Deck the Halls

My 2000AD forum advent calendar submission for 2011. The advent calendar is organised by that fine chap Pete Wells (check out his awesome 2000AD Covers Uncovered blog). Every day in December members of the forum post a Christmas themed drawing, photo, poem, song or whatever they feel like. I use the calendar as an opportunity to produce a page or two of comic art which is always tricky in the busy Xmas period. I couldn't submit this year's piece due to unforeseen circumstances so I managed to post these pages early on Christmas day so kind of missed the boat – I don't think many people got to see it. Kind of bit off more than I could chew as there were many difficult things I had to draw – these efforts give me the greatest respect for those who produce comics for a living. I spent ages planning this and had to finish it in a rush. By the way, Zombo is a character from 2000AD who is a gentleman zombie created by Henry Flint and Al Ewing. Do check out the hilarious Zombo graphic novel.

Violent night

My effort for the 2000AD forum Xmas advent calendar from 2010. I produced page 1 more quickly that page 2 and I prefer the looser quality. There are references that non-readers of Judge Dredd might not get. Page 1 panel 4 shows Judge Death – one of the dark Judges. Slab = pavement / sidewalk. Mutie = a mutant – they have largely been kicked out of Mega City One and are discriminated against. The character on page 2 panel 1 is a mutant who appeared in the brilliant Dredd tale 'Sex, Vi and Vidslugs' written by Al Ewing and drawn by Mike Collins (see review). Perp = perpetrator, criminal. Resyk = where the dead go for body parts to be recycled.  

The night before Christmas

My submission to the 2000AD forum Xmas advent calendar from 2009. For non-Judge Dredd readers, a 'juve' is a youngster and 'cubes' are prison cells.

King-size Mach Zero

Seeing as Hulk and Steranko are being discussed over on Secret Oranges I thought I'd upload another 2000AD forum competition entry from a few years ago. The task was to re-imagine a classic comic cover. I always figured Mach Zero was 2000AD's version of the Hulk so I took the content of the cover of 2000AD prog165 and drew it match the composition of Steranko's superb King-size Hulk, which is one of my favourite comic covers. It kind of tied in as both have rocks / masonry about to crush the main character. Interestingly, the Hulk face wasn't drawn by Steranko but by Marie Severin. Below middle is the published version with the Marie Severin drawn head and on the right is the original full Steranko version. I think Marie Severin did a damn good job. Not common practice now I would imagine, but it did happen from time to time in the past. As a kid I was always puzzled why Superman's face (by Curt Swan) didn't match the rest of the comic (Jack Kirby).