Henry Flint’s stunning art from Judge Dredd,“Chaos Day”,in 2000AD,minus text and colours. Henry Flint proves that he is one of the greatest artists working in the comics industry today,here in the U.K or abroad,including the U.S. Go to links above to see more of Flint’s art from the series. If you haven’t read the John Wagner scripted “Chaos Day”,all the back issues are available at 2000AD shop.
TalkComix has a short video interview with the great John Wagner, recorded at the recent Glasgow Comic Convention:
He discusses how pleased he is with Dredd and talks about “Day of Chaos,” his new Judge Death story, Strontium Dog and the Button Man film.
Dark Judges Teaser Campaign
Simon Parr’s series of teaser ads for the return of the Dark Judges to John Wagner’s current Judge Dredd epic Day of Chaos.
The images have been running on CBR News, and Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis returned to 2000AD at the beginning of May.
So how good is “Day of Chaos”? Well the Forbidden Planet blog has made an oath to start reviewing each prog and this just happens to coincide with the current Judge Dredd storyline. Thanks to a bit of prodding they really got to grips with “Day of Chaos” the penny dropping with prog 1779:
Jez Higgins pointed out last Prog in the comments that I was possibly expecting something from the current Dredd storyline that wasn’t necessarily going to happen.
And he’s right. I was always under the impression that this “Eve Of Destruction” storyline was just the first part of the “Day of Chaos” tale. I found out after writing last week’s review that this simply wasn’t the case, and there’s been a fair number of Day Of Chaos storylines prior to this. And that meant Jez was sort of right, and the whole nature of the serial changed for me. This was no longer the prelude to the big everything goes to shit mega epic I was expecting, suddenly it’s reconfigured in my mind as John Wagner writing the Dredd world equivalent of a socio-political thriller, a little Cold War spy hunt, a lot of Orwellian nightmare.
And in doing that my eyes opened, and I looked again, and blow me, this issue opens with a staggeringly good couple of pages of simply brilliant writing, great artwork from Flint, and a perfect look at things going wrong, the Sov virus maybe just the beginning, as the people and the media get a handle on what’s been going on.
And interestingly, just as I’m getting into this Dredd as a great drama in and of itself, there’s a threat that action is just around the corner, what was simmering now threatens to explode. The irony isn’t lost on me that all of a sudden I’m thinking i’d rather it didn’t kick off so quickly!
So they really started getting into it for what it is, not what they thought it was, carrying on with prog 1779:
once we get inside, there’s wow aplenty in Dredd, where everything that can go wrong has gone wrong; the rejected proposal for mass poisoning the victims of the chaos plague has been leaked to the press, the city has erupted, rioters flood the streets, the Judges are overwhelmed, and Mega City One looks in trouble.
The thing is, given the ending, it may be that the trouble has only just started…..
Yes, it’s chaos, everything’s going wrong, there’s nowhere near enough law enforcement to go round, android auxillaries, even temporary executive powers for the military just aren’t enough.
But Wagner doesn’t just throw all the chaos at us, that’s just the start. Against the backdrop of the chaos there’s a thrilling socio-political storyline that’s far more important, and far more interesting, with Wagner spinning out the story of a rogue Judge and the Justice Department’s struggle to find him before he does something very bad indeed. How bad? Oh, bad, very bad.
Dredd: Day Of Chaos has turned turned from something where I hoped it would explode into action to something where I’m absolutely thrilled that it hasn’t, all thanks to Wagner’s practically perfect storytelling, a master at delivering lowkey brilliance.
we’ll start with what may be, if some rumours are to be believed, John Wagner’s swansong on Judge Dredd. Or perhaps just him taking a break from the character. Whatever it is, he’s promising something major:
This is from his Facebook: “Really looking forward to seeing what other writers do with what I’ve left them. It’s a new ballgame – I expect to see some spanking good scripts.”
A while back I was wondering when the real action would start, but since Jez Higgins pointed out just how extensive and involved the story had been so far, I’ve found my reading of it has shifted. It’s become, quite simply, a masterclass in writing a tense, involved and involving political thriller.
The real beauty of it in many ways is that it’s a Dredd story in name only. This is a story of the city, and it’s a city under dire threat right now. Not only is the Chaos Plague still out there, but the threat of the Sov Block terrorists is only just beginning, with traitors revealed right at the heart of the Justice Department:
That’s about the sum of the action here. It is so beautifully composed and constructed that Wagner is telling his story through reportage, through events unfolding. There’s simply no need to have lots of big action sequences, and Wagner, along with Henry Flint’s excellent artwork, is merely laying everything before us, as we watch it all unfold, as amazed and bewildered as the Judges and residents of MC1.
This will be one that joins the ranks of the very best Dredd epics. Yet the incredible thing is that it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be over any time soon. And personally, I’d not complain if it took the remainder of the year to play out.
Concluding:
So don’t make the same mistake. join me on my pledge. Give 2000AD a try. The great thing about it is that there’s always a jumping on point. It happens every Wednesday. Sure, you may be lost slightly for a week or so, but you’ll soon pick it up, and with the comic so good right now, you’ll soon, just like me, be looking forward to Wednesday with near childlike expectation.
If you aren’t reading it, you really should be.
Edit: And a reminder that you can read the Dredd stories from progs 1779 and 1780 right here.
Great new Henry Flint “Dark Judges”art for Judge Dredd-can’t wait!
From Henry Flint’s collection of “day of Chaos” covers.
Prog 1750 will be another jumping-on point, so soon after prog 1743 too, and with a line-up that is a strong contender for Prog of The Year - who loves you? Tharg loves you, that’s who.
Prog 1750 is the next big jumping on point for 2000AD readers, out in the UK on the 7th September.
New Judge Dredd by John Wagner and Henry Flint, John Smith and Edmund Bagwell are reintroducing us to Indigo Prime, there’s Lowlife by Rob Williams and D’Israeli, and Ampney Crucis by Ian Edginton and Simon Davies. All new strips, all starting in one new issue.
And this is the Greg Staples cover. If you’ve never read 2000AD before – or not for an age, the upcoming issue would be a good place to start. Why, nothing else will be relaunching around that point, will it?
You want FREE comics, earthlets?! Then head over to CBR for a gratis preview of the first episode of the EXPLOSIVE new Judge Dredd mega-story, Day of Chaos, by John Wagner and Ben Willsher!
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=9384
Good Comic Books have a rare interview with John Wagner on the upcoming Dredd epic Day of Chaos:
If you didn’t already know it, Judge Dredd is heading for The Day of Chaos. Starting in 2000AD, prog 1743 on the 29th July, is a mega-series of epic proportions. Ever curious, we were able to get some questions to the legend that is John Wagner, Judge Dredd co-creator and long time 2000AD writer… which was nice. We asked about the mega-series, the new movie and all that kind of junk, but you can pretty much just read it…
Good Comic Books | The Day of Chaos is fast approaching, what can we expect? Apart from there being some sort of chaotic day… Will it be a good place for new readers to cut their teeth on Judge Dredd?
John Wagner | I’d like to think so. It does involve characters regular Dredd readers will be familiar with, but it’s important to make any story accessible to new readers. Not perhaps if you jump on in the middle, but if you’re there from the start. In this the format of Day of Chaos should help – a lot of shorter stories, some of which may seem at first only obliquely connected to the bigger picture – building up to an electrifying and violent conclusion (at least, that’s what my PR guy is saying). A similar structure to Tour of Duty, in fact, though the matter at hand is totally different.
More.
Although prog 1743 is where the storyline starts properly, 1740 (this weeks prog) is a jumping-on point with all new stories starting, so now is the time to jump in, if you aren’t already.
From Everything Comes Back to 2000 AD:
Just got sent the above preview pic from the guys at Rebellion. As they said :
A teaser image for the upcoming Judge Dredd mega-series, Day of Chaos, written by Dredd co-creator John Wagner. Teaser art by Clint Langley. Starting in the UK on 29th July and appearing in the US in the July pack from Diamond, hitting stores at the beginning of August.
Managed to get a few hints about this. Suffice to say its not one you’re gonna want to miss!
You will want to be in on the ground floor for this.
