Maureen Gray (1940-2005)

"The Fantastic Adventures of Adam Ant" from TV Tops

Maureen Anne Gray, née Lusk, was born in Pollok, Glasgow, in 1940, daughter of John Neilson Lusk, an art teacher, and his wife Margarey Wheatcroft Lusk, née McMillan. She married Gordon Gray in Glasgow in 1967, although their usual residence at the time was in Amsterdam. Both were already graphic artists. In collaboration with her husband, she drew "Kid's Army" and adaptations of TV and pop music tie-ins like Fame and "The Fantastic Adventures of Adam Ant" for DC Thomson's TV Tops comic, c. 1982. They then started working for Look-In, drawing "Buck's Fizz" (1983-84), "The Story So Far" (1985-86), "Airwolf" (1986-87) and "The Five Star Life" (1987). The pair usually signed their work "Gray". The couple also illustrated numerous books between 1974 and 2003. The Grays were based in Dunoon, Scotland, and Maureen died there in 2005, aged 64. A graphic novel she illustrated, The Haunting of Julia, based on Mary Hooper's children's novel Thirteen Candles, was published by Stone Arch Fantasy in 2007.

References

• Denis Gifford, Encyclopedia of Comic Characters, Longman, 1987, pp. 123
• Comics UK forum
• Steve Holland, Maureen & Gordon Gray, Illustration Art Gallery, 1 October 2012
• Colin Shelbourn: An Interview with the editor of Look-In, The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History