Eat Plutonium Death, You Disgusting Alien Weirdos!

Prog 1692? Check!

Great big tripod thingy frazzling the reader with a flame thrower? Check!

Yet another amazing SB Davis Damnation Station cover? Check!

Thrillpower overload? Check!

Job done!

Exclusive - Prog 1700 Preview!

In five short weeks we will hit the magnanamous Prog 1700 and I am honoured and humbled to have received images from the Nerve Centre to share on this blog FIRST! Me!?! I can't believe it!

Let's start with the big news, I am proud to announce there is a logo change. I am honoured to unveil the new logo badge...

Smart eh? Like a mix of the old and the new, surely symbolising the mix of stories in prog at the moment? And here is the new logo itself...

There will be a new design for the Nerve Centre and letters page with new Tharg 'photographs' taken by Henry Flint. Those are shown below...

"Cheese!"

"Pull my finger!"

"Smell my perfume Earthlet!"

The line up for the Prog sounds amazing too! The stories appearing in Prog 1700 are:

Judge Dredd: Crackdown by John Wagner & Ben Willsher.

Defoe: A Murder of Angels by Pat Mills & Leigh Gallagher.

Low-Life: Hostile Takeover by Rob Williams & D'Israeli.

Nikolai Dante: City of the Damned by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser.

And finally a new thrill!!! Age of the Wolf by Alec Worley & Jon Davis-Hunt.

Finally, here is the zarjaz cover by Jon Davis-Hunt. Tharg himself mixes the ingredients to make pure Thrill Power for the prog. But hold on... if you look at Tharg's readout... is that a famillar name??? Grud on a Greenie, I'm on top of the world, Ma!

Thank you SO MUCH to the Mighty One and especially to Simon Parr for allowing me to break the news. I am genuinely humbled and have to say this has been one of the best days of my life.

Secondly, my heartfelt thanks to Jon Davis-Hunt for sneaking my name on the cover. I am on cloud 99! "Thank you!" times a hundred million!

All hail the Mighty One!

EDIT - There's more!!! Here are the new Input and Letters pages too! Thrill power overload!

Karl Richardson - The Eyes Have It!

Well, how's that for an amazing cover then? Back on the seedy streets of Mega-City One after the turbulent events of Tour of Duty and our favourite lawman is already up against a mysterious serial killer who seems to prey on the memories and emotions of his victims.

The art on this tale is stunning by the amazing Karl Richardson who also created the stunning cover above. Below we see a sketch for an alternative idea for the cover...

Followed by his development sketches for the final, fantastic image...
Yes folks, that image above is a sketch! Finally that beautiful finished cover one last time...

Thanks again to Karl for taking time out of his hectic schedule to find and send the images. He kindly sent the finished cover back in early March and ever since I've been desperate to show it! I'm sure you'll agree it's an absolutely superb piece of work!

No link yet to a site to see more of Karl's work but I'm sure if we all keep bullying him he'll sort one out soon! (You can however use the search function on this blog to see more of his phenomenal work.)

Mark Harrison - Curran Fo... I mean, Sinister Dexter!

Mark Harrison, Rebellion's head of concept, is certainly a perfectionist. As if this is not already apparent in his amazing design work for the recent Aliens vs Predator game, it certainly is in his harsh judgement of his fantastic cover for Prog 1693. He says "The Sin Dex cover was a quick job that I wasn't entirely happy with to be honest. There was an initial idea to work to, an "Ocean's 12" movie poster of the 4 characters walking towards us."

A quick job? Not entirely happy? Surely, he jests! Mark continues, "That played to my liking to "cast" Hollywood stars as the characters, the obvious choice being Tony Curran and Jamie Fox (Curran has already played "Sinister" in Blade 2 of course for the eagle eyed!)"

Anyone familiar with Mark's work, especially strips such as the Pulp Sci-Fi tale 'Blood of Heroes' or the Travellers (see his star studded poster later in this entry) will appreciate Mark's penchant for adding the odd familiar face in his work.

Ocean's Twelve - Tharg's Inspiration for the cover...

Below we have Mark's initial roughs, of note here is naughty Sinister, Mark says "Initially I had Sinister "flipping the bird" but that was deemed inappropriate for a cover so it was dropped to him smoking which is much of course much more appropriate! And Jamie, sorry Dexter pointing his fingers as a gun, which had an air of menace to it when you consider they are both packing."
Mark was very unhappy with the ladies on the cover (Finny's estranged wife Carrie Hosanna, queenpin of Magnapore and her T1000-like robot Polly Alloy.) He says "The ladies were nondescript and made up eventually as I was being rushed as new concept work became available. The females I feel are superfulous to the shot. Indeed I submitted a version without them hoping they'd go with that. I think it's stronger with just the characters. Plus the manga styled girl I painted is awful- I hate her! (I admit it!)"

Heh, that version is shown below.
"The abstract "Vegas" background completed it, which I cropped to a central strip so the characters walked out of it, like a door, white all around to maximise the impact as they 'broke the frame'."
Harsh as ever, Mark says "Ultimately I wasn't satisfied with the cover because being rushed I defaulted to a safe, tighter style. I wanted it to be much looser and more painterly like the Abaddon covers I've been doing." Mark's beautiful Abaddon covers can be seen on his site though I simply had to include my absolute fave later in this post!

"That said the Sin Dex was fun to work within the restraints and add some character touches. And you need to go out of your comfort zone on occasions and try new things, even if it isn't entirely successful."

Thankfully, the all-knowing Tharg disagreed and the we were treated to a superb image full of wonderful little touches. Mark tells me he has a Dredd cover coming up that he's much happier with, so bearing in mind Mark's impossible standards, that should be amazing!

Below I have selected some images from Mark's fabulous site which I urge you all to visit immediately! Firstly, as promised, my favourite Abaddon cover image. This was for Al Ewing's 'Death Got No Mercy' which naturally features a man punching a bear! I love it!
Moving on, we have this beautiful image of a Justice Department Manta Tank. Mark has always had a very distinctive computerised style which this image demonstrates perfectly. It's fantastic!
The bulk of Mark's 2000AD work was for Dan Abnett's far-future rebirth of vampiric Strontium Bitch, Durham Red. Mark's distinctive, unique art style was perfect for capturing Abnett's dark, futuristic vision of the universe and pair brought us a fascinaing, visually stunning space opera.

Going back to Mark's love of giving actors cameo's in his work, here is a poster for his personal strip 'The Travellers' which you can read here.

Another notable series to feature Mark's amazing visuals was the fantastic Glimmer Rats by Gordon Rennie. This bleak tale took place in a nightmare dimension filled with all manner of evil beasts where Earth's criminals would be sent to fight in a hopeless, supernatural war. I absolutely adored this strip and, though very unlikely, would love Grennie to revisit it someday. Finally, I had to include a Dredd cover, this fine image is from Prog 1404 from the strip 'Big Deal at Drekk City' which was beautifully illustrated by the amazing Cam Kennedy. Enjoy it creeps!

Thanks again to Mark for sending the images and the thoroughly entertaining commentry. Can't WAIT to see that Dredd cover!

Jon Davis-Hunt - Feral!

So here we have the fantastic cover for Prog 1694 by the supremely talented Jon Davis-Hunt. This action packed image features Strontium Dog Middenface McNulty and tenacious journalist Precious Matson quite literally dragging Feral's fat from the fire in the mind boggling tale 'The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha.'

It transpires that Feral's version of events as recounted in the controversial 'Final Solution' epic was false; Johnny's body was not destroyed when he was killed by the Lyran beast and Feral actually brought it back through the dimension portal. So where's Johnny now? What really happened in that other dimension? Why did Feral lie? Like all of us, McNulty and Matson want answers so have to travel to an alien prison on the planet Garn to bust the duplicitous Feral out.

This scene shows our heroes escaping the no nonesense Garn forces who plan to sacrifice Feral to ensure a plentiful harvest and the continuing good health of their leader. The Garn have fattened Feral up to ensure he burns better, hence a more rotund Feral than you may remember!

Below we have Jon's loose sketch...

And his impeccable inks, wow...Next flat colours are added... And behold, the zarjaz final image. Wow!

Coming soon to 2000AD, Jon has the strip called 'Age of the Wolf' however he's keeping his cards very close to his chest as to what it's about! Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll see some stunning covers for it here!

Thanks yet again to Jon for being so generous, please be sure to give his new and improved website a visit at http://www.jondavishunt.com/index.html

Greg Staples - Hail to the Chief!

Every now and then a cover comes along that makes you gasp, and the cover of Prog 1690 by the amazing Greg Staples did just that! I gasped partly because of how drokking amazing the image is and partly because, after turning the job down so many times, Dredd as Chief Judge is surely something that none of us ever thought we'd ever see!

Staples is an absolute legend who has had a meteoric rise to fame since his first 2000AD cover for the Dredd tale Babes in Arms way back in 1992. Now every cover he does is an 'event' cover and this is certianly no different!

So, here we have the breathtaking inks for the cover of Prog 1690...
And once again the beautiful coloured version...

As well as these, I wanted to show some more of Greg's wonderful work from years gone by, starting with one my my favourite covers ever, the cover of Megazine 2.44 featuring a host of shitbags and events from Dredd's previous adventures...

Another favourite cover of mine is this Frazetta style masterpiece from Megazine 3.63...
And another cover we thought we'd never see - Dredd bonking from Megazine 3.69, Grud on a Greenie!
Another favourite of mine is this festive offering from Christmas 2008, poor Santa...
And a no nonsense gunshark blowing you away cover from 2000AD Prog 1153 proving (yet again) that Greg is the king of cool covers!
As well as painting Dredd, Greg is playing Dredd in the amazing looking fan film Judge Minty. Here's a superb photo of Greg in the role of Dredd...
Everything we've seen of this project to date looks drokking amazing and it's fantastic that one of 2000AD's most respected artists is playing it's greatest character! I can't wait to see it!

Remember you can see more of Greg's sublime work elsewhere in this blog and on his swanky NEW website here. Thanks to Greg for sending the images, they're amazing!

In honour of this amazing cover, I thought it might be fun to have a look at the Chief Judges been and gone to see what could be in store for Dredd should he do the unthinkable and take the role...

The Father of Justice by Carlos Ezquerra

The first Chief Judge was, of course, the great Eustice Fargo, Dredd's clone father and visionary pioneer of the Judicial System of Megacity-One. Fargo created a formidable police force built on impeccable standards of discipline and conduct, including enforced celibacy. Unfortunately, Fargo himself broke this rule and was so ashamed, he attempted to shoot himself, resulting in terrible mental and physical damage. He was put into suspended animation until science was able to cure his terrible wounds only to have his body was stolen by renegade judges who fled to the Cursed Earth.

Years later, during the Origins saga, Dredd recovered Fargo's ravaged, still-sleeping body from the desolate wasteland. He was revived but unfortunately died soon afterwards, though not before telling Dredd that the Justice System had grown to be immoral, begging Dredd to change it from the inside...

Fargo on his deathbed by Carlos Ezquerra

Last words: "My flesh, my Blood... It's not too late! Fix it. Joe! You - You and Rico - You can do it..."

Chief Judge Soloman by Mick McMahon

After Fargo's attempted suicide, the ever so wise and astute Hollins Soloman took over. Soloman's first act as Chief Judge was to fake Fargo's death, making the father of justice a martyr for the fledgling judicial system and gaining public support for the judges' cause. Hollins lasted for six years in the role but endless bickering with congress soon made him weary of the post and he resigned. During his tenure, he sanctioned the freezing of Fargo's deteriorating body until science was advanced enough to cure him, and also denied Morton Judds' ambitious cloning program, making a powerful enemy who would threaten the city years later...

Clarence Goodman by Brian Bolland

Soloman was succeeded by Clarence Goodman, the city's longest ever serving Chief Judge. Goodman, and his newly formed council of five, were instrumental in moulding the course of history during significant political and geographical upheaval in the United States. Such events include the Atom War of 2070, the formation of the three American Megacities, sanctioning human cloning from esteemed judicial stock, averting a civil war with Texas, the first robot war of Megacity One and the 2T(fru)T outbreak in MegaCity Two.

Goodman was a popular figure and a staunch supporter of Dredd. Sadly, after more than forty years in office, he was brutally murdered on the orders of the notorious Judge Cal.

The assassination of Goodman by Mick McMahon

Final Words: "Put away those knives. You're breaking the law!"

A hidden panel by Mick McMahon from the amazing collection of Rufus Dayglo

Most infamous of all chief judges was the deranged Judge Cal, who tyrannical reign saw some of the cities' darkest days. Head of the SJS, Cal assumed the position of Chief Judge by framing Dredd for murder and ordering the assassination of Chief Judge Goodman. Once in power, he used hypnosis to brainwash the judges to carry out his orders before terrorising the city with his ever more insane schemes. These included making his goldfish Deputy Chief Judge, building a huge wall to keep citizens trapped within the city, hiring an alien race of mercenaries known as the Kleggs to help in his oppression of the citizens before finally sentencing the entire city to death. Dredd, with the help of a rag tag bunch of Judges, Judge Tutors and an Undercity dweller known as Fergee, eventually overthrew the maniacal dictator.

"Bloop!" Deputy Chief Judge Fish by Brian Bolland

Last words: "I only have to command and our fall will stop! Observe mortals! Observe my powers! STOP!"

Judge Griffin by Brian Bolland

Following Cal's reign, the shamed judges begged Dredd to be Chief Judge. Dredd flatly refused, claiming his place was on the streets. Instead he suggested that Judge Griffin, former principal of the Accademy of Law, take the role. Griffin's time as chief was fairly short, but extremely eventful. Following the Blockmania epidemic he was captured by invading Sov forces and brainwashed to be used as a propeganda tool for the invading Soviet army during the Apocalypse War. Dredd himself infiltrated the Sov base and assassinated his former mentor.

Last Words: "I-I've betrayed my city! I deserve to die!"

After the dust had settled on the Apocalypse War, head of the SJS Hilda Margaret McGruder was the figurehead of the Justice System. A strong and capable leader, she began the difficult task of rebuilding the decimated city. Four years into the job, McGruder hesitated to stop the muderous actions of an evil, very powerful psychic from the Radlands of Ji. This cost the lives of many citizens and judges for which McGruder blamed herself. Unwilling to carry on as Chief Judge, McGruder turned her back on the city and took the long walk into the Cursed Earth...

McGruder by Cam Kennedy

Last Words #1 "It'll be good to see some action again. Still, I'm going miss it!"

Chief Judge Thomas Silver by Cliff Robinson

Before leaving, McGruder appointed the esteemed Judge Thomas Silver onto the council of five and it's members quickly appointed him Chief Judge. A right wing hardliner, Silver ruled with a rod of iron, focusing particular attention on crushing the growing democracy movement. This included putting Dredd in charge of subverting the Democratic March of 2109. Dredd's questionable actions that day left a bitter taste in his mouth that would eventually grow to significant doubts in the Justice system that he'd held so dear. Dredd's misgivings finally consumed him when a young boy was murdered by a man who had been mentally damaged as a result of the brutality shown at the march. Dredd took the long walk, turning his back on a system he no longer believed in.

One of Dredd's final acts before leaving the city was to fail a young cadet known as Kraken in his final assessment. Kraken was a clone of Judge Fargo who had been part of a twisted cult known as the Judda, led by the evil Morton Judd. Silver ordered a cover up Dredd's departure and repealed his judgement of Kraken. He made the young judge to take the mantle of Dredd, fearing that the Justice Dept would lose respect if the citizens knew Dredd had gone.

Years of twisting and indoctrination of Kraken's psyche had left his mind vulnerable and open to suggestion. This was exploited when the great city was attacked by the powerful, supernatural Sisters of Death, who made the young judge a puppet to their evil schemes. Kraken was made to help the sisters form a psychic bride to the MegaCity and also release the four dark judges, bringing on the tragedy known as Necropolis.

Sensing that his city was in great danger, Dredd returned to see if he could help. On the way, he met a mad old crone who turned out to be none other than former Chief Judge McGruder. Together they saved the city and in the absence of Chief Judge, McGruder reclaimed the role.

This lady's not for turning! McGruder by Carlos Ezquerra

However, some weeks later, the reanimated corpse of former Chief Judge Silver returned to the city and challenged McGruder to the position of Chief Judge. He told Dredd how he had been killed again and again by Judge Death and had fled when the crisis was averted. Dredd convicted Silver of gross dereliction of duty and sentenced him to death, finally putting to rest one of MegaCity-One's most deeply flawed chief judges.

The Undead Silver by Carlos Ezquerra

Last Words: "No! Not... Please, don't kill me...! Pleassse!"

McGruder's second tenure as chief judge ran anything but smoothly, her erratic behaviour and deteriorating mental health resulting in several clashes with Dredd. Most notably, her unwavering support of the controversial Mechanismo project, where the streets would be partly policed by robotic judges, caused irreparable damage to her and Dredd's strained relationship. This culminated in Dredd's spectacular arrest for perjury and criminal damage as he had played an instrumental part in the destruction of a rogue Mechanismo unit.

In a petulant act of malice, McGruder chose to take Dredd to the prison planet of Titan herself, following a trip to a recently discovered planet known as Hestia. In her absence, McGruder left the ambitious head of Tek Division and the Mechanismo project Judge Greel in charge of the city. During the disastrous off-world trip, one of the robotic judges attempted to assassinate McGruder, and though never proven, it was widely believed that Greel had something to do with the plot. He was ignobly demoted to traffic controller where he could do no further harm...

Following the events on Hestia, McGruder finally accepted that her judgement was flawed and resigned. This time she declined to take the long walk, instead choosing to embark on a lecture tour to promote her book, McGruder - The Downing Street... oops, I mean McGruder - The Justice Years. Several years later, suffering heavily from dementia, Dredd took McGruder into the Cursed Earth on one final mission, choosing to give her a heroes death just minutes before her scheduled trip to the euthanasium.

Death of a Legend by Peter Doherty

Last Words#2 "They were -cough- going to... going to kill us you know..."

The resignation of McGruder led to the judicial election of 2116, where, in the absence of a Council of Five (McGruder had dissolved it), four hundred senior judges would vote for the next Chief Judge. To the surprise of many, Dredd himself stood for election, as did Judges Hershey and Volt among others. However, it transpired that Dredd's involvement in the election was a simply ruse to expose a corrupt SJS judge who was using his position to discredit the other judges running for office.

Once the perpetrator was apprehended, Dredd contined to stand for office, though was soundly beaten in the vote by Judge Hadrian Volt who got 208 votes as compared to Dredd's 130. Dredd knew he wouldn't win, and had voted for Volt himself, believing him to be the right man for the job. Of his defeat, Dredd said "I've put too many noses out of joint in my time to win a popularity contest."
Generally, Volt was an excellent chief judge who made a variety of sound, sweeping reforms. He re-established the council of five and introduced a Deputy Chief Judge role to the department to ensure that there was a mechanism to legally remove any chief judge who was deemed unfit to rule. In previous years, the image of the Justice Deparment had been severely tarnished following catastrophies such as the reign of Cal, the judges actions during the Necropolis crisis and the farcical rule McGruder. To reconcile this, a degree of political power was shifted back to an elected body of citizens as well as the opportunity for citizens to elect a major. Volt's tenure lasted for five years but was tragically cut short when he commited suicide at the conclusion of the second robot war as he blamed himself for not averting the crisis.

(Justice Dept. Approved) Last Words: "It's customary to knock!"
Actual Last Words "Yes. Thank you. Keep me informed."

Hershey by Brian Bolland

Volt was succeeded by Judge Barbara Hershey who had been Deputy Chief Judge, and she was soon voted into office. A respected judge from an early age, Hershey had spent many years serving on the council of five and was known to be level headed, if a little left wing. Her period in office lasted nine years but she was eventually voted out for supporting Dredd's infamous Anti-Mutant Laws.

Last Words "Goodbye. Good luck."

The ever popular Dan Francisco by Rufus Dayglo

Hershey was replaced by Judge Dan Francisco, a popular Street Judge and star of reality Tri-Vid show, The Streets of Dan Francisco. Francisco was backed by a manipulative cabal of senior judges who used the star's popularity to remove Hershey from office and repeal the unpopular mutant laws. During his campaign, Francisco was almost fatally wounded by a group of mutant terrorists (who themeslves had been manipulated by an anti-mutant group), giving the popular candidate yet more support and ensuring he won the election by a landslide.

Francisco's injuries were severe and, when his body had rejected a set of prosthetic lungs, power passed to Deputy Chief Judge Martin Sinfield. A corrupt, petty and power-hungry individual, Sinfield ensured that Dredd and those closest to him were exiled to the Cursed Earth and that Hershey was posted off-planet. Then, during a hospital visit, Sinfield drugged Francisco with the powerful mind control drug SLD 88, advising him to resign and pass power to himself.
Boooo! The power crazed Martin Sinfield by Colin MacNeil

Last Words "I hope you're happy Dredd! You got what you wanted! You're the real criminal! You're to blame for all this! One day they'll get wise to you! They'll see you for what you are!"

From his remote posting in the Cursed Earth, Dredd continually clashed with the new chief judge, eventually challenging his authority and running against him in a recall election. However, during the build up to an election, Sinfield's transgressions were discovered and he was sentenced to twenty years hard labour on Titan.

Francisco was returned to office and he insisted that Dredd joined the Council of Five, leading to yet another fascinating development in the life of MegaCity One's premier judge! How long will Francisco last? Will Dredd be instrumental in his downfall as he has been with so many others in the role?