2000 AD *Characters* Uncovered – Going behind the scenes with Dan Abnett & Mark Harrison for the creation of The Out’s Cheeerio
24th March 2023
Every week, 2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest artwork and 2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes you behind-the-scenes with the headline artists responsible for our top cover art – join bloggers Richard Bruton and Pete Wells as they uncover the greatest covers from 2000 AD!
But sometimes the artist involved goes above and beyond and gives us so much in-depth stuff that it can’t be contained in Covers Uncovered alone.
So, when Mark Harrison sent along the design and development process for the new character of Cheerio in The Out with his latest Covers Uncovered for Prog 2323, we had to put it in front of you as a new, irregular, feature… welcome to CHARACTERS UNCOVERED!
For his latest Covers Uncovered Mark did his usual deep dive into the creative process, going into his thinking and design process for the deliberately cinematic cover, his homage to all those wonderful painted cinema posters.
But with Mark, he just can’t help himself and always loves to give us all more, more, more! Concerned that he hadn’t really given us that much (oh, what wonderful things these artists are!) Mark decided he needed to, in his words…
‘Pad it out with a little behind-the-scenes concept art for Cheerio who features on the cover, to give the readers an insight into the sort of brainstorming that happens between Dan and me on this series.’
What does that concept art look like?… well, like this of course!
Not only did he send that, but he also went into all the detail of the back and forth between himself and writer and co-creator of The Out, Dan Abnett, all about the creation of Cheerio!
We’ll get into that in a bit, but first, here’s our potted history of Cheerio… beginning with the very first time we met him, from the final page of The Out in Prog 2319…
Cheerio, ‘the weirdo in the mangy mascot suit,’ is some kind of space white van man, delivering what you need, when you need it.
He and Cyd have history – not that kind (says Cyd) – and he used to work for Galaxoco, hence the corporate costume…
And as for why, if he’s independent, he’s still in the suit – well, it’s complicated.
Again, let’s have Cheerio explain it for you…
So there you go, the potted history of Cheerio, Cyd’s friend – Cheerio says it was more – from way back.
Now, with Cyd desperate to get away from both the Unanima and the Zoto, Cheerio’s stepped in to rescue her, even though he needed the Zoto to get him out of the damn mascot suit…
Yep, mates.
Or is it more? Well, Cheerio certainly thinks it was/wants it to be… Cyd’s absolutely insistent that it was really just mates.
Could it be that Cyd’s not telling us everything?
Okay then, that’s your brief history of Cheerio.
Now it’s time to hand over to Mark Harrison for the background to the creation of the character.
MARK HARRISON: As an additional sideline to the cover, here is a look behind the scenes at the sort of work the reader doesn’t get to see; in this case conceptualising a companion to Cyd; Cheerio.
Together Dan and I generate ideas for the synopsis Dan has sketched out, taking the form of a long free-form conversation where we just say stuff, and from that the synopsis is shaped (subject to A LOT of change), and from that a line or two about the introduction of a new character.
A possible discarded idea from Book Two; an idea thrown out there of an alien detective helping Cyd in her early days in The Out looking for Joey. He would have been more streetwise, tooled up with guns and knives and have dealings with the criminal lowlifes of the galaxy.
More wonderful back and forth with Dan in email as we try to pin down the character:
From Mark:
IDEA #3: COMPANION:
Open with a big bear hug from a being we’ve yet to settle on, the detective/white van man that becomes a facilitator for Cyd in more ways than one. I’m thinking a big humanoid beaver… Space Ranger Pepe Le Pew. Just to get you into trouble!
From Dan:
“She manages, through sheer balls and bluff, to get off Zotol by hitching a ride with a medical delivery ship: basically an alien Han Solo who drives a spaceship “white van” – e.g. A bit dodgy and wide. His name is “Cheerio”…and she knows him. She hitched a ride with him in her early days in The Out.”
At this point, Cheerio is still a simple humanoid alien. I wanted to push a more alien look. Even hideous. Or the opposite. A romantic type- even boyfriend/girlfriend to Cyd.
From Dan:
“… he IS a feline, and he IS a flirty Falstaff type. I think we have to downplay some of the innuendo, but I like the idea he’s got a crush on her which is what motivates him.”
I wasn’t totally sold on the look of Cheerio in my mind as a big furball like Chewbacca so I thought how could we play with that… wanting there to be a relationship with Cyd in the past, that he was like some musician living out of a van. But I also wanted something conceptually alien, something that wasn’t defaulting to a human-centric viewpoint. I wanted something sci-fi about it.
Then, to quote Dan Abnett:
“This is science fiction- we can do anything we like”.
We could have both versions of Cheerio in the same character. Cheerio could be a mascot! A visually big alien Wombat-looking character with a more humanoid alien trapped inside. Literally a man in a suit.
I loved the meta-humour of that and the juxtaposition. A rather dark idea; the hellish existence of a character trapped forever in something so seemingly cheerful and upbeat as a Disneyland character or football mascot yet, having made peace with that, bumbling his way through the galaxy.
I worked out some sort of rules for the character (He was symbiotically linked so when the mouth was shut all senses were routed through the mascot suit) and came up with mannerisms (falling over – missing his (original) mouth with food and drink) to make the character more tragic and sympathetic.
A companion and friend to Cyd, but definitely not a lover. So she says. 🙂
Yep, so she says!
And as for the future of Cheerio, well, by Prog 2323 the Unanima have caught up with Cyd, Bag, and Cheerio and, well…
Which leads to this…
Oh heck.
What does it mean for Cheerio? What’s going to happen to Cyd? And will Bag ever get that deep clean and declutter that its so desperately wanting?
Well, as the saying goes, all this and more will be revealed in future episodes of The Out!
And that’s it folks – this week you not only got another deliciously deep dive into the mind of Mark Harrison for his cover to 2000 AD Prog 2323, but you also got a complete look at the creative process to come up with one of The Out’s most recent characters. Now that really is an artist going above and beyond!
Thank you so much to Mark, yet again, for the great insights he gives us and a special thanks to Dan Abnett for letting us use his email conversations!
For more here on 2000 AD.com concerning The Out, one of the Prog’s finest strips, destined to be a classic, be sure to have a read of the interview we did with Dan and Mark all about The Out right here. And don’t miss any of Mark’s endlessly fascinating Covers Uncovered pieces – Prog 2187, Prog 2193, Prog 2251, Prog 2254, Prog 2261, Prog 2314, and Prog 2317. And finally, if you’ve not had the pleasure yet or just want a copy of the finest new sci-fi strip from the Galaxy’s Greatest, go and get your copy of the first volume of The OUT, containing Books 1 & 2 of the series. Book 3 began in Prog 2312.
And finally, here’s that huge character sheet of Marks broken down into its parts…
