Robin Hood and Company
| Ted McCall | |
|---|---|
| Born | Edwin Reid McCall 1901 Chatham, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 1975 Toronto? |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Area(s) | Writer |
|
Notable works
|
Robin Hood and Company |
| Awards | 2008 Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame |
Edwin Reid (Ted) McCall (born 1901 in Chatham, Ontario, died 1975) was a Canadian journalist, and a comic strip and comic book writer. He was best known for creating the first comic strip based on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Men of the Mounted for the Toronto Evening Telegram and the war hero Freelance for Anglo-American Publishing.
McCall was one of four children of Alexander McCall. He was married to Elise Donaldson (1899–1976) and had one son, Ted Jr.
On February 13, 1933, The Toronto Evening Telegram began publishing McCall's comic strip Men of the Mounted, drawn by Harry Hall. The strip starred Corporal Keene. It was the first strip based on the RCMP as well as being Canada's first regular adventure strip. Syndicated across Canada, it ran for two years until King of the Royal Mounted, an American strip, began to be published. McCall had approached King Features about syndicating his strip in the United States but was rejected. When King of the Royal Mounted was started, McCall felt they had plagiarized his idea. The last strip was published on February 16, 1935, the day before King of the Royal Mounted started. The strips were also adapted into a Big Little Book published by Whitman Publishing and were featured in trading cards from Willard's Chocolates.
A little over 7 months later, on September 23, 1935, McCall began another strip, this time based on the Robin Hood legends. Robin Hood and Company was illustrated by Charles Snelgrove and was also originally only published in the Telegram. Overall it was more successful and eventually was published internationally in more than 80 papers, including some in the US and Europe. Snelgrove died in late 1939 and, after a brief hiatus, the strip was continued by Syd Stein. The last strip was published on February 16, 1939 after Stein joined the army. The strip was popular and lasted a while because of "McCall's deft writing, inventive plots and earthy humor". It did not follow the traditional plots of the Robin Hood mythos but did include secondary characters such as Little John, Friar Tuck and Will Scarlett.
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