The Most Unlikely Team-Up Ever?
Judge Dredd,Mean-Machine Angel and Judge Death form a tenuous detente to hunt down a vicious Cursed Earth mutant known as Clinton Box and his band of followers,the Redpants,who have obtained weapons of mass destruction and are threatening to destroy Mega-City One!
The Three Amigos,Judge Dredd Megazines#3.02-07(4Aug-13Oct’95).Script:John Wagner.Art:Trevor Hairsine.
The brilliant Alex Ronald with a moody,computer-enhanced style,differing from his previous work in 2000AD.
I especially like the way Ronald has used a C.C.T.V effect to capture Fink lurking in the sewers.
Taken from his excellent blog.
Mean-Machine Angel uses his special talents to pull a job on his 21st birthday,back in Texas-City from “The Mean-Machine Goes To Town”(Judge Dredd Annual1982)art:Robin Smith;script:Alan Grant.
An iconic moment in Thrill-Power to rival Judge Dredd punching through Judge Fear’s visor,as Mean-Machine Angel doesn’t just break the fourth wall,but bursts out of it by head-butting his younger self clean through to the next page!
Even Pa,Junior and Link look impressed,I remember I was-2000AD have always tried to break with convention and involve the reader but this was total immersion,as Junior actually points out,the younger Mean has come through onto the following page..radical,in every sense!
Arguably Mean’s finest hour,all fully painted by the uber-realistic Richard Dolan and written by John Wagner, “Travels With Muh Shrink”,is a must-read for all fans of the Mean-Machine.
Given away with Judge Dredd Megazine298(22Jun’10)
The wonderful Jamie Hewlett’s cover for Judge Dredd Epics “Destiny’s Angels”,Titan reprint.Nov’90.
Source:Barney
Trying my hand out of my comfort zone and painting some background. I’m not so sure about the results though more of this shall be in the pipeline in the near future.
One of the best things about Mean-Machine Angel is his resiliency and staying power,coupled with a steadfast refusal to die,as demonstrated in this story;“A Merry Tale of the Christmas Angel”!(Prog450,28Dec’85);art:Steve Dillon.
Unlike less fortunate family members(especially Fink and his untimely demise on the Pa Angel Mark I Super Scream Torture Machine!)Mean-Machine has a habit of returning from the dead(thanks,in no small part to the regenerating elixir of the evil,Judge Child).
Originally thought dead on the planet of the Grunwalder,last resting place of Owen Chrysler(Judge Child),Elmer “Pa” Angel and Junior were retconned so that they survived with the help of the natives on Xanadu(“Awakening of Angels”,Prog958,22Sep’95).
Writer John Wagner later admitted that had been a mistake and although Pa and Junior did make it back to Earth,have spent largely the whole time forgotten,in a Mega-City One Iso-Cube,where they still remain.
In “The Fink”(Progs193-6,3-24Jan’81),it is revealed that Mean Angel,as a child,was not living up to his family’s murderous reputation.His father,the notorious Texas-City outlaw,Pa Angel decided something was gonna have to be done about his son’s gentle nature and brings a top surgeon from the city to perform certain upgrades on the boy,effectively turning his thirteen year-old son into a psychotic cyborg,complete with a dial on his head with four settings:1 for surly;2 for mean;3 for vicious and 4 downright brutal!
From this point on the gentle,loving boy is gone,replaced with a murdering psychopath who has a penchant for head-butting people(and things)into a greasy spot!
However many psychiatrists and general do-gooders would try to revert the Mean-Machine(as he had come to be known)to that sweet little boy..
B/w art:“The Fink” by Mike McMahon;colour art:“Travels With Muh Shrink” by Richard Dolan.
Mean-Machine Angel is one of those rare beasts in Judge Dredd’s world:a recurring villain who can actually give the Lawman a run for his money.
So much so,that needing Mean’s brutality and knowledge of the terrain,the Judges are willing to risk hypnotising him in order to locate some stolen clone-tanks housing infant Judges,in the vicinity of the Texas-City radlands.
“Dredd Angel”(Prog377,4Aug’84)art:Ron Smith;Complete Judge Dredd#37,art:Frank Quitely;Prog380(25Aug’84),art:Ron Smith;CJD#38,art:Frank Quitely
