Comics

Interview: Conor Boyle on going back to the start of 2000 AD & Judge Dredd for Mega-City 2099

16th August 2023

In the new Judge Dredd Megazine #459 – out now – we’re going back, back, back once more to the very beginnings of Judge Dredd – 45 years back in time to 2099 AD, in the second episode of Mega-City 2099, The Thin Blue Line, by Ken Niemand and Conor Boyle.

It’s the very earliest days of Judge Dredd in 2000 AD, reimagined for right now…

We’ve seen plenty of strips looking back to the early days of both Dredd and the Justice Department over the years, including John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s magnificent Origins or Mike Carroll and John Higgins’ Dreadnoughts, currently midway through its excellent second series in the Megazine, not to mention the prose novels and Regened’s Cadet Dredd tales.

But Mega-City 2099 is very different from all of those – they looked back with modern eyes and a modern style. Mega-City 2099 goes right back to the beginning of Dredd in 2099 with a look and a feel that’s pure 1977. Hell, they even brought back thought bubbles!

The first episode, Rampage, kicked things off in Megazine 451 with a story of protest against the Judge’s increased powers and how one young Judge’s actions against the protest puts him square in Dredd’s sights. The second, The Thin Blue Line sees Dredd dealing with hostage-taking perps and a Mega-City Police Department too full of cops all too eager to sit back and let the Judges take a bullet.

Mega-City 2099’s artist Conor Boyle sat down to talk to us recently about what it means to go back to the beginning of Dredd in 2000 AD…

Conor, let’s get straight into things with Mega-City 20999. You’ve now completed two episodes, Rampage back in Megazine 448 and the new one, The Thin Blue Line – here in Megazine 459.

The first tale, Rampage, took us straight into the action with Dredd having to deal with a rogue Judge taking things too far in response to the troubled political times.

So, can you tell us what to expect from this second episode, The Thin Blue Line?

CONOR BOYLE: This next episode involves a hostage scene, some takeaway food and a fair amount of laughing in the face of gravity. And a lot of bullets. All the bullets. 

I did ask Tharg about Mega-City 2099 [I get one message a year allowed without punishment, so I have to choose wisely] and he told me that ‘Ken Niemand pitched the idea of a different kind of Dredd story, harking back to the early iteration of the strip where regular cops mixed with the Judges, and the stories were full of oddball SF ideas.’ He also said that he ‘picked Conor because I thought he could do a good job on the retro vibe.’

So… high praise indeed there from TMO. How do you feel knowing that Tharg has placed his trust in you here?

CB: Humbled? Terrified? Grateful? This question is a trap, isn’t it? Where’s my lawyer? 

As Tharg said, Ken Niemand pitched the series and then you got involved. What do you remember of being asked and how did you feel about it?

CB: Well, you don’t say no to Tharg, so the next thing I knew I had the concept and a series of messages detailing how it’s was all going to work.

I absolutely loved the concept – Ken sent over a handy write-up of the things that would be going in, complete with a clear definition of what wasn’t.

It was a real kick to think this was going to be something very different with Dredd and Mega-City One and I was going to be a part of it all. Think I had a grin on my face for about a week.

The whole idea of going back to look at the history of MC-1 and Dredd has been covered plenty of times before but it strikes me that this one feels and obviously looks different.

What artists and artistic inspiration can we see in your Dredd in Mega-City 2099 here?

CB: Part of the brief from Tharg and Ken was this is purely Case Files One era, with that Dredd continuing on and evolving.

So artistically you’ve got the freedom from forty-odd years of design progression and development, (and the pressure of having to follow it) but a lot of what remains is fluid, with Carlos tweaking his designs as he goes along.

I stuck with the design of the original four strips (including The Bank Raid) – as trying to produce a hybrid of Carlos and Ian Gibson’s work, while providing me more access to more design avenues, would’ve just ended in a visual mess.

Have you been going back in time yourself, diligently studying those very early Dredds to make sure some Internet warrior isn’t going to bombard 2000 AD Towers with complaints that you didn’t get this or that detail right?

CB: Ha! While I’ve included everything Carlos threw at those stories, I learned a long time ago that you can’t keep everyone happy. If someone spots a missing element, then well done. Award yourself a nice cup of tea and a biscuit!

Obviously, you’re showing off the classic uniform, Lawgiver, Lawmaster etc. But what other elements have you integrated into the strip to make it look and feel timely?

CB: The thing that grabs you is Dredd’s face – Carlos didn’t depict early Dredd with the snarl or grimace, even hinting the evidence of a bottom lip, so there was a bit of work involved in keeping him stony-faced, the Dredd ‘aura’, but without the frame and the excessive chin we all know and love.

The other main aspect I was asked to highlight was the city itself. You can really place the vibe of the series with all the crazy architecture in the background – but it would be alongside landmarks that we have in our world too.

Can you tell us a little more about how you adapted your art to fit the ‘retro vibe’ required or was it simply a case of your style being the perfect fit for the look needed?    

CB: It wasn’t so much of an adaptation – I pretty much put my style aside, to be honest.

This is a call back to the original stories so I thought it was neither the time or place to try and stamp anything else on it. There was a large amount in the storytelling that Ken wanted to capture and I didn’t want to add visual clutter to a tight story.

I took those first four strips and devised a style of linework that would echo them, incorporated some greyscale and that was about it. Keep it simple, strong and stylish, y’know? 

And what about the process you’ve used on Mega-City 2099?

CB: When we started with this strip I’d only done one story for Tharg – How I Lost The Waugh, (written by Liam Johnson, coloured by Barbara Nosenzo, lettered by Jim Campbell) part of The Darkest Judge epic that came out last year – so I kept my layouts tight.

When working with new teams I do try to keep roughs as clear as I can (though they’re still MUCH rougher than a lot of layouts I’ve seen from other artists!) so I think the layout you see here will have been the tidied version, and a rougher version preceding it that I must have deleted along the way.

I had to draw this and the previous strip digitally. Our house sprung more than a few leaks the previous winter and we’d had to move out to get the repairs done, so my studio was packed away in a storage unit. It would’ve been great to ink traditionally but with all the redraws to get the uniform and the Lawmaster right, it was probably for the best!

Once Tharg approved the layouts, I put the digital inks straight over the top with maybe only a few tweaks to allow more space for lettering or to straighten out the storytelling.

As I said, Tharg, in his benevolence, asked to see a lot of the city itself. So with the process of story and figure work being pretty quick and straightforward it did leave me a lot of time to indulge in echoing all those crazy Ezquerra-styled buildings in the backgrounds.

As you said, you’re relatively new to 2000 AD, with your first artwork for Tharg coming only recently, Devlin Waugh: How I Lost The Waugh, in Megazine 448, part of The Darkest Judge saga that put forth an alternative to Judgement Day (You can find that one here in the 2000 AD web shop!)

CB: I am. It’s still very surreal. Genuine lifetime ambitions and all that… The inner critic has been very quiet recently. 

An artist managing to quiet his inner critic – a real rarity!

How does it feel to be helming something that covers the early days of Dredd and MC-1?

CB: It’s kinda mind blowing to be honest with you. The first story Tharg gave me had Preacher Cain, Judge Anderson, and Johnny Alpha show up in the second panel (thanks, Liam Johnson!). Oh, and please can you follow the Judge Anderson style from Arthur Ranson!

I’d barely had chance to get back to earth when this story came along. Carlos has designed Dredd and Mega City One. Now it’s your turn!

There’s so much stuff that you can pick up and work with that didn’t really get expanded on the first time round. Judges aside, I’ve got a lot of fun out of the police uniforms and cars, as well as clothing designs for citizens and perps alike.

What about the future of Mega-City 2099? What can we expect as the series unfolds – or is it one of those where you discover what Ken’s doing as he sends you the scripts?

CB: Ooh, there’s much more – SO much more – from the initial concept that is yet to be explored, but that would be all the spoilers.

I’m not a fan of movie trailers that last three minutes, telling you the whole plot. My idea of giving things away in comics is much the same. Page One, Panel One of our first strip should tell you all you need for now!

Okay, now as it’s the first time chatting with you Conor, let’s go into your background a bit – where you from?

CB: All over the place. Nowhere? Kent, Yorkshire, London, take your pick. That sense of where you’re from that’s important to some folks doesn’t mean anything to me. Nothing dramatic, I just don’t have it.

And what’s your background in comics, both reading and making?

CB: There were comics in our house as far back as I can remember. My parents were keen on me and my sister reading, so comics, along with books on Irish folk stories, were definitely a part of it.

Our cousin Chris Kelly was a few years older than us and had mountains of comics. We ditched Beano and Dandy comics in a hurry when he started handing us 2000 AD, MAD comics and other stuff that was equally subversive. I can remember reading them and knowing they were for older kids so it was a rush.

Well, Krill Tro Thargo to cousin Chris for that!

CB: I read comics from then till about the age of 14 or 15, then fell back into them around the age of 26 or 27, something like that. I was in a dead-end job at that point and comics were suddenly an amazing escape all over again.

Lizzie and I started making our own comics in 2010 and launched our own publishing name Disconnected Press in 2011. We made 13 or 14 books, mostly anthologies with people we’d met at conventions along the way.

That’s Lizzie Boyle, known round these parts for Monster Fun, Misty, Cor & Buster, and Tammy & Jinty.

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How long have you been making your art and what sort of work have you done to this point?

CB: I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember. The easiest way to keep me happy as a kid was to hand me a pencil and some paper. I was off in my own little world – be that at the dining table, the floor, long car journeys, other people’s houses – it didn’t matter, as long as I could draw.

I started drawing comics with an eye to being published (and to begin with I had absolutely no idea how to even go about that) around 15 years ago. It might be longer than that, come to think of it… I met the legends Dave Evans and Richmond Clements of FutureQuake Publishing over a series of conventions and I drew a couple of five-page stories for them.

Thinking that I then knew everything, (spoilers; I really, really didn’t) I convinced Rich McAuliffe (who has since written for Scream & Misty) to write some scripts around the Dark Judges and we suddenly had a 36 page book (Dark Judgement) on our hands, which seemed to go down well enough to allow a sequel a year or so later.

It wasn’t long after that that Lizzie and I started Disconnected Press, which lasted about six or seven years until we both became too busy with other publishers to keep it going. Things have kinda snowballed from there, really.

To date I’ve worked for 2000 AD, Heavy Metal Magazine, Vault Comics, Titan, and a lorry load of other publishers, big and small. 

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What’s your history with reading 2000 AD? When did you first discover the Prog etc?

CB: It involves Prog 226, a rough, night crossing on a ferry to Ireland and a kid who was way too young to be reading about Judge Death and Nemesis being hung, then coming down from the noose to wreak havoc on his enemies. I was never the same after that.

What about favourite characters?

CB: Oh man, there’s a list! Outside of Dredd, obviously, I’d say Dirty Frank, The Wally Squad, Anderson, The Dark Judges, Mean Machine Angel, Button Man, Durham Red, The ABC Warriors, and Henry Dubble.

This list will undoubtedly be added to tomorrow, but they’re definitely on it.

Mark Harrison’s run on Durham Red got me back into comics, I still find Shaun Thomas’ work unsettling on a level I can’t describe, his initial Black Museum pages are haunting. Also, everything that Jim Murray had a hand in. Absolutely next-level stuff, which I keep re-reading.

Finally, as we always like to do, what work do you have coming out, whether from 2000 AD or elsewhere, for us to look out for in the future?

CB: Most of my time now is dedicated to wrapping up a 5 issue series for an American publisher, a Cold War tale about dodgy goings-on in post-war Europe. I can’t wait to tell everyone about it, but alas we’re not quite at that stage just yet! 

Well okay then – we’ll just have to wait and see!

And that was where we had to leave things with Conor, he had some of that drawing stuff to be getting on with.

Thank you so much to Conor for the chat. You can find Mega-City 2099: The Thin Blue Line in the new Megazine, issue 459, out on 16 August. It’s available everywhere Thrill-power is sold, including the 2000 AD web shop. It’s only two episodes in but the Niemand and Boyle droids have absolutely nailed the brief – it’s a glorious slice of retro Dredd and a joy to read.

You can find Conor online at Twitter, Instagram, and his and Lizzie’s Disconnected Press site is here.