Alan Davis 1985: Cap. Britain, Marvelman, The Fury

Above, selected excerpts from an interview with ALAN DAVIS, conducted by Les Chester the 26th of September 1985, published in Amazing Heroes n. 85, December 1985. It's a must-read! 

[...] Amazing Heroes: What is the difference in your approach to Marvelman and Captain Britain?
Davis: Well, I try to get into any character I work on, so that I don't have to resort to stock figures and poses. I feel that if you understand the character, the movement and body language suggest themselves.
Marvelman was meant to be the perfect male, with a godlike presence. So I focused on his grace, and gave him a slightly effeminate face since a male face that is neither rugged nor tough appears more feminine. It also added to the perfect
serenity that a being with so much power might generate. Captain Britain on the other hand is a brawler, he is arrogant in a childish fashion, he is big, bulky and swaggering. Totally without the grace that personifies Marvelman. The process is more complicated and thorough than the simplified version I've described, but that's basically the way I handle it.
It's nothing terribly original; I think a lot of artists must work that way.

[...] AH: How do you feel about the characters D.R. & Quinch?
Davis: I'm very proud and fond of them; they're easy to draw, they look funny no matter what they are doing, and it was fun to see what they could do and how far I could push them.
They had taken me a long time to design, and they evolved, as all characters do, as I familiarized myself with them and learned how to use them to best effect. I also enjoyed the fact that the characters and set-up owed a lot to the film Animal House.
It's one of my all time favorite comedy films.

AH: What was it like working all the time with Alan Moore?
Davis: We had a good working relationship. We exchanged a lot of ideas and it was very fulfilling for me to be able to contribute to stories and not just be the artist on the job. I think it's only natural to have ideas involving the character you spend a lot of time drawing. It was good to be able to get our heads together and plan issues ahead. It was much more involved than just receiving scripts. It was very fulfilling.

AH: How do you rate Alan Moore's talent? 
Davis: As a writer, very highly. Apart from his inventive use of words and dialogue, he can think laterally and see old situations from new angles.

[...] AH: Could you give specific examples of ideas or stories you've contributed to the “Captain Britain" strip?
Davis: The "Captain Britain" story in Daredevils #2 was based on a solution I suggested to Alan [Moore]. The problem was that Alan wanted Brian Braddock to return home to Braddock Manor, but it had been destroyed by S.H.I.E.L.D. bombers in a previous story. My solution was that since the Manor had contained a computer that was capable of creating holograms, it would have projected a decoy image of the Manor that was bombed whilst it concealed the real Manor. Then, when the danger had passed, the Manor would take on the appearance of a bombed-out ruin. .
In contrast to this, my only input to the story in Daredevils #3 prior to the script was to give Betsy purple hair which would be a shock to Brian who had been in other dimensions for a number of years. In that story I made a few post-script changes, which are usually totally visual, window-dressing that have no effect on the story content. I gave Slaymaster a rubber mask disguise instead of a slouch hat and a trench coat, and substituted "The Jazzler," an electrified knitting needle, for the knife that was to have been his assassination tool. Another, less obvious, contribution, was for the story in Mighty World of Marvel #7, "The Candlelight Dialogues.” Alan was having problems trying to come up with a structure to carry the elements of the next storyline. l'd just read Batman #347 and suggested that we use the storytelling device used in "The Shadow of Batman"; that is, eaves-dropping on a conversation that connects the events.
As I've already said, it was exciting, interesting and very fulfilling to be involved in the stories on such a basic level. Alan was always prepared to listen to any ideas, which was refreshing since some writers see artists soley as "laborers" to bring their ideas to life.

AH: Was there any similar input on "Marvelman"?
Davis: Nothing major; "Marvelman" was really Alan's baby, though I did influence general characterization and more specifically, the nature of the alien ship. The only really direct input l supplied was second-hand. That was "Out of the Dark" [Warrior #9] where Marvelman is attacked by the S.A.S. I have a friend who is an ex-Regimental Sergeant Major and l explained the situation in the story to ask his advice on how to handle it realistically. He, incidentally, thought the whole story was absurd and childish; he doesn’t like comics. However, his outline for the troop deployment and battle plan eventually featured in the story.

[...] AH: What about the Fury [...]?
Davis: The aspects of The Fury I'm most proud of concern its “eyes.” As the series progressed, I refined the external pattern of the sensors so that they became a motif that was instantly recognizable. As another point of interest, I gave the Fury's "view of the world" an indicator of speed and distance, heartbeat and brainwaves, plus infra-red and X-ray vision, so that each character could be registered in an interesting way, usually displaying an aspect of the target's power.
This eventually led to the ruse where Zeitgeist attacked the Fury and didn't register on any level. [...]