'DOODLE Of The DAY' (FROM TEN YEARS AGO)...

IRON MAN copyright MARVEL COMICS

Look what I found lurking amongst some papers the other day. I know what you're thinking: "That's not up to much!"  And you'd be right - if I were offering it as a prime example of my drawing skills, but I'm not.  The above sketch was produced during a tea break in the early hours of the morning when I worked as a supervisor in my local MOTOROLA plant some years back.

I put down some faint, rough guidelines with a blue pen and then finished it off with a black biro in about 10 or 15 minutes.  It's simply a sketch - a doodle - drawn for my own amusement - not a finished piece of 'proper' art designed to impress editors or anyone else.

But still - not too bad for what it is, eh?  The name?  DUNN KWIK is a non de plume I affix to any quick sketches dashed off in a hurry.  I couldn't possibly put my actual name on anything less than my best, now could I?  And yes, one day I intend to draw the thing properly - maybe even a painted version.  Anyone like to see that?

Okay, okay - keep your hair on.  I only asked.

SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY COVER GALLERY - PART NINE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY was a slightly odd name when you think about it.  As well as being a bit of a mouthful, two words were redundant.  We knew it was a comic that came out weekly, so why labour the point?  AVENGERS mag wasn't called The AVENGERS COMICS WEEKLY, neither were any other U.K. titles similarly named.  True, in 1979, when DEZ SKINN grasped the editorial reins, MWOM and SMCW were renamed MARVEL COMIC and SPIDER-MAN COMIC, and HULK COMIC featuring ol' Jade Jaws popped up not too long after, but at least the names were consistent.

Looking at the black, white and grey pages below, you may be wondering why I've been critical of them in previous posts, but I've cleaned and brightened up these pages for their presentation here, so they actually look better than in the published issues.  Though it's not so much the tones that I objected to, but the printing quality, which rendered them muddy, murky and completely unattractive.

The TALES Of ASGARD pages from #25 don't seem so bad, and had they been printed in a U.S. b&w monthly mag, they would've looked far better.  After all, it was the same team who applied the tones to the British mags as the American ones (which were softer on the eye) so it's fairly obvious it was the cheaper printing on the U.K. titles that let them down, not the application of the tones themselves.

Eventually, Marvel sorted things out and, for a while at least, managed to subdue the tones somewhat, before eventually doing away with them altogether.  When they did work, they worked well, but, as a glance through various back issues attests, too often they didn't work at all.  Never mind though, they're now part of history and, to many kids who grew up in the '70s, these grey-toned tales are meant to look that way.  Are you one of them?  Then who am I to say thee nay?!

      

PART TWO Of ALLY SLOPER #2...

Copyright relevant owner

Here are some more pages from ALLY SLOPER #2, featuring a nicely-detailed comic strip by KEITH PAGE, who would go on to illustrate some GERRY ANDERSON-themed strips some years later.  His technique in drawing machinery reminds me of that of RON TURNER - very nice indeed.

Third issue coming-up in the near future - be here!