2000 AD Covers Uncovered: Mike Perkins targets Dredd in the deadly cover for Prog 2392
24th July 2024
Every week, 2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest artwork and 2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes you behind-the-scenes with the headline artists responsible for our top cover art – join bloggers Richard Bruton and Pete Wells as they uncover the greatest covers from 2000 AD!
This week, two very special events… the return of John Wagner and Colin MacNeill with a brand-new Dredd multi-parter, Machine Law, and the return of Mike Perkins to the cover of the Prog for a Zarjaz Machine Rule cover…
After getting his break at 2000 AD in the early 1990s with Future Shocks, a Terror Tale, Judge Dredd, and Vector 13, Mike headed over the pond to begin what’s been a glittering career working for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Cross Gen. He’s most recently been absolutely blowing fans away on DC’s Swamp Thing and Batman: First Knight.
But, as we’ve seen before, the lure of the Galaxy’s Greatest is so, so strong for those who started out here, and that’s why Mike’s always happy to make a reappearance on the cover… and what a cover it is, marking the start of Machine Rule, sure to be yet another epic tale, as Wagner and MacNeil show us just what happens when Dredd and the Mechanismos butt heads.
MIKE PERKINS: Colin MacNeil has long been an artistic inspiration for me. His work has always been nothing short of stunning and his work on the beginning of the Mechanismo saga stands in the echelons of Dredd royalty – if a fascist regime can be said to have royalty (probably MORE likely than not!)
So, my first impression was to wonder why Colin wasn’t illustrating the cover for this issue and then I figured I’d better shut up and just enjoy the opportunity I’d been given…and what an opportunity!
Dredd as a target for the robot judges themselves…well, hold on, there’s the cover right there!
I have no idea what’s coming up in this saga but I bet it’s going to be brilliant!
Mike, we have seen what’s coming up – and it’s just… WOW!
MIKE PERKINS: John and Colin back together again – deconstructing the structures they have put in place and built up into a regime that the citizens – and Judges – of Mega City One have embraced… all except Dredd, who’s pretty much grudgingly accepted the addition of the Mechanismo droids to the judicial forces. I’m excited!
I submitted a couple of ideas but knew which direction I wanted to go in and the addition of the crosshairs pushed the cover into that design element structure I was after.
And here’s those couple of ideas from Mike…
>
And then the addition of the cross hairs – he’s absolutely right, it does make the image pop…
MIKE PERKINS: This depiction of Dredd is one I may stick with in future jobs. It’s always been an intriguing proposition to “cast” Dredd and it’s veered, for me, from Clint Eastwood to Pitch Black era Vin Diesel through to the shark-eyed No Country For Old Men Javier Bardem who serves as the influence here.
And just to show us what an influence, Mike sent this along…
>
MIKE PERKINS: Those craggy features that show no emotion, pity or sympathy. The perfect foil for the Mechanismo unit towering behind him.
I’m such a fanboy when it comes to Colin and John!
Oh, we all are Mike, we all are!
Thank you so much to Mike for sharing that cover with us – Prog 2392 is out right now and available in all the usual places you find your Thrill-Power, including the 2000 AD web shop. Trust us, you don’t want to miss a moment of Machine Rule!
If you want more Covers Uncovered from Mike, there’s not that many but what there is is just… wow! His most recent was the 2024 Sci-Fi Special with Judge Alpha here, then there was the cover to the 2023 Christmas Judge Dredd Megazine, issue 463, and finally there’s his cover homage to Futures Past for the 2017 FCBD 2000 AD here.