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Kids Rule O.K.
"Kids Rule O.K." is a British comic science fiction adventure story published in the weekly anthology Action from 11 September to 16 October 1976 by IPC Magazines.
The strip concerns a near-future environmental disaster which kills off 90 percent of the world's adult population, leaving Britain under the control of roaming gangs of teenagers. "Kids Rule O.K." was published at the height of the British tabloid press-led moral panic over the contents of Action, and further stoked the outcry. As a result, the comic was suspended from publication after 16 October 1976, with just seven episodes of "Kids Rule O.K." published. When the sanitised Action returned to publication in December 1976 the strip was not continued.
IPC Magazines' new Action comic had already drawn critical articles in the likes of The Sun, Evening Standard and Daily Mail newspapers for its violence, moral depravity and anarchic attitude. The comic was an instant sales success however, and underwent the standard IPC method of dropping stories unpopular with readers in favour of new material. Boxing story "Blackjack" had been with the anthology since it debuted in February 1976 and outlived several others but began to decline in popularity and was effectively voted out in summer 1976 as it fell behind additions like "Look Out for Lefty" and "Death Game 1999". The idea for a replacement was devised by writer Chris Lowder, who had worked on the editorial staff of the defunct Lion but had been one of the few extant staff writers to respond well to the changes Action creators Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp had implemented. Lowder had already contributed episodes of "Blackjack" and "Dredger", as well as writing trucking drama "Hell's Highway" for Action.
Lowder drew inspiration from William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, and his original story notes outlined some of his thoughts: -
I'd like to get into this story a real Lord of the Flies atmosphere. The savagery of the kids who've had the reins taken off them. No discipline. No one bothering about anything, because there's stacks of supplies, petrol, canned food, and so on, left. Why think about tomorrow?... until something really drastic happens that convinces Ray that they can't go on like this... They've got to do it all themselves, and it's no joke from now on.
— Chris Lowder, quoted by Martin Baker, "11. When the Crumblies flipped it: Kids Rule OK...?", Action - The Story of a Violent Comic (11 August 1990)
To make the protagonists - a gang of youths led by a boy called Ray - more sympathetic, Lowder created an authoritarian threat in the form of police cadets, a group with a neo-fascist desire to take over the running of the beleaguered country. Working titles included "Kids' Power", "Lords of London", "After the Oldies Died" and "Dear Dad" before the final name was settled on. Lowder requested to be paired with artist Mike White due to their good working relationship with on "Hell's Highway", and editor John Smith complied.
For the third chapter of the story, "Kids Rule O.K." was selected to appear on the comic's cover. Carlos Ezquerra, a Spanish artist who had already made a popular impact with readers on Battle Picture Weekly strips such as "Rat Pack" and "Major Eazy". He contributed an image of Ray wielding a chain as he led an army of kids with similar improvised weaponry into combat against a background of urban destruction. In the foreground an adult cowered, while a police helmet was among the debris. In true comic book fashion, the cover only had a passing resemblance to the events of the instalment inside, which featured no adults - police or otherwise - and combat with shotguns rather than the more accessible chains and pipes wielded in the image. Nevertheless, the cover was seized upon by Action's detractors as featuring a gang of teenagers attacking a helpless police officer. Ezquerra for his part has always maintained the police helmet was not connected to the prone adult, pointing to the lack of similarity between his clothing and a police uniform, and that the colourist made an error in colouring them the same blue. The same issue featured an issue of football strip "Look Out for Lefty" where the title character's girlfriend threw an empty coke bottle onto the pitch during a game, leading to press claims that the strip was endorsing hooliganism.
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Kids Rule O.K.
"Kids Rule O.K." is a British comic science fiction adventure story published in the weekly anthology Action from 11 September to 16 October 1976 by IPC Magazines.
The strip concerns a near-future environmental disaster which kills off 90 percent of the world's adult population, leaving Britain under the control of roaming gangs of teenagers. "Kids Rule O.K." was published at the height of the British tabloid press-led moral panic over the contents of Action, and further stoked the outcry. As a result, the comic was suspended from publication after 16 October 1976, with just seven episodes of "Kids Rule O.K." published. When the sanitised Action returned to publication in December 1976 the strip was not continued.
IPC Magazines' new Action comic had already drawn critical articles in the likes of The Sun, Evening Standard and Daily Mail newspapers for its violence, moral depravity and anarchic attitude. The comic was an instant sales success however, and underwent the standard IPC method of dropping stories unpopular with readers in favour of new material. Boxing story "Blackjack" had been with the anthology since it debuted in February 1976 and outlived several others but began to decline in popularity and was effectively voted out in summer 1976 as it fell behind additions like "Look Out for Lefty" and "Death Game 1999". The idea for a replacement was devised by writer Chris Lowder, who had worked on the editorial staff of the defunct Lion but had been one of the few extant staff writers to respond well to the changes Action creators Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp had implemented. Lowder had already contributed episodes of "Blackjack" and "Dredger", as well as writing trucking drama "Hell's Highway" for Action.
Lowder drew inspiration from William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, and his original story notes outlined some of his thoughts: -
I'd like to get into this story a real Lord of the Flies atmosphere. The savagery of the kids who've had the reins taken off them. No discipline. No one bothering about anything, because there's stacks of supplies, petrol, canned food, and so on, left. Why think about tomorrow?... until something really drastic happens that convinces Ray that they can't go on like this... They've got to do it all themselves, and it's no joke from now on.
— Chris Lowder, quoted by Martin Baker, "11. When the Crumblies flipped it: Kids Rule OK...?", Action - The Story of a Violent Comic (11 August 1990)
To make the protagonists - a gang of youths led by a boy called Ray - more sympathetic, Lowder created an authoritarian threat in the form of police cadets, a group with a neo-fascist desire to take over the running of the beleaguered country. Working titles included "Kids' Power", "Lords of London", "After the Oldies Died" and "Dear Dad" before the final name was settled on. Lowder requested to be paired with artist Mike White due to their good working relationship with on "Hell's Highway", and editor John Smith complied.
For the third chapter of the story, "Kids Rule O.K." was selected to appear on the comic's cover. Carlos Ezquerra, a Spanish artist who had already made a popular impact with readers on Battle Picture Weekly strips such as "Rat Pack" and "Major Eazy". He contributed an image of Ray wielding a chain as he led an army of kids with similar improvised weaponry into combat against a background of urban destruction. In the foreground an adult cowered, while a police helmet was among the debris. In true comic book fashion, the cover only had a passing resemblance to the events of the instalment inside, which featured no adults - police or otherwise - and combat with shotguns rather than the more accessible chains and pipes wielded in the image. Nevertheless, the cover was seized upon by Action's detractors as featuring a gang of teenagers attacking a helpless police officer. Ezquerra for his part has always maintained the police helmet was not connected to the prone adult, pointing to the lack of similarity between his clothing and a police uniform, and that the colourist made an error in colouring them the same blue. The same issue featured an issue of football strip "Look Out for Lefty" where the title character's girlfriend threw an empty coke bottle onto the pitch during a game, leading to press claims that the strip was endorsing hooliganism.