2000 AD Covers Uncovered: Nick Percival’s back for the Iron Teeth finale on Prog 2387
19th June 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, as we get to the ghafflebette finale to Ken Niemand and Nick Percival’s six-part run of Judge Dredd: Iron Teeth, it’s time to experience the classically grotesque art of another Percival cover…
Over six parts, Iron Teeth has taken Dredd (and us) down to the depths of the Undercity in a search for missing juves and to uncover the horrors to be found down in the darkness. And there’s no better artist when you’re looking for horrors and darkness than Nick Percival.
Between them, Ken & Nick are on a mission to bring even more of all things truly terrifying to Dredd, having started with The House On Bleaker Street (Progs 2247-2249) and then with Iron Teeth for the last six weeks. And as for what’s next… well, there are plans and there are plots, and then there’s the final page reveal that you’re all going to love on in this week’s Dredd!
Nick recently had this to say about what ‘s coming… ‘But yeah, we know what comes next and if The Mighty One is game, we’re ready to start scaring folks once again. I have some seriously dark stuff ready that will make Iron Teeth look like Aunt May, so I’m good to go.’
But no more teasing, over to Nick for the skinny on his latest cover…
NICK PERCIVAL: It’s the final episode, so nothing hiding in the shadows anymore and we fully reveal Iron Teeth. For this cover, I wanted a little more action than the previous two cover paintings, since this is the climax of the story and Dredd and Iron Teeth finally face off.
So, in best panto tradition, “he’s behind you!”
I thought a nice shot of Iron Teeth leaping out the darkness, attacking Dredd would work. (Full disclaimer – this actual scene doesn’t happen exactly like this in this episode but I did the cover before I got the final script, so there you go)
Anyway, you can see from the loose rough that all the elements are there for Tharg to approve. Big Dredd as the central image and a bit of a Dutch angle to the image to give it a more dynamic feel.
I guess this scene is the moment just before Dredd reacts to the attack – the second before he’d start blasting away with his Lawgiver – I should do a before and after image but in the episode you see how Dredd manages to take down the evil creature -with a little help from his Poundland C-3PO robot sidekick.
I wanted a cool palette for this one, so blues and greys, hopefully giving it a nice moody, spooky, almost mystical feel, keeping the tone that’s been established for the whole story and sticking with the underground setting.
So, that wraps it all up (for now) with a slightly longer episode and our reveal (spoiler!) on the last page as a certain evil, supernatural fella makes his return. I had a lot of fun working with Ken on this and taken as whole, you can see this is just the set up for much more terrifying things to come for Dredd…
Thanks to Nick for sharing yet another cover to send a proper chill all the way down your spine – you can find it right now wherever Thrill Power is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop.
We’ve talked to Nick twice here about Iron Teeth, with a great interview about the storyline here and his Covers Uncovered for Prog 2382 here.
Now, for more of Nick talking all things comics and art, there’s plenty more interviews waiting for you – He talked about his six years drawing those Dark Judges here, plus Nick and David Hine talked Dark Judges: Deliverance here and Death Metal Planet here. And if you’re after something all together more audio and/or visual, Molch-R talks to Hine and Percival about all things Dark Judges in the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast Lockdown Tapes here.
Then there’s a real treasure trove of terror in Nick’s collection of Covers Uncovered pieces – beautiful never looked this terrifying before…Prog 2247, Megazine 425, Megazine 427, Megazine 430, Megazine 433, Megazine 430, Megazine 443, Megazine 448, Megazine 453, Megazine 456, and Megazine 458.
And finally, Nick was good enough to send along some of his process work for a select few portions of Iron Teeth part 6… He even sent along images of the final page very special reveal that will no doubt play a BIG part in all things fearful for future Niemand & Percival Dredds. But there’s no way I’m risking the wrath of our Betelgeusian overlord and beloved purveyor of all things Thrill Power by showing you that! You’ll just have to enjoy the big reveal in this week’s Prog!
