Early Thor and Alan Davis.

As part of our ongoing series we thought that it might be worth a look at a couple of Alan Davis' early Marvel UK pieces.

Going through some boxes I found a couple of Thor pieces that seemed worth a post after Mr D's recent runs associated with the character.

Alan Davis (perhaps to most more than anyone) has long been associated with Marvel UK due to his work on the revamp of Captain Britain with Alan Moore.  He was also apparently in the same pot as the likes of John Higgins and Steve Dillon (among loads of others) as a jobbing comics artist and illustrator who worked on alternative fill in covers and pinups.

A lot of this work never got seen by the US market.  

Here is a double page pin up that made it's way into 'Super Spider-Man TV Comic' issue 486 from June 1982 and a personal favourite. I just love the darkness and detail. (The sword in Valkyrie's hand just looks so great).

Here is a cover that Alan did for 'Marvel Action' issue 1 (I think from 1983).  This was the first issue in a little revamp of the titles where they were given new paper covers (rather than the shiny stock paper used for a while on titles like 'Planet of the Apes', 'Dracula Lives', 'The Mighty World of Marvel' and 'The Avengers'. They were pleasingly a lot better than the crap they printed Spidey's TV Comic on.). Each issue focused on the bigger characters and went back to reprinting more classic stories from the late 1960s and 1970s.

To me this cover lacks the detail seen in his work normally. The faces (other than the Thing who seems fully realised) seem a little lacking in detail. Knowing Marvel UK at the time this may be a style they pressed on the artists, a speed requirement or merely an image that was mean't to be used in a smaller format. Who knows.  But it does have an iconic and striking quality and was an image used later by the company in some advertising.

And just for a bit of fun (and because we saw him on the cover to the above issue) here is a great pinup of Dr Strange.  Loved this! I actually bought this issue twice so that I could remove the poster for the bedroom wall!

Hope you enjoy them.

NIA.