2000 AD Covers Uncovered – Jake Lynch gives Dredd nowhere to hide for Prog 2203!
15th October 2020
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 it’s the return of Jake Lynch to Covers Uncovered with the cover to 2000 AD Prog 2203, featuring a moody, blue-mood Judge Dredd surveying his world. Inside, you’ll see Dredd and Maitland having a crucial heart-to-heart over Maitland’s discovery of the solution to MC-1’s crime problems in the finale to Arthur Wyatt, Rob Williams, and Boo Cook’s ‘Carry the Nine.‘
As seems to be the way of these things, the poor Lynch droid was, yet again, desperate for a little love from Tharg. But, as we all know by now, TMO doesn’t want love from or give love out to his droids. All he wants is the work. Luckily, Lynch’s work is there for you all to love on the cover of Prog 2203, out on 14 October and available from the 2000 AD web shop.
We caught up with the emotionally drained Lynch to chat about the making of yet another great looking cover –
I wanted to do a pic of Dredd that had ’nowhere to hide’, no foreground element, no trickery, just Dredd (hopefully) standing solid. So that was the first challenge – the rough.
Thankfully, The Mighty One accepted it, reminding me that I am a snivelling worm.
The next job is to work out how the light is going to hit it.
Followed by a simple, non-distracting background...
And finally – massaging it all together I finally work it up into the colour version you see today!
By complete surprise I discover that the cover is being published on my birthday, 14th October. I think for a fleeting moment that maybe, JUST maybe, Tharg doesn’t hate me after all. I send an email in thanks, He asks me what the hell I’m talking about and to get back to work.
Happy b-b-birthday to me…*sniff*
Aw, poor old Jake. We love you at least. And we love seeing you on the cover of the Prog every time. Thanks to him for taking the time to send us the images for this latest mean and moody cover and hopefully his tears won’t be getting over the artwork for the next job for Tharg – you know TMO hates getting salty droid tears in the artwork.
Lynch has been regularly appearing in the pages of the Galaxy’s Greatest since his first Future Shock, Dying Wishes, with Eddie Robson in Prog 1862 (January 2014). Since then he’s become a go to artist for Tharg on Dredd, delivering the goods again and again, most recently in Judge Dredd Megazine 423 and the latest instalment in Lynch and Arthur Wyatt’s saga of Orlok, The Red Prince, and The Red Queen’s Gambit.
You can find more of Lynch’s excellent covers at Covers Uncovered for Progs 2017 and 2181. And we talked art, Dredd, Y-fronts, and more with Lynch for his stunningly silly Dredd & Zombo strip in the Sci-Fi Special earlier this year right here, where he stepped into Henry Flint’s art shoes for Zombo to become Mr Scribbly number two.
You remember that one, right? Where Lynch gets to draw ol’ Stoney face being his very best stoney… despite
And where we got to see Zombo deliver the immortal line…
You’ll next see Jake’s artwork inside 2000 AD with the second series of Proteus Vex as he takes over from Henry Flint on art duties. That second series is out later this year, but here are a couple of work in progress pieces from Lynch…
