2000 AD Covers Uncovered: ‘JUDGE ALPHA? – Who Do I Pay?’ Mike Perkins on the 2024 Sci-Fi Special
3rd 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!
It’s the summer spectacular of stories from a sideways universe! Yes, it’s July and that means the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special is back for 2024! On the fabulous Mike Perkins cover – Judge Alpha!
It’s a 48-page spectacular of zarjaz strips with a difference – beamed from another dimension and harnessed by the power of Tharg where the five strips take familiar characters from the GGC and mixes, merges, melds, and smashes them together to give you something special, spectacular, and strange!
So expect to see the new Law in MC-1, when you get to meet the kick-ass Judge Alpha; uncover an all-new way of robo-hunting with Sinister and Dexter, the Robo-Sharks; experience Search/Destroy bounty hunting like never before as Friday is hunted for a crime he didn’t commit in Rogue/Dog; take to the high seas for adventures on the Red Wench with Stickleback; and gasp in amazement/bewilderment at the most violent sport of the future, taking Aero Ball to incredible/ridiculous heights with The Harlem Zombos!
All of that’s inside the 2024 Sci-Fi Special. But first, to talk us through a thriller of a cover… Mike Perkins…
MIKE PERKINS: ‘Judge Alpha? Johnny Alpha as a Judge? And you’re asking if I’d be interested in producing a cover of this? – Who do I pay?’
Okay… I didn’t say that last bit but I’m sure it shot around my brain.
Art droids everywhere wince at words such as these as they know Tharg will take note of the whole idea of the droids paying him instead of the other way round!
But we absolutely get what Mike means – who wouldn’t jump at the chance of showing us JUDGE ALPHA?!?!
Okay, back to Mike…
MIKE PERKINS: Tharg kind of knew what he was looking for, but I cobbled together a few roughs playing with established Strontium Dog images.
I, kind of, really wanted the crossed holster but it would have obscured too much of the Judge uniform.
I DID want the Westinghouse, though, and found the perfect image on the Termight Replicas page...
The single Alpha image was chosen from the roughs but the two previous recent covers I’d illustrated for Rebellion had been medium-range, straight-ahead shots, and I was wary of repeating that so I approached it as a more confrontational pose.
I did finish up a full-colour version of the cover too – but then decided on the gray and red version as it stood out much more strongly.
Johnny Alpha wasn’t in the Prog when I first starting getting it every week (from Prog 240) …probably because Carlos was busy on The Apocalypse War – BUT I was aware of him from the annuals and it wasn’t long before I’d bought all the previous issues and caught up with those other 239 Thrill-packed progs.
He’s always been a firm favourite …now if only I could get a Robo Hunter cover…
Well there you go – next up for the Perkins droid – Robo-Hunter. Tharg can make it so!
Thank you so much for Mike for sending along all that – it’s a ghafflebette cover worthy of the once a year magic that it the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special! You can find it on the shelves right now – everywhere Thrill Power is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop.
If you want more Covers Uncovered from Mike we’ve a couple of gorgeous ones for you – here’s his most recent, the 2023 Christmas Judge Dredd Megazine, issue 463. There’s also his splendid 2017 FCBD cover here.
Seriously, he’s just not done enough for 2000 AD! Tharg, Tharg… Mike’s after a Robo-Hunter, you can sort that, right?