Don Lawrence's Storm

Of all the Don Lawrence artwork I know, I feel the Storm episode 'The Living Planet' is truly his masterpiece.
Honing his skills through the different stories, in 'The Living Planet' Lawrence seems to be at the apex of his creative abilities. This is portrayed in the incredibly spectacular 'fire-worm' scenes, but to me even more in his depiction of the main characters. In the 'The Living Planet', Storm, Redhair and Nomad are more so than ever before human figures: delicately drawn, gracious and with true emotions.

Look at Redhair for example:




The top image is the oldest of the three, the middle one is from TLP and the lower one is from an episode after TLP. In my taste, the earlier 'Storm'-characters were always a bit 'hairy', with faces drawn in a formalistic fashion..almost as if they were taken from a totem pole. And (after TLP) as the series progresses, it appears as if Lawrence begins to draw more in a caricaturistic way; men are portrayed with overly proportioned muscles and they lose all gracefulness. Redhair's face in TLP however, is smooth and gently shaped.

And look at these emotions...;they are so subtle compared to the earlier and later Storm:





And his figurework: beautiful!



'The Living Planet' is a gem! It shows Don Lawrence to be one of the greatest comicbook artists who ever lived.