Fan of Mœbius and/or Otomo?

[XIII]

I just realized you drew Mœbius' signature character Major Gruber from The Airtight Garage and Tetsuo from Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira in the nooks and crannies of the cover to MARVEL AGE #120 (January 1993):



Of course that's a cover full of prominent Marvel characters that also includes Jugger Grimrod from Alien Legion and the aforementioned two characters from foreign comics licensed by Marvel for English publication.

My question is: did you draw them at the editor's request or or on your own volition as a personal homage to both creators? Did you read the Mœbius' and Otomo books that Marvel published?

[Alan Davis]

I liked Akira a lot but, sacrilege to many, I was never a Moebius fan. I don’t recall what my brief on this cover was but I’m sure I was given selection of characters to include.

[XIII]

I was never a Moebius fan... sacrilege to many

Including me!

But seriously, could you perhaps elaborate on what you find lacking in Jean Giraud? I mean, is it just the art, the drawing style, or is it about the stories or the subject matter of his books? I'm really intrigued now...

[Alan Davis]

I never intended to criticise Moebius in any way. The simple fact is I didn’t see any significant amount of Moebius’ work until I was introduced to it by Paul Neary sometime after I first worked for Marvel UK. I was in my mid twenties, with some pretty set views I suppose, and confronted with a dazzling spectrum of great International artists and styles I was unfamiliar with, (including Moebius, Manara, Maroto, and a few other M’s), I was most impressed by Victor de La Fuente, Alberto Breccia, Paul Gillon, Juan Gimenez, Enki Bilal, Altuna, Serpieri, to name a few.
Perhaps, the best Moebius had sold out the day we visited the French Book shop.