Edward Kenneth “Ken” Dove; 3 November 1935 – 14 May 2025.

This is the article I wrote for Inkspot, the Journal of the Australian Cartoonists Association.

​Ken Dove was born in Brisbane. He married Judy in 1957 and had two children, Kerry and Stephen. He worked in various full-time jobs: clerking, office and warehouse managing (and even a stint as a security patrol officer) before he decided – in 1976, at age 41 – that his “first love” was cartooning! He made a commitment to himself that he would give himself five years to get a full-time job in the business.
Initially, the work came from creating many single-panel gags, freelancing in magazines like Australasian Post, People, Racing Car News and Motor Manual. Three sample series were developed, with Dizzy Daisies (about gardening) running in Ken’s local suburban newspaper (and, later, the Townsville Bulletin) until he “ran out of ideas”.
Ken placed an advertisement in the Australian Journalists magazine seeking a gag writer. John Duthie was one writer who responded, and together they created a series called Punters Glossary (about horse and dog racing). In late 1978, Ken became employed as a full-time artist for Nationwide Souvenirs, drawing Australian Pubs which were then screen printed onto T-shirts. He also secured the commission of caricaturing John Ryan for the seminal work on Australian comics, Panel by Panel.
Unfortunately, the market for T-shirts faded quickly. Ken was still able to carry on cartooning though. He began drawing a cartoon called Slattery Creek when his writing collaborator, Bob Morrow, decided to move his family from Adelaide to Queensland. About that time (December 1980), Ken’s first marriage ended. He moved closer to Bob’s family in Bauple (between Maryborough and Gympie). “[It allowed us] to continue our joint effort without relying on the postal service to relay ideas and progress drawings”.
While waiting for the strip to be marketed by Sol Shifrin, Ken and Bob developed a series of black and white greeting cards. Their work came to the attention of Murray Views in 1981, leading to Ken being employed as an artist designing images for this nationally distributed tea towels and postcard souvenirs company. He worked for them for eight years.
Ken’s workmate Joy was a member of the Gympie Arts Society and encouraged him to join. In winter 1982, Ken fell ill to a severe case of the Flu. He gave up cigarettes, was nursed back to health by Joy, and began his life-long spiritual journey by becoming a committed Christian.
The following year, the Arts Society had an “Art in the Park” promotion, and Ken undertook doing life drawings of people for the very first time. When conducting a cartooning course for the Society, Ian Pedley (the editor of The Gympie Times) noticed his talent and offered him the opportunity to draw a weekly political cartoon. The emphasis was on the goings-on of the local Gympie district and surrounds. It was an association that lasted ten years.
In December 1985, another association took place – Ken and Joy married. In 1989, Murray Views offered Ken an opportunity to train in computer graphics. However, Ken declined and instead chose to set up his own business as a live caricature artist. At the time, construction had begun in building Australia’s second Ettamogah Pub (based on the Australasian Post’s cartoons by Ken Maynard). Proprietor Lindsay Cooper was agreeable and thus began Ken Dove’s seventeen year (or approximately 64,000 drawing) run as a caricaturist! “Where better to set up for a ready supply of Aussie and international visitors looking for some Aussie humour?” reasoned Ken.
From 1998 to 2000, Ken and his wife Joy travelled from Brisbane to Cairns, where they followed three tours of Queensland’s Agricultural Shows. However, the touring exacted a toll: Joy suffered from bronchiectasis. After continuing to work locally, Ken chose to retire in 2007 (aged 72) and became Joy’s full-time carer for the next six years.
Ken returned to work in 2014-5, travelling with Queensland Shows from Maryborough to Cairns. “[I was not] so keen on the physical discipline of early rising …setups and dismantling the gear” and retired again at age 80 in 2016. By then, Ken was living in a gated community on the Sunshine Coast. He decided to join a music ensemble, and it was here that he met Barbara. They married in 2016.
For most of Ken’s life, he held dear his Seventh Day Adventist faith. He was a very active member of his local community. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack and didn’t quite make it to his 90th birthday (something he was looking forward to)! I’ve known Ken since 1983 – when we worked together on a comic book, still unpublished – and I always found him to be a gentle, kind man with a wonderful sense of humour. He’ll be sadly missed.  

I've spent the past week or two making headway in my "music-come-comic room" (essentially, our home's double garage). For years, yes years, I have worked around my disarray within this space, and I have finally done something about it! It's now positively organised!

​I'm not sure where I am going to fit all the stock of the new books in, though...! Iron Outlaw is still getting proof-read/corrected. I was going to work on the new John Dixon/Air Hawk volume, but I'm still searching for a specific article I need to include in the first volume. (I'm sure it's in my filing cabinet!) In the meantime, Dillon Naylor has asked me to publish another of his books. How can I say "No"?! And, because I like to keep you, dear Reader, up to speed before everyone else, here's the scoop....

Yep! There it is! The next book to be published by Comicoz! Pop Culture & 2 Minute Noodles. It's going to be a 270+ page hardcover volume, featuring all the comics from the early 1990s as well as about 30 pages of all-new material. Dillon Naylor and designer Jeremy Macpherson have been working hard on this for months and are now finishing off the layouts. The Kickstarter will be announced later this month, 

I'm also slated to appear at my one-and-only show for 2025. Coming up in early August is my favourite event: Comicstreet in the Queen Steet Mall on August 2nd! Following my radio conversation with Steve Austin of ABC Radio Brisbane a few weeks ago, there was talk of a live broadcast happening at the event. I'm not sure if that's still the case, although it would be a wonderful exposure for the local comic creators if it does take place. Still, something I am looking forward to...!