There are bad guys in the world of Dredd … and then there’s Judge Death!
Leader of the Dark Judges, causing death and destruction ever since first making their way over from the alternate dimension of Deadworld. Judge Death always returns to Mega-City One and the body count is always terrible.
Uttering the magic words, “The crime is life, the sentence is death!”, Richard Bruton chatted to Leah Moore and artist Xulia Vicente about bringing Death to this summer’s Sci-Fi Special…
Richard Bruton: We’ve seen Judge Death in many forms over the years in the pages of 2000 AD. Every time, it comes with a high body count, and occasionally a gag or two thrown in for good measure. Can you give us a quick idea of what this new story is all about?
Leah Moore: My story is basically a celebration of Judge Death as a metal head poster boy, and a homage to Judgement on Gotham. A metal band finds a bootleg of the concert from that book, and decides to cover the songs. It’s the best move of their career, but also, then, the worst. I absolutely love Judge Death. As terrifying skeletal murdering beings from other dimensions go, he’s really personable and entertaining!
Leah, you’re one of a handful of women who’ve already blazed a trail in the pages of 2000 AD. How do you feel about the all-female creative team idea of this Sci-Fi Special?
LM: I’d say it’s long overdue, but then up until recently, it was impossible to discuss gender in the comics industry at all without risk of being branded a crazy radical man-hater. I used to do ‘women in comics’ panels at every convention, where there would be five of us and not one would mention what it was like to be a woman in comics. Not the lack of female writers, or artists, nor the weird sexy costumes women characters wear, nor the fact that a superhero team of six has only one woman in it, nor that female characters exist as a love interest, or as a person to be wronged that the male lead then has to avenge. We used to sit and talk for an hour and not mention any of that, because as a industry we couldn’t talk about it. It was a great big elephant in the room, except the Elephant was wearing a Power Girl costume, complete with boob window.
For 2000 AD to have a women-only issue, for them to actively promote the fantastic women they have on their team, is completely in line with their history of using science fiction and fantasy comics to comment on the politics and social issues of the time. 2000 AD has a unique position of being able to take something like the mass unemployment and strict regime of the ’80s in Britain under Margaret Thatcher and give us great Judge Dredd stories about the police being given ultimate power, or Halo Jones where a girl from an estate gets to escape her world and go on adventures. I really hope that the Sci-Fi Special encourages more women writers and artists to pitch to 2000 AD and feel that they really have a place there, and within the comics industry.
I also hope it means we get to write more female characters, and write stories that echo the current female experience. I want that handful to become a great big armful of women creators, a skipful, let’s be optimistic! In fact, let’s go berserk and say I would like for half of all writers and artists and editorial staff and letterers and colourists in the industry to be women.
Leah, of course, your history with the comic goes back a lot further than your first writing credit for Tales from the Black Museum in 2012. What are your first memories of 2000 AD? Any particular favourites?
LM: I’m in a weird position because 2000 AD was the backdrop for my childhood, so all my dad’s characters are the most familiar to me. But, when I grew into a teenager, I didn’t really find myself drawn to comics the way most people are, as an escape from their normal lives. I loved reading them, and I loved drawing and writing, but I wasn’t driven to collect them or anything.
My favourite character is Halo Jones, because it’s my favourite out of all of dad’s books. It completely set me on a road of sci-fi fandom in all media, she’s who I want to be BFFS with, it’s my ultimate squad goals! I always feel daft saying it; because dad wrote it, but it just connected with me when I was of an age to really get into it. I can’t wait to see it coloured. Obviously the black and white art is stunning on its own, and has the spotted blacks and gorgeous balance that the very best black and white comics have, but the fangirl in me wants the coloured version too, and clothes and posters and mugs and whole shebang!
Xulia, how much 2000 AD had you seen in Spain before becoming involved with the Sci-Fi Special? Were you already aware of the long history of Judge Death?
Xulia Vicente: I’ll be honest: myself personally, none, which makes me a bit nervous to draw my take on it. But at least I knew a bit of Judge Death and the general aesthetic of Mega-City One. I think 2000 AD material appeared in ’80s Spanish comic magazines like Cimoc and such, Judge Dredd was serialized then and has been compiled in tomes for a while now. So I gotta do my research now and see how it comes out!
Your style, from what I’ve seen online, is far from what we’re used to seeing with a character as dark as Judge Death. Are you adapting your style, full of bright colours and lightweight lines to Death, or is he having to adapt to you?
XV: Yeah, what I’ve been posting lately doesn’t look like a Judge Death comic at all! But I’ve drawn a bunch of short horror stories, and you could say my first long comic published, Duerme Pueblo, fit the genre. So it’ll be more like revisiting a style I’m familiar with. And besides, Leah’s script has a quirky, dark humour tone I love, so that leaves room for the bright colours anyway!
Leah, this would be your first 2000 AD credit without John Reppion. How did you break it to him?
LM: I told him that finally I was free from the shackles of his patriarchal control, and that i would dance on his grave with my newfound sisters under a full moon, sipping the blood of our enemies!
After the Sci-Fi Special, what do we have to look forward to from you both?
LM: Actually, me and John have more Storm Warning on the way, with Tom Foster, which was loads of fun to write. Monosyllabic psychic female cops FTW!
XV: Working on short stories for anthologies like this is a very nice stop on long projects under development. I’ve done a few of these this year while trying to finish my comic with Manuel Gutiérrez, Ira, Jinete de Dragón, a fantasy tale for young readers we’re publishing in Spain.
2000 AD Prog 2082 sees the return of the geekiest parody of all: Survival Geeks in Geek-Con.
Time once more to fire up the trans-dimensional engines of the strangest two-up-two-down in the world and venture forth into whatever corner of geekdom we’re off to this time round.
With an affectionate, tongue-in-cheek look into the darkest recesses of modern geek-culture (at least we think so!) it’s time to set the comedy to 11 and get your geek on with the gang once more.
Richard Bruton sat down with writers Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby to talk all things Survival Geeks, Gordon’s sleepless nights over readers not getting the series and Emma’s refusal to buy Gordon drinks so that he’ll share his secret knowledge of getting Tharg to publish his ideas.
EB: They had to end up at a convention of some sort, big geeks that they are. And it turns out that Cons share a lot of familiar features across the multiverse: weird cosplay, overpriced merchandise, and a far, far away section especially for the comics creators. Plus a psychopathic dimension hopping celebrity or two.
Any chance that, with Geek-Con, you’ve worked it all out of your system and are about to embrace the latest target of your ire?
GR: Seems unlikely.
EB: Work what out? It all comes from a place of love!
With this latest tale was Geek-Con it’s pretty obvious where you’re going with it – how have your own con experiences been?
GR: Mostly miserable, naturally. I miss the old 90s cons, where we desported ourselves in Bloomsbury hotels in giddy Cool Britannia abandon, and – because we’d had a whip-round to bribe the hotel bar staff – the Bacchanalian revels went on all night. Cons nowadays, though… Well, if I wanted to spend all day sitting behind a table selling graphic novels to people, I probably wouldn’t have abandoned that promising career in part-time book retailing at Waterstones.
EB: Hmm. John Wagner hugged me once, in a very nice, welcome-to-the-Dredd-writers’-family way. That was most unexpected. Can’t really think of any crazy stories, but I used to work in politics, so I’ve learned if you want to have a lovely time with the nicest people, go to a comic con; if you want crazy times with terrifying people, go to a political party conference.
Depending on your position on the geek spectrum, or possibly how much of a sense of humour you have about it, readers could see Survival Geeks as a delightfully light 2000 AD strip that gently lampoons every aspect of geek culture. Or you could see it as a scathing attack on the ridiculous elements of that selfsame geek culture, with the three of you sitting cackling as you decide which element of the idiocy you’re going to maul next. Where are you coming from with Survival Geeks as a comment on the world of geekdom?
EB: There’s inherent comedy in how seriously geek things are taken and talked about, every debate on what’s canon or why something isn’t believable in a space opera full of tentacled aliens. It’s both ludicrous and loveable.
Survival Geeks began life back in Prog 1824 as a Tharg’s 3Riller. How did that initial idea for the series come about, and how did it develop en route to that first Tharg’s 3Riller?
EB: The pitch and intention was always for a series, so doing the 3Riller was about seeing how readers would respond to it and if there was appetite for a comedy series in 2000 AD. Seemed to work out okay.
GR: I think the original pitch had zombies in it, but Tharg cited some other thing we’d never heard of in our lives that had geeks vs zombies in it, and asked for a different threat. Whereupon the running joke began that the Geeks would always be denied their one ambition of one day landing on a zombie apocalypse world.
To date, I think I’m right in saying that it’s been the only 3Riller to make the transition to regular strip?
GR: Hold that thought. Mechastopheles, a 3riller that I also co-wrote, is currently grinding its way toward a full first series.
Any thoughts to why it’s only your works that make the transition?
GR: Because I have the secret knowledge of how to craft and launch 20000 AD thrills. Which I will happily dispense to anyone who can navigate the tricky task of buying me enough large white wines while also managing not to get on my nerves. Trust me, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
EB: I’m still waiting for any sign of secret knowledge. And I’m definitely not buying him any drinks.
Any particular comedy classics, 2000 AD or otherwise that you’ve loved over the years, or have perhaps taken inspiration from for Survival Geeks?
EB: For me I think it’s The Trio from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who were three geeky guys trying to become supervillains. They rob a bank and spend all the money on rare action figures; they get distracted from attacking Buffy by arguing about which design of the Death Star was superior. They are not the most popular villains, but I loved them. Our Geeks are less dark, but they definitely have a bit of Trio in there.
As for comedy in comics in general… I’m going to go out on a limb here and hypothesise that it’s the most difficult thing to get right in comics. Would you agree?
GR: I’ve always found the comedy stuff quite easy. But I’m just a naturally hilarious and out-there kind of person. Just ask anyone who knows me.
EB: *spits out white wine* Sorry, did you want a drink, Gordon…? Get me another while you’re there.
I’ve seen people love Survival Geeks and hate Survival Geeks… what is it that divides opinion so much do you think?
GR: There’s always been a great deal of comedy or black humour in 2000 AD strips – Dredd, obviously, but also Nemesis, ABC Warriors etc — but some 2000 AD readers are quite stuck in their ways and don’t like outright comedy strips where the humour isn’t just something slotted in between the bits with grim-faced people doing grim-faced things. Imagine the amount of sleep I lose at night, worrying about this. Just imagine.
How do you really feel about the delights of geek culture and its continuing takeover of the world?
EB: Long may they reign.
GR: Not something I think about much, I’m afraid. What with all the sleep I’m losing worrying about some readers not loving Survival Geeks.
One of my favourite lines has to be “it’s not dressing up. It’s called cosplay.” Any great cosplay costumes hanging in your closets?
EB: Cosplay is all about making it yourself, which I respect. I was Poison Ivy for a party once and destroyed several ivy plants for that, and for the irony. My more impressive efforts were years ago when I did some fire performance, which involved making costumes plus wearing body paint, and was a lot of fun between occasionally setting myself on fire. I thought it might be safer to learn to fight with swords, so I went on to do some medieval re-enactment, but apparently it’s not ‘authentic’ to let women fight. If I still had the costumes I could easily do Game of Thrones cosplay, but I only kept the sword (obviously, I got one anyway). But these days I would rather just go to cons as, um, me.
GR: No….but I dream of one day having the courage to unleash my inner Squirrel Girl. Not that I dream, of course, because of all the sleep I’m losing worrying about those comedy-hating Squaxx Dek Thargo.
Finally, when last we talked together, I wondered about the possibility of a cuddly Howard, because everyone needs a Cthulu cuddle buddy. But so far I haven’t seen the 2000 AD merchandising department moving on this one. Who do we have to… bribe/threaten/make bizarre, potential unlawful advances to?
EB: Still. Waiting. It would be loved by all ages! There are several Geeks merchandising ideas in this story, as it happens…if the merchandising folk are needing ideas.
The vamp with the Strontium dog tags and a lust for blood is back!
She’s travelled the galaxy, hunting down her prey, for blood and cold, hard cash, in Strontium Dog, Strontium Dogs, and her own Durham Redstrip. Now Durham Red returns to the pages of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic in a new, eight-part series in Prog 2082, out now!
This mutant bounty hunter with a lust for blood has long been a staple of Strontium Dog tales, since she bust out of the Milton Keynes ghetto courtesy of creators John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Carlos Ezquerra back in 1987. Richard Bruton sat down with the creative team to chat (re)vamps, blood, and what the future holds for Durham Red in Born Bad!
First of all, can you get straight into things by telling us just what you have in store for this latest tale of the female bounty hunter with a bite?
Alec Worley: Struggling to find work on the fringes of the galaxy, Durham Red is flat broke, with nothing but a ship and a pistol to her name. Her fearful reputation as a bloodsucking vamp has frightened off every reputable employer and now she’s forced to take whatever job comes her way. In Born Bad, Red gets a call from Monkey Harris, a terminally ill mutant gangster desperate to make peace with his long-lost mother. But Monkey’s mom is a woman with a very specific set of skills and no intention of being found.
You describe this as Durham Red revamped, a brand new take on the classic, complete with a new direction and new costume. How difficult has it been to deliver something new with such an established character?
AW: If I’m honest, it was pretty straightforward. You just dig into the character and figure out how she works. How does she think? How does the world treat her and how does she respond? What’s her pathology? How does she maintain a moral compass when her mutant metabolism forces her to attack people and drink their blood?
While sticking to the Wagner/Ezquerra version (rather than the Abnett/Harrison one), the angle I wanted to bring to bear here was, I dunno what you’d call it: ‘vampire ethics’? Kim Newman once made a point about vampire fiction often taking pains to avoid the very tension that makes these characters so appealing in the first place: the fact that they must murder people in order to survive. Durham is essentially half-gunslinger, half-serial killer! I’ve done away with all the usual excuses. Can she drink from ethically-sourced bloodbags? Nope. Can she feed from animals? No way. But she’s a good person, right? Maybe…
The strip was meant to premiere in Prog 2073, but there’s been a small tap-related mishap involving Ben Willsher and one of those posh boiling water things. This meant that the strips had to be delayed till Prog 2082, and from part five, you’re drafting in the talented Lee Carter to complete the strip. What advice can you give to readers about a) how to deal with a bloody bad burn and b) how not to lose it when your brilliant artist is stretchered off halfway through a project?
Ben Willsher: NEVER, EVER put ice on a burn. This is what I did. Unfortunately this is an old wives tale bit of advice I was given. It can seal in the burn and do more internal damage. Run burn under cool water for 20 minutes and probably seek medical attention.
AW: a.) NEVER PUT ICE ON A BURN! Run under lukewarm water instead and seek either medical advice or a healing potion.
b.) I was more concerned about Ben’s livelihood, to be honest! But he’s all well and good and healed up now. Other than that there was no panic on my part when Tharg explained that Lee would be joining the team. Seriously, I’m not butt-kissing here, but Lee Carter is an amazing artist and has been on my want-to-work-with list for yonks!
Has Lee Carter coming on board changed things in the story at all?
AW: Not at all. I wrote the script with Ben in mind, so there’s elements within certain panel descriptions that have probably gone unwritten because we’d planned out certain sequences between us. But that’s easily sorted by talking it through with Lee. I’ve learned it’s always good to talk to artists. Not to demand redraws or be a pain in the arse, but just to get a healthy back and forth going and finesse things. I know from working with Pye Parr that tight collaboration always leads to a tighter story.
The whole history of Durham Red is complicated. Her future did seem to be mapped out in the Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison’s Saint Scarlet stories where she awoke from voluntary suspended animation a thousand years past Strontium Dog continuity. But after Wagner resurrected Johnny Alpha, all of the tales of old became somewhat difficult in the whole continuity. So, where are you setting this latest Durham Red?
AW: This was really just a case of re-reading every single one of Red’s stories and making a thorough set of notes. The revival-era Stront may have rendered everything before it apocryphal, but this wasn’t a problem as I could just pick and choose the stuff I wanted to make ‘real’. But all this is below-the-waterline stuff. My intention here was to write a brand-new no-baggage Durham that honoured the old but appealed to the new.
Continuity-wise, Born Bad is set after 1996’s Epicedium (Dan Abnett’s first work on Durham Red), which was a single-episode conclusion to the Hogan/Harrison stories and ends with her walking off into the proverbial sunset prior to her eventual cryo-sleep and reawakening a zillion years in the future. Tharg is an authority on the Stronti-verse, and has yet to pick me up on anything, so I must be doing something right.
Continuity has to be flexible anyway. So long as you’re sticking to the essentials of a character, whether that’s Spider-Man or Judge Dredd, then the details can fly, frankly. Story and character have to take priority over whether or not the cosmetic details match up to a wiki entry!
Will we be seeing any other familiar characters from the world of the Strontium Dogs in this latest Durham Red?
AW: No plans as yet. I want this to be her series, exploring her isolation and loneliness and everything else about her, and not have her leaning on Johnny, being the sassy one in a group as she was in Hogan and Harrison’s Strontium Dogs, or this reluctant goddess like she was in the Scarlet trilogy. Like with my Judge Anderson books, I want this to explore Red’s character from as many angles as possible.
BW: Not as such, but with most of my art, there are usually some easter eggs in there, especially at the space port in part two.
One issue that’s always been talked of when it comes to Durham Red is the whole sexy vamp look. How have you all approached this is terms of story and art?
AW: Here’s a true story I’ve been itching to tell. Ben and I spent WEEKS working on the new design. Ben drew up a kind of paper doll, which we gradually layered with a physique, a hairdo, underwear, clothes, weapons, etc. The boob armour issue. Oh my God. How many times we went over the boob armour issue! Of course, next to the issues of pay equality, birth control, political/corporate/artistic representation, and rape culture, the issue of boob armour in funnybooks shouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s feminist to-do list. But still.
Anyway, we were 90% there, and it occurred to me that we’d been working on this in isolation for so long maybe I could show some friends and get some outside feedback. The first person I showed it too looked at the design and let out a long sigh. Her feedback was essentially as follows: ‘This is what happens when you commission two straight guys to rework a female character. You’ve completely over-sexualised her. All I can see are her boobs. This is terrible. It’s everything that’s wrong with comics today and you need to go back and think about what you’ve done.’
That was a real blow! There was me thinking I’d done my homework and instead I’d got it horribly, horribly wrong. I got home and started making some notes about how I could fix it when I got a note from elsewhere, which fed back on exactly the same design and said essentially this: ‘This is what happens when you commission two SJWs to rework a female character. You’ve completely de-sexualised her. She looks like a bloke. This is terrible. It’s everything that’s wrong with comics today and you need to go back and think about what you’ve done.’
The lesson to be learned from this is, of course, to just concentrate on doing your job; be aware, do your homework, listen to the characters, and write what they need.
My Durham Red is a scuzzy out-of-work bounty hunter, so if I want the reader to take that concept seriously then I can’t have her flashing her knickers or popping out of her bra in every panel! That said, sensuality and sexual tension is integral to the character. So, if you’re creating a sexual female character, it really needs to serve the story or be an expression of that character. I have no problem with cheesecake or erotica per se; the problem is that cheesecake and erotica have been the predominant influence when it comes to representations of female sexuality – and that’s down to lazy, horny male writers, probably with a deadline bearing down on them.
My angle on Durham Red builds on John Wagner’s reading of her in the original Strontium Dog strips: she’s a femme fatale and a vampire. The genius of Wagner’s concept is that the two archetypes are naturally intertwined. In classic ’40s noir, the femme fatale embodied all these wartime male fears of female independence, and the femme usually gets punished for it in the end. But what if the author didn’t punish her? What if you let her revel in who she is? On one level Durham Red is a monster and in this I really wanted to ramp up the horror angle and show exactly why everyone in the original strip is so terrified of her. I also didn’t want to shame or punish her for being who she is. I want a woman behaving badly, or at least interestingly. Lestat in Interview With The Vampire and Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction were big influences in this regard.
BW: Yes, it is fair to say that Red over the years has had some interesting wardrobes. Especially in the ’90s when she was wore not so much a strapless dress, but a dressless strap. Alec and I did spend an inordinate amount of time in the construction of her look and I we are both very pleased with the end result. We know some fans will be disappointed that she has changed her look, but that is the beauty of the Strontium Dog universe that Carlos brilliantly set up: the fact that no one wears a single fixed ‘uniform’. Their clothes and hardware etc do change and that is what is fundamental with what we have done with Red.
She’s still the same Durham, but with a different haircut and different clothes. For us, it was a matter of practicality, and this story had a real dusty and dirty spaghetti western feel to it, and it genuinely didn’t feel the right setting for a more revealing costume, she needed clothes to match the environment. Johnny Alpha can bounty hunt without wearing arseless chaps, so Red can put her bum away too from time to time.
We certainly didn’t want to lose her identity, or the key elements that makes Red, well… Red! So it was important that we kept her trademark features, such as her vibrant two-tone hair and chainmail, not to mention her utter badassery.
Ultimately this wasn’t about reinventing her completely, or destroying her legacy; otherwise we would have come up with a brand new character. We have too much respect for her as character and to John, Alan and Carlos to do that, and I truly hope they know this and like the end result. And we hope you do, too.
Ben, it’s such a shame that you’ve been stretchered off after just four episodes. What were your thoughts when drawing/designing this new strip? And how gutted are you at having to put it aside?
BW: I can’t put into words how hard it was to leave this strip. Not just because I had put my heart and soul into the art, but because Red means so much to me as a character. I love the Stronty universe, and even to get to play in it for a bit is a dream come true. I’d been looking forward to doing this strip so long, so having to step away from a dream job is extremely tough, but unfortunately I had no choice, the show must go on, and thankfully you will be in for a treat when Lee takes over. I can’t wait to see what he does with the second half of the story.
How’s the injury now?
BW: I am almost healed now, which is good, and hopefully it is looking like I won’t be permanently scarred either. I am extremely grateful for the medical attention I received, and despite having to spend weeks recuperating and not being able to be at the drawing table, it did mean I got to catch up on a lot of Netflix series I hadn’t managed before, so silver cloud, and all that!
Hopefully it won’t be too long before we see your excellent art in the pages of a Prog again!
BW: Thank you, yes, Fingers crossed… Ouch, no, can’t cross them yet, still a bit tender!
Lee, you came onto Durham Red halfway through, due to Ben’s injury. How do you approach coming onto a project like this at short notice? Did you work closely with Alec and Ben to make sure there was some transition in art styles, or was it simply a case of dropping into Durham Red with your own, unique style?
Lee Carter: I love Ben’s take on Judge Dredd and was expecting his usual style on Durham Red. But after Matt had sent me the pages he had completed I could see he had gone for a more realistic take on Durham. Which was great as it meant my work wouldnt look so out of place when it did drop in.
Lee, tell us about getting into 2000 AD, what route did you take?
LC: Ive been reading 2000 AD since around prog 350 and I still head to the paper shop to collect each week and it has been the main inspiration to be a artist throughout my life. I did the whole 6 years in art education, HND and a degree in illustration etc. and once I had finshed I really wanted to work for 2000 AD. Unfortunately real life kicked in and I had to find a job. Thankfully I managed to hold real life back and worked for Bizarre Creations was a Liverpool based games company. So I had a good 13 years in games. After a few years I started doing illustrations on my free time. Working on small press books like Liam Sharp’s Event Horizon and games workshop illustrations, eventually I heard from Tharg!
Lee, your art is rather striking, very different from others in 2000 AD. It’s something characterised by thin lines, high brightness, almost a bleached out look at times, with a use of computer that really marks it out from other artists. Can you talk us through your style, process, and evolution of your art?
LC: It’s funny that my style is different as Im pretty much comic inspired, I have no idea what happened! My early art illustrations are all traditional, it wasn’t until I started working in games that I used computers. I had a good few years of trying to reproduce how I drew and painted traditionally but using the computer, but after awhile you start to make the most of what traditional materials can’t do. After Indigo Prime: Perfect Day I realised that if I continue with a very rendered style I wouldn’t be able to feed my kids so I try to keep things simple now, Line work, grey tone, flat colours and a bit of polish at the end. It’s always a balance of what you can do in the time you have.
Are there plans in place for more Durham Red tales after this? If so, where will you be taking her?
AW: Plans afoot for more and there’s another pitch in preparation, but I can’t say any more than that.
Finally, what dream 2000 AD project would you love to tackle?
AW: I’ve written my two faves, Judge Anderson and Durham Red. I’d love a crack at Hook Jaw, or failing that there’s an old IPC heroine I’ve got my eye on…
BW: For me, I always wanted to have a go at Robo-Hunter. I love that character, and wish he’d make a bit more of a permanent come back. Alec has written a couple of tales, which were great fun, and he really captured the feel of the old stories. I see Stoogie every time I walk down the road, John Wagner and Ian Gibson invented vaping- I am sure they are owed a few quid on the patent.
With IDW’s latest incarnation of Judge Dredd returning on 23 May, the official 2000 AD podcast talks to series writer Mark Russell about his first case for the lawman of the future.
From discussing the parallels between today’s world and Mega-City One to crafting believable and interesting dystopias, the writer behind critically-lauded The Flintstones and Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles for DC Comics sets out how you can tell any story with Dredd’s world and why he decided to tell this one…
Issue one of IDW’s Judge Dredd: Under Siege by Mark Russell and Max Dunbar hits shelves on 23rd May!
The 2000 AD Thrill-Castis the award-winning podcast that takes you behind-the-scenes at the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic! As well as interviewing top creators and famous fans, we bring you announcements, competitions, and much more! You can subscribe to the Thrill-Cast on iTunes or on the podcast app of your choice, or you can listen now at www.2000ADonline.com/podcast
On sale 20 June in the UK and 11 July in North America, the 48-page special will have an all-female roster of writers, artists, colourists and letterers, with covers from Tula Lotay (Supreme: Blue Rose, Bodies) and newcomer Emily Zeinner, and all-new stories by Alex De Campi (Twisted Romance, No Mercy), Laura Bailey (Future Shocks), Katy Rex (Charmed, Doctor Who), Leah Moore (Red Sonja, Storm Warning), and newcomer Olivia Hicks, with art from Xulia Vicente (Anna Dédalus, Llampuga, Llampega!), Sam Beck (Songs for the Dead, Cadmus), Abigail Bulmer (Storm Warning, Grey Area), and Dani (Judge Anderson, Fiends of the Eastern Front). It will also include a Future Shock by award-winning graphic novelist Tillie Walden and a stunning Judge Anderson poster by artist Marguerite Sauvage (DC Comics Bombshells, Shade the Changing Girl).
Within its pages will be the return ofCassandra Anderson, courtesy of writer Maura McHugh (Witchfinder, Jennifer Wilde) and artist Emma Vieceli (Breaks, Young Avengers).
Richard Bruton chatted to Maura and Emma about their take on 2000 AD‘s finest female Psi-Judge…
In the new 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special, you have the pleasure of bringing us a tale of the greatest of the Justice Department’s Psi-Judges, the incredible Cassandra Anderson. Can you give the readers a quick idea of what the tale is all about?
Maura McHugh: The story is called ‘SPA Day’ and is about a treatment that Anderson is ordered to undertake by PSI Div… which doesn’t go as expected!
We’re used to seeing Anderson in the pages of 2000 AD, and over the past few years, the presence of some very strong female characters, good and bad, in the Justice Department has been most welcome. But what is it about Anderson that makes her such a perennial favourite?
MM: Anderson is a fascinating mix of someone with excellent physical ability, a deep sense of justice, but also a high degree of compassion. The latter part is often hammered out, ignored, or stunted in Street Judges, but most of the PSIs have to be both Judges and sensitive. One of Anderson’s coping mechanisms is her wry sense of humour, which provides moments of levity during some rather grim business. She’s been all around the universe, but her drive to help people keeps her in Mega-City One despite the terrible things she has witnessed. She has doubts, and has suffered awful losses, yet she strives to do the right thing in every situation. She’s a very relatable, complex character, and Alan Grant has written so many memorable stories for her.
Maura, you’re a celebrated writer of prose, comics, plays, and screenplays. Why has it taken so long for your name to appear in the pages of 2000 AD?
MM: Writing for 2000 AD has been on my ‘to do’ list for a long time. I had pitched a story to Matt before, and it was turned down – c’est la guerre, it happens to everyone. For this special Matt contacted me, I pitched him three ideas, and we settled on the one that – thankfully – we both liked the best.
Similarly, Emma, you’ve been working in Brit comics for many years now. Your previous work includes Manga Shakespeare titles for SelfMadeHero, Dragon Heir through Sweatdrop Studios, the adaptation of the Vampire Academy book series, and your self-published Breaks comic amongst many more. What does getting into the 2000 ADSci-Fi Special mean to you?
Emma Vieceli: I’m so chuffed to be doing this and it’s great working with Maura. I’ve long wanted to dive into the world of 2000 AD so am happy that an opportunity like this came up. Getting to start with two kick-ass women like Maura McHugh and Cassandra Anderson is a pretty great way to dip my toe into the murky waters of Mega-City One.
What does the all-women creators 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special mean to you?
MM: Doing a special edition with women contributors is a smart way to introduce a new cadre of talented creators to the 2000 AD universe. Hopefully we’ll see more women writing/drawing/colouring regular features for the comic… because they produce strong and entertaining work. Plus, the special might encourage a new audience to pick up the comic, and stay with it. After all, there are many fantastic characters and storylines in 2000 AD. I’ve been impressed with the quality of the work that is being produced on such a regular basis (with a special shout-out to Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade on Lawless). I must tip my hat to the astonishing Annie Parkhouse and Ellie de Ville who have been consistently brilliant in 2000 AD, doing one of the most underrated jobs in comics: lettering. As a writer I’m always indebted to letterers who seamlessly keep the text visible but not too prominent, and enhance it where necessary. At its best it’s an invisible job, which contributes to why letterers are so overlooked. Annie and Ellie are great at their job, and that’s why they are employed to do it.
What were your first experiences of 2000 AD? Any particular favourite characters that you’d love to work on in the future?
MM: I read 2000 AD as a kid because it was one of the few comics I could get readily in a small town in Ireland. I was a geeky girl at a time when that wasn’t cool at all, and 2000 AD was one of my regular joys. It probably did a lot to cement my love of comics. I adored Judge Anderson. Having the opportunity to write even a short story for her has truly been a bucket list job.
As unlikely as these are to happen, the two that spring to mind immediately are Halo Jones and Sláine. Halo is such an intriguing, unusual character who doesn’t have a superpower but just wants ‘out’ – and gets to see the universe. Sláine is Irish, and I love writing mythological stories.
Of course I’d be ecstatic to write more Anderson! And who wouldn’t want to write the Dark Judges? Finally… I always loved the proto-cyberpunk ideas behind M.A.C.H.1. I’d have a blast re-working that series.
What do we have to look forward to from you?
MM: As is usual with me I’m working across a variety of media: I’m writing dialogue for the indie Jennifer Wilde game, which is based on the comic that I wrote. I’ve a couple of short film projects knocking around in various stages of development. I’m constantly writing prose short stories, and I’m working on a collection of them. And there are more comics in the offing too. Plus, a novel. This year should see the release of the stop-motion animated short film that’s based on my short story Bone Mother. Stop-motion is a time-consuming process, so it’s been a lengthy project. I can’t wait to see it.
The 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special is out on 20th June from all good newsagents and comic book stores, as well as digitally from 2000 AD‘s webshop and apps…
With this year’s incredible 2000 AD Free Comic Book Day, Tharg has given up the reigns of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic for just once. Instead, his little nephew has taken control, and along with the script and art droids at 2000 AD tower, they’ve turned 2000 AD into the fabulous, all-new, all-ages 2000AD REGENED.
Alongside all the familiar names; Dredd, Strontium Dog, D.R. and Quinch, and Future Shocks, there are two extra strips … because frankly, every children’s comic in existence, past, present or future, should always have a two-page centrespread game, and something on the subject of poo!
Richard Bruton tracked down the fiendish minds behind Chet Jetstream and The Intestinauts: Henry Flint, Arthur Wyatt, and Pye Parr…
Chet Jetstream: Hell Island finds the primate pilot marooned on Hell Island after escaping the clutches of a brood of zombie space squid. And as the strip says, “Only you dear reader (no, not the guy looking over your shoulder), can help the primate pilot escape”! It’s two pages of pulse-pounding adventure gaming with a Henry Flint twist!
Henry, you’ve been a mainstay of the 2000 AD FCBD issues for many years, whether it’s with your excellent covers, the Zombo strips with Al Ewing, or your own individual strips. Exactly what is it that keeps drawing you back to the FCBD issue? Or is it perhaps you have something very incriminating on Tharg?
Henry Flint: Except for a few war crime links with Starlord I’ve nothing incriminating on Tharg.
Your piece here is part of the extras including in addition to the four main strips. The Chet Jetstream boardgame must have been a fun thing to develop. But the most important question I have to ask: did you field test it with your family?
HF: I’ve field tested it and no one could figure out how to play it which in my book is a success.
It might only be two pages, but the work involved in coming up with the ideas, and then making sure the whole thing worked must have been huge. At what point in the thing did you decide you were never doing something like this ever again?
HF: Right from the beginning. If I had to do it again I’d do snakes and ladders and finish it in one afternoon.
Ok, what’s your problem with birds anyway? Vampires, spiders, flies, cannibals, howling scarecrows, voodoo mermaids… all of these things I think we can all get behind as scary. But telepathic ravens and rabid geese? Is there some deep rooted childhood fear coming out here?
HF: I almost did a plague of ladybirds which I did experience first hand in Lincolnshire 1976… I made dead ladybird sandcastles.
Any plans for more Chet Jetstream? After all, 2000 AD needs more Mandrill space pilots!
HF: No plans at the moment. Chet has a small gambling problem. Best leave him to reach rock bottom before offering him a new adventure, that way he’ll do it cheap.
Intestinauts started as a Future Shock in 2000 AD Prog 1822, but very sensibly, Arthur Wyatt and Pye Parr decided that the most important thing missing from 2000 AD REGENED was poop, and that they had just the strip for that! So, it’s welcome once more to Intestolab Biotech, where the latest innovations in stomach defence comes in the microscopic shape of the Intestinauts. So when you next scarf down an underheated Venusian Vindaloo, have the Intestinauts at the ready! Tackles all known instances of cramps, tapeworms, amoebic dysentry, quantum reamlice, and thrill-suckers.
It might only be a single page, but you’ve certainly managed to sneak a bit of gross-out comedy into 2000 AD REGENED with the Intestinauts. How much fun was it to introduce younger readers to the dangers of an underheated Venusian Vindaloo?
Arthur Wyatt: The side-note on the Vindaloo was particularly fun as we got to emphasise food safety AND throw in some real world science facts about surface conditions on the planet Venus – who knows, they might come in handy.
Pye Parr: I always gain the same amount of enjoyment from poo jokes as the average four-10 year old, so LOTS.
Given the nature of the idea, was the temptation there to go a little ruder and exactly how did you avoid making any really obvious poop gags?
AW: It’s a tricky one, especially when my kids find all things poop related utterly hilarious. Older readers worried about the all-ages REGENED being too tame can be reassured that, since it’s set in a colon, it’s inherently one of the most scatalogical Thrills that 2000 AD has ever run. We do have a big CENSORED over one panel, thus implying **Extreme rudeness** in a way that’s sure to be appealing to readers of all ages.
PP: The idea/anecdote of someone shitting themselves is always a lot funnier than the reality, so I think you’ve got to leave a little to the imagination, or it just becomes revolting and weirdly medical rather than amusing and slapstick. As we based this story on a Future Shock we did a few years ago that most of the readers won’t have read, it made more sense to slightly retread some old ground.
Intestinauts… your own particular 2000 AD twist on the classic “The Numbskulls” in The Beezer! Although I’m sure there are plenty of younger readers who think the whole idea began with Pixar’s Inside Out. Was this classic strip an inspiration for Intestinauts?
PP: Not directly, but I seem to remember we both mentioned The Numbskulls before we did the original story. I think the idea sprang from a joke Arthur made about some monstrous reheated Frankenstein e-coli meal I’d made myself from leftovers when my wife was away that I was convinced was going to kill me (it didn’t).
AW: Probably at the back of our minds – especially for the story in the FCBD Prog with its cross section. I was probably thinking a little more of Fantastic Voyage – a childhood fave of mine.
And finally, how does it feel to possibly be the ones who stimulate young minds to look up Amoebic Dysentry online for the very first time?
PP: HaHa! Proud!
AW: Along with the facts on the surface conditions of Venus I see this as us fulfilling our duty to inform and entertain young minds. Who knows, maybe someone will grow up to combine the two and breed high-pressure super amoebas for terraforming purposes.
Finally Pye, seeing as this is the first time you’ve been here on the 2000 AD blog, a few of the questions from interview questions 101… What are your first memories of reading 2000 AD? And what brings you its hallowed pages?
PP: Yeah, I read from about age 12, so started around the Prog 700ish mark. My main memory was that the Prog was 52p a week back then, but I only got 50p pocket money, so I had to periodically sit in WHSmiths to read the ones I couldn’t afford!
As for how I got here… I started as a junior designer on 2000 AD back in 2002, and have just kind of hung around ever since. I’m a graphic designer really, and worked at 2000 AD until I went freelance three years ago. I do whatever people pay me to do, but the main comic stuff I’ve done is a few covers for the Prog/Meg, the Intestinauts Future Shock this story is a sequel to, and Realm of the Damned, a black metal Horror comic written by Alec Worley that we’re working on the third book of right now!
When you head into your local comic shop this Saturday 5th May for the fabulous Free Comic Book Day, be on the lookout for the most zarjaz thing on the racks: 2000AD REGENED!
The FCBD issue of 2000 AD this year takes the great characters you know and love and delivers them in all-ages style. And one of the classic characters is Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog.
The mutant bounty hunter with the X-Ray eyes is on a mission to capture Carrion Jones (‘The Zombie Master’) and earn his place amongst the Strontium Dogs. All he has to do is convince an uptight robo-examiner he’s up to scratch..
Richard Bruton sat down with writer Alec Worley to talk Strontium Dog and REGENED…
What were the special challenges for you in transforming the hard-bitten world of the Strontium Dogs for an all-ages audience?
Alec Worley: No challenges at all, if I’m honest! The original strip was written for little boys in the ‘70s. It was just a case of going back, re-reading the originals, defining their core appeal and reframing that for modern ‘middle-graders’. Sticking to the original premise, the emphasis had to be action, humour, awesome gadgets, and mutant craziness. It’s really not a million miles away from the tone of modern children’s TV like TMNT, Ninjago and the new Dangermouse.
You have a lot of fun with the characters around Johnny; the pompous Carrion Jones, his cybernetic slime sidekick Blobba “Sicknote” Jobson, and, best of all, Johnny’s cyber-examiner. Compared to this, Johnny himself is the archetypal serious hero, desperate to get the job done and earn his SD tags. He really does strike a perfect pose as the Saturday morning kids’ TV show hero here. Is this something that you were aiming for?
AW: I was definitely trying to posit Johnny in that Saturday Morning Cartoon mode. In this regard, bringing his age down – from adult to teen – was crucial. Child readers have changed since the ‘70s, and modern children find it much easier to relate to people their own age or slightly older. Culturally, there’s perhaps a British post-war thing going on there. Look at how children brought up in the ‘50s were happy to identify with the adult Dan Dare – in a way that I simply cannot imagine now.
Now that we’ve seen Johnny earn his SD tags, can you see yourself pitching for more all-ages Strontium Dog tales?
AW: With Strontium Dog, I honestly think there’s bags of potential there to carry on the property for younger readers. Unlike Dredd, who’s all about the law and conformity, Johnny is all about being different, the outsider, the chosen one with special powers. It’s absolutely tailor-made for younger readers’ comics or animation. I haven’t been asked to develop anything yet, but the premise of Strontium Dog is so strong, it’s one of those ‘plug-in’ premises: the world is all there, just plug the character into an interesting situation or give him a cool adversary and you’re away!
If it were up to me, he’d definitely need a Wulf as a sidekick. If you’re going by the archetypal triumvirate you see in things like Harry Potter, Trollhunters and wotnot: it needs to be: 1.) the hero [Johnny], 2.) his dorky mate [Wulf], and 3.) the girl [Durham Red…?].
Seriously, Strontium Dog is tailor made for this sort of thing. There’s so much you could do with it; so many places you could go. It’s a prime property for Rebellion and it really was an honour to be asked to work on it!
If I’m right about this, we haven’t seen tales of Johnny Alpha’s life pre-Strontium Dog. A little research tells me that Johnny was part of the mutant uprising aged 17 in 2167. So although this might be WAY too continuity focused, where do you slot this young Johnny story?
AW: I’ll be honest, I ignored all that! Older readers have got the Wagner/Ezquerra strip in the Prog. This is for a brand-new readership and I feel it needs to be all theirs! So – beyond what’s laid down in the premise – this had to be blissfully continuity-free. The show Star Wars Rebels was a big influence here. What’s so amazing about that show is that it’s so light on its feet. The only baggage it carries is its own. It cuts to the heart of what gave the original trilogy its vigour, but built upon it with such amazing emotional intensity that really made you care. (More so than any of the new movies.) It’s about recognising the archetypal appeal of the original and making it feel brand new again. Ben’s art helped a LOT in that respect!
And no 2000 AD would really be complete without the bite-sized sci-fi masterpieces we know as Future Shocks!
Richard Bruton took the time to chat to new writer and artist to the world of Tharg; Ned Hartley and Tanya Roberts about Humancraft in 2000 AD REGENED.
Ned, Tanya, as far as I understand it, this would be your first work for 2000 AD. With a 2000 AD Future Shock episode, you get a massive amount of exposure, but here, with the FCBD comic, that is multiplied many, many times. How did it feel to get the gig and how did it come about?
Ned Hartley: Getting the call to work on 2000 AD was genuinely one of the happiest moments of my life! I mean, the birth of my kids and my wedding day are also up there too, don’t get me wrong. But this was pretty, pretty good. It’s great because 2000 AD occupies such a special place is so many people’s hearts – it’s like being asked to play with the Sex Pistols or something.
Editor Keith Richardson got in touch with me, he knew that I have a lot of experience working in all-ages comics (I’ve done everything from Simpsons to Star Wars) and we talked a bit about that. He’s got some very smart ideas about the future of publishing. Obviously hiring me was one of them, but he’s doing a lot of very cool stuff.
Tanya Roberts: It feels great to get to work on a publication that I’ve been reading since I was a child! I was messaged on Facebook for the gig! It was on an account myself and my husband set up for our new comic “Abeyance”… which should be out later on in 2018! (Plug! Plug!)
Adapting the Future Shock format to an all-ages audience might seem somewhat strange, given that the format does lend itself to a more doom laden theme more often than not. How did you approach an all-ages Future Shock for the FCBD comic?
NH: My starting point was “What is in the world of someone who isn’t a traditional 2000 AD reader? What do younger audiences like?”. So I worked up some pitches based on things like Youtube, football, LEGO, video games – things like that. I sent five or six over to Keith and the Humancraft one was the one he liked the best. I think he’s right, it has to be something that was fun!
TR: Ned’s script was pretty fun, so I felt like I could go a bit more cartoony than I normally would. I’m glad they went for it as well. Being a fan of the classic 2000 AD style it felt pretty different to me.
Taking the concept of Minecraft and switching it around is a great idea, a classic Future Shock style turnaround. But you have played very cleverly on rather grown up themes of job (dis)satisfaction, the melancholy and disappointment of being a grown-up, and even manage to wrap the whole thing up on a very political note. How difficult (or otherwise) is it to deliver some very adult ideas in a form acceptable and even understandable to younger readers?
NH: I think younger readers understand a lot more than we give them credit for. The absolute worst thing you can do to a young reader is patronise them or talk down to them. Most younger readers are smart enough to understand quite complicated things as long as they are presented in context. And if they aren’t then you can always have people hit each other, I mean that’s always funny right?
TR: Again, the script was very clear and I really felt that I knew what the characters would look like and how they would act and interact. Seeing the three alien brothers interacting mirrored my relationship with my siblings (I’m one of three as well) somewhat as well. All the piss taking, and all the warmth they have towards each other.
The art on your Future Shock is a wonderfully bright affair, and unusually for a Future Shock, in colour. Was this a deliberate approach or was it editorially driven?
NH: Tanya is just plain brilliant. For me the main thing to do was get out of the way!
TR: I begged to colour this one! I try to colour all of my comic work, and I’m glad they went for it. I suppose it’s a bit more colourful than you would normally find with a Future Shock, but I think, and hope the readers’ agree, that this Future Shock tale works well with the artwork.
Finally, seeing as this is your first 2000 AD credit… a few old favourites… What are your first memories of reading 2000 AD? Did you read it growing up, or as an adult?
NH: I remember DEVOURING Judge Dredd collections when I was about 12 or so. You used to get those collections of early John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra stories, and I loved them! I was always a big fan of Strontium Dog, and recently I’ve been reading Nikolai Dante stories in the 2000 AD Ultimate Collection – I think those are my favourite right now.
TR: Yep, grew up reading it. Not until I got into boarding school when I was about ten upwards though. The house would order in all the comics, and 2000 AD was one that sneaked through. I would just lap it up.
How did you make your way into comics?
NH: I started off by working in Forbidden Planet comic shop in New Oxford Street many years ago! I loved it, in fact it’s where I met my wife! Forbidden Planet is owned by Titan, so after a few years I moved from selling comics to making them!
TR: I was initially trained in traditional animation, but just out of college it simply wasn;t viable. A friend of mine took me to my first comic con which just happened to be that tiny little one in San Diego! And that was it, I was hooked.
What is your background, and what have you worked on thus far?
NH: I self-publish my own comics about a superhero called Punchface, whose superpower is punching people in the face. It’s pretty high-concept stuff! As part of the day job I’ve worked on Wallace and Gromit comics, WWE Heroes, SpongeBob SquarePants, LEGO Star Wars, Batman: Brave and the Bold and lots more!
TR: I’ve been pretty lucky so far. In addition to working on several creator owned titles I’ve been fortunate enough to work on Star Wars: Clone Wars, How To Train Your Dragon, Toy Story, and TMNT amongst others. Who knows what the future holds?
Who are your influences?
NH: When I started to write a Future Shock I went back and read all of Alan Moore’s Future Shocks that I could find, which just made me appreciate him even more. I’ve read good work about comics writing from Brian Michael Bendis, Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis, which have really helped me. There are some writers around who I’m lucky enough to call friends like Alec Worley and Si Spurrier who have written some really great blogs about writing and have made me think a lot about how I write.
TR: I’m still influenced by a lot of animators, including several of the veteran Disney artists, such as Glen Keene, Chris Sanders, and Eric Goldberg. When it comes to comics, it’s the Europeans that inspire me the most. Blacksaad’s Juanjo Guarnido and Skydoll’s Barbucci… just stunning.
But can such a zarjaz day get even better? Well, heck yes! With the all-ages 2000 AD: REGENED, 2000 AD are reimagining some of their greatest characters for a special one off FCBD comic.
Alongside Cadet Dredd and a young Johnny Alpha trying to earn his dog tags, there’s the riotous return of those teenage alien delinquents, D.R. and Quinch. In D.R. & Quinch Hijack Free Comic Book Day.
Richard Bruton talked to two thirds of the creative team behind the strip, Owen Michael Johnson and Indio!
How did the opportunity to bring back two of 2000 AD‘s most beloved characters come about?
Owen Michael Johnson: I’m forever grateful to Keith Richardson for asking for a pitch. We just went for it. He was great in letting us cut loose. Being younger characters, and irreverently anarchic, made them a perfect addition that came with a certain amount of freedom. I pitched the ‘Hijack Free Comic Book Day’ meta story because it seemed to fit nicely with the event itself, this one day a year where everyone is there in the comic shop for the same reason.
Indio: When Owen told me it was potentially D.R. & Quinch my mind was blown! No other strip had quite the same impact on me as that one did, and there’s been nothing else like it in 2000 AD before or since! I loved those guys and having been a pryomaniacal teenage delinquent myself during that period, those characters were my boys!
I don’t think I’m exaggerating here, or dismissing the work in the other strips in this 2000 AD FCBD comic, but taking on D.R. & Quinch seems to me the most daunting of all the strips on offer in REGENED. The classic Alan Moore and Alan Davis strips are possibly the finest comedy material 2000 AD has ever put out. What on Earth made you agree to doing this?
OMJ: Given the opportunity, why would you say no? Of course it’s daunting, and there are those out there who would write us off sight-unseen purely because we’re not Moore and Davis, so with nothing to lose why not have fun? We knew early on we were doomed to crash and burn, but we were determined to do so in style, and do so in your own way and retaining as much of the spirit of the original as possible. To actually acknowledge that we were essentially a bootleg version. Once we made that decision the goal was easy: make a D.R. & Quinch comic we’d love to read.
Indio: I knew that the strip’s creative pedigree was monumental but it didn’t daunt me. I couldn’t have passed it up, those two rascals are in my blood, and I love Alan Moore and Alan Davis so much that this work was my tribute to them.
You’ve certainly kept the comedy aspect of the strip going, albeit with less death and destruction and a fondness for lethal weaponry of the original. But with the story, you’ve gone beyond the simple brief of delivering an all-ages strip and introduced a wealth of meta-fictional goodies. Was it the intention to add these in as a knowing nod to older 2000 AD readers, whilst keeping the playfulness of the story intact?
OMJ: The only thing we pulled back on were the thermo-nukes and guns. Beyond that we channelled Moore’s original intention that D.R. & Quinch fit into a long history of British teen delinquents. Anyone who’s read Raygun Roads will know it was right down our street. Young readers want the same things from their stories as older readers. You don’t have to ‘simplify’ or make a story any less interesting or dense. They just want good comics. I think it’s lazy to deliver more of the same. It’s indulgent to update the characters (which aren’t yours) unnecessarily. The ‘Pixar’ sweet spot is to deliver an accessible, no-strings adventure for the total beginner that also manages to satisfy die-hards and could slip along-side the original. We worked hard on that, down to Colin emulating the credits and Tom Frame lettering style. It looks GORGEOUS in black and white, not that it will see the light of day. Also we shamelessly re-skinned the original Time Twisters short, albeit with a ‘history of art’ twist so you can tell your parent and/or guardian there’s some cheap educational value
How did the co-writing thing happen with Owen and Colin?
OMJ: When I got the call from editor Keith Richardson I put Colin forward as co-writer because Dungeon Fun is the best UK all-ages comic of the last decade. I like the big concept stuff and the ‘throw it at the wall and see what sticks’. He’s a great wit, mostly at my expense, and has a great bullshit detector. We work well together.
Indio, unlike the other strips in REGENED, D.R. & Quinch has one unique artistic vision in Alan Davis, pretty much the only artist to have drawn the terrible two-some. Given that the previous work I’ve seen of yours is the wildly psychedelic and absolutely not all-ages Raygun Roads, how did you approach D.R. & Quinch artistically? Was there any thought to adapting your style for the D.R. and Quinch 2000 AD REEGENED strip, either with a view to the all-ages nature of the comic, or even in some way stylising it with a view to making it fir the Alan Davis mould?
Indio: I could only do it as me as opposed to a knock off of Davis! Although I did re-read D.R.and Quinch’s Totally Awesome Guide to Life for the umpteenth time before starting it to really get my head in gear.
The thing that I think lends itself to the strip that I had covered is that Alan Davis always drew really demented looking throwaway characters in the pages of Harry Twenty, Captain Britain, and Marvelman. That really rubbed off on me as a kid; I’ve got sketchbooks full of fiends, goons and miscreants which Owen had seen most of so he knew i would be able to handle that side of things!
For those who haven’t seen your previous work with Owen on Raygun Roads, can you give us an idea of the who, what, and whys of working together?
OMJ: INDIO! illustrated the first solo comic I wrote for release, Raygun Roads in 2013. We met on the UK underground comics circuit. We shared a love of music, Danger Diabolik and Pop comics with a capital ‘P’. Colin I met just before Raygun Roads came out. He was one of the first big vocal supporters of it. We’ve been firm friends and comic collaborators ever since. He lettered my series Beast Wagon and my upcoming graphic novel Reel Love. He’s the best there is.
Indio: I’ve been doing art for 2000 AD fanzines Dogbreath and Zarjaz and then came across AccentUK and got involved with their zombie, Western, and Robot anthologies. That Robot anthology segued into the Stephenson’s Robot strip that I’m still putting out with Dave West. Along the way, I had a meeting of minds with Owen Michael Johnson who got me to do some pieces of art for his Thaddeus Mist book. And off the back of that, after Owen saw what I could do, he wrote Raygun Roads for me – which is by far the most “Me” thing I’ve been involved with so far! Owen just knows which buttons to push when it comes to igniting my brain artwise. I just loved putting the art for that book together and it was a fevered experience for both of us.
Seeing as this is the first time I’ve grabbed you for these – and in fact, your first 2000 AD credit… a few old favourites… What are your first memories of reading 2000 AD?
OMJ: I didn’t read the Prog growing up. Admitting that will probably get me a year in the isocubes. I read the trade reprints in Waterstones. I loved the self-contained, finite stories like Halo Jones, Zenith and D.R. & Quinch. But all of it was pretty late on, I’d say my teens or early twenties. I’ve since come to not only appreciate the huge legacy but also massively enjoy the stories for pure entertainment.
Indio: I was ill as a kid and an older cousin who had been buying 2000 AD since it first came out brought me a copy. It was the issue where Judge Death returns, with art by Brian Bolland. That was also my first exposure to Kevin o’Neill’s art and it completely twisted me!
What is your background, and what have you worked on thus far?
OMJ: My first solo comic was the aforementioned Raygun Roads, which was nominated for a British Comic Award, as was my 2015 series Beast Wagon (with John Pearson and Colin). I’m finishing up on my debut graphic novel as writer/artist, Reel Love, which is out next year through Unbound.
Indio: Art was really the only thing I’ve ever been any good at and it’s something that I did every day. But I’m kind of all over the place so I will be tattooing people one minute (which is my day job) and then painting or drawing or sketching and trying different styles another!
As she moves from the relative safety from behind her own lines to the sickly, contaminated world of Nu Earth, Nortland war crimes investigator Atalia Jaegir faces a new and dangerous challenge in her current story, In The Realm Of Pyrrhus…
But it’s much less of a challenge for the creative team behind the art – artist Simon Coleby and colourist Len O’Grady. With experience of working together previously, the pair have collaborated to conjure up something special for readers with their vision of an environment saturated with pathogens and ablaze with gunfire!
Simon and Len talked to the 2000 AD blog about the colour work on the latest episode of Jaegir: In The Realm Of Pyrrhusfor Prog 2077 as we place their work publicly side-by-side for the first time…
Would you both describe your working relationship on Jaegir, as there’s been a few series now. How closely do you work? How has that relationship changed over time?
Simon: From the outset with Jaegir, I was delighted to be working with Len, and felt confident that we could produce a strong and interesting body of work between us. Len and I had collaborated previously, notably on the IDW series Judge Dredd – Year One, written by Matt Smith. Having produced that series, I knew that Len would combine a muted palette where appropriate, with bolder colours to emphasise story points where it would serve the plot. I think that IDW project was something of a foundation for how our working partnership has developed with Jaegir.
Len: We’ve always gotten on like a house on fire; screaming, smoke and flames everywhere. Or working relationship has actually really been one of the smoothest I’ve had in twenty-odd years of comics. We just seem to have a good simpatico.
Len, could you describe your choice of palette for this episode and how you decided on the palette for the whole series? Are you looking to create a thread or theme throughout, or is it an episode-by-episode basis?
Len: I’ve gone on about this in other venues, but I feel that, on the whole, the original Rogue Trooper has never had a particularly memorable palette; It’s a toxic, hellish soup of layered toxins, roiling about. When I was a kid, I came across a National Geographic where they did a feature on the most toxic of waste and how it was “disposed of”. What stayed with me was just how lurid the stuff looked. Added to that the grime and corrosive filth that adheres to everything, I wanted the combatants to have little to tell them apart, apart from the configurations of their suits, almost as if they are just another pollutant scudding across the surface of Nu-Earth. Considering just how deadly it is to every character (apart from Rogue), it seemed silly to not push out the boat and make the environment a star; that’s why I’m always finding tweaks for the locations and time to make it feel like more then just a poison planet, it still has environments and climate, albeit that of the inside of a lava lamp.
Simon: I know that Len is extremely adept at adding depth to panels, which had combined very well with the aspects of the Jaegir I’ve enjoyed very much — we’re creating a world for our characters, and I’ve particularly had fun drawing their environments. In a story such as ‘Brothers in Arms’, for example, we got to show a variety of locations, which I enjoyed illustrating enormously. I have huge confidence in Len’s ability to choose colours which describe everything from the vast countryside of the Jaegir estate to the claustrophobic confines of the bunkers and seedy streets in which Atalia so often finds herself. Another example would be our recent cover for Prog 2075. I was happy to leave room for Len to add those brutal, psychedelic colours to the chem clouds in the background — once again; emphasising the scale and the environment, and really making the piece striking. Len and I do chat quite often, but rarely about anything very specific to whichever story we’re working on. I can only think of a handful of times where I’ve suggested particular colours, and that’s usually been for something technical, rather than anything aesthetic. I trust Len’s professional judgement, and I’m always excited to see how much he’s added to my linework.
The chiaroscuro contrast in this top panel where the figures are descending from the blazing hoppa is really striking…
Simon: I could see a couple of ways to approach it — a down-shot was one option, but I felt that might be a little bit weak. Instead, I went for a shot looking up at our characters. I felt they’d been established clearly enough in the preceding pages, that the storytelling wouldn’t be confused by a striking chiaroscuro approach, and so I had an image in-mind along the lines of Eduardo Risso or Mike Mignola. Again, I was confident that leaving some space for Len to add his creativity to the sky textures could only serve the panel well.
Len, with a page like that, where Si has used figures that are virtually silhouettes, what’s your creative process in colouring it? I noted you went for a very bold background and further contrast with the hoppa.
Len: That aesthetic predates Jaegir, truth be told, I think it settled into something during Judge Dredd: Year One; in many ways Simon is the anti-Mignola — lots of strong blacking, but eager to turn those blocks or planes into something with more depth. It’s alway a lot of fun, like a half finished jigsaw with the borders finished. The color choices there were informed by the story, really- just expounding on what went before. I don’t think we ever colored a twilight on Nu-Earth before, and I wanted a transition into an inky, dirty night punctuated by battle glares and chemical phosphorescence.
It’s interesting how you play with the contrast/tone of Si’s inks, particularly in the first panel of page one, and on the backgrounds of page two – is this something you do only for Jaegir? Does it take trust between an artist and a colourist for the latter to know where and when to use effects like this?
Len: As someone who has been known to draw the occasional comic myself, I totally appreciate the anxiety of an artist handing their art off and hoping for the best. As a result, I’ll usually try to take the time to ask the artist what they had in mind- you’d be surprised how many don’t consider it at all, and moreso how few artists get that consideration. I find a little goodwill goes a long way. The real pros like Simon and a few others I won’t namedrop here know what you’re about and trust that your experience will help push the story along, which is why we all showed up anyway.
