Brighton boy created comic series which went viral on X

Red Smith, from Hanover, Brighton, made a comic book featuring a character called Danger Sausage.

His neighbour bought it for £1 and posted images of the comic online – where it drew 1.3 million views on X, formerly Twitter.

The viral post caught the attention of comic book artist Jamie Smart who writes for weekly children’s comic The Phoenix.

Jamie said Red is the “comic-making superstar of the future”.

The 40-year-old said Red is a natural at creating comics and praised his ability to write funny tales.

Jamie Smart said Red Smith is a 'comic-making superstar of the future' (Image: PA)

 Jamie said: “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.”

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A page of Red Smith's comic featuring his character Danger Sausage (Image: PA)

Red’s story follows the adventures of Danger Sausage who must escape capture by his enemy The Black Pudding. The youngster 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 buy it.

Amelia Smith, Red and Echo’s mum, said her children were “thrilled” with the success.

She said: “I think Red put a sign up saying ‘free comics’ because no one came to buy them and then Keri took Danger Sausage and £1 through the letterbox. He was really thrilled with that.”

Little Red Smith 'sold' the comic with the help of his older sister Echo (Image: PA)

Amelia described her son as a “comedian” who taught himself to read through comic books.

She said: “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 reading, particularly boys.

“Red pretty much taught himself to read.”

She said Echo, who has since appointed herself head of merchandise for Danger Sausage, encouraged her brother to read.

Amelia said Red is an aspiring comic book writer and hopes to collaborate with Jamie in the future.

“He’s bashing out more comics as we speak. I ran out of paper so I had to go out and 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.”

Jamie said: “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.”

Jamie 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.