Drake Illingsworth and his Dog

Posted: Tuesday, March 12, 2002
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Drake Illingsworth and his Dog Creator(s): Ed Pinset
Publishers: Self Published (1983-84)
From: England
Price: 50p (UK)

It is always a pleasure to find one of Ed's books cause the artwork is so great. His low key approach works well with his casual stories of a selfish dog, strange house guests and decaying cities. He makes some interesting use of zippo-tone, placing geometric shapes of it over the characters to suggest shading. The line work appears to have been applied with a brush with a very loose style that is marred by a couple of pages that end up quite murky after reproduction.

Drake comes across as a slightly older Charlie brown who lives in England and is as the beckon call of his dog. Ed manages to give his characters a good range of expressions, with Drake looking bewildered and scared and the dog looking sinister and tenacious.

The book focuses on relationships that don't seem to be working properly. There seems to be an undertone of unhappiness. Drake and Dog are a couple who stick together because Drake loves Dog, and Dog finds being looked after very convenient. Friends of Dog take advantage of the situation and Dog just laughs at Drakes discomfort. All in all this makes for some uncomfortable but rewarding reading

Cover from another issue in the same series.

In a Word: Domestic.



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