Often described as the artist’s artist, we were thrilled to catch up with 2000AD and British comics great Mick McMahon. Although he only worked on two Doctor Who strips, the Greatest Gamble and the seminal Junkyard Demon, he casts a long shadow over the work that would follow.

Not that bringing back the Cybermen was altogether straightforward, as Mick recounts.

VV: Tell me about your take on the Cybermen.

MM: I was told off. I got my Cybermen mixed up. Two different Cybermen.

VV: Were they cross with that?

MM: Oh, they didn’t mind. I don’t think they noticed. But people who know all about Cybermen said, 'Hang on a minute, that’s two different Cybermen he’s got there'.

VV: The head’s from a First Doctor story, the body’s from a Second Doctor story. Then you’ve got the cloth face and the ping-pong balls. I think it looks really good, it’s a really interesting design.

MM: I just sort of picked and mixed, like I was in Woolworths or something. I thought, 'I like that bit and I like that bit.' Maybe there’s something more sinister about having a cloth face. It’s like a sinister sort of minstrel or something. I was quite restrained with the feet here as well.

VV: It’s almost Pierrot-like. There has often been something, with the blank mask, a little bit mournful about them. You give your Cyberman expressions! Do you think you were trying to make him look a little angry?

MM: Actually, no. I can see what my mind was doing when I was drawing that. I just wanted him to look almost disinterested. Like, 'this is what I do.'

You can read the whole interview with Mick MaMahon in VWORPVWORP! 1 & 2 collected Order your copy here.