Who judges the judges? Prog 2027 sees Judge Dredd give his final assessment of Harvey, one of the fearsome, more advanced Mark 8 Mechanismo Units. These new and improved versions of the Justice Department lawbots are no less deadly, yet more empathic versions of the Mechanismo droids we’ve seen before. Has Tek Division got it right this time?
Tharg asked exceptional artist Matt Ferguson to provide one of his trademark ubercool covers for the series and, of course, Matt didn’t disappoint!
Below we see Matt’s rough sketches for the image. In a nod to his sold out Vice Press Block War print and his seminal Prog 1984 cover (a few prints of these are still available over at Vice Press,) we see the law machine against a glorious, ad-free moon!
Below are Matt’s initial sketches…
Drokking Hedgehogs!
Harvey’s back seat driver didn’t last very long.
The chosen idea is refined for maximum coolness…
“No tailgating Creep!”
With the composition sorted, work begins on Harvey…
Bike-cop-on-it Exploder (sorry.)
Harvey REALLY starts taking shape – terrifying!
Ugh! He’s got oil patches under his armpits!
Next the background elements are added. Squaxx will recognise at least one of those names, that of the magnificent Mr Chris Weston who gave Matt some feedback on the buildings and general thoughts on composition. Matt modestly said “It’s always good to get feedback from people, they always spot stuff I can do better!”
The other block name is that of fellow artist Mark Englert, whose exceptional Taco Belvedere blog is well worth a few hours of your time!
Will Dredd keep death off the roads?
And with that, this astounding cover is finished. Huge, huge thanks to Matt for sending the impossibly cool images. Please check out his awesome website at http://www.cakesandcomics.com/