by Dave Scrimgeour & Kevin McCluskey Cover date- September 1988 Price- 55p Writer- Simon Furman Artist- Geoff Senior Letterer- Annie Halfacree Colourist- Steve White Editor- Richard Starkings Managing Editor- Jenny O’Connor Published by- Marvel Comics LTD synopsis N.U.R.S.E. dispatches the Claws to England's South Coast under the pretence of liberating the civilians of Channel City from the ex-Game teams who, under the leadership of the High Father, have banded together to take control of the derelict city. Along the way they encounter an unwelcoming civilian population, a quintet of disappearing women and a mongrel K9 who takes an instant liking to Scavenger, but a disliking to Steel. Meanwhile, as Kurran hunts his brother, Barry the Wildcat's killer, it transpires that there is more to the Channel City situation than meets the eye and the Claws become increasingly suspicious, as N.U.R.S.E.'s machinations and alterior motives become ever more apparent. (K) Dave What’s your take on issue 3? It’s quite verbal and it's a more complex tale this time. Kev It sure is. What I did notice is that despite saying issue two hooked me in for the rest of the series, I actually missed three at the time and had to get it on ebay, many, many years later. Maybe that supports the common consensus that the comic was difficult to merchandise and find as a result of its smaller, American-sized format. So it's the only one that I don't look at through that hazy glow of nostalgia. Consequently it's the only issue I own that isn't falling apart at the seams. Dave I think, writing wise, it gave Furman an opportunity to get into the nitty gritty of his preferred style of storytelling. Socio-economic and again behind the scenes manipulations. Kev Oh definitely. It's interesting that the populace isn't anywhere near as behind the Claws as Dragon and co. thought they'd be. They're even brandishing signs such as "Claws Go Home." Not the "Heroes' Welcome" they were expecting. It's starting to dawn on them that N.U.R.S.E. hasn't been honest at all. Dave Dragon seems to have a real crisis of conscience in regards to blindly following orders. Plus them being televised live is a sneaky way of putting more pressure on him and it's against his gut instincts, which are telling him all is not as it seems. It also shows some tactics used by the Claws, providing an insight to how they operate. Plus a quiet battle for the Claws against The Vanishing Ladies. One of the more colourful teams inhabitating the world of The Game. Kev I never thought about the fact that all this happens whilst being televised. That's a great point. Totally feeds into the mass surveillance society in which we live today, what with the omnipresence of CCTVs and people's general digital presence through social media etc. They're almost using it as the leash to keep Dragon on, whilst N.U.R.S.E. use the Claws as their bully-boy enforcers. Dave Control through the masses, also making Dragon look like a lackey of N.U.R.S.E. As was stated earlier in the Fastfax section, a lot of people were thinking the Claws were just glorified bully boys. Televising this only strengthens that opinion. Kev Great point. If Dragon is a modern day folk hero through his popularity within The Game, ala Johnathan E. in 'Rollerball, which Furman has stated was a huge influence on 'Dragon's Claws,' it would make sense to undermine and discredit him in the eyes of the people to bring him more and more under N.U.R.S.E.'s control. Dave It's an interesting story, that in Channel City they are fighting to protect their preserves and knowing that if this supply of livestock was uncovered, the controlling state would would quickly seize this, and with their power, lord it over the population. Dragon knows this. What do you make of the backstory with the Wildcats brother seeking revenge? Kev It's an ongoing theme and concern in the series, isn't it? The consolidation of wealth, in this case, food, from the hands of the many into the hands of the few. Does this make former N.U.R.S.E. employee, Starick a freedom fighter rather than a terrorist? The storyline with Kurran is odd. It's a nice callback to something from issue one that could easily have have just been used as a set-up device. It gives that part of the story more legs going forward than was expected, but it doesn't fit particularly well into the rest of the issue here, I don't think. Dave It's the old build-up to a later story to keep the journey of these issues going. I like the speeches by Stenson, to Deller, revealing a bit of the newly plotted idea of putting Dragon's Claws back into the populace masses, knowing the general public will generally suck it in without hesitation. Again, like today's reality TV, spoon feeding mind-numbed people entertainment. Kev Yeh, it does feel very much like a procedural style issue with a couple of over-arcing scenes thrown in to keep things moving along. The scenes with Stenson and Deller are interesting in that they start to show that the more N.U.R.S.E. tries to tighten its grip, the more slips through its fingers. Starick puzzles me though. Stenson almost has a heart attack here when he's revealed to be 'The High Father,' like he's some major threat to N.U.R.S.E. and could potentially bring it to its knees, but do we ever hear of him again after this issue? Dave I can't remember. I thought the cover to issue 3 was a bit poorly drawn. They all look a bit disproportioned. I wonder if that was a rush job, especially in comparison to the first 2 issues' covers. But if you look at the issue, a lot goes on in this story and I think it had to be a very verbal issue to allow us to follow the story. Kev Kurran looks like the baddest man on the planet, what with his Johnny Cash, Man In Black wardrobe and his unshaven features. Dave Yeah, I do like the artwork for Kurran. He stands out as one mean motherfucker, as the rest of the issue is drowned out by dialogue in comparison to the first issue where the art told the story. Kev It's interesting you should say that the first issue where we see the whole team together on the cover makes them look disjointed. I hadn't thought of it like that, but it could be that it's representative of them as a team. They're a rag tag bunch. They seem to have very little in common outside of the fact that they work exceptionally well on the field of combat. Do you think there's too much going on here, plot wise? Dave Well, it seems again that they are cramming a good double sized issue of story into one. The story just carries on forward, but with a lot more verbal philosophies from Dragon. In the battle with the Vanishing Ladies we get to see a bit of past history with them and the Claws ie. Scavenger. Kev You're probably right. There may very well be two issues worth of material in one here. These days it would be four with the decompressed storytelling style of modern comics. Do you think there is too much "tell" with the dialogue and not enough "show" with the artwork? I'm not sold of 'The Vanishing Ladies.' In a series of fantastic character designs, this stands out as one of the weakest for me. The spandex look just doesn't do it for me and I say that as a superhero comic book fan, but it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the 8162 fashion sense, I don't think. Dave I know what you mean it's a throwback to 1980s american Marvel (maybe intentional) but clearly out of place in a dystopian world. Kev What do you make of the introduction of Mutt? Dave I think the mutt was introduced to give a bit more character development to Scavenger and the scene with Steel was intended as comic relief, as the two hardened warriors trade verbal blows. Which is probably something they have always done. Kev Yeh. I wonder if Mutt was introduced almost with the sole purpose of humanising Scavenger a bit. After all, this is a guy who stabbed a clown to death and displayed a penchant for cannibalism by eating a werewolf, whole, in the previous issue. Hardly the sort of behaviour you'd expect from one of the so-called "good guys." I think you're spot-on about the comic relief. The verbal sparring between two old team mates is a really nice catch too. It shows a certain fondness for each other. Dave Again the artwork goes for pure light colours or just white as background in the panels, keeping the focus entirely on the character and dialogue. Kev Senior is really coming into his own in the series with this issue, I reckon. He seems to have completely found his groove with it by this point. I find the little bit of backstory surrounding Channel City to be fascinating. The fact that it was built as an almost empty gesture that the government was taking action to combat overpopulation, then as the moon shifts orbit and takes the tides with it, the city itself is left to go to ruin. That's one of the advantages of Furman having set this so far off into the future, he can create entire future historical contexts for his world by simply extrapolating on the concerns of the time he was writing. And who can realistically question how likely it is to happen, because it's all so far off. Although, I'm not sure about the physics or astronomy of the moon orbit/tides thing. See? Even I'm doing it. Dave Good point there. The further ahead in time it is, the more it leaves to the imagination and allows the writer to explore themes that interest them without too much basis in current timeframes. What do you make of this issue in general? It's a big leap from the first two issues in terms of tackling a contemporary social issue. Kev I agree completely. There's a little bit of social commentary in the first couple of issues, more so issue one perhaps, but Furman is really expanding upon the social, political and environmental themes here. It's excellent world-building and it shows that the Claws are pawns in a much bigger game. No pun intended. They're just cogs in a corporate and political machine, which is scarily reminiscent of our world today. On a lighter note, as you mentioned comic relief with Mutt, I really like that gag with the court jester, sort of magician, character pulling the old coin behind the ear trick on the robot, but with the detonator for the bomb they use on ‘The Pig.’ Plus the character that offers to protect the 'High Father' from the Claws looks suspiciously like a 'Faith' era George Michael. An album which was released a year before this issue. Dave Ha ha. Yeah, right enough. I never noticed that. Well spotted though. Come to think of it, next to him is The Green Goblin wondering why he's in the wrong comic book story. For issue 3, it's almost a break through issue to show what Furman is capable of doing with this series and I must admit I totally overlooked this issue, but it's a pivotal issue in this series. Kev It's a tricky issue. And it's an ambitious one. The first issue gave us a lot of the set-up, the second gave us the full-on adrenaline rush of a face-off between the Claws and The Evil Dead, like a good action movie, and with this third issue he really tries to broaden the scope of the series and flesh out the world he has created around these characters. It's not perfect. I'm not convinced it entirely works as a single issue, but hats off to Furman and Senior for trying. Maybe if I had read this as a ten year old I would've been non-plussed by, or disappointed by it, particularly following the fantastic action of the previous issue, but as an adult, I find a lot to like here. Dave The panel of Tanya's parent's farm goes back to that Star Wars farm look for a house again. Like in issue 1 with Dragon's house. Kev Right enough. I really like Senior's architecture and design in this series. Channel City looks great, as does 'The Pig.' Not sure how it stays in the air though, but it looks shit-hot. Dave Yeah, that is definately one of the benefits of looking at this through adult eyes. It contains many layers that we could not understand as kids. Kev There's more going on in this series than I was aware of as a ten/eleven year old reader. Certainly than I was consciously aware of. Dave This is paving the way for the real story that Furman wants to tell, and the first two issues, jam packed with action as they are, ensure they can keep the readers interested. Kev For sure. He's constantly building towards the future, the expansion on the N.U.R.S.E. hierarchy, Deller's collision course with Kurran that doesn't come to pass for another three issues etc. etc. and perhaps most of all, the broadening of the horizons of the world he's creating. It makes me wonder just what could have been, had the series lasted beyond what was its initial arc really. I love the fact that he even uses the footnote on Fastfax to set up the next issue as well. Talk about good use of the real-estate of your comic. Dave I was thinking that in our hypothetical show, Dragon's Domain would be narrated by a N.U.R.S.E. employee. Most likely Stenson, I think. Kev That's a fantastic idea, actually. It'd really accentuate that idea of the corporate control over the world. Speaking of the TV adaptation, any ideas for casting? I was thinking Christopher Eccleson for Stenson, actually. Dave Good call for Stenson. I was struggling to find an actor for him. Possibly Hugh Dancy for Digit and of course special guest star for episode 3, Mr. George Michael!!! Kev Man, that's an excellent shout with Dancy. Top drawer. Dave I have one other possible casting suggestion, Nick Stahl would make a good Scavenger, I think. Kev Stahl's a good call. I was thinking someone like Barkhad Abdi. Dave Interesting choice. That would definitely work as well. Kev I'd go with someone like Jennifer Lawrence as Mercy. But she'd cost an arm and a leg. Dave Well, she’s definitely the right age. It’s one of those comics where each character is heavily disguised behind their costume. What about Cobie Smulders for Death Nell? Kev Yes. That's an amazing pull. She'd be great at that vicious humour element to Nell. You any final thoughts on issue three, 'Heroes' Welcome?' Dave Yeah, it's like it's opening up a whole a whole new direction for this series and it is a complete contrast to what's come before it. Very cleverly done. What's your thoughts? Kev Yeh. I think it's really quite ambitious. Perhaps even over ambitious. But I can see why they felt the need to attempt to do this at this point in the series. The three issues thus far have all been noticeably different in tone. The first issue has that melancholy that we spoke of, the second issue is an action piece and this issue is a more conscious, socially aware affair, which is complimented by Dragon's inner monologue detailing the personal struggle within himself. But, as much as I like it, I don't have that same visceral connection to this issue as the others though, purely because I have no childhood memories of it, so it's a strange one for me. It almost sits outside of the rest of the series in my mind and in my heart. (D) & (K) Next: 'Wild In The Country.'
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