Douglas Francis Maxted was born in London in 1914, and moved to Adelaide, Australia as a young child. He studied art, served in the war and then was employed as machine operator with a refrigerator manufacturer. He was asked to do comics for publisher H. E. Hoffmann, where he worked on 'Uncle Si', 'The Family Next Door, 'Pirate Pete' and 'Rollo of the Big Top' and created the characters of Dick Weston, Star Reporter and Big Rick Roland in 1944. In 1947, Doug Maxted started publishing his own 'Ben Barbary Bushranger Comics', which included titles such as 'Vesta the Vesuvian', 'Captain Carver', 'Little Bosco' and 'Peter Dragon of Scotland Yard'.
The rising cost of printing as well as competition of American comic books forced Maxted to quit publishing in 1949. He continued working for several advertising agencies and contributing to comics. He became art director of Rigby Ltd. Book Publishers in 1958, a position that he left in 1962 to move to England. There he worked for several British comic publishers until 1983, when he and his family returned to Australia.
