.
Working on Airboy and Other Comics
In 1942, Kida joined Hillman Periodicals. There, he drew features like "Iron Ace" and "Gunmaster." The next year, he started working on his most famous character from the Golden Age, Airboy. Airboy was a hero who flew airplanes.
Kida continued drawing Airboy until 1948. After that, he worked on crime comics like Crime Does Not Pay. From 1949 to 1951, he drew Western, crime, and romance comics for Lev Gleason Publications. Sometimes, he signed his work as Kid or KID.
In 1952, he started working for Atlas Comics. This company later became Marvel Comics. At Atlas, he drew Western characters like the Ringo Kid and the Two-Gun Kid. He also drew the medieval hero the Black Knight. Kida also worked on humor, horror, and war stories.
Kida returned to Marvel Comics in the 1970s. He mostly worked as an inker. He inked stories for characters like Iron Man, Godzilla, Ka-Zar, and Luke Cage. His last known comic book work was in 1987.
Comic Strips
Besides comic books, Fred Kida also worked on newspaper comic strips. In 1941, he helped Will Eisner with The Spirit comic book. He also helped with the Judge Wright strip from 1946-47. For a short time, he assisted Milton Caniff on the Steve Canyon strip.
Most famously, Kida helped Dan Barry draw the long-running Flash Gordon strip. He worked on it from 1958 to 1961 and again from 1968 to 1971. Kida also drew The Amazing Spider-Man comic strip himself. He drew it from August 1981 to July 1986. He returned to draw the Sunday editions from September 1996 to July 1997.
Personal Life
Fred Kida married Elly Ahnert on October 5, 1946. They had two sons, Paul and Peter. He was an elder in the Port Chester Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Fred Kida passed away on April 3, 2014.
See also
In Spanish: Fred Kida para niños
