Secret Wars, Series One 25/11/06

With the quarterfinals looming, the fourth night in the Secret Wars calendar was set to bring some big surprises and it certainly didn’t disappoint. With a line up that many consider the best pick of the bunch, the night began with a bit of a delay as artist Polio had to step out of the tournament at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances.

















Secret Wars Aficionado, Terry Guy was given the challenge of finding an artist to take on 5683 at super short notice.
Lots of praise to artists Cest Bon, who was brave enough to battle with no game plan, sketch or strategy. He even deserves another pat on the back for introducing yet another tool to the Secret Wars artistic cauldron, by spraying paint on the wall through net curtains. Describing his style as publicly accessible graffiti, Cest Bon drew a rather abstract piece stemming from the Secret Wars logo that centres the battles each month.





Through his piece, artist 5683 made a direct attack on artist Polio, who he initially thought he was battling. In response to his piece, 5683 said that he, “literally drew a manky looking character with Polio getting his crutches nicked by the Grim Reaper, whilst a character of me ripped out his heart. It was meant to have text above and below it in a bone font, reading ‘Polio the little bint with the hole in the middle’, but unfortunately I ran out of time.”

The judges voted for 5683 to jump through to the quarterfinals, leaving Cest Bon to go back home with his curtains. The result meant only one thing… that the most awaited battle of the night could begin.

Artists Inkie (originally from Bristol) and Rich T from Devon were up next for the last battle before the quarterfinals and definitely made it one to remember, with the judges really stuck at the end to determine who should win.


Inkie, whose inspiration behind his work is beautiful ladies, flowers, nature and classical art, had a very simple game plan. He planned to, “get f@*ked up on Magners and get stuck into the drawing”. His piece, which consisted of a striking female character emerging from a window or picture frame was without a doubt one of the most eye catching pieces of the night.


Rich T drew a more simplistic piece of a face with 3 little characters rising from the brain. Rich T who got involved in Secret Wars for, “the love of drawing…cough…cough money” seemed to be particularly shocked after the tournament when the judges, though stuck to decide, voted Inkie the winner.


When asked what was the theme behind his piece in the night, Rich T replied, “I didn’t have a theme, I didn’t even have a sketch, I think I know why I lost. My tip for anyone taking part in secret Wars is to have a sketch or at least think about what you are gonna do. Don’t just drink beer, until its time to draw”. It’s clear that Rich T underestimated the talent of some of the artists in this competition.


The rest of the night was a success with even a 17year old Beat Boxer stepping up to entertain the crowds. Expect to see him back at the first quarterfinal on December the 16th when Gustav Balderdash and Okkle, Teck 1 and Mr Shrew step up for the second time in the tournament to try and draw their way into the semi finals.