[3] After briefly working as a salesman, he joined the Amalgamated Press (later renamed Fleetway Publications) after submitting samples of artwork to them.
This was accepted and Butterworth was hired as a scriptwriter, at first working primarily Western strips featuring Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill.
In 1965, he became one of the main script writers for Ranger where he penned the sprawling science-fantasy The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire which remains one of the most popular boys' adventure strips published in the UK to this day.
His 1983 novel The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo was turned into the first musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Lucky Stiff, first performed off-Broadway for Playwrights Horizons in April of 1988.
His full name has led to some confusion between his work and that of science fiction writer and Savoy Books publisher Michael Butterworth.