Have I got a special treat for all you Super Naturals fans this Hallowe’en! One of the highlights of the short-lived comic for me was the incredible art by Alan Langford in stories Mount of Athos and The Curse. Alan brought a mature, horror-centric style that made the battle between good and evil feel truly epic and the evil characters feel properly horrific. His art really showed the potential of the franchise in my eyes.
Finding anyone who worked on the Super Naturals comic has been difficult, finding those who remember doing so has been near-impossible. Even Barrie Tomlinson, while he mentions it in his book Comic Book Hero, wasn’t sure it was definitely his title. Thankfully Alan remembers it well and he very kindly agreed to a chat about contributing to this underappreciated comic. So today, on the 38th anniversary of the premiere issue, here he is!
A full-time member of the Society of Equestrian Artists, today Alan produces truly stunning pieces of art with the graceful, beautiful animals at the centre of each one rather than holographic action figures. Given how elaborate his contemporary work is on his website I was curious how he found working on a licenced comic. In the Adventure Book we saw Sandy James’ character studies which the comic stated other artists used as reference when beginning work. Not so, according to Alan.
“I recall receiving a parcel full of all the Super Naturals models and their extraordinary vehicles to use as references for the comic scripts I had to illustrate”, Alan told me. “Of course they were of invaluable assistance when sketching out my roughs and depicting the finished artwork.” Above are examples of the action figures themselves (in this case, Thunder Bolt) and one example each of the intricate holographic images for Skull and Snakebite that Alan so expertly translated to the page.
As far as this particular licence was concerned, its characters are what stood out to Alan the most. “Well naturally you have to follow the flow of the script,” he explains. “But it was always interesting if the script conjured up imaginative imagery that you felt compelled to draw. I particularly enjoyed depicting Lionheart and his macabre nemesis [Skull], since they were both larger than life, extraordinary characters.”
Indeed, Alan’s depictions of the two in battle were truly memorable. More than any other strip, Mount of Athos gave us a sense of the epic nature of the battle between the supernatural elements of good and evil battling across time, mainly thanks to Alan’s art. The first page in #1 (first strip image above) is all the proof you need. With Alan’s style seemingly leaning more towards horror, especially in his depictions of the evil characters, I was curious if the genre was a favourite of his to draw.
“I’ve long been fascinated by horror since my teenage years when Hammer movies were the regular unmissable attraction at the cinema. Christopher Lee’s portrayal of Dracula was particularly convincing. However, when it came to depicting horror in comics, there was only one real master of the genre and that was the extraordinary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, whose cover art depicted in oil paint on board illustrated the covers of Eerie and Creepy magazines.”
“A more competent and helpful editor would have been hard to find”
Alan on Barrie Tomlinson
Indeed, regular blog readers may recognise a couple of names there. In Dark Horse International’s Dracula comic from 1993 (originally a tie-in with Francis Ford Coppola’s movie), from #4 onwards classic Vampirella stories were pulled from the archives to act as the back up strip. These were originally published in Creepy in the 1960s, and #5’s additional Creepy classic, Werewolf was stunningly illustrated by Frank.
“Beautifully painted,” Alan continues. “Excitingly composed, remarkable masterpieces that drew the eye in an instant and had you searching through your small change to purchase the exciting mags whose cover art was so instantly recognisable. There was no doubt about it, Frazetta was an extraordinary genius, who has left an indelible mark on fantasy and horror art.”
With his influence well and truly established, we headed back into the world of the Super Naturals. The idea behind the Tonka toy licence was that these characters could show up in any place or time throughout history to cause havoc. The Curse was set during a Victorian Christmas, which seems to have been right up Alan’s street with its horse drawn carriages and the like. Alan agrees. “Yes, particularly as you suggested, because I enjoy drawing equestrian scenes. I particularly recall the opening splash page with children climbing into the Hanson cab.”
Above is one of the “extraordinary vehicles” as Alan puts it, expertly inserted into this Victorian Christmas tale. It’s great to finally talk to someone who remembers working on the comic. As such, I just had to ask him if he could clarify if legendary British comics editor Barrie Tomlinson was indeed the editor of Super Naturals and if he recalled the names of anyone else that contributed.
“Yes, Barrie was definitely the editor of Super Naturals. Unfortunately that is the limit of my knowledge [in regards to others who worked on it]. Save to say he was a most obliging and encouraging character. I believe that most of us worked as freelancers under the direction of Barrie, a more competent and helpful editor would have been hard to find. I had worked for him before on a one-off story of Doomlord for the Eagle Summer Special. He has now retired and publishing his memoirs of his long career in comics, most notably his involvement with the famous comic character Roy of the Rovers in his book The Real Roy of the Rovers!”
I hope you’ve enjoyed this rare insight into the making of what was a superb licenced comic, an anthology that deserved to run and run. Of course, when a comic is licenced a lot rides on the popularity of the brand and unfortunately the high quality toys just didn’t take off. The preview, nine regular issues and two specials are well worth tracking down, especially those featuring Alan’s strips. You can find highlights of them all right here on the blog, of course.
Alan’s website is well worth checking out for his watercolour, oil on canvas, and pen and ink work. It’s all stunning! There’s also a book available of his equestrian art. However, even more excitedly for comics fans Alan has produced his very own graphic novel, The Secret of the Aesir. Writing and illustrating it himself over three years, the 132-page book is set in the 8th century in the icy wastes of Scandinavia and tells the story of a long and arduous viking journey and the discovery of an ancient mystery.
I would just like to thank Alan for taking the time to chat with me about his time on Super Naturals, a time which unfortunately for us all was cut short but which still produced incredible artwork for a comic with much potential.
Thanks also to Brett Nutto of the Super Naturals Facebook group (of which I’m a member) for the images of the toys and holograms.
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