Tag: coversuncovered

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!

On the front of 2000 AD Prog 2368 we have the latest Thistlebone cover from Simon Davis as The Dule Tree, the third series of his and TC Eglington’s folk horror fear-fest, reaches part five and the fear is rising and rising…

In the first two series of Thistlebone, we’ve seen the way that the horrors of the past have infected and infused the tiny village of Harrowvale with a madness expressing itself through modern-day cults and personal psychoses.

Now we’re back to the 70s and a film based on the 18^th Century witch trials that happened in Harrowvale, which is every bit the terrible idea that you think it would be, given all we know already about Harrowvale and Thistlebone.

And the film poster look is something Davis is leaning into heavily on this current series, both in the covers he’s doing and this early promo work…

Last time, Prog 2364’s cover, it was the Hammer classic, Dracula AD 1972 that Simon used as a basis for the cover. This time… well, we’ll let Simon tell you…

SIMON DAVIS: When Tom and I first discussed doing Thistlebone in 2020, it was mainly born out of our love of Folk Horror films.

A particular favourite of mine is The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971). It has a great poster by the genius that was Arnaldo Putzu so this absolutely had to form the basis of a cover design.

That’s the poster for the UK version of the film, complete with its absolutely terrible reproduction of Putz’s artwork. As Simon explains…

SIMON DAVIS: I sent that as it has a better reproduction of Putz’s artwork…the later version, where it’s called The Blood on Satan’s Claw (the one I have) has a wisp of hair to cover the woman’s modesty!

Robert Wynn Simmons wrote the screenplay (and only recently the book) of The Blood on Satan’s Claw. I think we’d be on safer ground if we just said Blood on Satan’s Claw, The Wicker Man, and Witchfinder Genrel are considered the unholy trinity (as they are referred to) of Folk Horror Movies and were a huge influence on Thistlebone.  Satan’s Skin was deemed an inappropriate title for the UK release so The Blood on Satan’s Claw was used instead….Piers Haggard, the director, disliked it intensely!

Anyway, Simon sent along the film poster for the other version of the film, Satan’s Skin, where the poster art did a much better job of showing you that Putzu artwork…

Okay then, back to Simon…

SIMON DAVIS: I felt the original poster was perfect to be adapted into a Thistlebone cover, with Yvonne Kier’s Agnes Green character replacing Linda Hayden’s Angel Blake and the Behemoth being replaced by Thistlebone.

I went to the British Museum and took reference photos of the antler head piece that Thistlebone is based on and again decided to hand paint the 2000 AD logo.

And here’s that first rough for you, followed by Simon’s pencils and the painstaking and beautiful process of adding paint to it all, first Yvonne Kier’s figure and then the looming menace of Thistlebone itself…

SIMON DAVIS: It was a relatively uncomplicated painting process as the Thistlebone figure was mainly there to act as a contrast to the figure.

One final photo – the finished piece on the easel, with an original The Blood on Satan’s Claw film poster that hangs in my studio...

There you go, another fabulously fear-inducing Simon Davis Thistlebone for you! You can find it on on the front of Prog 2368, in newsagents, comic shops, and from the 2000 AD web shop.

There’s plenty more Thistlebone, here at 2000 AD.com – our interview Eglington and Davis here and you can find all of Simon’s previous Covers Uncovered Thistlebone pieces here as well – Prog 2223, Prog 2232, and Prog 2364. And of course, there’s also the essential reading of the first Thistlebone collection that’s available in all good comic shops and from the 2000 AD web shop.

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 art droid Patrick Goddard giving us the rundown on putting together the cover for the new Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley cover.

Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard breathed new life into Rogue Trooper with the 13-part Blighty Valley in 2000 AD Progs 2326 to 2339 and now it’s getting its well-deserved collection, out on 2 July 2024. You can pre-order the collection now!

There really was no one better to get deep into the sci-fi war story of the blue-skinned Genetic Infantryman than Ennis. And in Goddard, we have an artist evoking memories of classic Rogue Trooper artists such as Dave Gibbons and Steve Dillon, someone bringing both intense action and a deeply human aspect to this incredible tale.

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Created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons and debuting in 2000 AD in 1981, Rogue Trooper is the last of the G.I.s – Genetically-engineered Infantry – fighting in the brutal war between his Souther creators and their deadly enemies the Norts. Engineered to be able to survive the poisoned badlands of Nu Earth, Rogue and his fellow G.I.s found that the real danger came from one of their own and he’s now a lone soldier on the hunt for the ‘Traitor General.’ His only help in this final mission comes from three fallen comrades, whose personalities are encoded onto bio-chips inserted into his helmet, ‘Helm’, backpack, ‘Bagman’, and rifle, ‘Gunnar’.

Blighty Valley is set at Night’s Horizon, the annual event where Nu Earth’s orbit carries it closest to a nearby black hole. The Norts call it Zvartchvintern; the first settlers knew it as Lightfall. Things have a reputation for going a little… screwy around this time. Now, Rogue and his bio-chip buddies are about to experience those effects first-hand.

So, here’s Patrick with the images and a few words about putting together the cover for the Blighty Valley collection…

PATRICK GODDARD: ‘My original brief was to have some sort of split image for the cover, showing Old and Nu Earth with Rogue taking centre stage. I drew out a couple of ideas…’

Actually, a couple of ideas ends up as six ideas…

But those are a little small, so here they are blown up for you, all the better to see the wonderful line to Patrick’s work…

But that’s nothing like the final cover, right? Well noticed dear reader.

What actually happened was that Patrick showed the ideas to Garth and, well, let’s hand you back to Patrick here…

PATRICK GODDARD: Garth suggested another route, having Rogue with the Blackhole prominent behind him come across the devastation of the British and German bodies all merged into one with the landscape.

Not just that, but Garth got his artistic head on and sent Patrick a thumbnail idea of what he was suggesting…

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So, with that in mind, Patrick worked up another rough…

And that worked, except, there was just one more change needed –

PATRICK GODDARD: Rogue was originally going to be smaller, but they wanted him with a larger presence for the cover which I can understand.

So, with the cover layout decided on, it was time to head to pencil stage…

Next came inks and tones and effects…

And that’s it! Complete and done. Just one more stage…

PATRICK GODDARD: Then it was off to Dylan to work his magic with the colours!

And Dylan Teague did indeed work his magic with the Blighty Valley cover! As always!

Thank you so much to Patrick for sending along the art there. You can find Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley wherever Ghafflebette comics are sold from 2 July 2024, including the 2000 AD web shop.

For more from Patrick, there’s plenty to catch up on – Covers Uncovered for Progs 2185, 2205, 2219, 2244, and 2264; we interviewed him about Judge Dredd: Special Relationship (with Rob Williams) here, and about Judge Dredd: Unearthed (with Williams and Chris Weston) here. There’s also a 2000 AD Thrill-Cast here with Patrick, Garth Ennis, and Keith Burns talking Battle Action, and Patrick talks to Molch-R in the 2000 AD Lockdown Tapes here.

And remember to follow Patrick on Twitter and Instagram.

And to finish with, as a bonus… the opening pages from Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley…

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 we have yet another The Devil’s Railroad cover by Rufus Dayglo to share with you – the third for the series!

With the end of the 14-episode Devil’s Railroad happening in Prog 2366, Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo are bringing things to a spectacular conclusion. Will our two young lovers, Constance and Palamon, find sanctuary on Earth for their unborn child, or will the dangers of the Devil’s Railroad prove too much?

Well, for that you’re going to need to pick up the Prog! Let’s just say that Milligan and Dayglo have really managed to bring all the best of 2000 AD out in The Devil’s Railroad, something that hits hard, something that’s full of political undertones, yet something that’s packed with humanity.

So, one last time, time to join the young lovers – who are really having a bit of trouble with Sister White…

This one was another cover that came about fairly simply, or at least that’s what we’re assuming, as Rufus sent just the one cover rough along for this one…

And if that rough is ringing a few bells with you, particularly if you’ve a little knowledge of Euro comics in general and the genius of Jean Giraud in particular… well, there’s a reason for that… over to Rufus to spill the beans…

RUFUS DAYGLO: This cover is a pastiche of Moebius’s Arzach, which my wife bought me in a second-hand bookshop in Lyon.

I liked the Idea of Palomon entrapped by Mother White (the main gangster whose son Palomon killed). I added lots of very reptilian texture just to make the embrace even less appealing.

See, all very simple – do a homage cover, hero in peril, lots of nastiness in the incredible details of the inking and colours… job done. And what a job it is!

First of all, here’s the Moebius cover that Rufus was homaging…

And here’s where Rufus took things… inking and colours… complete with so much incredible, and rather disturbing detail…

And there you go! Devil’s Railroad cover #3 all completed. But we’re not quite finished yet, as Rufus was kind enough to send along a few of his unused cover ideas as well – you’ll just have to imagine what might have been…

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Thank you once more to Rufus for this third Devil’s Railroad cover – we’re already looking forward to seeing where it all ends! It’s been another great debut series in a year that’s been stuffed full of them.

You can see Rufus’ final Devil’s Railroad cover on the shelves of your local newsagent, comic shop, or anywhere that stocks the Galaxy’s Greatest, including the 2000 AD web shop.

You can find more about The Devils Railroad in our interview with Peter and Rufus here and read about how Rufus put together the two other covers for the series here and here. And for previous chats with the Milligan/Dayglo team, there’s an interview on their dystopian cyberpunk thriller Counterfeit Girl here and we talk Bad Company: Terrorists here.

Counterfeit Girl‘s available in a collection whilst Bad Company: First Casualties can be found in Progs 1950-1961 and as a digital collection. Bad Company: Terrorists can be found in Progs 2061-2072. And for more of Milligan’s Bad Company, The Complete Bad Company, with art by Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy, and Steve Dillon is essential.

And finally, because the detail of Rufus’ work on this one was so good, we figured we’d show you a few blowups of the artwork… enjoy!

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!

Right now, we’re heading to the new Judge Dredd: Megazine for a first-time Megazine cover by artist Lee Milmore. He has the cover to Megazine 464 and gets to show us the masked man from his new strip, Tales of the Black Museum: The Ugly Stick.

Just as with every visit to the Black Museum, The Ugly Stick sees undead guide Henry Dubble showing you around the Justice Department’s exhibition of relics from bygone crimes – and this time it’s a very black tale of a very familiar name in the annals of MC-1 history.

Artist for both cover and strip Lee Milmore was the winner of the 2000 AD Thought Bubble artist talent search in 2021 and since then he’s appeared a few times in the Prog, first with the art to Relict, the Future Shock written by his fellow talent search winner Honor Vincent. After that, Milmore’s art’s adorned a Terror Tale, In The Wood, written by John Tomlinson, in Prog 2311 and the two Tharg’s 3Rillers introducing us to the supernatural troubleshooter and his dog, Herne and Shuck, with writer David Barnett, first with The Crawly Man (Progs 2297-2299) and then in Maxwell’s Demon (Progs 2343-2345). If you loved those, and we’re pretty sure you did, you’re going to be very pleased that there’s an eight-episode series for Herne and Shuck in production right now.

But before then, you get to enjoy his artwork on this new Tales From The Black Museum, The Ugly Stick, again written by David Barnett, where Milmore gets one of those dream come true moments of drawing Judge Dredd, even if only for a couple of pages.

But enough intro already, time to let Lee take you through his process of doing his second 2000 AD cover, this time for the Megazine….

LEE MILMORE: Last year was momentous for me, not only did I get to do my first cover for 2000 AD but I also got to do my first cover and story for the Megazine. Pinching is avoided at all times in case I wake up.

My partnership with the hugely talented David Barnett continues in this month’s Meg as we bring an old favourite back from the vaults in a self-contained Tales from the Black Museum called The Ugly Stick. To find out who it is you’ll have to pick up a copy Earthlets.

As soon as I started working on David’s strip I just knew I had a decent cover to offer. In my mind’s eye it was a mash-up image of the Third man and The Invisible Man filtered through the world of Judge Dredd. (NO PINCHING ME…)

As with most things I do they begin as an appalling doodle somewhere, usually on a scrap of something, whatever comes to hand...

It’s a bit embarrassing really, lots of artists’ work is so good at this thumbnail stage you could almost print it and be done, but this is the general quality of mine for my sins.

That being said, in terms of the concept it’s pretty much all in there. You may be able to make out the Judge’s boot, the drone street lamps, even the rain on the sked.

I can tell from the squiggle at the end of the cane that I hadn’t settled on an ugly stick design at this point so it was probably concurrent with drawing the first page of the strip.

Here’s a set of concepts I did whilst working out what the ugly stick should look like, not directly to do with the cover process but it might be fun to see.

Then there’s the final design for the Ugly Stick, quite typically for me scrawled on a A4 lined note pad. I love the quality of that paper to draw on – it’s soft and non-precious.

Okay, back to the cover.

So I’ve got a pretty rounded idea in my head but so far that’s all it is.

Next up, Ulp…time to ask The Mighty One for permission to do it. For that I need to do something a little less embarrassing, not wanting to have to report to Mek Quake to be compacted for my impudence.

I did a little more detailed sketch – again really rough but concentrating on getting the composition working and all the elements being included.

I try to establish a colour palette, I want it to be noir but with quite a bold palette – that’s purple right??

Note the addition of the day stick and the balance between the two. Also the Juves from the strip have been added to try and amp up the jeopardy that the central character is in. I chuck in the logo to help it feel like a real cover option and, holding my breath, submit this to Tharg, prostrating myself before him in a frankly piteous display, grovelling for his approval.

With a look of righteous disgust he agrees…possibly just to make the pathetic stop. Hey, a droid has to make a living!

So now it has to be a cover image for real. I start working a little harder on the quality of the image I’m making. I like to use a lot of reference when I’m drawing – it helps me with everything and even though I know I probably overly rely on it once I accepted that it was part of my process I started to improve as an art droid.

So here’s a picture of me with toilet roll wrapped around my head...

I work primarily in Photoshop on a Cintiq but always want to find ways to work on paper more. The first page of The Ugly Stick strip I did traditionally on paper and I loved it but I lost confidence as the pages got more complicated and ran back to my Mac with my tail between my legs.

For this cover though I decided that the drawn elements, all the way up to the colouring, was going to be done on paper.

Here’s the pencils I settled on with most of the elements in place. I seem to recall doing a number of drawings to this level and this one won out...

Because I wanted a moody, noir feel for this and because the strip traditionally uses grey scale finishes, I decided that I’d approach the cover drawing in the same way. I did this in black (& white) acrylic paint, possibly a little pen (Microns) and some white out for the rain.

Looking at this now I almost wish this had been the final piece. Still I had colour plans.

I scanned in my drawing and dropped it into Photoshop. I coloured the image and edited the bad drawing. I wasn’t happy with the rain ripples and the city blocks didn’t quite work. Also, I added back the spotlight drones which I just generally thought I’d do better in PS.

And then it was finished – though I just endlessly think about what could be done better (everything, yeah I know). 

I hope you like it and I’ve done the Judge Dredd Megazine justice (pun intended).

Oh, we think he’s definitely done the Megazine justice! Our thanks to Lee Milmore for sending that one along. You can find Judge Dredd Megazine issue 464 wherever you find your ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop right now.

You can find our interview with Honor Vincent and Lee Milmore about their talent search-winning Future Shock, Relict here. We also did a Creator Profile with Vincent here. We interviewed Milmore and writer David Barnett about the second Tharg’s 3Riller staring Herne and Shuck, Maxwell’s Demon, here. Finally, there’s Lee’s very first 2000 AD cover for Prog 2344, that he described, quite perfectly, as ‘a possessed meat machine with an HR Giger vibe’ that featured as a Covered Uncovered here.

And finally, just because you deserve a treat for the New Year, here’s a preview of Barnett and Milmore’s Tales of the Black Museum: The Ugly Stick…

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 weeks’ Prog 2365 sees Enemy Earth by Cavan Scott and Luke Horsman enter its endgame as the aliens behind the devastating mutations of the Earth’s flora and fauna arrive on Earth, captured perfectly on this week’s cover by Alex Ronald…

Alex Ronald’s time at 2000 AD began way back in Prog 984 with Judge Dredd, followed soon after with his first cover on Prog 1869. More work on Dredd followed, along with runs on Dredd, Vector 13, Rogue Trooper, and Sinister Dexter all pointing towards a long stint as an art droid to come. But it wasn’t to be, as he took off and switched to working in the computer graphics industry and 3D modeling. But the lure of 2000 AD was too strong, eventually pulling him back in as a cover specialist making instantly recognizable digital brilliance.

As for this latest cover from Alex, it all started out, as it usually does, with a call from Tharg and a cover brief for the latest Enemy Earth cover. Tharg was kind enough to send over a bit of alien reference from Enemy Earth, giving Alex a look at the way series artist Luke Horsman drew them making their first appearance…

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ALEX RONALD: The brief was fairly loose, just a cover featuring the aliens from the reference image provided.

I opted for a shot of them conspiring over a relatively alien-esqe map with all the colours and mood to compliment that.

I sculpted an upper torso of the aliens based on the referenced artwork. Luke Horsman’s design of the creatures was pretty special and it was a lot of fun to recreate then in 3D. Once complete, I duplicated the model and made each into a unique pose for the cover.

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Once posed and lit, the next stage is to take a screengrab and head into PS where I draw over the models onto a cover sheet adding tone for an idea of the lighting effects...

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When the B/W rough was approved, I painted up the finished art adding a strong greeny/yellow uplight for the glow from the alien map. The backdrop was created in 3D using a simple subdivided plane which I sculpted from in Z brush for an otherworldly look.

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And that’s that – another great-looking Alex Ronald cover delivered to Tharg and now to you, dear readers – it’s out right now on the shelves of all ghafflebette newsagents and comic shops, as well as the 2000 AD web shop.

As for more from Alex, there’s been plenty of covers uncovered from one of 2000 AD’s modern cover specialists… Prog 2191, Prog 2206, Prog 2255, Prog 2294, Prog 2306, Prog 2353, and for Megazine 435 and 462.

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!

In 2000 AD Prog 2364 this week we have the return of the terrifying folk horror series Thistlebone. We’ve seen two series of this one already but now writer TC Eglington and artist Simon Davis return to put another sizable shiver down your spines for the third series – The Dule Tree.

Those first two series, Thistlebone and Poisoned Roots, took us into the woods with the horrors of ancient times brought into the now with modern-day cults and ceremonial killings to chill you to the bone.

Now we’re off to a new time but one with the same old terrors and even more of the dark beauty of Simon Davis’s artwork – as perfectly captured in this early promo image…

Now, over to Simon for the making of the cover…

SIMON DAVIS: The third series of Thistlebone is largely set in the 1970’s, on the set of a horror film so I wanted the cover to have a Hammer poster feel to it so based it on one of my favourites, Dracula: AD 1972.

I did the initial rough below and decided to paint the 2000ad logo as part of the cover, to give it a more poster-like feel.

As I was to paint it in oils and as there was quite a lot of detail in it, I drew it up twice the publication size.

I drew it out and began working my way round the composition, concentrating on the individual characters and then finally bringing them all together with the white background.

And that’s how another perfectly petrifying Simon Davis cover is put together. You’ll see the cover on the front of Prog 2364, in newsagents, comic shops, and from the 2000 AD web shop.

For more on Thistlebone, be sure to check out the interview with writer TC Eglington and Simon Davis here and Simon’s previous Covers Uncovered Thistlebone pieces for Prog 2223 and Prog 2232. There’s also a great Durham Red cover for Prog 2327. There’s also the essential reading of the first Thistlebone collection that’s available in all good comic shops and from the 2000 AD web shop.

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 a brand new year of Thrill Power and Tharg’s got plenty of treats in store for you for 2024, starting with this very first Prog of the year, full of zarjaz strips and all capped off with a great Dredd cover by Steven Austin. It’s 2000 AD Prog 2363 and it’s out on 3 January.

Steven’s been a pretty regular artist here in the Prog since bursting in with a Time Twister – The Timeless Assassin, written by Rory McConville – in 2016’s Prog 1982. Since then, his distinctive artwork’s been seen on Judge Dredd, Judge Death, Judge Anderson, along with more Terror Tales, Future Shocks, Tharg’s 3Rillers, and Tales From The Black Museum. He’s also featured on a number of really striking covers over the last few years, of which this is merely the latest.

As for what to expect from Steven in the future, 2024 sees him providing artwork for a two-part Devlin Waugh tale in the Judge Dredd Megazine. But that’s rather getting ahead of ourselves. For now, let’s head back to the cover to this week’s Prog and get the skinny directly from the artist – so, here’s Steven Austin with a tale of Dredd and a pile o’ perps…

STEVEN AUSTIN: ‘I call this one ‘The Perpinator’!! It was a pitch I sent to Tharg, a good few months ago now. I’ve always quite fancied drawing Dredd atop a pile of defeated perps.

I went for a slightly low angle so you’re looking up at Dredd and to really make it pop I wanted Dredd’s head to slightly overlap the logo, as you can see in the initial rough that I sent across to Tharg.

STEVEN AUSTIN: My process doesn’t change, initial rough is blown up to A3 and then re-pencilled with an HB Technical pencil and then inked using a combination of a green (cased) Tombow brush pen and a Pentel brush pen.

And here’s Steven’s re-pencilling stage…

Followed by the inks…

But just how does an art droid get the required reference for a pile of bodies exactly? Well, that’s where pals come in handy, as Steven will tell you…

STEVEN AUSTIN: The pile of perps is made up of the usual variety of gang members and misfits you’d expect to find in MC1 but I threw a few familiar faces in there, at least to me, some of my convention and project partners in crime, Darren Stephens, Neil McClements and Chris Askham, I asked them to send me their best impersonations of being dead….or at least out cold.

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STEVEN AUSTIN: The final inks were then shipped off to Tharg where Mr Jim Boswell used his magic colour wand to bring the whole thing to life!!’

Wow, that’s a great cover to set us off on our year of Thrill Power! You can find it on the shelves, real and virtual at the 2000 AD web shop from 3 January.

And whilst we’re talking Steven’s great covers, do take the time to look through the archives at Steven’s other great covers that we’ve featured here at Covers Uncovered over the last few years – Prog 2184, Prog 2211, Prog 2286, and Prog 2311.

You can find more from Steven at his website and there’s also StevenAustinArt on Facebook.

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 month’s Judge Dredd Megazine is wishing you a perfect Christmas with a warning – woe betide anyone who’s been naughty this year because you’re going to end up with Dredd’s daystick list, and that’s far worse than Santa’s naughty list! And for the cover, we have the return of one of 2000 AD’s alumni – Mike Perkins.

This years’ Christmas Judge Dredd Megazine is out right now and features a ghafflebette line-up of strips for consumption alongside lashings of festive feasting. There’s the return of the psychotic l’il michief maker Dollman in Judge Dredd, more from Spector: Incorruptible, and the new DeMarco P.I. series continues to impress in A Picture Paints. Bringing things to a close, there’s a double-sized finale to Lawless: Most Wanted, with Lawson and pals in a titanic showdown against Fugly’s mob.

Alongside those zarjaz series, the Megazine is packed with goodness, reprints of the Treasury of British Comics’ classic of British comics Trigan Empire, the finale to Garth Ennis and Keith Burns’ Johnny Red, and a very special Judge Dredd: Deviations strip from John McCrea and Mike Spicer asking what if Dredd stayed lycanthrope after the classic Cry of the Werewolf. Plus interrogations with Mike Collins, Gary Welsh, and Rufus Hound. All in all, 132 pages of absolute Thrill Power to end the year in 2000 AD style!

On the cover, we have the return of Mike Perkins, one of many, many art droids who got their start with Tharg before going on to light up the comics firmament.

Mike’s earliest work included a debut for 2000 AD with the Future Shock: It’s a Cold World back in 1993’s Prog 865. He’d go on to work on Dredd and Vector 13 before heading to the USA with work for every major publisher, having acclaimed runs on Captain America, Thor, The X-Men, Green Lantern, Lois Lane, and the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. His most recent DC Comics series was his and Ram-V’s reworking of Swamp Thing.

But, as he’ll tell you, a gap in exclusive contracts has meant that he’s able to make a triumphant return to the house of Tharg. So, without further ado, over to Mike to tell us all about his new Xmas Megazine cover!

MIKE PERKINS: I’m still a big enough 2000 AD fan that whenever I get offered a cover to illustrate for them I still get that frisson of excitement in my belly. Having been constantly exclusive for the past 22 years I haven’t been able to accept a lot of those proposals – and have kicked myself every single time.

Now, due to a break in those exclusivity contracts, I have a window in which I can accept the opportunity to tackle the characters I’ve grown up with and love dearly. Without a shadow of a doubt being offered the actual Christmas cover adds that extra layer of thrill.

I pretty much knew how I wanted to approach it – the picture was in my head.  A good, simple, menacing Dredd figure – failing to exude any festive niceties whatsoever.

I did offer up another couple of ideas – and I hope I can get to do one of them for the Megazine in the future – but they weren’t necessarily seasonally motivated. Thus was pitched Dredd ‘classic’ which was accepted and went on to become the actual cover…

The only provisio being that I placed some Christmas lights around the daystick. I like to think that Dredd has just smacked a perp over the head who has been wearing nothing BUT the line of lights and that’s the only thing that’s still bright and shining!

The second one – ‘multi judge’ – is the one I want to tackle as another cover at some point – but with the amount of alternate judge divisions established I may need a wraparound. This is a huge hint, by the way.

The third one – ‘Santa and elf battle’ – would have been fun but I had the sneaking suspicion that Tiernen Trevallion had produced something similar at some point and, if that was the case, it was probably brilliant.

Mike’s absolutely right about the Trevallion droid getting there first with the Santa and his elves battle cover – it was this one back in 2011…

MIKE PERKINS: After the approval I went straight into the finished piece. My pencils nowadays are almost non-existent as most of the drawing is accomplished at the inking stage. I feel that this gives the artwork a little more spontaneity and more bounce in the brushwork.

Once that was approved I moved onto the colours. Recently I’ve moved to applying the colours in ProCreate. The first time I’d done that was the recently released hardback variant cover for The Fiends Of The Eastern Front cover (available in the webshop here) and it came out really well and it’s lovely to change the tonal value as you go along.

What an honour! A truly prestigious accolade.  Next year – perhaps the 2000 AD Christmas cover?

Mike, we’re absolutely certain that Tharg will be tapping you up, exclusives allowing, for more covers. Hey, maybe a strip as well – that multi-Judges idea sounds a great one! As for the Xmas Prog cover… well, that sort of knowledge is for Tharg and Tharg alone!

Thank you so much to Mike for sending along his cover – it’s a fine festive finale to a great year of Megazines. You can find Megazine issue 463 on the shelves of every good newsagent and comic shop right now. Plus, it’s available in the 2000 AD web shop.

We’ll leave you with Mike’s incredible cover for the webshop exclusive cover of the new Fiends of the Eastern Front collection – a perfect cover for a chilling, blood-soaked set of tales of the vampire Constanta…

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!

For a third and final time, we’re with cover artist Andy Clarke to talk about covering Smash!

The wonderful weirdness of Brit superheroes all comes to a head here with the third and final issue by Paul Grist and VV Glass. This week, we’ve got another superheroic treat for you with another Smash!-ing Andy Clarke cover to the hit three-issue series that brings together classic Brit super-types from across the ages – SMASH!

Issue 3 of Smash! brings six decades of all-out adventuring to an explosive ending, with Cursitor Doom and time-travelling Adam Eterno entering the fray as the demon trapped in the idol since the time of Janus Stark gets free – and The Spider has to choose a side! It really is the fabulous finale to three issues of incredible superheroing action the way only Brit comics can deliver it.

SMASH! #3 arrives in comic book stores and on the 2000 AD webshop and app on 20 December. Time to let Andy show us how the cover came together. So, one last time everyone, here’ssssss Andy…

For a lot more about Smash! and putting together the covers, be sure to go and read Andy’s Covers Uncovered for Smash! issue 1 and issue 2.

Done that? Good, because it will come as no surprise to you now that editor Oliver Pickles sent along more reference material for Andy to use – this time of Cursitor Doom and Adam Eterno…

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Andy’s kept the same vibe to the third and final issue, giving them all a consistent, film poster look. But on this one, the idol that’s been the centre to the whole series really comes to the fore.

And that’s not the only element to get more focus… with The Spider taking centre-stage, although it wasn’t always like that, as you can see from the first couple of sketches…

As Andy tells us… ‘I thought a big head might work for issue 3.’

So the big Spider head enters with sketch 3, along with Cursitor Doom. Sketches 4 & 5 bring us Adam Eterno and then, with sketch 6, we’re at the final complete look of the cover…

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Although, as Andy points out, it wasn’t all smooth sailing on this one –

ANDY CLARKE: As with #2, this one needed a bit more work to realise. It wasn’t quite there as a layout with full-figure poses, so having a big head-and-shoulders Spider at the back looking out seemed to at least have some potential. It would also make it look a little different to the other two covers while being completely in keeping with them due to the Idol being in the exact same position.’

So, with the layout sorted for this one, it’s time to get on with making the finished cover happen.

As with previous issues, Andy’s process followed a simple pattern. The sketch layout is worked up into full and very detailed pencils. Next we have an inking stage where Andy’s method involves being very sparing with the inks – only inking the outlines, only adding blacks in the bits where he’s absolutely sure greys wouldn’t work better. And it’s in that greytone stage that all the detail happens – and it’s a hell of a lot of detail! After this, the hard work of adding colours, first as flat colour and then as the glorious full-colour cover that’s going to be flying off the shelves!

Again, just like we did with issue 2’s Covers Uncovered, we want to just show you some blowups of the greytone stage – just so you can appreciate all the work that’s gone into it!

See, that’s exactly what we mean about the detail – who can say they really noticed the detailing on Cursitor Doom’s jacket? But there it is, perfectly done.

Now, on with the colours…

Now, one final word from Andy…

ANDY CLARKE: These covers were good for me – they held their own set of problems that as someone still pretty new to colouring his own stuff, took some proper noodle-scratching to work out, which is what you want really. If nothing else, I learned a few things on these and that’s always a good outcome – but whether they’re effective or not isn’t for me to say. I’m really grateful to Oliver for risking his reputation and giving me the opportunity to take a crack at them – I had a great time doing them.

And there we have it – a third and final cover for Smash! from Andy – we reckon he’s [sorry, can’t resist] SMASH!-ed it again! Thank you so much to Andy once more for sending those along.

You can find Smash! issue 3 in comics shops and from the 2000 AD webshop and app on 20 December, and there’s also the chance to pick up all three SMASH! Issues in a bundle from the webshop right here.  

Andy’s Covers Uncovered pieces for Smash! Issue 1 and Issue 2 are essential reading of course, but there’s also these to take a little look at – Prog 2287, Prog 2290, Prog 2312,  Megazine 444, and not forgetting the Prog 2350 subscriber-exclusive cover!

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, one of the finest cover stars of all Tharg’s art droids returns for a festive Covers Uncovered – it’s Cliff Robinson’s Santa-spectacular for the 100-page Xmas Prog 2362

On a cover coloured by Dylan Teague, it’s time to bring the carnage as Mecha-Santa and his robo-elves cause chaos to Dredd, Tharg, and all the staff droids at 2000 AD towers with something that’s unmistakeably, brilliantly, Cliff Robinson.

Inside the triple-sized end-of-the-year Prog, Tharg’s blessed us with a stuffed bag full of zarjaz strips to thrill you through the festive period. It’s a Prog of two halves, with the latter half full of ongoing tales Helium, The Devil’s Railroad, and Feral & Foe. But the first seven strips in this 10-strip blowout are all pulse-pounding one-off thrills starring some of the most iconic characters in the Galaxy’s Greatest’s long history.

Judge Dredd (sort of) opens proceedings in A Matter of Life & Dredd by Ken Niemand and Tom Foster, with a seasonal tale of ghosts of the Dredd family past. We have new adventures for Rogue Trooper in Runaway by Geoffrey D. Wessel and Simon Coleby, Anderson, Psi-Division in The Game Within by Torunn Grobekk and Kieran McKeown, and a sinister and seasonal tale of blood in Fiends of the Eastern Front by Ian Edginton and Tiernen Trevallion. And Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin’s Azimuth returns for a one-off before series two next year with an introduction to this incredible new world that’s going to blow both Dexter and you loyal readers away in surprise.

And finally, we also have a very special one-off tale of Johnny Alpha and Wulf in Strontium Dog: Alpha, with art by Dan Cornwell and a debut from long-time fan of 2000 AD, comedian, actor, and presenter Rufus Hound. For more from the Hound droid, be sure to pick up the Christmas Judge Dredd Megazine issue 463, also out right now, where he’s interviewed by Karl Stock – alongside a suitably stuffed set of strips, meaning it’s double the Christmas delights for you.

Cliff Robinson has been a mainstay in the Prog since way back, with his first interior work coming in 1984’s Prog 362 with the Future Shock, Dead Clever. But it’s as a cover artist that most fans will know Cliff, and he’s provided so many beautiful covers over the years, beginning with Prog 414 in 1985. We’re looking at something like more than 150 covers over the years – and every single one of them quite incredible, with all that clean line, highly detailed, meticulous artwork, packed with dynamism and imagination. Over the years, his covers have always leapt off the shelves and burned themselves into readers’ minds, and this Xmas Prog cover is no exception.

It all starts, of course, with an idea, this one being all about the terrifying Mecha-Santa and his robo-elves terrorising the ranks of 2000 AD Towers, with the first pencil sketch looking very much like this…

It’s pretty much all there from the off – but there’s more to add, the robo-elves on the rampage and the individual editorial droids joining Dredd and The Mighty One is escaping a marauding mech-Santa. First though, more details on Dredd and Tharg…

Next, time to get to work detailing the rogue’s gallery of editorial droids to feature on the cover – and according to Mech-Santa they’ve all been very, very bad this year…

And what better minions for Mecha-Santa than a swarm of flying, laser-blasting robo-elves? As usual from Robinson, it’s that perfect mix of characterisation – part ridiculous, part nightmare-inducing…

Once Cliff has all the elements sorted, it’s time to get them all in place and begin assembling that final cover…

After that, we need snow, snow, and more snow, plus the background details of MC-1… there’s no droid that does MC-1 quite as well as the Robinson droid.

Finally for Cliff’s part of the cover, it’s back to the character layer and time for those beautifully detailed Robinson inks before then inking the whole thing.

The only left to do is to send it over to Cliff’s regular colours droid, the ever-excellent Dylan Teague who, as usual, brings Cliff’s art to vivid life with that fabulous colouring job. And that, one and all, is how a stunning Cliff Robinson cover comes about.

Huge thanks to Cliff for sending along the artwork to the Xmas Prog 2362. It’s always an absolute pleasure for us to be able to share his classic artwork with you.

You can find the triple-sized end of the year blowout 2000 AD Prog 2362 wherever you pick up your weekly dose of Ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop from 13 December. It’s on sale for three weeks a perfect end to yet another thrill-powered year, with the next Prog on sale on 3 Jan 2024 to start the new year with even more thrill power!

And to end, going all the way back to the Robinson droid’s very first Prog cover…