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Jim Baikie, 2000 AD Artist, Dead at 77

By | January 3rd, 2018
Posted in News | % Comments
Jim Baikie in 1987
Down the Tubes reports Scottish comic book artist Jim Baikie died on December 29, 2017, at the age of 77. He was best known for creating the 2000 AD comic strip “Skizz” with Alan Moore in 1983, as well as various “Judge Dredd” stories written by John Wagner and Alan Grant from the same decade.

Baikie was born in Orkney on February 28, 1940. He served in the Royal Air Force from 1956 to 1963, and began drawing comics in 1966 for Fleetway’s Valentine magazine, drawing biographical strips about popular bands at the time (Baikie himself was a bass player, performing with various groups into the ’80s.) He drew licensed comics like Star Trek, Doctor Who and Thunderbirds for the pages of Look-in and TV21 & Joe 90, as well as many comic strips for girls’ magazines Valentine, Lady Penelope, and Jinty.

During the 1980s, Baikie co-created “Skizz,” an E.T.-inspired tale set in Birmingham with Moore for 2000 AD. Baikie was fond enough of the alien that he wrote and drew two sequels in the 1990s. He also branched out into American comics, co-creating “Electric Warrior” for DC Comics with Doug Moench in 1986, and penciling, inking and coloring the 1995 Dark Horse series “Star Wars: Empire’s End.” He was active into the early 2000s, co-creating Moore’s ‘First American’ in “Tomorrow Stories,” and contributing to Len Wein’s “The Victorian.”

Tributes have poured in to Baikie from many collaborators, colleagues and fans, including Al Ewing:

Artist David Roach told Down the Tubes, “As my frequent collaborator Alan Grant often said, the girls titles were particularly demanding, there was no hiding behind flashy layouts and glossy techniques, it was all about solid drawing, storytelling, observation and sensitivity. Jim quickly became one of the very best artists in the genre. These days it’s his stints on ‘2000 AD,’ Warrior, Look-In and ‘Star Trek’ which the fans are most likely to celebrate, understandably so, but I know he was very proud of his time drawing for girls. A great artist and a great chap. Here’s to you Jim.”

Baikie is survived by his wife Wendy, their five daughters Jacqueline, Jane, Vanessa, Caitrian and Ellen, as well as twelve grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.


//TAGS | obit

Christopher Chiu-Tabet

Chris is the news manager of Multiversity Comics. A writer from London on the autistic spectrum, he enjoys tweeting and blogging on Medium about his favourite films, TV shows, books, music, and games, plus history and religion. He is Lebanese/Chinese, although he can't speak Cantonese or Arabic.

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