Saturday 27 August 2011

Garry Brown - La Placa Rifa?


Welcome to a dead Dredd special in honour of the shocking events of Prog 1749! A bad trip, blood splattered version of Dredd's badge? That can't be good news! Hats off to Garry Brown for taking Psi Judge Hennesy's shocking psi flash in current Dredd epic Day of Chaos and making it scarily real!

Garry said "Tharg asked me to work up 2 layouts for a cover. He didn't tell me the plot or anything, he just had strong ideas for the cover. He wanted a closeup of Dredd's visor and a close up of his badge with blood on it. I then did 2 colour roughs. Matt liked the badge layout so I went with it..."

So below we see Garry's roughs...



With the badge idea approved, Garry continues "I then emailed the cover below however the editor wanted me to flip the colour horizontally so that the darkest part was up top, that way popping out the blood on the badge."


"And here's the finished cover"

A guuughe thanks to Garry for those brilliant pictures and fascinating commentary. Remember to visit his site here.

Of course, near death is just another day at the office for Mega-City One's premier lawman and a bloody, battered badge has long been a symbol for Dredd and the Justice Department's darkest days. Take, for example, Robin Smith's iconic cover of Prog 262, when, during the Apocalypse War, Dredd murders his own chief judge before turning the gun on himself. I can still remember my nine year old self shuddering at this cover...
An homage to that cover is Mark Harrison's heartbreaking cover to Prog 1009 which saw the popular 'Death of a Legend' story where Dredd took Ex Chief Judge McGruder, who was in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease, on one last, fatal mission...

Design guru Simon Parr shattered the badge for this striking cover to prog 1414 as the judges stood down to give control to terrorist group Total War during their nuclear siege of the city...

Of course, hard as nails Dredd has been at death's door numerous times. Who could forget this classic moment from 'The Day the Law Died' when Dredd is shot through the head by one of Cal's assassins?
And, of course, the evil Murd the Oppressor from the Judge Child Epic who goes one further and actually kills Dredd (albeit temporarily.)
Still, you know Joe Dredd, you can shoot him...

Image: Brian Bolland
You can nuke him...

Image: Brian Bolland
You can stab him...


Image: Carlos Ezquerra
You can squish him...

Image: Brian Bolland
You can bite him..
Image: Steve Dillon
You can burn him...
Image: Brian Bolland

Crucify him...
Image: Jock

Beat him...
Image: Simon Bisley

But you certainly won't break him...
Image: Mick McMahon

'Cos in the end, the badge rules creeps...

Image: Cam Kennedy

and you'd better...

Image: Cliff Robinson

Saturday 20 August 2011

Crazy Legs Trevallion!

Boom! Who better to draw Download's two coolest gunsharks than 2000AD's coolest new artdroid, Tiernen Trevallion? Here, in various forms, is the funtin' excellent cover of Prog 1748, a triumph in style and damn good design.

As we work through the images you'll notice one or two alternative ideas, one or two of which I wish had made the final cover - not that I'm doubting the wisdom of the mighty Tharg of course!

Over to Tiernen to describe his original vision. He says "As you can see, the first sketch had Ramone looking sharp while Finnigan is in the background, flying backwards through a window..."
However, the mighty one must have wanted more action from Dexter as we can see he's also blasting away in sketch no 2...
With the sketch approved, here are frankly stunning inks. Dexter really does look dashing, check out his Mr Darcy style hair, while Finny looks hilarious with those gangly legs and mental hand cannon!
Now this is the very essence of cool! The figures look great against the dark background and those muzzle flashes seem to glow! The glass looks great, really adding movement and drama to the piece. I love the bits behind Dexter too...
Here's my (shite) mock up to see what it woulda looked like with the 2000AD logo...
Finally, the version as chosen by the editorial team. Still very cool but I think I prefer the darker image...
Folk that know me from the 2000AD forum will know I'm a BIG fan of Tiernen Trevallion's work and recently got a commission from him. With his creepy style I thought he's tackle Fink Angel really well and, he did! The finished piece is absolutely stunning and a real favourite of mine.
Thanks to Tiernen for the images and the VERY entertaining emails. Remember you can visit his glorious site here.

Monday 15 August 2011

Carlos Ezquerra - Return of the King!

All hail King Carlos! Back in his rightful place in the galaxy's greatest comic! Yes it takes more than life threatening illness and the removal of vital organs to stop Tharg's premier artdroid (see the cover of his special fan-made get well comic here for more details.) And what a return! The cover of this months' Megazine features Judge Rico and Judge-Marshal Koburn scouring the Cursed Earth in search of a missing City-Def Unit.


Above them, I believe is a Gila Munja. These fearful, chameleon-like creatures live in the Cursed Earth and are masters of camouflage and one look at the news stand version of the Meg shows that this little blighter has completely blended himself into the logo! That 'Missing in Action' strap line could be talking about him!
Moving on, below we see Carlos' sketch for Koburn... Followed by his unmistakable inks!

And again, that final, wonderful image. Soooo cool!

Obviously, this isn't the first time Koburn has come across the Fargo bloodline. He met Dredd way back in Megazine 211 which was reprinted in The Carlos Ezquerra Collection, the cover of which can be seen here:
So what better way to celebrate Carlos' return than a look at some classic, high rez Ezquerra covers of yesteryear, starting with a real favourite of mine - Prog 333, the classic, if a little surreal "Um...Synthi Sausage!"Of course, readers in the know would tell you that the cover was for the classic 'Requiem for a Heavyweight' story and was a part of a still slightly surreal wraparound...
Next, Prog 256 where Dredd first gets to try out his Stub Gun on the incoming Sov Strato-V's during the Apocalypse War. A true classic!Next we have Prog 281 which saw the return of one of Dredd's meanest enemies...


Did you guess which one?
Onto more recent covers and here's the classic 'Three Dredds' featuring Joe, Rico and Dolman...
Finally, the last ever traditionally painted cover by Carlos and one of the few featuring both Johnny Alpha and Judge Dredd. I own this so I'm simply showing off!
Lets finish with a couple of Strontium Dogs, starting with what I would argue is the most iconic Alpha image ever, that of Prog 339. Next we have two absolute classics from fan favourite 'Rage.' Firstly, the heartbreaking Prog 445...

And the highly cinematic 469, stunning!So all hail King Carlos, truly one of the greatest droids ever assembled! And thanks to the great man for sending the Megazine cover.



EDIT - For letter to the Stars (and PJ Holden) Jim Campbell, I've added prog 195...
Jim says "I'd like to nominate Prog 195 as one of Carlos' more significant covers, since it features Dredd, who he hadn't drawn in nearly four years at that point, and wouldn't draw him again until the Apocalypse War, a year later…"


Well said that man!

Saturday 13 August 2011

Another 3riller from Clint Langley!

Justify Full
Hooooooooooooooooows that for an amazing cover? Sometimes, getting a brief from Tharg must be like being given an absolute gift. I can only imagine the joy Clint Langley must have felt when Tharg offered him money to produce a cover featuring, of all things, a freaking robotic werewolf!

The image is for Arthur Wyatt and Steve Yowell's excellent 3riller Strip 'Wolves', a tale of exoskeleton clad soldiers fighting a war against European insurgents. Below is the cover without the background, just check out the detail...
And the image with the background, the full moon eluding to the lycan nature of the mysterious robots in the story.
Thanks once again to Clint for his fantastic support of this blog and congratulations for producing such an amazing cover! Check out his site here.