Saturday 14 March 2015

Greg Staples - Danse Macabre.


Sadly, Prog 1921 sees the end of Dark Justice, and possibly the end of Death and his cronies themselves. Will Dredd and Anderson win? I wouldn't bet on it...

The series has looked absolutely beautiful, two years in the making and worth every second! When this is collected into a beautiful hardback graphic novel I'll be first in the queue!

To commemorate the end of the series, Greg painted a stunning wraparound cover featuring Dredd and Anderson's struggle against the Dark Ones. So scary was this image that Greg had to cover Death with a bit of tracing paper as his hands were trembling...


It's no use trying to hide Sidney, that's tracing paper!
 
Sssshithouse that he is though, Death manages to swat away the piece of paper, aaaaaagh!


Peekaboo!

A stiff drink and pep talk later and Greg was able to remove the paper altogether and get a grip of his unruly models...

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it, Vogue!

Let's drink in some of those close up details eh? Here's Death, happy as ever...


Dredd about to practice some extreme dentistry on Death...

And we pan out to see just why he's so happy - about to off poor Joe again eh?

Death showing Dredd his swimming technique
 
Gaze into the belt of Fear! In the story 'Young Fear' we learned that lil' Frankie was very close to his Nana Agnessss before her fatal balloon induced heart attack at his 7th birthday party, stating his lifelong obsession with fear. The little softy kept her head, bingo dabber, serrated chastity belts and padlock. A sweet story indeed...    
 
Do you know how long it takes Death to manicure the nails on his elbow pad? Ssssstlye is everything!

Greg adds some evil ink that has been cursed by Putin himself - the horror!

"Jussst one little kiss Joe!"
 
I bet you're thinking this is the real Fire eh? 
 
It's simple really - Boing(R) for the other three, camomile lotion for Fire.
 
Fooled you, it's Mortis' skeleton string puppet! Curssse that spoilsport Anderson though, shooting the strings.

 
Throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care!
 
But how can we stay made at her when she's such a cutie eh?
 
The meanie Anderson aims her water pistol at Fire...

Here is the fracas almost inked...

Oh, okey cokey cokey!

Sadly, Greg dropped his bag of chips over the piece and got grease all over it - noooo!

See? They ARE dark judges!
 
Greg adds some background colour with a hope of hiding the greasy marks...  

Bring on the colour...

Dredd and Anderson get a bit of their colour back...

Oooh, Fire's looking a bit pale, I hope he's okay.

Check out a close up of Dredd and Death, stunning!
 

Ssssso? Megcleans removes plaque, synthicaf stains aaaand gives you fresh breath? I musssst try it!" 
 
The finished piece, amazing!
 

 Dredd, our hero, takes one of them on, while Anderson deals with THREE.
 
And here's how it looks on your Prog, a masterpiece!

Careful Sydney! You'll hit the logo!

Let's commemorate the series with a look back at all the Dark Justice covers. Firstly, the atmospheric cover to Prog 2015...

Too much synthiketchup on his hottie again.
 

At the midpoint of the strip, we go this modern classic...

"Come with me, if you want to erm... die!" 
 
And of course the chaotic climax!
 
 Drokkmania
 
In the interests of completeness, and because it's such a brilliant painting, here's Greg's terrifying promo image too...
 
Red AND Dead 
 
Huge thanks to Greg for sending the images and a hearty congratulations on completing this epic story. It will forever be know as on of the, if not the, most beautifully painted Dredd story ever!
 
If you are the LSCC this year, be sure to check out the painting in the rotten, decayed flesh from 2pm at booth B12, where Greg will be signing! 

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