A comic book writer has described a six-year-old boy who created a viral series based on his character as the “comic-making superstar of the future”.
Red Smith, six, from Brighton, created a comic book featuring a character called Danger Sausage which was trending on X after his neighbour bought his series for £1 and posted images of the comic online – earning 1.3 million views on the social media platform.
The viral post caught the attention of comic book artist Jamie Smart who writes series for weekly children’s comic, The Phoenix.
The 40-year-old from Kent said Red is a natural at writing comics and praised his ability to write funny tales.
Mr Smart told the PA news agency: “I think it’s brilliant. One of the trickiest things in comics, especially to children’s humour, is the pacing and the timing.
“You make quite surreal jokes, so for them to hit and be funny you really need a knack for the timing. Red has got that already. They’re hilarious comics he’s making.
“He absolutely knows how to make comics, how to tell stories and how to be funny with these characters. I think this is a comic-making superstar of the future.”
Mr Smart is best known for writing comic book series Bunny Versus Monkey and Looshkin, which is about a blue cat causing chaos and features Danger Sausage – the character Red was inspired by.
“There was a story in the third book, which we released earlier this year, where Danger Sausage had more of a sort of James Bond kind of adventure… and I think this is where Red got the characters from,” Mr Smart explained.
“I think it’s really important to encourage kids to be artistic and creative because often these are ways to express yourself in ways that perhaps you can’t in real life.”
Red’s story follows the adventures of Danger Sausage who must escape his capture from his enemy The Black Pudding.
The six-year-old wrote, drew and stapled together the comic before setting up a stall with his eight-year-old sister, Echo, which prompted neighbour Keri Warbis to purchase the story.
Amelia Smith, mother to Red and Echo, told PA her children were “thrilled” after Ms Warbis bought the Danger Sausage series.
She told PA: “I think (Red) put a sign up saying ‘Free Comics’ because no-one came to buy them and then Keri took Danger Sausage and a pound through the letterbox. He was really thrilled with that.”
She said Echo, who has since appointed herself head of merchandise for Danger Sausage, encouraged her brother to read.
Ms Smith described her son as a “comedian” who taught himself to read through comic books and feels Mr Smart’s comics help with children’s reading.
“He’s made comics for a couple of years. He’s always loved the Jamie Smart books. I think Jamie Smart’s comics are really good at getting kids, particularly boys, at getting them reading,” she said.
“(Red) pretty much taught himself to read.”
Ms Smith said Red is an aspiring comic book writer and hopes to collaborate with Mr Smart in the future.
“He’s bashing out more comics as we speak. I ran out of paper so I had to go out an buy some,” she said.
“He’s asking me if he can write a comic with Jamie Smart and do a Red Smith-Jamie Smart collab.
“But I said he’s got to tidy his bedroom first and keep it tidy.”
Ms Smith described the viral post as being “a bit mental” and said the light-hearted nature of the story was enjoyed by many.
“There’s so much misery in the media and in the news at the moment, so presumably people just latch onto something that’s not miserable and depressing,” she said.