Robert Duncan Low was a Scottish comics writer and editor. Employed by D. C. Thomson & Co., he was responsible for their line of comics, and, as a writer, co-created Oor Wullie

Oor Wullie

Oor Wullie is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper, The Sunday Post. It features a boy named William, known as Wullie . His trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he often uses as a seat...

and The Broons

The Broons

The Broons is a comic strip in Scots published in the weekly Scottish newspaper, The Sunday Post. It features the Broon family, who live in a tenement flat at 10 Glebe Street, in the fictional Scottish town of Auchentogle or Auchenshoogle . They are also shown as living on Glebe Street...

with artist Dudley D. Watkins

Dudley D. Watkins

Dudley Dexter Watkins was a British cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for his characters Oor Wullie and The Broons; comic strips featuring them have appeared in Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post since 1936, along with annual compilations...

.

The son of Robert Brown Low, a jute mill

Jute mill

Originally, a jute mill was a factory for processing jute. The first jute mill was established in Dundee, Scotland. The world's largest jute mill was the Adamjee Jute Mills at Narayanganj in Bangladesh. It closed all operations during 2002....

 mechanic, and Maggie Wilson Low, he joined DC Thomson as a journalist and rose to become managing editor in charge of the children's publications department. Having launched the "big five" story paper

Story paper

*This article is about British Story papers. For the U.S. version, see Dime novel.A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers...

s Adventure (1921), The Rover

The Rover (comics)

The Rover was a British boys' comic which started in 1922. The comic merged with Adventure in 1961 and later merged with The Wizard in 1963. The comic eventually folded in 1973....

(1922), The Wizard

The Wizard (DC Thomson)

The Wizard was launched as a weekly British story paper on 22 September 1922, published by It was merged with The Rover in September 1963, becoming Rover and Wizard, and renamed The Rover in August 1969. The Wizard was relaunched on 14 February 1970, and continued until 10 June...

(1923), The Skipper (1930) and The Hotspur

Hotspur (comics)

The Hotspur was a British boys' paper published by D. C. Thomson & Co. It was launched on 2 September 1933 as a story paper, the last of the 'Big Five'...

(1933), he developed a comic supplement for the weekly newspaper The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post

The Sunday Post is a weekly newspaper published in Dundee, Scotland by DC Thomson, and characterised by a 'folksy' mix of news, sentimental stories and short features...

, the "Fun Section" (1936). It included two comic strips in Scots vernacular he had co-created with Dudley D. Watkins

Dudley D. Watkins

Dudley Dexter Watkins was a British cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for his characters Oor Wullie and The Broons; comic strips featuring them have appeared in Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post since 1936, along with annual compilations...

, a staff illustrator on the story papers: The Broons

The Broons

The Broons is a comic strip in Scots published in the weekly Scottish newspaper, The Sunday Post. It features the Broon family, who live in a tenement flat at 10 Glebe Street, in the fictional Scottish town of Auchentogle or Auchenshoogle . They are also shown as living on Glebe Street...

, about a working-class Scottish family, and Oor Wullie

Oor Wullie

Oor Wullie is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper, The Sunday Post. It features a boy named William, known as Wullie . His trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he often uses as a seat...

, about a mischievous young boy (based on Low's son Ron), alongside Auchentogle, drawn by Chic Gordon, and strips by Allan Morley

Allan Morley

Allan Morley was a British comic artist. He first worked for DC Thomson in 1925, drawing a number of comic strips for the Sunday Post and for DC Thomson's story papers including The Wizard, where he drew Nero and Zero. He also drew a number of strips for both The Beano and The Dandy from the late...

 including Nero and Zero and Nosey Parker.

In 1937, as managing editor, he oversaw the launch of DC Thomson's first comic, The Dandy

The Dandy

The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...

, edited by Albert Barnes, followed by The Beano

The Beano

The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...

, edited by George Moonie, in 1938. The Magic Comic

The Magic Comic

The Magic Comic was the ill fated third comic to The Beano and The Dandy. It was aimed at a younger audience, with more emphasis on picture stories. The first issue was published on 22 July 1939. The comic ran for only 80 issues until 25 January 1941...

, for slightly younger readers, followed in 1939 but folded in 1941 due to paper shortages. The next comic launched was The Topper in 1953. Also in 1953, Low co-created "Roger the Dodger

Roger the Dodger

This is the article for The Beano comic strip, for other uses please see Roger the Dodger Roger the Dodger is a fictional character featured regularly in the UK comic The Beano...

", with artist Ken Reid, for The Beano.