The Art of Judge Dredd (coffee table book)

 

Not long ago Tharg, in his infinite wisdom decreed that us earthlets should have a coffee table style book covering the artwork from numerous progs of 2000 AD that have featured Dredd on the cover, hence the title!

There were to be two editions of this book. The Standard Edition and the Limited Edition (200 copies but not actually numbered inside). The Limited Edition is only available through the 2000 AD Shop and is priced at £50 plus p&p. For this the book has a different dust jacket, different binding and no bar code. The Standard Edition is priced at £40 but if you look around you can buy it for less than £25!

The book starts off with an introduction by John Wagner and the rest of the book is broken down into three sections:-

The Newsprint Era   1977 - 1987
The Painted Years    1987 - 1999
The Digital Age         1999 - present

Having now looked at both editions, I think Tharg is onto a winner and we definitely need a general 2000 AD Art of Book!

If you would like to know more about the covers and see how many of the latest ones were thought up, then why not look at Pete Wells blog (he's also written about certain covers in this book) which you'll find here 2000 AD Covers Uncovered

Enough of all this waffle, time to compare the books. First up will be the standard edition, followed by the limited edition. If you click on each picture then you will see it enlarged for your enjoyment. My photos don't do the book justice but they give you a feel of it!

Standard Edition Slip Case Cover

 

 Limited Edition Slip Case Cover

 

 Rear cover

This shows the books actual cover without the slip case and the standard edition feels just like one of the old annuals.

This has all the black areas embossed and they feel (but are not) like a very smooth velvet. The red area has the feel of your average hardback novel. I don't know the technical terms, so those descriptions will have to do!

Open the book up and you have your area to get signed at conventions!

What follows now are the three sections and just one page from each, don't want to show you too much now do we!

 

 

There you go folks!

 

It looks good and it feels very nice in your hands when you hold it.

My two tiny niggles are that towards the end there aren't enough contributions from the artists and writers about certain covers but I can live with that.

My other niggle is that I would have preferred, if possible to have had the cover as plain art and not cluttered with the logo and words. The original version could have been shown on the left hand page as a small box but again, I can live with that!

 

Just for anyone who wants to know, here are the covers:-

 

PROG 5, 10, 18, 44, 51, 69, 74, 82, 85, 89, 98, 105, 134, 148, 160, 161, 168, 169, 172, 182, 186, 193, 199, 204, 210, 216, 224, 225, 236, 240, 256, 267, 273, 280, 281, 284, 291, 305, 310, 316, 328, 360, 364, 375, 377, 390, 397, 403, 405, 424, 441, 446, 454, 473, 474, 477, 488, 494, 503, 507, 511, 533, 534, 551, 575, 585, 589, 593, 609, 624, 661, 668, 669, 674, 727, 786, 848, 859, 950, 1006, 1043, 1067, 1109, 1125, 1148, 1157, 1168, 1194, 1203, 1208, 1242, 1253, 1255, 1258, 1262, 1271, 1272, 1273, 1304, 1322, 1324, 1330, 1335, 1380, 1385, 1393, 1446, 1463, 1465, 1505, 1512, 1514, 1536, 1561, 1579, 1584, 1593, 1607, 1610, 1639, 1659, 1681, 1690, 1713, 1738, 1750, 1763, 1770, 1776 & 1781

 

Now what are you waiting for, buy one now!