No. 138 Mike Dorey

First Prog: 6

Latest Prog: 409

Total appearances: 62

Why yes, that is an intentional reference to Samson pulling down the pillars of the Temple,
from that one Bible story (it's in Judges if you're interested)
Words by Geoff Miller*

Creator credits:

Psi Testers

No idea which, if any, comics artist invented the panel where the hero 'sees' the villain in
an extreme eye close-up - but it always works.
Words by Alan Hebden

Other art credits:

Invasion!

MACH 1

MACH Zero

Ro-Busters

Victor Drago

Rogue Trooper

A handful of one-offs

If there's one series by Dorey you should check out, it's the original Invasion!
Words by Pat Mills / Gerry Finley Day
(although based on the pun, I'm inclined to credit Finley-Day with this panel specifically...)

Notable character creations:

Victor Drago, perhaps?

-This strip, from 2000AD tie-in comic Tornado, was conceived by editorial, and scripted by Chris Lowder, as new adventures of Sexton Blake, a hugely popular character from years ago. Presumably Mike Dorey drew him as such – but then at the last minute editorial determined they couldn’t use this non-IPC owned property, so gave him a cheeky name change, technically making him an all-new character. Did Dorey fix the art even a little bit to match (or some in-house bodger) – unknown! He doesn’t half look like Peter Cushing, either way…

 

Peter Cushing, of course, played a great version of Sherlock Holmes -
himself part of the blueprint for Sexton Blake

Notable characteristics:

The thickest blacks, and he’s not afraid to smudge them (using a j-cloth, it turns out).

Explosions of literal mud and metaphorical anger there.
Words by Steve MacManus

A function of the same stylistic choice, Dorey’s work oozes atmosphere.

MACH One is at its best when it's showing Probe diving / running / kicking his way through a story
Words by Pat Mills

He’s also keen on broad facial expressions that really let you into a characters head (nuance added as required, and in 2000AD, it often isn’t.) 

This must be from a Future Shock but I can't seem to track it down...

On Mike:

Mike Dorey is what you might call a proper unsung hero. He was a mainstay of the Prog’s early years, but not one who got much attention, despite being, in one very important respect, a huge part of nailing the ethos of 2000AD. To whit, unapologetic, glorious and above all enjoyable violence.

The very idea of using a London bus as a murder machine is funny.
Words by Gerry Finley-Day

 

Although he didn’t come onto the strip until Prog 8, Dorey is perhaps the key artist on Invasion!, which was, don’t forget, the opening thrill and tone setter for 2000AD for most of its first year. And what Dorey did better than any other artist (except, perhaps, for Jesus Blasco in the opening episode) was to draw Bill Savage offing Volgs in ridiculous ways, and looking dead happy about it. And, in a nutshell, that’s about 50% of the appeal of 2000AD – earned ultraviolence with an imaginative bent and a sociopathic heart.

See that pseudonym - that's a reference to his artistic tool of choice, the j-cloth.

Dorey did it so well he soon took over as the lead artist on the series, alternating(ish) with Carlos Pino. I could fill this post with pictures of a grinning, death-dealing Savage, but I’m going to restrain myself…

This one's for the Space Spinner boys...

Much the same trick saw him deliver the goods on MACH 1,

James Bond was never as fun as this...
Words by Charles Herring

Although it’s notable that he used a thinner line, and really emphasised the movement and action nature of that strip. What’s it like seeing a Hyper-powered man do thing no normal human could? Answer: pretty awesome!

In fact, this was before his stint on Invasion!, and while he could have done more with John Probe, for me it was a wise decision to keep Dorey with Bill Savage, as his thick inking far better suits the grubby, working class soldier in the mud nature of that war story.

That first panel showing Big Nessie putting the put in is pure Desperate Dan stuff,
but given a 2000AD makeover.
Words by Gerry Finley-Day

See also his work on MACH Zero, a working class riposte to the suaveness of MACH 1’s spy world.

Dorey was perhaps the perfect choice to develop the leage of Vagrants, London tramps who end up helping out poor Zero. It's all mud and pollution and oily hats.

MACH Zero is also another strip that combines a bizarre range of tones: comedy, tragedy and of course ultraviolence. Here's the villain named Cousin George indluging in a bit of bullying; Dorey mixes the comedy of a kick up the arse with the horror of burning a man's hand, selling the central core of  as both a bit silly, but also really quite moving.

An early example here of the 2000AD notion that people in capes are evil!
Words by Steve McManus

Let's move on to Dorey's work on Ro-Busters, another class war thrill with its themes often more memorable than its actual plots. Because this strip is all about robots, it’s inherently futuristic. But this is very much a run-down future, where the robots are unwashed, unloved and of course, rebellious. Dorey does well to hold his own on the epic story The Fall and Rise of Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein, sharing art duties with Mike McMahon and Kevin O’Neill. While they excel on setting and weirdness, Dorey brings great characterisation to the likes of Gottlieb and the human-looking crash test dummy.

There's a palpable melancholy here, which marks out Dorey even from the
greatness of McMahon or O'Neill.
Words by Pat Mills

One didn’t know it at the time, but once Ro-Busters was done, Dorey didn’t get a ton more work. There’s a bit of Victor Drago for Tornado, that short epilogue story for MACH Zero,

Best rendering of rain ever!
Words by Steve MacManus

some nonsense with Tharg...

Look how Dorey nails Tharg's inherent self-confidence and smugness
Words by Steve MacManus

and then just two outings on Rogue Trooper. He’s a good fit for all of those, perhaps most especially the grungey, earthy violence of Rogue. But, by that point perhaps Dorey was considered a little old fashioned, compared to hot new things Cam Kennedy, Colin Wilson and Brett Ewins. To my mind, Dorey does add his own texture to Nu Earth, and it’s horror – a vein Gerry Finley-Day could have tapped into more often had Dorey remained available, perhaps.

This just left Dorey going out with a bang on a moody, horror-tinged Time Twister:

Love these 'person going mad surrounded by jeering faces' panels
Words by Chris Lowder

and, nearly 100 Progs later, one of those thrills that sort of falls between being an extended Future Shock and a trial run for a new series: Psi Testers. Heck, at two episodes it’s not even a 3riller, although it would have fit that template perfectly had it existed back in 1984.

More j-cloth action, this time to represent psychic powers

Outside of Invasion!, this is easily my favourite Dorey work for the Prog, as it allows him to flex more story-telling and world-building muscles. Will we see him again? Seems unlikely, but for someone who set such a dramatic tone for the entire comic, it’s kind of sad that we’ve yet to see an artist who has anything like his skill with muddy, grinning ultraviolence.

And since writing up this post some months back, Dorey has indeed resurfaced! You can enjoy his wartime skills in the 2020 Action Special, drawing Hellman of Hammer Force.

More on Mike Dorey:
A proper good interview covering his whole career on the Thrillcast.

Personal favourites:

Invasion!

Rogue Trooper: Petrified Forest

Time Twisters: This is your Death

Psi Testers

*For some reason Dorey is credited as 'Mike Donaldson' on Barney for this story - pretty sure that's a typo. It's definitely Dorey! Writer 'Geoff Miller' may or may not be a pseudonym for Steve MacManus - anyone know anything about him, beyond his credit as scripter on Flesh II?