John Kent (cartoonist)

John Kent (21 June 1937 – 14 April 2003) was an New Zealand cartoonist who is best known as the author of the Varoomshka comic strip in the English newspaper The Guardian during the 1970s.

Born Oamaru, Kent was self-taught as an artist, influenced by Al Capp, creator of L'il Abner. He worked principally in felt-tip pen on A4 paper. Kent emigrated to England in 1959, working in advertising before his Grocer Heath strip was published in Private Eye in 1969. Varoomshka appeared in The Guardian from 1969 to 1979, Kent also contributing work to The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times and, from 1998, The Times where his La Bimba strip showed clear influences of the earlier Varoomshka.

External links

• Obituary from The Guardian
• Obituary from The Independent
• Biography from British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent