John Kent

Who was John Kent?

John Kent was a 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 in Oamaru, Kent was self-taught as an artist, influenced by Al Capp, creator of Li'l 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 echoes of the earlier Varoomshka.