...Hero or Villain?..

I said "No".  

Terry Wright at the the Denver Trust offered me various dates to carry out a third presentation or demo evening with the Denver Trust. 

I said "No" several times.

My first presentation - 'A Pictorial Pen & Ink Journey' - had me discussing my Norfolk work and passing around original artwork to one and all. 

My second demo - 'Good or Evil? You decide!' - I split the audience into two groups, and we designed two opposing characters - Denver Dan and Evil Edna.

What else was there to do? - How could I follow 'Good or Evil - you Decide!'?

And then the lightning bolt hit me - why not design superhero or super-villain versions of the Trust members themselves?!

When I asked Terry for some photographs of the members - I expected the Fantastic Four. A disc featuring 34 members in various poses (including Fen the cat) arrived - I got the Legion of Superheroes! 

I set about producing drawings of the unwitting participants, and designed a couple of comic book style flyers to lure them to the Norfolk nexus of cosmic creativity - Denver Village Hall!

Len

Dawn

Dawn

Margaret and Stan

Gerry

Eileen

I prepared a series of pencil layouts from a random selection of twelve 'volunteers' from the photos, which I could expand into a variety of costumes and characters - Project Second Genesis was ready to go.

Teresa & Len

On the evening, while the group enjoyed early evening refreshments I began with a marker to sketch in the first layout portraying Dawn Camp as the New Gods warrior woman - 'Big Barda'. Owing to either third night nerves, stage fright (or both), I found it difficult to relax, and the drawing was not as strong or confident as I would like it to have been. 

The drawing was less New genesis, and more Apokalips. 

Still - got to start somewhere...

Dawn as Big Barda.

With the full attention of the audience I realised it was time to go for it, and chose to continue with a drawing of Trust member Len Algar, who although unable to attend, would dominate the evening in his absence as none other than Weapon X (or Weapon L if you prefer) - Wolverine!

 

Len Algar as Wolverine!

Various names were heckled for this new version of Logan, Lenarine got less votes, so we went with - what else - Lemon Meringue!

Unintentionally, the next candidate for reinvention was also absent - Len's wife Teresa. Well, while we were on the subject of Wolverine, I had to mention that there was now a female character called Wolverine. So why not carry on the family tradition and give Mrs Algar a set of Adamantium claws?

Don't ask me why cakes, but we went from Cheesecake to TeresaCake to - well you know...

I just draw 'em.

Teresa as T-Cake!

Right - I've got a bold confident line going now - I'm giving as good as I get to the various hecklers in the audience (you know who you are) - I'm kind of on a roll. It's time for The Valkyrie!

While Len and Teresa were absent on two counts, Valkyrie model Dawn more than made up for it as she was present twice. OK - two photos of the same person - I thought it was two different people. 

Here she is in her second reincarnation as the one and only original Valkyrie AKA The Dawn Rider!

Dawn as the Valkyrie.

I offered the group Stan and Margaret as the next prospective superheroes or villains - but this time they said "No" - "Let's have someone who's here tonight!" 

Hmmm. Who could I draw now? Ahh - Treasurer Gerry Ryan. How about Gerry people?

I searched the audience for an answer and caught a glimpse of my Dennis the Menace drawing from the Menace, Mischief and Peril Demo.

Dennis/Thanos - inspiration for Gerry!

And that's how Gerry became Thanos! The Auditor!!

Gerry as the Auditor!

 
It was somewhere near the end now - it seemed to be going well so I asked if they fancied another drawing. There was a moments silence, and then a unanimous 'Yes!"

The final layout was for Eileen. Two weeks earlier I held a 'A Pictorial Pen & Ink Journey' in the same village hall for the Denver Ladies. Eileen was also in attendance then, and mentioned the forthcoming 'Super-You! Are You Hero or Villain?' Trust demo and 'Whip Lady' in the same breath. 

Well that was it for me. Having previously conjured up Denver Dan and Evil Edna, I was haunted for fourteen days by who, or what the Whip Lady might be...

Needless to say the comments and suggestions came fast an furious. Here she is in all her glory - the Whip Lady herself, alias Cup Cake!

I can't lay all the blame on the members - I thought Dave in the front row said 'tutu' - and drew accordingly. When asked again Dave said he had said 'two-tier cake' ( as in jump out of ). I explained that in the rarefied atmosphere by the easel - I can't hear so good...

1st appearance of Big Barda - 1971.

A big heroic thank you to all members - those whose likenesses took part, and those whose suggestions guided my hand. 

And those - who striking a dramatic pose - unwittingly took part while being somewhere else entirely, (proving you can be in two places at once).

1st appearance of Valkyrie - 1970

 

Thanks also to Terry and Toad whose persistence brought me back a titanic third time. 

...ready to make it a fantastic fourth.










 

...The Incredible Dennis and Wolverine Beryl!...

The time: 1.30pm
The place: Downham Market Library...
The mission (should you accept): Who are Dennis and Beryl?

I started the workshop taking suggestion from the group on how to draw Dennis and Beryl. I sketched in a pencil layout and went back in with Posca pens and Promarkers. In an effort to draw quickly - I think Dennis came out a little looser than I expected. 

While Dennis appeared in a traditional 'running at you' pose, I drew Beryl as if she might be riding a skateboard...

Sure - it could have been a skate board. Or a train, or a rocket ship, or a tiger. After much deliberation - we chose the Silver Surfer's intergalactic surfboard! What else?

Just to place Beryl in context, I added blazing suns and stars above and the planet Earth below. Makes a change from Dundee.

While I was working on the easel I could hear the sound of pencil and marker on paper. The kids had wisely begun drawing and colouring their own versions of Dennis and Beryl using the template sheets I designed. Which is just as well since it was taking me longer than I thought to carry out these first two 'quick sketches'. 

I was a comic fan from the early 60s, so for me there was no getting away from Superheroes and Supervillains while I was planning this workshop. I produced some examples of Dennis and Beryl as Marvel characters, and for the second set of drawings, asked the children which hero or villain they would like me to combine with Dennis and Beryl.

 

Michael - I think - suggested Venom, and/or Spider-Man for Dennis. Since Spider-Man is like no other character, and can stick to walls and contort, well - like a spider, we drew him upside down. I remembered an old Spider-Man story where he actually grew four more arms, so Dennis was voted to have a total of eight limbs! Swinging on a web wearing half a Spidey mask - he's your friendly neighbourhood Incredible Dennis!

I may be mistaken, but I think Dexter suggested drawing Beryl with Wolverine claws.  She is wearing a customised Weapon X version of her traditional skirt and short sleeves in the style of Wolverine's original yellow and blue costume. 'Course we need to come up with a name - an 'XB' chest logo for 'X-Men Beryl' - and a text logo for 'Wolverine Beryl' - watch out Korky the Kat and the Bash Street Kids!

 

While all this creativity was going on parent and volunteer alike were joining in and contributing their own ideas to the afternoon's imagineering!

I shouldn't be surprised, but while discussing the various incarnations of Iron Man's armour, and the different colours of the Hulk - turns out Michael and Dexter knew as much if not more than I did! Thank you Stan Lee and Dorling Kindersley.

So somehow, this brought us around to talking about the world devouring GALACTUS! We started the workshop with the Sensational Beryl - Sentinel of the Spaceways! and toward the end of the workshop have come full circle to Dennis as we've never seen him before - the rather peckish GALACDENNIS!

You better hide those cow-pies Desperate Dan!
 

I'm going to apologies beforehand, but I've got a terrible memory for names (unless they're comic book writers, artists, inkers, letterers and colourists).

When I was in the restaurant business it would be 'Well-done Steak Guy' 'Pina Colada Woman' 'Two jugs of Bud Man' and 'Quadruple Burger Kid'. 

So...

A big thank you to Fran, Stephanie and all the volunteers (Aimee, Tasha and 'Ant Man and the Wasp reading Guy') at Downham Market Library. 

 

Artists and creators - Michael, Amy, Alex, Dexter, Martha, Amy...and that's where I can remember who drew Fantastic Four #25 in 1964, but can't remember who I spoke to yesterday. 

Apologies to you if I left you out - contact me and I'll add you asap. 

Many thanks to you all, kids and parents - for coming along!

OK - just when you thought it was safe to 

go out into the fifth quadrant of the galaxy - 

Where'd this guy come from?!

DeNos!

 

 Dad! Have you seen 

my Infinity Stones?

TO BE CONTINUED!

Next stop - Gaywood Library, King's Lynn - 2pm - 16.08.18...

...and a library far far away!

...Menace...Mischief...and Peril...

 ...Menace, Mischief and Peril in West Norfolk!

 

Having previously carried out superhero themed Demos and Workshops in Norfolk libraries, when I was asked to hold another series of workshops,  I naturally assumed it would be more of the same - Comics and Superheroes! 

I was almost right.

Utilising a character I had not seen for quite a few years, The Reading Agency and Libraries were presenting a 'Mischief Makers Summer Reading Challenge' - all summer long!

That character wasn't Spider-Man, Wolverine or Gamora - the most dangerous woman in the galaxy.

Not even Thanos.

None other than probably the very first mischief maker we all read about - Dennis the Menace!

No superheroes? I was floundering. Ok - while designing the poster a 'modern day' mischief maker came to mind. Norse mythology's Loki God of Mischief.   Or more accurately Marvel Comics Loki - as seen in the early 1960s and the current Marvel films. Yep - Loki's a real mischief maker.

And if Dennis and Loki were on board - we couldn't leave out the most dangerous girl in The Dandy - Beryl the Peril! 

In order to familiarise myself with the characters I drew/copied a few sketches, and one thing lead to another. I started drawing combinations of Dennis and Beryl with various Marvel characters.

Ok - I'd combined Dennis with Spider-Man, Iron Man and Wolverine.  Having seen 'Thor - Ragnarok' not so long ago, Beryl could only be - Hela! 

And I returned to Dennis with the aforementioned Lord of Titan - THANOS! Well, half of him anyway...

Hmm, I was getting carried away. Once we'd all drawn Dennis and Beryl a few times - What Next?! 

To keep it interesting - I had to ask a few questions...

So - I had my worksheets. I had my characters. I had my questions. 

 Mischief Makers here I come!