'Dragon's claws' retrospective: #1 'the game!'

by Dave Scrimgeour & Kevin McCluskey

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​Dave Scrimgeour, Mike Nay and myself have been friends for over thirty years.  We bonded over a mutual love of comic books and movies and, despite the distance of time and geography, have managed to maintain a friendship that has remained essentially the same as it was all those years ago.  Whether that speaks to the strength of our bond, or a somewhat sad, tragic case of arrested development is certainly up for debate.

When I decided that I wanted to revisit ‘Dragon’s Claws’ issue by issue, the prospect, whilst sounding like fun, also seemed somewhat daunting and in all honesty, arduous.  So rather than writing a series of ten, potentially dry reviews by myself, I decided to enlist some help in making the reviews a more entertaining read.  As such, I approached Dave with the idea of making the reviews less formal and more conversational, like the many we'd had over cups of tea or a pint in the past.  Dave, to his credit, was more than willing to indulge me, despite my essentially dropping a not insignificant amount of work into his lap.  I knew he would bring more to the table than I could muster on my own.
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A few years back David and myself went to the University of Dundee’s fantastic Dundee Comic Book Day where Simon Furman gave a presentation with Andrew Wildman on their, then current, 'Transformers: Regeneration One.'  Mr. Furman was kind enough to sign my ratty, falling apart, held together by yellowed sellotape copy of 'Dragon’s Claws' issue one.  The less than mint condition of the comic actually seemed to please him and he was generous enough with his time to spend ten minutes or so talking to us, as we badgered him with questions that he struggled to recall the answers to.  He politely reminded us that 'Dragon's Claws' was something he conceived and wrote approximately a quarter of a century ago and suggested that, chances were, we likely remembered it in far more detail than he did.  Considering we are about to embark on an issue by issue retrospective of the series, I hope Mr. Furman's faith in us was not misplaced.

Now, if only I could convince Mike that this type of project is a good idea, the band would truly be back together.  Anyway, in the meantime, here’s our two man review of ‘Dragon’s Claws’ issue one, ‘The Game!’  (K)                                                                                                                                                                     

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The nigh-on disintegrating copy of issue one that Mr. Furman probably washed his hands after signing.

Cover date- July 1988
Price- 55p
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Writer- Simon Furman
Artist- Geoff Senior
Letterer- Zed
Colourist- Steve White
Editor- Richard Starkings
Managing Editor- Jenny O’Connor
Publisher- Marvel Comics LTD

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synopsis

We arrive in the year 8162, just in time to witness the end of the massacre of 49 highly trained military policemen by a shadowy entity.  This incident forces the Nation Union of Retired Sports Experts to proceed with their planned re-activation of Dragon's Claws, however  the plan is not without complications, as team leader Dragon has one foot in his Claws' past and the other in a future which features a wife, an adopted son and a farm.  Following a seemingly random altercation with a former 'Game' team named 'The Wildcats,' Dragon realises that his new life is not enough for him and takes Deller and N.U.R.S.E. up on their offer to lead the Claws in their new role of "government agents."  (K)

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​Kev
You got any specific memories of the time period when the comic came out?


Dave
1988, wasn’t it?


Kev
Yep.  The cover date is July of that year.


Dave
Correct me if I’m wrong, there was a whole gladiatorial theme happening unconsciously, with a similar theme in 'The Running Man' and the WWF wrestling that we used to go mad for.

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Kev
The Running Man is, what, '87?  The WWF was about to be massive in the UK within a few years and 'American Gladiators' was about to follow that over here as 'Gladiators' with Ulrika-ka-ka!  So yeh, gladiatorial sports, combat style stuff was pretty in vogue for a number of years around that time.


Dave
Plus, this was back in the days before there was an explosion of Sky TV, or even the worldwide web and the rest.  It was something that you used to look forward to watching.


Kev
Totally.  We were still essentially a four TV channel country at that point.  Your entertainment options were far more limited.  I suppose the cover is a logical place to start.  I've said to you before that I feel the composition of the cover to issue one of ‘Dragon’s Claws’ is too busy and cluttered.  What do you make of it yourself?


Dave
That's a good point, but it’s attention grabbing none the less.  It wisely reflects the central character of this issue.  It could have easily been titled ‘Dragon featuring the rest of his Claws.’


Kev
That's very true.  It's a fantastic central image.  And typically for Senior it fizzes with kinetic energy.  I just wish it was a bit cleaner.  I reckon it would've been nicer without the other Claws or the text banners on it, but as you say, it's trying to establish the characters and the world they inhabit in one, single image.


Dave
It almost reflects the opening credits of 'The Game' that this comic book is about.
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Fastfax: anti-social media for the 82nd century.

Kev
Yep.  The shadow of 'The Game' certainly looms large over this series, there's no doubt about that.  You mentioned one of the things that really interested you upon rereading it was the 'Fastfax' page.  What was it about 'Fastfax' that grabbed you?


Dave
'Dragon's Domain' shows us the world we are about to invest our imagination in, but 'Fastfax' is very much media oriented, hence the title.  It is constantly updating with current news, much like our endless news channels.  I could picture that constantly running the same thread all day long, like the BBC news channel.


Kev
God, yeh, right enough.  I suppose it would be like a version of the 24 hour rolling news we have in 2016.  Totally over saturating the population with information.


Dave
In terms of the story, how did you find the pace of it?  It is dominated mostly by rapid bursts of sustained action.


Kev
The pacing of it is something I really like.  I do reckon it feels like an issue zero, or a pilot to a TV show rather than a first issue or a first episode proper though, so it's a bit slower in places, but the bursts of action are so energetic, fast and they're bloody violent as well.


Dave
It’s actually a quick read.  Not weighed down by too much dialogue.  Did you feel it went on a bit too much with Dragon's melancholy?  Maybe that could have been the title for issue one.


Kev
Furman will have had more experience writing 11 pages worth of script for 'Transformers' at this point, so the 22 page, American-style, format gives him more room to let the story breathe a bit, I suppose.  That gives him plenty of space for ‘Dragon's Melancholy,’ definitely.  He really is a sad, broken man here, isn't he?  Living in the past, trying to recapture former glories by watching his greatest hits whilst his family are asleep.  And wearing an old team t-shirt, no less.  Imagine somebody like David Beckham watching old Man United matches in his old jersey whilst Posh was asleep upstairs.

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'The Ministry Of Silly Walks.'

Dave
Dragon certainly has an emptiness to him, but the story always quickly moves forward and, as you say, gives the writers breathing room to quickly wrap up the pilot issue.  The final frame of Dragon holding his fist up is merely a prelude to the real story.


Kev
Definitely.  This issue is a rebirth for Dragon really.  I hadn't thought of him pumping his fist like that as signifying a renewed purpose before.  I'd always just thought,  "Who walks like that?"  Senior definitely sacrifices logic and reality for energy and iconography in an image sometimes, and he's much the better for it, I think.


Dave
Ha ha.  Thats his way of saying, "Get it up ya!"


Kev
Ha, ha!  True.  "I'm back!"  I also really like how Furman sets-up his antagonists, 'The Evil Dead,' 'N.U.R.S.E. and Deller before he even introduces his hero, in Dragon.  He shows you what our heroes are going to be up against, before he even introduces us to the heroes themselves.


Dave
Yeah, it introduces a glimpse of the main players.  Showing there is a lot going on in this story.


Kev
Like you said about the pacing, even though there's a melancholy to it, Furman is quickly establishing the majority of the main plots and subplots within a few pages.  Before I forget, going back to the cover, what do you make of the main font?


Dave
I wonder, if with the original title being 'Dragon's Teeth,' that it was quickly put together.  What do you make of it?


Kev
I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people make out, but yeh, it was clearly a last minute job.  All the promotional material for the series was under the 'Dragon's Teeth' name.  There's even that image of the cover to the second issue sporting the "Teeth" in Furman's introduction to the collected edition, so that shows you just how deep they were into production before the change was forced upon them.


Dave
It’s a very brightly coloured image.  As you say, a good showcase for the talents of Geoff Senior.


Kev
Steve White's colours are really vibrant.  Lots of use of primary colours.  It compliments the work of Senior so well and just adds to the already high energy levels of the comic.  


Dave
We spoke about this, that each character in this story is instantly recognisable and that is something that reflects the 80s when this was written, individuality in appearance was such a strong thing.


Kev
You really can tell each character apart, even at a glance, can't you?  I mean, Dragon and Deller are probably the closest in terms of appearance, yet the character design separates them with no confusion either.  Especially once Deller suits-up too.


Dave
Yeah, Deller is kind of a deliberate carbon copy of Dragon, but more bitter.  Hence the scar to distinguish him.


Kev
Yeh, the Blofeld scar.  All he needs is a white cat and he's sorted.  Picking up on a point you made earlier, the 'Fastfax' page being a constant media presence, that definitely fits in with the idea of using the media as a means to keep an increasingly agitated populace docile.


Dave
Good point about the media keeping us docile.  It’s like they knew the power of reality TV.  Look how much that dictates TV these days, making celebrities out of those doing very little.  The media has society hooked.  'Fastfax' is like their version of social media, ie Twitter and Facebook, a constant need for up to date gossip, which reality TV offers people in whatever form it comes in.  'The Game' is just Gladiator TV.


Kev
The media encroaching on society and the very comic itself, is something Frank Miller had really popularised a couple of years earlier with 'The Dark Knight Returns' and I dare say 2000AD had made some great use of it too.  Plus, I suppose the players of 'The Game' would be tabloid fodder like today's top sports stars are as well.  Which is why the Claws would be celebrities and why N.U.R.S.E. ultimately decides to use them as the public face of their "clean-up" operation.  


Dave
Yeah, it certainly covers a lot of themes before they really exploded onto the public conscious for real.  Especially nowadays.


Kev
No doubt.  Mass media, global warming/ climate change, the consolidation of wealth from the hands of the many into the hands of the few, televised violence, the list goes on and on.  One of the things I really love is the idea that these teams all had a gimmick, which again, ties back to wrestling, 'The Evil Dead,' 'The Wildcats' etc. etc. and once 'The Game' is banned they more or less all just run around as these marauding gangs, creating havoc, but they've all still held onto the team's gimmick as their identity.


Dave
It’s very American.  Even their names.  And again, very distinguishable characters, that's something I still like about it.  Really imaginative artwork.


Kev
It was clearly being pitched at the American market too, wasn't it?  Yet it still feels inherently British as well.  The teams remind me of the gangs in 'The Warriors.'  'The Baseball Furies' could easily have been an ex-'Game' team and 'The Wildcats' could've easily been one of the gangs in 'The Warriors' too.

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The 'Thundercats' called, they want their gimmick back.

​Dave
Yeah man, definitely.  ‘The Warriors’ looks like it has influenced this as well.  Good point.  It just jumps straight into the action and only stops for the plot to evolve, then a sustained barrage of action and violence. 


Kev
It really does jump into the action.  Opens with the pretty much unseen 'Evil Dead' just slaughtering (no pun intended) that police unit, which I have to admit, made an impression on the ten year old me, then a bit of plot with Deller and N.U.R.S.E. then back into the action of 'The Game' which is cleverly used to introduce the rest of the Claws, bit of Tanya, bit more Deller, then more action with 'The Wildcats.'  You're right.  It barely stops moving.


Dave
Dragon's home almost has a 'Star Wars'-esque look to it, including his transport, with the vast open spaces.  It's like where Luke Skywalker came from.  Yet if you look at the opening scene in London with Deller and then later, the market with the bright lights, very Ridley Scott,
​'Bladerunner'-esque.
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Dragon must've been the one who bought Luke's speeder…..then pimped it up…..with veg.

​Kev
Yes.  Totally.  That's been bugging me what it reminds me of, and you've hit the nail on the head right there, sir.  Plus it's farm land.  Luke was a farmer too, wasn't he?  There's a definite distinction between the sparse rural areas and the dense urban metropolises.  That also ties into the class elements of the series.  The farmers, like Dragon, are generally poor, whereas the corporate residents of the cities are far more affluent.  The market that Dragon is trading at definitely puts me in mind of that market where Deckard is eating the noodles in at the start of 'Blade Runner,' yeh.  I also like how dismissive of 'The Wildcats' Dragon is when they show up.  He treats them like clowns because of their appearance.

Dragon's moisture farm on Tatooine, or Earth 8162.

Keep an eye out for Deckard at the noodle bar.

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Dave
Notice how the background is always changing colour, shifting from light to dark.

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Kev
Oh yeh.  It's contrasting between really dark nights, and the searing brightness of the day scenes.  That's a great way of depicting that the Earth has moved closer to the sun, which is why there's a shortage of food and water in 8162.  I love how, in the last few pages of the issue you get an insight into the core of Dragon, his competitive spirit and refusal to give up in the face of overwhelming odds with 'The Wildcats.'

"But for Dragon it was more than just a game.  It was THE Game.  And he liked to win."

And his inability to adapt to life, post 'The Game.'

"It's not enough!"
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"The Beautiful Game."

The Thundertank gets it. Fadoom!

Dragon: King of the Flat-Tops.

It's NEVER enough!

​Dave
Yeah it's the old warrior /soldier attitude.  It never leaves them.  It's a part of who he is.


Kev
Totally.  It's something you hear about a lot with veterans or retired fighters.  That difficulty in letting it go.


Dave
Looking at issue one, it really is a basic plot and it doesn't waste time.  It shows us a great deal about Dragon, thus allowing Simon Furman to delve more into the ensemble as further issues go on.  Get Dragon's story out of the way instead of digging back and forth over the coming issues.


Kev
Yep.  Furman is nothing if not economical with his storytelling.  And it certainly becomes much more of an ensemble piece after this issue, yeh.  You got any other points you want to discuss?  You mentioned a segment hypothetically casting a show based on it.  So, in an alternate universe where me and you are two hotshot producers for HBO or something, who would you cast for say, Dragon?


Dave
Yeah.  At the moment I’m thinking of Thomas Jane for either Dragon or Deller.  It would be a good Netflix series.


Kev
That's a good call, yeh.  Netflix’d probably be the best fit for it at this point actually.  What about Tanya?


Dave
Not sure for Tanya.  What about your casting?


Kev
I'm struggling for Dragon, myself.  Damien Lewis has just popped into my head though.
For Tanya...., I’m thinking someone like Maggie Siff, maybe.


Dave
We could also give Tom Hardy a shout.  Yeah Damien Lewis too.


Kev
Tom Hardy would be ideal, actually.  Ha, ha!  We'll just give him a call.  Totally fits with the whole Mad Max vibe of the series as well now.  Alright man, let’s wrap this one up.  How do you feel ‘Dragon’s Claws’ issue one, ‘The Game’ holds-up?  Personally, I think it still really works, even nearly thirty years on.  I don’t think it’s dated too much and the energy it possesses still leaps off the page and remains infectious to me, even after all this time.


Dave
​For me it’s not so much as to how the layout, story and artwork still stands, ‘cause that can be easily answered in the sense of good, colourful, but very clear storytelling, and foremost, enjoyable reading, which makes it stand up to this day.  Having looked at more recent works by modern day artists, (which I must admit, I have been away from the comic book genre for years) there is a tendency for more washed out oil painting attempts which is visually unattractive, whereas 80s' comic book art was about going bold, with big images and colours, and 'Dragon's Claws' is a sterling example of that.  But to me the question of standing up to the test of time is more about the feelings and memories it evokes of your life at that time and whether it allows us to access our memories, or even better, trigger a series of memories around that period of time that we remember so well and that was full of good fun.  It was a part of our childhood.  To me that is the reason why we are reviewing this.  To take a trip back in time and also look upon this series with adult eyes.  Yes, it definitely stands up.  Without a doubt.  And because it was a one-off series, it hasn't been tainted, or damaged, or went past its sell-by-date.  This only adds to its nostalgia level.

(D) & (K)

​Next: 'Dead Reckoning.'

"Nuff said" indeed.