Ted McCall

Edwin Reid 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.

Career in comics Comic strips 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. 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. and were featured in trading cards from Willard's Chocolates. 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". Freelance ran from 1941 to January 1947. Robin Hood ran, under various titles, for the same time period. After Anglo-American closed its doors in 1947, McCall never produced anything for comics again.

Career after comics After the collapse of Anglo-American, McCall went on to become the Managing Editor of the Toronto Evening Telegram.