More superb art from 2000AD cover artist,Neil Roberts.
Taken off his excellent Skinny Elbows blog,the top one is Wulf Sternhammer,Viking bounty hunter and below of course,Judge Dredd,astride Mega-City One.
Zarjaz #15 & FutureQuake #21 - OUT NOW!
The latest issues of FutureQuake and Zarjaz have been released from the FQ Publications stable and are available to buy directly from them now. As ever, both anthologies feature some of the best comic talents the UK small press has to offer - and me!
First up, we have FutureQuake #21, which has within its pages Call Of Nature by me and Jason Smith (with letters by Bolt-01):
When an alien race makes contact with Earth, the humans soon discover they’re facing something that’s just too big to fight…This was actually the second version of this story - I hesitate to use the word “draft”, because this version only used the title and a couple of basic plot elements from the first one; pretty much everything else is completely new. I wanted to try and bring a lighter tone to the whole “first contact” story, and Jason took that idea and ran with it, producing some really beautiful art - there are more panels in Call Of Nature than I can count that just make me smile, but to say more would give too much of the story away…
FutureQuake #21 features a cover by Gibson Quarter that looks like this:
You can find out more about the cover on Gibson’s Blog.
FutureQuake #21 is available now from the FutureQuake Shop priced £3.50 (+ p&p). As ever, you can click the image of the cover over on the right side of your screen to head straight to the shop so you can see for yourself why the comic has been nominated so many times for an Eagle Award!
Remember to check out the FutureQuake Press Website and the FQP Blog for news and previews of upcoming issues - and be sure and check out the latter for the complete running order of this issue.
Next up is Zarjaz #15, an all “Dredd-world” issue, featuring a collection of tales from the mean streets of Mega City One and beyond…
I have to confess here that I’m feeling a bit spoiled with this particular issue. My contributions to it include my first Judge Dredd story for Zarjaz - the first one I ever wrote for the comic, and the first one to be published (er, if you don’t include Death To The Future, of course…) - and my first collaborations with Zarjaz veteran David Broughton and the incomparable Kevin Levell!
First, we have Judge Dredd: The Taking Of Mopad 456:
Despite the towering city blocks that form the skyline of Mega-City One, there is still a severe housing shortage plaguing the city, forcing many citizens to live in mobile homes - known as Mopads - that remain constantly on the move through the millions of miles of roadway.But when one Mopad catches the attention of Judge Dredd, trouble isn’t far behind…As I’ve already said, the story was an attempt to do a shamelessly old school Judge Dredd tale, trying to capture that feel the series had during the early-mid 80’s, and Kev (who, I’m sure you’ll agree after reading the strip, is a 2000AD art droid in waiting) just nailed it perfectly. It’s left me desperately wanting to work with Kev again in the near future, but I suspect he’s going to be a very busy guy…
My second contribution to the issue is Judge Dredd: Big JIMPin’:
On the streets of Mega-City One, a Judge’s reputation can sometimes be their most effective weapon in upholding the law, and JIMP’s - Judge Impersonators - can go a long way to eroding that.But when someone starts to impersonate Judge Dredd, the grand old man of Justice is forced to stamp it out quickly before his own reputation is damaged beyond repair…Big JIMPin’ was a tricky one to get right, I have to admit. I wanted to try and do Dredd in a the style of how the strip is written now, but it proved to be tougher than I thought. Still not 100% sure I got it right… Thankfully, I had Zarjaz and Dogbreath vet David Broughton on board to tackle the art and breathe some life into the strip in his own unique style. Both this and The Taking Of Mopad 456 were lettered by Bolt-01.
Zarjaz #15 features a cover by Edmund Bagwell (based on a Chris Weston commission), and looks a bit like this:
Zarjaz #15 is now available from the FutureQuake Shop, priced £3.00 (+ p&p) Earth money. Again, you can click the cover image over on the right of the screen to head straight there, but if you prefer to grab your copy from a bricks and mortar shop, you should be able to get them from your local Forbidden Planet International store and Orbital Comics in London in the coming weeks!
As always, for all your Zarjaz and Dogbreath news, check out The Quaequam Blog - but remember to set your browsers for maximum Thrill Power!
If it needs saying, Zarjaz and Dogbreath are the 2000AD and Strontium Dog fanzines, respectively, while FutureQuake is an anthology of Future Shock-style stories that was set-up by Arthur Wyatt to hone his skills and it worked as he went on to become a droid. Given the state of the British comics industry, these comics have helped train a number of the latest generation of droids (and possibly the next one?), so it is well worth checking them out.
Whistler created by Bolt-01. Art by Bolt-01, colours by Bryan Coyle
This week, we take on a 2000AD-esque flavour as we introduce Search/Destroy agent and stalwart of the 2000AD fanzines, Whistler!
Whistler was originally created by comics making machine Bolt-01 (a.k.a….
ECBT 2000AD review the latest offerings from the 2000AD fanzines:
Flint is joined by Luke Foster to have a look at the latest offerings from team Futurequake : Zarjaz 12 and Dogbreath 24.
As with the regular 2000AD reviews the strips in question are gone into in detail so expect heavy spoilers.
More info on Zarjaz and Dogbreath including details on how you can get copies are here : http://thequaequamblog.blogspot.com/
Please note : These reviews were done with digital copies the gents at Futurequake were good enough to provide. As such some stories were read in a different order to that which was in the printed edition. Not that it really matters, just in case anyone is reading along. That said the one longer Dredd story was broken down into three parts in the print version.
Scotch Corner have an interview with Neil Roberts:
4) Tell us a bit about the illustration you’ve sent?
The piece I’ve sent is a cover for an issue of Zarjaz fanzine from a few years ago – I’d wanted to try something more painterly and this was the perfect opportunity – also it was a smaller format and I wanted to riff on those Starblazer/ Commando cover palettes, very bright, often opposing colours. Plus, I wanted to give Wulf a certain Alan Moore-ness to him, with the intense look, beard and the hair. It seemed a natural fit.
5) What can we expect to see from you next (what are you working on)?
…I’ve got a few 2000AD covers coming up – a certain evil War-droid will be making an appearance.
I’m looking forward to that evil wardroid cover.
FutureQuake Press have just announced the release of Dogbreath #24 which includes the sixth Sun and Moon story “Reservation Dogs” that I wrote and the sublimey talented James Feist drew. The spectacular Gronk cover is courtesy of Nigel Dobbyn who also writes and draws a Gronk story inside, it brings the days of the Gronkinator flooding back.
Zarjaz #12 is also out with a cracking cover from my Vampire Vixens collaborator Alex Ronald (his big return to drawing Dredd for a comic in 10 years and, despite his years working on the title in 2000 AD, his first cover for the character):
These are the Strontium Dog and 2000AD fanzines (respectively) and are jam-packed with thrills, I can guarantee it as I worked as script consultant on both of these comics, although not every story had my beady eye cast over them (as the FQP chaps try and work quite a way in hand) enough of them have my mucky metaphorical fingerprints on them for me to feel especially pleased at the results (I did get a script consultant credit for Zarjaz #11 but really I arrived after most of the scripts had been greenlit, so I feel these two are really the first ones I had a lot of input into and I’m suitably proud of the results).
Don’t forget that in the latest batches of releases there is also FutureQuake #18, an anthology of Future Shock-style stories with this blinding cover by Neil Ford:
So you should pop over to the FQP shop and get the chaps to bundle up all three of them for you into one envelope to save on shipping, or keep an eye out for them at any number of cons throughout the rest of the year (I believe Birmingham and ThoughtBubble will be two big ones they like to attend).
A page of my comic art from ‘Teen Wulf’ the tales of the Young Wulf Sternhammer written by Rich Clements. Part of a 13 page story in issue #22 of Dogbreath, the Strontium Dog Fanzine.
Available to buy (via paypal) from FutureQuake Press
Yes, more S&M:
What would an issue of DOGBREATH be without another outing for Mr Sun & Mr Moon. This episode sees them working yet again with familiar faces from S/D history. Who is it this time? Why are they Crying? And why is this episode called ‘Reservation Dogs’? You will need to get Dogbreath 24 to find out!
I’m just finishing off the next story, so everything is ticking along nicely.
The Zarjaz/Dogbreath (2000AD/Strontium Dog fanzines) blog also has previews of Sam Slade: Robo-Hunter: Dust Buster:
2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes a look at two covers for the 2000 AD fanzines Zarjaz and Dogbreath (both of which were nominated for an Eagle Award this year). First up, the cover to the next issue of Zarjaz by Alex Ronald:
Those Zarjaz boys are back and boy, are they back in style! They’ve kept to their policy of commissioning 2000AD droids to produce fantastic wraparound covers for their fine fanzines, with absolutely dazzling results. Big names cover artists of the past include Colin MacNeil, Leigh (phwooor) Gallagher, Clint Langley, PJ Holden, Richard Elson and Dave Kendall. This time we’re treated covers from the brilliant Alex Ronald and the wonderful Nigel Dobbyn.
First, let’s look at Alex’s amazing cover for Zarjaz 12. Quite simply, it’s gorgeous; if this were on a prog, it would easily bag my cover of the year (and we’ve had some stunners this year.) Done very much in the style of Alex’s Crackdown 2 comic and his brilliant Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht tale for Wasted, it’s a digital masterpiece.
For Nigel Dobbyn’s Dogbreath cover and more goodies, you’ll have to pop on over there.
If you look at Alex Ronald and Nigel Dobbyn’s 2000 AD credits you’ll see a long history of working on Dredd and Strontium Dog (and their spin-offs) respectively (a good slice of Nigel’s run with Feral and the Gronk having been recently collected in Judge Dredd Megazine supplements). So, even though they are no longer at the House of Tharg, they still haven’t lost their love for the characters and stories.
