Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

2000AD

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #51
    re: Deadworld. Yes, I should have mentioned that the art in fantastic. Not that there was anything terrible art wise in any of the strips but Dave Kendall's stuff really stood out.

    Comment


      #52
      Alex Anderson I checked and it's the 1981 Judge Dredd album I've got. Do you want me to scan the article and send it to you?

      Comment


        #53
        Only if it's not too much trouble, Patrick. Poor Mumpo made the mistake of thinking I lived in the 21st century and sent me a link to the entire annual but, of course, my Laptop is more "Space 1999" ...

        Many thanks to both of you.

        Comment


          #54
          Originally posted by Alex Anderson View Post
          Only if it's not too much trouble, Patrick. Poor Mumpo made the mistake of thinking I lived in the 21st century and sent me a link to the entire annual but, of course, my Laptop is more "Space 1999" ...

          Many thanks to both of you.
          Complete with the Data70 typeface?

          Comment


            #55
            It's just the men in jumpsuits I notice ...

            Comment


              #56
              Originally posted by Alex Anderson View Post
              Only if it's not too much trouble, Patrick. Poor Mumpo made the mistake of thinking I lived in the 21st century and sent me a link to the entire annual but, of course, my Laptop is more "Space 1999" ...

              Many thanks to both of you.
              I wish I'd got this earlier as I''m in the office on my own today and that would have made scanning it easier. I will try and sort it out. PM me your preferred email address.

              Or I could photocopy it and send a hard copy if you would prefer. Old skool!


              Comment


                #57
                So reading through Dredd the thing that's really struck me is how weird it is that the artists can change so often, like even within an overarching story. Also. Bolland and Ezquerra really stand out stylistically from the other artists. In very different ways.

                Comment


                  #58
                  Not just Dredd, Strontium Dog, Slaine and a load of others. Not only that but sometimes the artistry went from excellent to not great (which was which depended on your subjectivity obviously).

                  Comment


                    #59
                    The early issues were really exciting to me as a 7 year old. There seemed to be an agenda that it was going to leave Marvel and DC in the dust. There was a strip where a comic reader wasn't convinced about 2000AD, so Tharg took him on a bit of a mind-trip. There was one panel with the Marvel and DC characters and Tharg stating something along the lines of 'the past is yours, but the futures mine.'

                    Comment


                      #60
                      From prog 24:





                      Courtesy of the 2000 AD shop: COMPLETE FUTURE SHOCKS VOL 01
                      Last edited by Mumpo; 14-10-2019, 13:45.

                      Comment


                        #61
                        And this was the first page of the first actual Future Shock story in prog 25, as mentioned by Tharg in that final frame above:



                        Hmm... 'Red Hairs', 'Black Hairs'... can you see where this one's going..?

                        Comment


                          #62
                          Cheers, Mumpo! I haven't seen that for 42 years!

                          Comment


                            #63
                            I think there was a MAD spoof in which he was “The Inedible Bulk” so that could be a deliberate homage. Or just the same obvious but still funny gag.

                            Comment


                              #64
                              Originally posted by Levin View Post
                              So reading through Dredd the thing that's really struck me is how weird it is that the artists can change so often, like even within an overarching story. Also. Bolland and Ezquerra really stand out stylistically from the other artists. In very different ways
                              Originally posted by Bordeaux Education View Post
                              Not just Dredd, Strontium Dog, Slaine and a load of others. Not only that but sometimes the artistry went from excellent to not great (which was which depended on your subjectivity obviously)

                              Although John Wagner chose Spanish artist Carlos Ezquerra to draw his Dredd strip the pair's intended first installment was deemed too violent and wasn't published in prog one (eventually seeing the light of day in the 1981 Dredd annual). With its co-creators disillusioned, editor Pat Mills cast around for various alternative artists. The most successful of the first batch were Mick McMahon and Ian Gibson, with Bolland following a little later. If Mills hadn't required those replacement art droids then the early years of Dredd may well have paralleled those of Strontium Dog a year or so later - that strip hit the ground running and bar a couple of episodes in its formative Starlord days, Ezquerra would put his inimitable stamp on it until the late 80's. As it transpired however, Dredd established a template for a roster of artists pretty much from the off; and these days there are half a dozen writers taking turns on it, all with their own favoured artists.

                              Bolland's brushwork has always been astonishingly precise and the apex of his sterling work on Dredd was probably Judge Death Lives, with the acclaimed "Stare into the fist of Dredd!" panel. McMahon, as Ezquerra's chief replacement was originally ordered to mimic the Spanish artist's style as closely as possible and indeed, on his very early efforts it's very difficult to tell the difference if you don't know its him. Fortunately his trademark exaggerated depictions didn't take long to surface and he left the strip far too early in 1982. For my money though, the greatest of the artists who benefited from Ezquerra's absence was the inimitable Ron Smith, whose meticulously drafted lines and grotesque figures absolutely nailed the character both of Dredd and the strip's myriad preposterous protagonists.

                              Slaine was a slightly different case again - creator Pat Mills insisted that his then-partner Angie Kincaid drew the first episode but the results were considered underwhelming by the editorial team, so Italian artist Massimo Bellardinelli and Mick McMahon again were called on to draw remaining installments of the earlier chapters. But then Pat Mills has always had a habit of burning through artists, so I'm not sure even his missus would have stuck around long.


                              Beyond those strips, the very nature of 2000 AD means that different artists often have to be deployed on continuing strips, frequently at short notice. As a weekly anthology publication running five stories per week it notoriously eats up content as fast (and often faster) then the creator droids can churn it out and it doesn't take much to upset an artist's schedule. Sometimes delays occur because the droid is simply being too fastidious but it can be through circumstances beyond their control - Carlos Ezquerra once had to rush a multi-part Dredd story because his house was falling down after storm damage (no, it wasn't The Apocalypse War).

                              It should be said that increasingly, Tharg's creative droids jealously protect their strips even in a collaboratively-inclined title like 2000 AD - which means that rather than having substitutes rushed in to keep things on schedule it's more likely that installments will simply take longer to deliver, often leading to the gaps of severl months or years between chapters that I mentioned earlier.


                              Comment


                                #65
                                Sorry - "Stare"?!

                                Comment


                                  #66
                                  Yeah, Bolland and Ezquerria's precise accurate styles were, by far, my favourites.

                                  Comment


                                    #67
                                    Originally posted by Mumpo View Post
                                    Sorry - "Stare"?!

                                    John Bercow right now.

                                    Comment


                                      #68
                                      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                      Alex Anderson I checked and it's the 1981 Judge Dredd album I've got. Do you want me to scan the article and send it to you?
                                      Right - wait a minute - I've got the 1981 Judge Dredd annual. Definitely got it.Jeezus H Christ. I mean I've got it right in front of me, right now (well, it's next to my left elbow, on the arm of the sofa, but ye know what I mean...). Oh my god. I had it all along.

                                      Patrick Thistle Mumpo - I'm so bloody sorry. I'm just back from holiday. While that also means "i.e. drinking so heavily the only reason I go on-line is to play The Emancipation of Mimi on YouTube or rant about the rugby World Cup so I'm sorry I haven't seen the last few updates on this great thread til now" (seems I only get really steamed into the OTF threads when I'm supposed to be working ... how unique), it's proved to me I'm more dangerous off the drink than on. The previous six weeks of abstinence obviously wrecked my retinas.

                                      Holy fuck. I thought the most damage I could ever do was on football threads. But no:

                                      The only Judge Dredd annual I have in my possession is, in fact, after all, the 1981 Judge Dredd annual! 1981, Alex. Nineteen, eighty, ONE!

                                      I am so bloody sorry for wasting everyone's time - especially you dudes trying to send me copies.

                                      I think, being in 2019, talking about an annual I first saw thirty eight years ago, containing stories set in the 2090s, about a guy born in 2066, who originated from a comic I first bought in Feb 1977, with a title pertaining to the year 2000, which was the distant future then and is a whopping 19 years in the past now, I got just a wee bit confused.

                                      And stressed. Due to lack of alcohol. I think this is the moment I realise I have a problem.

                                      So - erm - yes, I am currently reading The Judge Dredd Story (Pg 9 - 13), which becomes The First Dredd (pg. 15) and then, what I assume must be this ...

                                      Originally posted by Mumpo View Post

                                      ... the pair's intended first installment was deemed too violent and wasn't published in prog one (eventually seeing the light of day in the 1981 Dredd annual).
                                      I'm going to shut up now and get my homework done - gonnae get this baby read from cover to cover before I open my stupid gob again.
                                      Last edited by Alex Anderson; 21-10-2019, 17:00. Reason: Page 14 is a BRILLIANTLY DETAILED description of Dredd's gun - the Law-Giver ... The Justice Gun. (Just to prove I absolutely do have the 1981 annual. Sorry again.)

                                      Comment


                                        #69
                                        Hahaha that's got to be the best apology for something you don't need to apologise for ever.

                                        I remember it being a decent article. I was surprised at how open it was about the creative process.

                                        Comment


                                          #70
                                          Originally posted by Alex Anderson View Post

                                          Aye, I've got the 1983 Judge Dredd annual so the move worked in my house anyway.
                                          No, you don't - so it didn't.

                                          Comment


                                            #71
                                            Killing time in Waterstones this morning I picked up a Judge Dredd case files of recentish strips. Was not expecting a story about the Highland Clearances. The Star Trek parody strip was shit though.

                                            Comment


                                              #72
                                              Yeah I've been reading the above-mentioned pieces on the origins of Dredd in the 1981 annual (the annual I always had but didn't realise I had ... always). The mentions therein of some of his earliest adventures bring the memories flooding back.

                                              While there's nothing as direct as citing the actual Highland Clearances, the many references to/inspiration drawn from real life events is more apparent to me now than when I was 12 (I hope). And it's definitely the genius of stealing as opposed to naff borrowing. You can't, for example, plagiarise the legend of ancient Sparta - but having Mega City judge cadets recruited at five years old and train for fifteen years is an inspired take on that classical legend.
                                              .
                                              Reading about the Cursed Earth and robot wars series sent a Proustian tingle down the neck and, while the details of the story escape me, seeing the rebel robots leader name was "call-me-Kenneth" transported me right back to my childhood. This stuff must really have had an effect on me back in the day.

                                              Walter the Wobot! Bloody hell.

                                              You're absolutely right, though, Patrick - the Story of Dredd is not what you'd expect in a kids annual. It's a strange - maybe even a brave tactic for the first ever Dredd annual to deconstruct both Judge Dredd himself and, to a lesser extent, 2000AD, from almost the opening pages. It certainly didn't do the venture any harm in the long run and makes for bloody fascinating reading now. But it's the kind of fourth wall-breaking piece you wouldn't expect to see until the spin-off has been established for years. Probably just filler, but I love it.

                                              The developmental drawings of Dredd are fascinating. I like the boast that his "breast plate and chain predate the punk fashion". But, talking of fashion, there's no mention of how some of Ezquerra's early versions of Dredd seem to draw from the leather bar scene.

                                              Maybe that would've been too much of a departure for a kids annual ...
                                              Last edited by Alex Anderson; 23-10-2019, 22:10. Reason: Max Normal - the pin-striped Freak.

                                              Comment


                                                #73
                                                One book I can thoroughly recommend - perhaps as a cheaper alternative to the weighty 'Thrill-Power Overload: Forty Years of 2000 AD' I mentioned in a previous post - is 'Judge Dredd - The Mega-History' from 1995. Ostensibly released as a tie-in with the Stallone movie, it is in fact an extremely comprehensive and enlightening account of the development of 2000 AD as a whole, not just its star strip. It pulls no punches, detailing the various conflicts and controversies that dogged the comic over its first 18-odd years.

                                                It's great if you want something that focuses on that exciting phase of the publication, rather than '40 years' which spends half its length talking about the relatively uneventful most recent 20 years.

                                                There's a couple of copies at a reasonable price on ebay.

                                                Plus you get this fantastic McMahon cover!


                                                Comment


                                                  #74
                                                  Another story in the case files was a Mega City One take on Holocaust Denial with a 'historian' called Irving something-or-other denying that 60 million people had died during Necropolis and maybe Judge Death wasn't such a bad malevolent entity after all because the public only heard the Judges' side of it. He gets his comeuppance. But it's a very on the nose story and really quite surprising.

                                                  Comment


                                                    #75
                                                    I may regret this but when Mrs Thistle told me the in laws needed me to update my Amazon wishlist, I just put on the first 5 volumes of the Judge Dredd case files.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X