The Spider went thru a few variations; starting thin, wiry and almost 'elfin' in appearance, then like Nosferatu with hair. But Alan wanted him to look more 'statuesque' and noble; a lot more meat on his bones and plenty of muscle. I preferred the more, well, 'spidery' look, but didn't want to argue with Alan, in case he put a hex on me...
Incidentally, The Spider was supposed to have a deathly pallor, but Wildstorm chose to ignore the colour notes. Here's the final 'beefy' version.
Incidentally, The Spider was supposed to have a deathly pallor, but Wildstorm chose to ignore the colour notes. Here's the final 'beefy' version.
Dr.'Ratty' Rat was another joy to draw(from the pages of Cor!!) - however brief, just wished we could've got a 'flashback' with him against 'The Agents Of BIFF (The British Institute For Foiling Felonies)'.
The Steel Claw had an ash-blond crew cut originally, but it was decided it was too similar to his cellmate pal, Tim Kelley.
And a referance guide of his claw for Dave Gibbon's cover to #6.
And, The Cloak. Sadly. Other than two very fleeting glimpses, he didn't feature in the story. But i did get to speak with the characters creator; Mike Higgs - who gave me his blessing and shared a coupla entertaining anecdotes from the glory days of British comics, nice bloke.
If you want to know a lot more about all the classic - and not so classic - IPC/Fleetway/Oddhams characters, there's a great site over at; http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/nonus.htm
More 2moro.
