"MEN OF MYSTERY" Virus Of The Panda - Part Two Post One

One of the things I wanted to try and illustrate with this particular story was a shoot-out between the Government forces, using modern-day weaponry, and the Ninjas, using just their throwing stars. Unfortunately I once again found myself rapidly running out of room within the four episodes to really give this a proper go, but the first two panels hopefully show some of the fast-paced action I wanted to portray. With hindsight the shuriken probably should have been larger and thus easier to see. However I really liked the imagery of the deadly throwing stars appearing from 'off-screen' and literally striking people dead in their tracks.

Having quickly realised how cumbersome the Ninjas looked in their isolation suits, and how silly they looked as a result, I swiftly removed them of their cumbersome attire in order to better depict their famous acrobatics... and I couldn't think of a better way of doing this than having the deadly assassins drop head-first down a rope.

With both Cheng Fu and the Police bravely battling his lethal black-clad ninjas outside, the Peking Panda finally starts to put his deadly plan into action... 

Mooretoons - Early "Doctor Who" Adventures - A Duplicate Doctor And The Ice Warriors Return

Top: 'The Two Doctors' meet     Bottom: The TARDIS lands in a variety of bizarre locations

In many ways my early “Doctor Who” stories “Dual” and “The Earthboom” are of little interest except as examples of a time when both my storylines and drawing style were possibly at their most sloppy and undisciplined. However despite the poor quality of my writing and shoddy penciling, both four-parters do hopefully have some elements of note within them.

“Dual” was a rather half-hearted attempt to bring back one of my Doctor’s former companions, Susan Foreman and a duplicate First Doctor. It soon becomes abundantly clear however that I quickly ran out of ideas for the adventure as the tale swiftly degenerates into the Timelord simply meeting an earlier version of himself and having to then briefly travel with him (and his grand-daughter) in order to return to his own timeline’s co-ordinates. 

The story was clearly drawn in a hurry as well, as the inking is splotchy and undisciplined, and many of the panels lack any background whatsoever. However the plot does contain several references to genuine BBC “Doctor Who” television serials, and I must have been heavily influenced by these adventures at the time. As a result the TARDIS lands in Brisbane, Australia during World War Three (Magnus Greel was the Butcher of Brisbane and started World War Six in “The Talons of Weng-Chiang”), momentarily stops off in the year 1,000,000 B.C. (as does the real TARDIS in “An Unearthly Child”) and then briefly arrives in sunken Atlantis (inspired by “The Time Monster”). Even the planet Skaro and the Daleks make a single panel appearance before the Doctor is reunited with his own TARDIS once again.

Top: The Ice Warriors are swiftly replaced by a Terminator     Bottom: The Doctor blows up the Martian rocket

I still remember that at the time of my drawing “Doctor Who And The Earthboom” I was fleetingly filled with a lot of enthusiasm for the story, as it heralded the long-awaited return of the Ice Warriors; one of my favourite televised monsters. However my zeal for the tale quickly evaporated when I started making mistakes drawing the Martians and as a result I quickly removed their visible presence from the ‘screen’. Indeed after just a handful of frames during the second part, and yet another poorly executed Ice Warrior, they were never to be seen again.

Instead I replaced them with the Terminator character, who had accompanied my Doctor’s companion Viki during her initial story “Magma’s Return”. During that earlier two-parter I had only implied that the bald-headed humanoid space policeman had been eaten by the monster, Magma. In “The Earthboom” Viki discovers her former jailer was somehow rescued by the Ice Warriors, cybernetically enhanced (i.e. given the trademark ice Warrior clawed hands) and placed in charge of a rocket which had been built in order to destroy the Earth. A complicated, convoluted and unbelievable plot which only a young teenager could create.

In addition the story also gives my companion the full name of Kame Viki… a massive departure from the televised companion Vicky (Pallister) and in all honesty a bad mistake on my part. However as with its predecessor “Dual”, it was clear that I was in something of a rush to finish the tale and move on to the next one; my keenness for reintroducing the Ice Warriors clearly having been already exhausted. Needless to say the Doctor uses the TARDIS to land inside the Martian’s rocket, and blow it up prematurely, rescuing both Steven Taylor and Viki in the process.

"MEN OF MYSTERY" Virus Of The Panda - Part One Post Three

These final four panels to Part One of "Virus Of The Panda" have actually taken far longer than they should have done to post but when I originally drafted them out I realised that there was a mistake within the dialogue of the final panel and as a result I have had to find the time to not only address the error but then adjust its composition and remove the ellipse which had been there beforehand.

To be honest this whole scene is rather wordy but I felt necessarily so in order to quickly get Cheng Fu and the Armed Services into direct contact with the Peking Panda's ninjas. The medical gowns were actually based upon genuine isolation suits, although they had to be slightly adapted to fit the 'Mooretoon' head-shape.

Sensei Cheng Fu uncovers a diabolical plot to abduct his sick passenger. But can even a master of Kung Fu survive a hail of deadly shuriken..!?! 

"MEN OF MYSTERY" Virus Of The Panda - Part One Post Two

The opening panel for this posting alludes to an imminent fight between Peking Panda's Ninja mercenaries and the hospital security guards. It was only to be a couple of frames long but I ended having to cut the 'battle scene' as I found myself rapidly running out of room as a result of some of the heavy dialogue I wrote in order to 'set the story up' with. The role of the tropical disease specialist Hua Qin was also significantly reduced as I found myself desperately trying to confine myself to just four episodes for this story. With hindsight I also should have given the Chinese physician a different coloured costume as his oriental light blue weave is very similar to the blue used by the hospital staff.

 The penultimate frame shows the start of my attempt to move away from the use of ellipses; something my previous stories are loaded with. I also decided to illustrate the conversation inside the vehicle straight from the scene's start rather than use a photograph of the vehicle travelling down a street as an establishing shot first. This may have been a mistake, but I was keen to get Cheng Fu into the action as quickly as possible and start breaking up the sterile light blue imagery of the previous panels with his bright red costume. I also thought the interior scene, coupled with the "Vroom" sound effect would make it somewhat obvious the quartet were sharing a ride within some form of transport.

Cheng Fu delivers the patient into the hands of the waiting hospital staff so their life-saving treatment can begin. But just how safe will the British public be from the deadly virus once the doctors start work on the evacuee..?   

"MEN OF MYSTERY" Virus Of The Panda - Part One Post One

This four-parter is most definitely a journey of transition as it was drawn whilst I was receiving some considerable feedback from fellow blogger artists, and as a result it's composition was altered mid-way through in order to test some of their suggestions for improvement. Initially however this is a fairly straight-forward 'sequel' to "Embassy Of The Fist" and 'in order to get it out quickly' incorporates a number of figures I had previously drawn; some, such as the surgeon gowns, from as long ago as ten years.

The Peking Panda is an attempt to create a more worthy Oriental opponent for Cheng Fu than the rather dull-looking Yamamoto. Unfortunately the idea of a kung fu fighter adorned in the skin of a Panda Bear didn't materialise quite as I'd imagined him. But nonetheless I think he's infinitely more memorable than the honourable assassin of Kam Lo.

Unaware of the Peking Panda's presence within the specialist hospital, Cheng Fu escorts an important patient to the medical facility. But just whose life is in imminent danger..!?!  

"COSMIC CUSTODIANS" Gloom Of The Glooms - Part Four Post Three

These concluding panels to "Gloom Of The Glooms" gave me a brief opportunity to show the interior of the aliens' asteroid... and then promptly start blowing it up. The image of the Perishing missile on the Glooms' screen is the same one I used to 'colour' in the missile Galaxian and Tortoise-Shell Eddie rode on in some of the earlier frames. The missile is actually being launched vertically into the sky, as opposed to travelling horizontally; something you can just make out if you look at the clouds surrounding it. If I had had the room I would have added another panel with an exterior shot of the asteroid-spaceship being struck by the missile, but as I had run out of room I elected to show the Glooms' screen depicting the aliens' own demise.

The final two frames simply tie-up the story and set-up the return of the American superhero U.S. Armour, a bullet-proof metal suit equipped with missiles and machine guns, whose previous occupant had eventually been executed by the United States for war crimes. The reference also ties "Cosmic Custodians" into the same universe as the serial "Alternate Heroes".

 Next time Sensei Cheng Fu returns with more Kung Fu action as the Peking Panda attempts to infect the population of the United Kingdom with a deadly virus...

"COSMIC CUSTODIANS" Gloom Of The Glooms - Part Four Post Two

As soon as I thought of a nuclear missile heading towards the Pentagon, I immediately thought of the idea that a couple of the Custodians would need to 'ride' on it in order to tinker with its course trajectory. The atomic weapon was drawn by simply creating the outline of a projectile and then 'colouring' it with a photograph of a genuine Perishing missile in order for all its markings to be correct.

With hindsight it is a little hard to see precisely what is going on, especially in the final frame when the missile 'throws' off its occupants. As a result I's probably make the first of the scene's three panels significantly smaller so you can see the entire missile and that the characters are up in the sky. I'd use a similar scale for the final drawing as well, and actually depict Galaxian and Tortoise-Shell Eddie as tiny falling figures.

Air Force One is about to fall to the alien invaders and so is the Pentagon. Mankind's future rests solely upon the flight of a single nuclear missile. But has Galaxian got his co-ordinates right..?