Are any of our artists/writers going to be at New York Comic Con this year? We’d like to try setting up a @2000AD panel…
July 2011
DriveThruComics having a sale on 2000AD comics.
BUY EVERYTHING!
Here is the link - it looks like you get money off everything from progs to digital graphic novels. Looks like you could scoop up a tonne of cheap comics there.
THANK THARG IT’S FRIDAY - RT this so @2000AD gets to 4,000 followers today and be in with the chance to win a FREE graphic novel!
Play
Pat Mills has been interviewed by Sabotage Times and, as always, gives some thought-provoking answers:
All of your earliest 2000 AD stories – ABC Warriors, Nemesis The Warlock, some of the most famous Judge Dredd sagas – have been unrelentingly dystopian in nature. What would you say were your precursors?
When I started 2000 AD I did a crash course on all popular science fiction – I read Philip K Dick, Harry Harrison, Isaac Asimov and so forth, and that gives you the vocabulary… I think the dark ideas come from somewhere else, though. I mean, you either have them or you don’t. If you look at some writers’ material, it’s quite upbeat or positive about the future, but if you look at mine it’s darkly cynical, and I think that just comes the nature of your character. If you are that way inclined, you look for something – whether science fiction, horror, or even soap opera – to express that cynicism. If I try to write something that’s more lighthearted or jovial, it usually stiffs at the box office – it’s not meant to be.
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When you were writing 2000 AD, was it always part of the plan to channel revolutionary ideas into young minds via the back door?
It was totally, absolutely deliberate, but I didn’t think of that as being particularly special or unique. I mean, I was listening to all kinds of music – a lot of which was quite subversive and critical of the status quo – so when I got into comics, I thought, why aren’t we doing the same thing in this form. Of course, it’s the British creators who have largely added some depth to the American superheroes, but I would like to see the British comic industry have more of its old identity back. I’d love it to go back to the roots of 2000 AD, and I think it will probably be digital comics that will do it. I’ve been doing a fair bit of work on this for various people and I did a straw poll on digital girls’ comics, as in how they would appeal to an audience not that different in its age group to the original 2000 AD audience – more or less 8-12 years old. The response was very positive, so we’re hoping that will go forward – what I’m thinking is mystery, suspense, the occult… Stephen King-style girls’ comics.
Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters 01 →
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A review of Judge Dredd: Mega City Masters 01 from Graphic Novel Reporter:
Following a short but succinct and well-informed history of Judge Dredd and his various creators over the years by editor and Tharg’s representative on Earth, Matt Smith, Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters 01 is not a chronological catalog of every single Dredd strip in order. Readers desiring the entire publication history should consult the now nearly twenty volume Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files. Instead and smartly, Rebellion/2000AD have organized the volumes thematically, with the first installment focusing on the visualizations of Dredd over the decades by artists well-known and critically acclaimed here in America. While the majority of the strips are penned by John Wagner and Alan Grant, along with single entries by Gordon Rennie and Al Ewing, the varied artists, even beyond those listed on the cover, are some of the best, British sequential illustrators. Names already on the cover such as Bolland, Gibbons, and Adlard to name but a few hardly need any introduction for their various work with US comic publishers. Yet, readers will be pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of, in no particular order, pJohn Byrne, Brendan McCarthy, John Higgins, Chris Weston, Mark Farmer, Staz Johnson, Collin Wilson, Kevin Walker, Duncan Fegredo, Glen Fabry, Carlos Ezquerra, and Jock.
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There is no better time to jump aboard the Dredd caravan as the summer winds down and more of this long, sought after material finally becomes available here in the US. Especially beneficial for readers wary of superhero continuity and parallel worlds, continuous big events, deaths and rebirths, and massive, unwieldy cross-overs, Judge Dredd: Mega-City Masters 01 is a vital infusion to the static, superhero genre of the mainstream comic industry.
An interview with Brendan Mccarthy from Irish Comics News:
DO’L: Just recently you made a return to Judge Dredd for only the second time in twenty years with a story you conceptualised, written by Rob Williams. You went in a direction with the story that you don’t see in Dredd in doing a zombie story, what was the thinking for this?
BMCC: There is so much zombie stuff about, it just seemed glaringly obvious that Dredd should go’zombie’ for a story… It was fun, and it allowed me to experiment with some digital techniques, and try and hone a new style. Digital fauvism!
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DO’L: Have you any creator owned material in the works at the moment or what have you keeping yourself busy with?
BMCC: Yes, I have about four great new projects in search of publishers. I’m just starting a new series for 2000AD called The Zaucer of Zilk, concocted by me and written by Al Ewing. I think he’s shaping up to be one of the better talents around. The strip is in the 2000AD tradition of Sooner or Later and Hewligan’s Haircut. It’s a bit of British surrealism… ‘The Wizard of Oz’ meets ‘The Mighty Boosh’.
From there:DROID INTERVIEW: artist Ben Willsher talks about Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos http://t.co/Fh3IQLi
2000 AD: What can you tell us about ‘Day of Chaos’, or rather, what can you tell us that won’t get you a Rigellian Hotshot from Tharg the Mighty?
BW: While Dredd is cracking mutie hating skulls, a beautiful foreign woman arrives in the Big Meg; but for one young pre-cog, this is a signal of impending doom.
2000 AD: Would you say that ‘Day of Chaos’ feels like an accessible story for new Dredd readers, and a good jumping-on point?
BW: Absolutely, you get a great feel of who Dredd is, what makes him tick, his duties and how handy he is with a daystick. Despite being the eponymous hero, Dredd is almost the secondary character to the real star of the strip, which is Mega-City One itself. Dredd is the linchpin to the big crazy world of the Big Meg and its even crazier citizens. And in my unbiased opinion just looking at the scripts, I think this is truly going to be a classic, so there’s no better jumping on point than ‘Day of Chaos’.…
2000 AD: Is there anything you would like to leave fans with - perhaps a favourite thing to draw from the story, something to whet their appetites for the upcoming issues?
BW: Well, when I first read part seven of ‘Nadia’ and got to the last page, I audibly gasped. I have NEVER done that with a script before. I couldn’t believe what I’d just read, and couldn’t believe I get to draw this - a truly jaw dropping moment. This will be my favourite thing to draw, and I just wish I could tell you what it was, but don’t want to spoil the surprise.
RT @MrLeeCarter: @2000AD I thought the shots of the Judge Dredd movie looked ace, especially the one of him kicking the door in. Top work film peeps.
