In 1977, when D.C. Thomson launched their new comic, Plug, a spin-off from The Bash Street Kids, Neill became the regular artist of the title character's strip, which he continued to draw after it merged with The Beezer two years later.
Neill then started drawing Billy Whizz in 1992, and became the strip's regular artist the following year when the Beano switched to full-colour printing.
While initially drawing the character in a loosely comparable style to David Parkins and Trevor Metcalfe when they shared the workload, once he was established as main artist he began making incremental changes to Billy's appearance.
In the Beano's 1997 reader vote, Neill drew Tim Traveller,[5] the boy with the time-travelling bike.
Billy Whizz was taken over by Graeme Hall, with Keith Reynolds becoming his replacement on Tim Traveller, but The Germs ended.