Comics

2000 AD Covers Uncovered: The return of Jim Murray as Nordland Rises in Judge Dredd Megazine 472

18th September 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!

Something rather special this week as we have another long-serving of Tharg’s art droids returning – as Jim Murray takes the cover to the second-part of the mega-crossover of Nordland Rising for Judge Dredd Megazine 472.

Nordland Rising is the special event where all-out war has broken out across the 2000 AD multiverse in a story so big it couldn’t be contained in the Prog alone!

The Nort Empire’s already invaded across realities in 2000 AD Prog 2400 and now it’s over to Megazine 472 for the zarjaz conclusion as the resistance begins the fight back with four teams, four hits…

Cover art droid Murray doesn’t do that many covers for Tharg these days, but that just makes those he does all the more special. Incredibly, it’s now 30 years since his first taste of the joy of working for Tharg back in 1994’s Megazine volume 2.62. It didn’t take long for him to become a regular droid through the mid to late-90s with the dynamic fully-painted art he’s known for. After work on the Dredd/Batman Die Laughing crossover of 1998, he moved to DC where he worked on Batman and JLA projects before heading out of comics and into illustration and video game design, something he still does to this day.

However, as with so many of Tharg’s alumni, the lure of the Galaxy’s Greatest is strong enough to pull them back in from time to time, with a cover on Prog 2002 in 2016 and now with this latest zarjaz cover from Murray for Megazine 472.

Oh, and not coincidentally, Murray’s interviewed inside the Meg as well, ending with this, which proves to be a perfect intro to this latest cover…

‘I’m always drawn to comics. If I go too long without painting something, I start to really miss it. I’ve asked Matt Smith for the covers I’ve done and he’s been kind enough to indulge me. I really enjoyed painting this latest one, it took me back to the old days and I’d love to do more.’

So, with that said, over to Jim Murray for this latest cover – he’s welcome back any day…

JIM MURRAY: This idea is Dredd holding forth in front of the Nort symbol, so it was fairly open for interpretation, I felt it warranted some sort of struggle, or aftermath of a struggle to give it the right kind of dramatic impact.

At any rate, the first round of sketches, thumbnails really, I did on the plane coming back from a vacation.

From those I worked up a few sketches to send to Matt, variations on a theme…

JIM MURRAY: Striking the right balance between Dredd and the Nort symbol was challenging. Having a foreground that was too busy meant the symbol was getting lost. Then again I really wanted Dredd to be dominant and imposing.

In the end we settled on something along the lines of the second sketch.

Here’s the inked version...

Then the paint, all acrylics. I painted this over several evenings after work.

This is a snapshot about halfway through…

At some point you’ve got to call it done. I scan the painting (usually in 4 sections) with an old Epson scanner from 2007 that somehow still seems to work fine.

Thanks Matt for indulging me with another cover, always a pleasure and a privilege.

So, welcome back to the 2000 AD fold, Jim Murray – it’s like he’s never been away! But hopefully it won’t be another eight years before we see the next cover from him!

You can find Megazine 472 on the shelves everywhere the Galaxy’s Greatest is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop. But remember that this is but half of the Nordland Rising story – you’ll need to get hold of 2000 AD Prog 2400, also out right now, for the beginnings of the Nort invasion of the 2000 AD multiverse!

Now, a few extras for you to enjoy from Jim, starting with the last time he was on the cover of Tharg’s mighty organ – 2000 AD Prog 2002…