Kennedy was born in Dundee, Scotland, on September 22, 1932. Growing up surrounded by airfields during the Second World War, he was inspired to become an RAF pilot, but an ear condition led him to pursue art instead. After leaving school, he found employment as a trainee illustrator at publisher DC Thomson in 1949, where his first job was inking the black boxes of the crossword in The Sunday Post. He went freelance after starting a family a few years later, but continued to work for DC Thomson on a number of titles, particularly “Commando,” “Thriller Picture Library,” and “Air Ace,” where he got to explore his interest in the war and military aircraft.
By the 1980s, Kennedy was a regular on the increasingly popular genre of British sci-fi comics, including IPC’s “2000 AD” and “Starlord” (not to be confused with the Marvel character), as well as the “Dan Dare” revival in Eagle magazine, and tie-in comics based on Blake’s 7 and M.A.S.K. He memorably combined his expertise with futuristic worlds, and his fascination with World War II, on the cover of 1985’s “2000 AD” Prog 446, which sees German Messerschmitt Bf 109s being transported to Mega-City One, as a time-displaced pilot screams, “Himmel! This isn’t Stalingrad!”
You can find out more about Kennedy from 2000 AD’s obituary, as well as a 2021 interview with The Sunday Post, and his official website. Reflecting on his life last year, Kennedy told the Post, “Fans will talk to me on Facebook about past covers I’ve done, many of which when I look at them I have to think twice about whether I did actually do them, because sometimes I’ll say, ‘Gee, I wish I could paint as well as that.’ I think most writers and artists would agree when I say that while the money is handy, it’s the sense of achievement that means everything.” He is survived by his wife Gladys, and their family, including four great-grandchildren.