Cellar of Dredd

The Judge Dredd Collection (Daily Star)

2011-12-30T21:30:00.000Z

In 1985 the first of five soft cover collections from the Daily Star arrived in stores, after these ended we were treated to a Mega Collection in 1990 and that was that! Sadly we never saw any more of these and as far as I'm concerned we could do with a massive hardback of all the strips. Why you may ask! It's quite easy really, these are some of the best strips that Wagner/Grant/Smith/Gibson ever let loose on the public. Just for completists, the letterers over these volumes were Tom Frame/Steve Potter/Tony Jacob/Peter Knight & Gordon Robson.

Anyone wanting to get into reading Dredd should really look here first, in these few collection there is everything a potential (and long time) fan could ever ask for. The strips are short and to the point but later on there are a few multi part strips, leading to No5 which is one continuous story!

Inside No1 and the Mega Collection there is a forward which says it all really. I've copied the most pertinent part for you -

The origins of Judge Dredd date back to 1977 and the launch of 2000 AD, Britain's award winning comic-strip magazine. Judge Dredd quickly became 2000 AD's most popular character, firing the readers' imaginations as, each week, he revealed new facts about crime and punishment in the nightmarish future city he patrolled.

It was not long before Judge Dredd's fame spread, not just in Britain but also across the Atlantic. Back in Britain, he went a step closer to becoming nationally recognised as the 80's answer to Dan Dare whe, in Augus, 1981, his adventures began to appear weekly in the Daily Star.

For writers John Wagner and Alan Grant, the newspaper spin-off was an exciting new challenge. Their Judge Dredd scripts for 2000 AD are written to thirty pictures, sometimes more. The format for the Daily Star strip called for complete adventures of not more than eleven pictures at most. Added to that was the problem of introducing the five million Daily Star readers to the intricacies of life in Mega-City One.

Suffice it to say that Wagner and Grant succeeded admirably. Aided by Ron Smith's powerful artwork, they took their new readers on a crash-course in the lore of Judge Dredd, constructing in mere months the future world that had taken years to establish in 2000 AD.

Steve MacManus

Editor, Judge Dredd - The Megazine

It says everything there, although it doesn't credit Gibson (this was copied from No1 and placed in the Mega Collection) and it should have done in the latter collection!

No1

This came out in 1985 and was priced at £1.25 and 52 pages in total, you can't go wrong. It contains the forward by MacManus from above plus a bit about Dredd and Mega-City One, explaining both. Then it's straight into the action for 48 pages before an advert for 2000 AD and a back page showing the city (notice where Liberty is, next to the statue of Judgement and that's right outside the Grand Halls of Justice).

No2

This came out in 1986 and is the same as No1, 52 pages at £1.25. This also mentions specific items from Dredd's world in the front. These include the Hotdog Run & Block War, with a bit more on Dredd and the law. Another advert for 2000 AD is on the inside rear but on the back we have the LAWMASTER and it's complete breakdown, what a beast!

No3

In 1987 the third collection came out, sam as before £1.25 with 52 pages of thrills. On the inside cover we have more info on Dredd's world, this time it includes transport, post and banking services, power, information and weather. Inside this collection we see our first multi part strip, called 'They Came To Conquer!' Again on the inside rear it's another advert for 2000 AD.

On the back though is another superb piece on Justice kit, this time it's the LAWGIVER. If you can't quite read all the info in the boxes don't worry, I've enlarged those after the back cover. Enjoy the fanboy info!

No4

In 1989 the price went up to £1.50 for the same amount of pages but both inside sleeves were left blank. We also saw the first repeats from the other collections but strangely under different names. The 'Rookie Test' from the 2nd collection goes under the name of 'Test of the Law' in here.

The advert for 2000 AD had also moved to the back cover itself, with a strange Judge team up!

No5

This collection stayed at £1.50 but only has 42 pages You would think that you would get 38 pages of strip but the 38th page is taken up with an advert for the Judge Dredd Megazine, cheeky buggers!. The inside sleeves are still blank and the 2000 AD advert is on the rear.

What is really interesting about this collection is that it is one continuous story about fatties and the artist is now Ian Gibson. I don't think many people know this, as these collections have always been talked about as the Wagner/Smith Daily Star stories.

Mega Collection

This hardback collection came out in 1990 and cost £6.95 for 192 pages of which 181 were actual strip. The inside sleeves were a double pic of Dredd's head with the name splashed across both pages, so that ate 4 pages up. The rest was taken up with general info and the MacManus forward.

This collection is just reprints from the first 4 collections (I've not checked every story but I reckon there isn't anything new in this one) and there is no Gibson in it (obviously as that would eat up a quarter of the book due to it being one story)

I wonder why there has never been a reprint of Daily Star stuff as like I said at the beginning this is a great way to get into the character and quickly see what madness Mega-City One holds without years of reading intricate stories from the pages of 2000 AD and the Megazine.

Now for a few panels from the strips just to show a few interesting things. Yes the Lawgiver is voice activated but I bet many don't know that MK1 was also thumb activated for the different rounds.

We also get to see what happens to Judges when they go bad, 20 on Titan, poor Jansen!

Again Wagner shows the world that he is a visionary with the Smokatorium!

Finally after a few appearances on the 2000 AD forum about how many Judges Mega-City One has!

Judges even have to pass their Sky Surfing practical.

Now for a few complete strips.

My favourite is this. Wagner shows how to compress the whole of the Apocalypse War saga into one page, how clever is that!

Finally one of the Gibson strips, this actually starts the whole story from the fifth collection.

As you can see, these strips don't leave anything out. In fact through the collections you see Walter, Otto Sump, Anderson, Hershey, find out citizens arrests are illegal, watch Block Wars, see the Time Stretcher in action, find out about the insidious menace of soap, see the Lawmaster acting independently, Boing, Spy in the Sky, etc...

Like I say, if you want to see Dredd in action and learn a load of history fast then buy these and then follow them up with the Case Files. You'll always fiind these on ebay, so get searching and enjoy!

2000 AD Fridge Magnets

2011-12-16T17:00:00.000Z

At this present moment in time 2000 AD have only produced 4 'official' fridge magnets. There are other 2000 AD magnets out there, including the ones given away with COMIC HEROES but more of them in a later article.

I'm not absolutely 100% sure with this set but I think you could buy 3 of them through the shop but you had to be a subscriber to get the 4th. I can't remember which one was the subscriber one though as it was a while ago!

They are just pictures printed on a flat plastic material with a thin magnetic rear. Something so simple yet no more were made since these came out in 2003.

DREDD

MONGROL

KANO

MEAN MACHINE

Here is Dredd with a 2 pence coin to show the size of the magnets.

ABC Warriors Novels (Black Flame)

2011-12-09T16:02:00.000Z

These two books are taken from the long running comic series created by Pat Mills and have been superbly transferred to this medium. The first novel is a collaboration between Pat & Alan Mitchell, while the second is by Mike Wild.

The ABC Warriors - hard-drinking robotic soldiers designed for combat in the worst Atomic, Bacterial and Chemical theatres of war. They are a tough fighting force that has slipped into legend. led by the fearless Sergeant Hammerstein, the elite unit of warriors carry out thye worst suicide missions available.

Story by

Pat Mills & Alan Mitchell

Cover by

Kev Walker

'On the dead plains of Mars, human terraformers awake an ancient life-force known as Medusa that is determined to stop the planet becoming an alien world. When the ABC Warriors learn of this new threat, a two thousand year-old programme is activated that compels them to return to the red planet, but in doing so they know that they will be rendered obsolete and self-destruct. Facing a guarenteed suicide mission, the ABC Warriors lock and load and begin the Medus War!'

Story by

Mike Wild

Cover by

Karl Richardson

'When the tide of war turns against them on the Martian battlefield and all hope of victory slips away, the ABC Warriors are forced to disband their unit. They must go seperate ways in a final, desperate attempt to save mankind from the alien terror.'

Again with having some favourite characters appear in prose helps expand the story. We all know what they look like, so we can visualise the goings on with ease, as both books take us deeper into the war on Mars.
I read these as soon as they came out and I now feel as though I should dust them both off and endulge myself again! Something I never do with books but I might actually have a 2000AD marathon session.

Caballistics, Inc. Novels (Black Flame)

2011-12-02T14:39:00.000Z

These two books are from the series of the same name from 2000AD by the creative team of Gordon Rennie and Dom Reardon. If you want to have a look at the official website of the agency, then have a look here!

'Originally known as Department Q, a secret department within the British Ministry of Defence was tasked with investigating the supernatural on behalf of the Government. But times are hard and Department Q has been sold off as a private company and renamed Caballistics, Inc.'

Story by

Mike Wild

Cover by

royalty free/corbis

'When the Caballistics are attacked in London, they are forced to use powerful magic, breaking The Accord - a long-held pact that forbids the use of sorcery. They've been set up and someone wants them out of the way, but who? To find the answer, Caballistics, Inc must form unholy alliances with the "dead of London" and the shadowy organisation know as the Dark Parliament.'

London is about to become a war-zone...

Story by

Mike Wild

Cover by

royalty free/corbis

"SHOW ME YOUR SINS" - the last words heard by the residents of Boswell before incineration by a powerful force in 1944. Old news until a forgotten biblical being is awoken by an apocalyptic cult. Facing explosive ley-lines, Boswell's reainimated dead and a fallen angel intent on bringing about Judgement Day, it's another busy day at the office for Caballistics, Inc.

I was never a fan of the series in the prog, the art I liked but the stories just didn't do anything for me. Once I had read these, especially the first with the London scenes, I went back and found a new respect for them and enjoyed them a bit more. I personally think these types of stories are better suited to novels but then again that's just my opinion.

'Official' Judge Uniform - Planet Replicas

2011-11-24T16:58:00.003Z

It's only taken just short of 35 years folks but finally 2000 AD have allowed a company to make official items from their stories. First up from Planet Replicas is the Mega City One Judge uniform, which will probably end up being called the Judge Dredd outfit by everyone!

The people who run this company also did the uniforms and props for the Judge Minty film and as I am an extra in that I knew it was coming. I managed to obtain the No1 uniform, sorry Rob but I was wearing mine first.

Now I'm not going to go into what all the materials are, as I don't really care, I'm a buyer and not a builder! Also I may add the cost and alter the blog slightly when the prices are revealed officialy which is quite soon, then this bit will vanish and you won't know this was here anyway!

Here are all the accessories laid out minus the day stick!

HELMET

This is very comfortable and give a surprising amount of vision through the visor, especially the tinted part. The balance is spot on and the internal lining just finishes off the professional feel that it has. There are different sizes and I opted for the large one. You can also use a headband to give extra stability and also to help with the sweat.

The Eagle

This is attached to the shoulder via velcro moulded around the top and sides of the shoulder. The top is a solid construct but the wings are pliable, so you can easily move your arms into various positions, within reason. Again this is surprisingly light to wear and is perfectly moulded to fit nicely around the shoulder. Extra details like the justice eagle on the top just add to the realism. To make sure it stays attached I have glued and stitched the velcro to the leathers.

Shoulder Pad

Again this is attached by velcro but it also has a pad built in so that it sits slightly proud of your shoulder, thus making it move easily when your arm moves. This is quite a solid build but doesn't hinder the movement of your arm, mainly because of the built in pad.

Badge of Office

This you can have as Dredd or a personalised one. I went for my own name, as I never really wanted to be Dredd. For a start I would be much harder than him upholding the law and since being written into Dredd history (prog 1716) I can use my own name with Justice seal of approval! Look at the number of links as well, details! This is also fixed to the uniform by velcro and is so light it is no problem at all hanging off your chest.

Belt

The snap buckle has velcro on it to hold the badge in place. The pouches are all velcro sealable and I will be putting some foam in each one just to pad them out in the future. The eagle on each pouch is another lovely detail, that just adds to the whole uniform.

Gloves

These are ultra comfortable and very smooth on the skin. Again the eagle is on the pouches and I shall fill those with foam as well, just to pad them out. Very easy to put on and take off, which is what you need when getting dressed up.

Pads

These are held in place with velcro but I would say depending on your size, some people may not even use it. The knee pads are right above the boot, so the gap is negligible and the elbow pads are so light that the leathers seem to keep them in place easily enough. Again these are surprisingly comfortable, especially the elbow pads and that's good due to the amount of times people will be asking you to hit them at conventions and such events!

Boots

These are a size larger than my actual feet as that is the way you order them through the shop. They are very tight around the calf at first but you soon get used to it and when you eventually take them off you can still feel them. These round off the feel of the whole uniform due to the fact that when you wear the correct boots for the job you feel you can achieve said job with ease. Just imagine smashing in doors and perps alike with these, you'd feel nothing at all, physically or mentally!

Leathers

This is a bespoke one piece suit and when you contact Planet Replicas they will ask for numerous measurements for it to be made, so don't mess up. I went down my local tailors and had myself measured up by a pro, better to be safe than sorry! I'm not going to show a pic of just the leathers as that would show nothing, it's the whole ensemble that show that off the best.

By the way it is lined and is a lot cooler than the Judge Minty two piece outfit.

To end with I'll post a few poses so you can see how it looks when you begin to uphold the law. By the way, the material behind me is the Judge Dredd quilt cover and it's the reverse side!

Now off you go and buy yours from PLANET REPLICAS

The 2000AD Panel at Hi-Ex! 2010

2011-11-18T16:05:00.000Z

I'm sure most of you will know the story of the Hi-Ex! Hell-Trek that was organised in 2010, to get to this superb comic convention held in Inverness. Well, during this convention I decided to film the 2000AD talk featuring five of Tharg's droids.

It followed on from the Cam Kennedy interview by Colin MacNeil and so I had to make a decision, which one to tape, as I couldn't risk the battery dying on me. I went for the 2000AD talk. I still wish I did both but that's life!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these five clips that make up the whole talk. During this you will here some very distinctive laughing from certain members of the 2000AD fan community and also, please excuse my wobbly arm near the end!

I hope you enjoyed those, I may try and do some more videos like these in the future. Well that's if I don't get too carried away at the cons that I go to.

Mark Wilkinson Posters

2011-11-10T15:28:00.002Z

I can't remember when these came out but seeing as it uses the blurb 'Mark Wilkinson voted best Judge Dredd artist 1994' on the poster, it must be after then! I didn't buy them at the time, I wasn't as ill as I am now with my madness. I actually bought them in 2010 from Ian Senior, via ebay. I didn't pay the price on the advert , which is good news for me!

Up next are pics of the posters that I cropped from the advert, followed by a short film showing them in the flesh, as best I could. The two Dredd's are signed by 20 artists including Mark but the Anderson only has Marks signature on it.

Here's the short video, which gives you an idea of the size as well.

Demoncon 2

2011-11-08T16:29:00.000Z

I'd been to the first one earlier in the year and thoroughly enjoyed myself and so had to be at this one as well (it would be rude not to, seeing as it takes 7 minutes from my front door to the con). It's not a big convention, in fact it's quite small really but don't let that put you off as the atmosphere is very friendly. Also a con this size gives you a chance to have some decent time with each creator in the room, something that would never happen at the massive cons!

I was there just after 10:00 and stayed till about 16:30 as I had a Sunday Dinner to get back for. Never turn down a meal that is cooked for you and that you don't have to wash up after, thanks Mother in Law!

Anyway, I did my normal thing, I wandered round and saw what was on offer and then started collecting my sketches. I always enjoy seeing everyone's take on all things Justice Department after I ask for a Dredd but this time I went for a few female Judges, as you will see later on. I also bought a few books but left that to near my departure time, so as not to have to carry them around with me, always plan ahead!

Meeting some old faces was great fun, especially the double hitting team of Chris Phillips and Phillip M Jackson. We had a good laugh about certain parts of their last sketches that they did at Demoncon 1, only slight mistakes but it all added to the fun of the art. I still have to get a commission from Chris but a big item that I will be buying up Thought Bubble has put that on the back burner for this year. Anyway here are the lads busy at work!

Their task was to draw Judge Hershey and Judge Anderson and out sex each other and boy they didn't let me down.

Judge Anderson by Chris Phillips

Judge Hershey by Phillip M Jackson

I also added a few more Candleman books to my growing collection. I've now read these and great fun they are on two levels. Firstly the adult level, you can really get into the character as he clumsily goes about his heroic deeds, like some insane cosplayer. Also due to the fact that he has no powers, it's interesting to see how the writer concludes each tale without him being killed off.

On the childrens level, the pages are full with vivid artwork and each story rattles along at a fair old pace. On the whole there is nothing in these that would upset any child who decided to read them.

Next up was the Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood table.

I had a really interesting chat with Tony about Necrophim and Stalag #666 for 2000AD as I'd enjoyed both stories but prefered the former, mainly because I love an ending on a downer.

Dan was missing for this shot but I did manage to catch him eventually and he did the sketch below for me!

Judge Anderson by Daniel Boultwood

I also bought the TPB Harker by Tony and finished it last night and was mightily impressed at how he has continued the story. It's the only official sequel to Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and everything is cannon.

Next up was Marc Laming and I managed to obtain my favourite sketch of the day from him. I still have two more to be finished, more of that later but at the moment Marc is King!

I had seen one of Marc's sketches inside the sketch pad of one of the son's of the organiser of the con and was impressed. I found Marc at the rear of the con and asked for a Dredd in the rain and every so often I would pop back to him and have a chat as he took ages doing this beauty.

He mentioned that he did a strip for the Revolver Romance Special, so I'll have to get that up from the cellar and check it out sometime soon. He aslo had some pages from a Korea War story that he was doing and the detail was amazing, I couldn't pick him up on anything and look forward to seeing this when it's finished.

Judge Dredd by Marc Laming

Next up was Grant Perkins and his delightful wife.

I was looking at his art with a mate and his son who are both into wrestling and commented on how much his style looked like a piece I had seen on the 2000AD forum (the massive wrestling poster). He then showed me a pic on his phone and it was that poster and he was that artist. It's always great to see another forum member in the flesh and a highly talented one at that.

He showed me the artwork he had done for the subscription copy of Future Shocks for 2000 AD and pointed out the small difference. They replaced Devlin Waugh with Mongrol in the painting on the wall.

Future Shocks by Grant Perkins

I then asked him to do a Dredd and include my blog title and he didn't disappoint. I love the way the fist is punching into the foreground.

Judge Dredd by Grant Perkins

Up next it was a visit to Ian Sharman's table and we had a chat about what I should buy from his stock, especially as I've bought most of his stuff now, We settled on FTL in the end and I shall read it over the coming days. One thing I've just realised is that I didn't get a sketch from his sidekick David Wynne, I'll correct that next time.

I also went out of my way to make sure I obtained two sketches from two girls who flew the flag for Manga art at the con, Sonia Leong and Morag Lewis.

At the moment I have only one sketch with me (Morag's), the reason is as follows! I had also asked Jack Lawrence and Dean Beattie for a sketch each and left my sketch pad (containing Sonia's Dredd) with Dean, as he wanted to take his time on the sketch he was going to do. Jack's sketch won't appear on here as well just yet, as he's doing his sketch at home as well, I love these dedicated artists.

Judge Dredd by Morag Lewis

Next up was a visit to the Cancer Town table and I had a few chats with Cy Dethan, Nic Wilkinson and Peter Mason. They mentioned Ricmond and Vicky (the Hi-Ex! promoters) as they had worked with them before and so we chatted about Hi-Ex. I also managed to include a push for Peter to get in touch with the FutureQuake team and show them some of his stuff. The three of them are in the middle of the photo below, behind Jack Lawrence.

Anyway I asked them to do the hard sell on their books and after a great effort, I opted for Cancer Town. Good job I bought it, as they quickly sold out of this!

Luckily for me, Peter gave me a couple of his prints as well.

Next up was the extremely friendly Jack Lawrence, half obscured by his own artwork as he sorts out some amazing pages for some fans, just out of shot!

I asked for one of the female Judges from Jack but I can't remember who and obviously due to the fact he is doing that sketch at home, I have nothing to show you yet but I will when I collect it in the near future! I had a great laugh with Jack and managed to buy a page from his story that appeared in the Megazine, Field Trip. I chose this page due to the female Judge on show and the head shots.

Field Trip by Jack Lawrence

All in all another productive sketch collecting day for me, with many a laugh thrown in for good measure. Obviously the 3 missing sketches will be added once they are in my possession and then you will see how Sonia has drawn Dredd. Never really knew that you have to always show the eyes in Manga!

This is definately a fun con and many thanks go to Graham who runs The Grinning Demon comic emporium in Maidstone for putting the show on. With it moving to a larger location for the next one more things can be included and obviously more guests.

Apocalypse War - CD

2011-11-04T02:27:00.000Z

This is the second in the two story series from the BBC and Dirk Maggs. As with the other CD, I just waited for this to come out on both formats and bought them straight away. Nothing much else to add!

Apocalypse War

This is the Block Mania story which leads straight into the Apocalypse War and is a blast from start to finish. Again as the story unfolds many images from the prog come to mind and it sort of ends up playing like a film in your head.

Below are all the pages from the sleeve of the CD plus the front and back covers.

Have a listen to part three from the first CD

'Orlok the Assassin'

Again I've placed some sketches on the video just to fill the screen up.

To end with I've enclosed a picture of the double cassette.

Again there is no need to show the sleeve as all the pics are the same.

The Day The Law Died - CD

2011-10-21T16:14:00.053+01:00

This is the first of two audio experiences that came out on CD and Cassette in 1995, after they had first been aired on Radio 1's drive time show, in short serial style segments. I never heard them on the radio but I knew they were coming out in a collected version, so I just waited and eventually bought them on both formats.

The Day The Law Died

This is the Judge Cal saga, which I am sure everyone will be aware of, so I won't waste my time typing an outline of it (buy the progs or listen to this). The two cd's each have 10 chapters and the story moves rapidly along, mainly due to the episodic way it has been made for the radio and obviously, the source material.

What I like about these is the extra dimension that it brings to the saga. I know the strip inside out and so when listening to these, with the weapons fire, Lawmasters gunning their engines, etc... it just brings the strip to life as you have all the images in your mind from the pages.

Below are all the pages from the sleeve of the CD plus the front and back covers.

Have a listen to the opening part of CD two, it's called

'The Hounds Of Kleggs'

I've just added sketches and artwork to the vid, just so the screen isn't blank.

To end with here is a picture to show you the double cassette of the tale. All the internal artwork and words are the same, so I won't show them.

Look forward to the second of these in the 'very' near future!

Rogue Trooper statue

2011-10-21T07:01:00.001+01:00

Okay, now that you've watched that here are some close ups of the statue.

A few close up of his equipment now, first up the combat knife.

Waterbottle and satchels.

Biochip 1 containing Helm is placed into his helmet, lucky that!

Gunnar was placed into his assault rifle.

And Bagman into his futuristic and very awkward to carry bergan.

Here is a close up showing what I meant about the white paint on the eyelids.

This just shows the actual number that I have out of 500

Lastly some pictures of the box. The first is of the box and the rest are cropped scans that I did, so you can see the detail plus you can read what is on the back and look at those 'classic' covers that I didn't really bother to show you in the vid.

Don't forget to click on any picture to enlarge it.

Durham Red Novels (Black Flame)

2011-10-06T19:31:00.008+01:00

Obviously if you have a series of Johnny Alpha novels it has be said that Durham Red must follow and she does, with these five action packed yarns!

(The First Chronicle)

Story by

Peter J Evans

Cover by

Mark Harrison

'Mutant. Vampire. Total babe! Former Search and Destroy Agent Durham Red is stranded over a thousand years into a future she doesn't want. To the mutant underclass, she's a messiah, a beacon of light to rally around. To humankind she's a terrifying blasphemy that should be hunted down and destroyed. All Red wants is to get her kicks while she still can but a nightmare tribe of blood-worshippers have other ideas. The moon of Lavannos seems like the perfect place to lie low but Red discovers that the frozen world hides horrors more terrifying than she could possibly imagine!'

Story by

Peter J Evans

Cover by

Mark Harrison

'When a man named Dathan promises to end the war between humans and mutants, Durham Red is desperate to help him. Cast adrift in a nightmarish future, the mutant vampire travels to this self-made prophet's side, eager for an end to the bloodshed.
But whan the darker side of Dathan's plans are revealed, only Red stands between him and a dark, bloody future. That is, unless she can get help from her worst enemy...'

Story by

Peter J Evans

Cover by

Mark Harrison

'Critically injured in battle, Red is spirited away by servants of the mysterious Magister of Cados and taken to his vast citadel on the planet Magadan. However, this samaritan is not what he appears to be and Red must use all of her powers to get off the planet before it's too late.'

(The Second Chronicle)

Story by

Peter J Evans

Cover by

Mark Harrison

'Danger threatens when Red discovers that a twisted future version of herself, the demonic Brite Red, is hunting her down. The only way she can survive is to get her hands on the terrifying alien artifact known as Manticore but, even then, can she destroy her own future?'

Story by

Peter J Evans

Cover by

Mark Harrison

'After a failed attempt to get past an Iconoclast fleet, Red is forced to seek refuge on the planet Purity. It is a harsh world and the citizens have outlawed all forms of technology. Now something is stirring in Purity's darkest streets: citizens are being slaughtered by a creature of unimaginable strength and ferocity. With techno-heretics on one side and swor-wielding inquisitors on the other, Red finds herself being hunted...'

Again another excellent series of novels from Black Flame and I really enjoyed these, as they made me go back and re-read all her stories in 2000 AD.

Anderson PSI Division Novels (Black Flame)

2011-09-29T18:22:00.005+01:00

As with the Dredd novels, we have another major character from Justice Department in book form. Sadly we only get three of these and they came out in 2006/07.

Story by

Mitchel Scanlon

Cover by

Sean Thomas

'In a bleak future overrun with the crime, PSI-Judge Cassandra Anderson and PSI Division utilise their extraordinary abilities to protect the city from dangerous psychic criminals.

Six felons have died in Sector House 12 - burned to death in the holding-cubes in mysterious circumstances. Called in to psychically read the crime scene, PSI-Judge Anderson encounters ever increasing signs that a malignant psychic presence is at work. As her investigation unfolds, something dark prepares to strike from the shadows.'

Story by

Mitchel Scanlon

Cover by

Ashley Wood

'Following a string of grisly murders, Anderson fears that the killer is actually a psychic himself, hunting down those that he sees as "Red". Driven by a near uncontrollable rage, the killer will not stop until all of his prey are dead. When Anderson realises that the "Reds" are in fact psychics, her murder investigation becomes a battle for survival, because the killer is ready to strike again, and he's got Anderson in his sights.'

Story by

Mitchel Scanlon

Cover by

Vincent Chong

'When a bloody message is left carved into the body of a murdered man the forensic evidence indicates the killer was a hulking giant possessed of nearly superhuman strength. Psychic analysis of the crime scene indicates the murder was committed by a child. As she begins her investigation, Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson learns of a terrible crime committed against the children of Mega-City One. Now, one of their victims has returned to even the score and as the body count rises and Anderson closes in on the killer, she is forced to confront the dark secrets of her own past.'

Three excellent books that really get into the world of Anderson and her PSI abilities and how the Justice Department utilise these specialist skills in their ongoing war against crime!

Judge Dredd Movie Marketing Folder

2011-09-23T12:33:00.000+01:00

This Marketing Folder was an anniversary present off the wife, she bought it from The Prop Store. Although it was called The Prop Store of London at the time. The folder is A4 in size and full with information about the character and film. The back cover looks exactly the same as the front, with the same logo being used on the spine as well.

The first two pages of the folder give a bit of background info and a brief synopsis of the film.

I've enclosed quite a few pics from inside but by no means all of them, otherwise you'd become bored.

The actual section headings are :-
Judge Dredd
Judge Hershey
Mean & Dangerous
Dredd Hardware
Essential Credentials
Uptown/Downtown
Signs of the Times
Law & Orders

You may have noticed that many of these pictures were used in the Sugar Puffs promotion, along with certain headings! I suppose they used this stuff seeing as it is the Marketing Folder!

CITADEL miniatures

2011-09-16T03:31:00.000+01:00

These miniatures are probably the ones most people have got, there have been more from other firms since and there might have been some before but these are the main ones. They were produced to coincide with the Role Playing Games for Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper which you can always manage to buy from the ever so helpful ebay.

I have managed to get my hands on an original advert/flyer which actually lists and shows every figure, so for your pleasure I shall list them in order, with their pictures and with their original price. But first here is the internal spread of the flyer showing all the miniatures.

JD1 Judge Dredd £1.95

Dredd on Lawmaster

JD3 Angel Gang 3 for £1.95

Pa, Mean Machine, Junior, Fink, Link & Judge Child

JD3 Perps 3 for £1.95

Dead, Citizen, Bellamy, Dib, Mr Fields, Kelv, Citizen, Ratex, Don Helmut, Zodiac, Lepuka, Pepe, Mad Jack, Captain Ravioli, Solo, Chimichunga, Jackson Prince, Judge Pike, Theobald Wen, Lambreta, Belcharo, Fettuchini, Squid, Wrecker Advancing, Bonehead McGraw, City Def Attacking, Citi-Def with Spug Gun, Wrecker, Citi-Deff Machine Gun, Milda Dreep, Morgar, Brother Obee, Kneepad Jones, Shojan, Security, Scrawler, Fuzz Gun, Mad Ma Mahaffy, One Eye Schumaen, Wrecker Charging, City Def, Skink, Joe Bananas, Don Uggie Apelino, Fast Eeek, Ramperpo, Spugg Slatt, Chapman Pincher, Flinn Shaver, Chester Zermal, Blaster Bellamy, Lorien Speck, Rizlo Butty, Jason Basin, Monkey Face, Brother Gomorrah, Spit Gun Suzi, Gestapo Bob Harris, Zuggy Spotz, Mutie with Bazooka, Jobee, Mutie with Gun, Two Heads, Mutie, Three Eyes, Perpolit & Rhode Island Red

JD3 Fatties 2 for £1.95

Fatties x 5 pictured (Fatties supplied with randomly assorted head and right arm)

JD3 Uglies 3 for £1.95

Uglies x 3 pictured (supplied as randomly assorted head variants)

JD4 Judges 3 for £1.95

Giant, Patton, Reed, Gallagher, Bambra, Hershey, Brit Cit Judge, Riot Judge with Riot Foam, Riot Judge with Stum Grenade & Riot Judge with Stum Gun

JD5 Kleggs, Alien Mercenaries 2 for £1.95

Kleggs

JD6 Judges Fear, Fire & Mortis 3 for £1.95

Fear, Fire & Mortis

JD7 Judge Death (with Dredd & Anderson) 3 for £1.95

Death, Dredd & Anderson

JD8 Judge Cal & Henchmen 3 for £1.95

Judge Cal, SJS Judge, Judge Slocum, Judge Quincy, Judge Glass, SJS with Rifle & SJS Judge with Nightstick

JD10 & 11 Rogue Trooper 4 for £1.95

Rogue, Rogue with Helm, Rogue with Lazooka,Venus Bluegenes, Maj Magnum, Morgen, Traitor General & Nort

JD13 Sky Surfers 3 for £1.95

Chopper, Cuba, Yogi, Bupa, Thrasher & Nicko

JD16 Judge & Lawmaster Bike £1.95 each

Lawmaster Bike, Anderson, Hershey, Elliot & Merrett

JD17 Brit-Cit Judge £1.95 each

Lawmaster Bike & Brit-Cit Judge

Strangely the flyer has certain numbers missing, no idea why but I have managed to get a hold of a few of those and they are shown below.

JD2 Judge Anderson £1.95 each

JD14 Strontium Dogs $4.50 each

JD15 Don Uggie & The Ape Gang £1.95 each

On the back of each blister pack is the following!

Lastly I managed to find an advert for more miniatures somewhere in my collection, for the Slaughter Margin Game Supplement. I do have numerous figures from the series fully painted (seen in one of the blogs) but this is just an occasional ongoing work for me to try and find unopened packets, as it's very unlikely that there are many left out there!

30 Years of 2000AD Trading Cards

2011-09-09T07:25:00.000+01:00

In 2003 a small 6 card promo set was released by Cards Inc, which heralded their trading card set that was going to make a lot of 2000AD fans very happy. This card set was to be called, The Art of Judge Dredd!

Sadly the mistakes on two of these cards made me wonder what was going to happen when the full set hit the shops. I'll help you out by telling you it's the artists mix up for cards 5 and 6, basic checking, terrible!

A few years had passed before we heard any more info about these cards and by then the company had changed and the name of the set. It was now called 30 Years of 2000AD and Strictly Ink was now in charge of the series. They released these 3 cards to let the fans know the set was imminent in 2007.

Now it was time for the release of this highly anticipated set and so I put an initial order in for 4 boxes. When they arrived in the summer of 2008, I carefully opened them and I managed to make a few complete sets and I gained a few sketch cards, the first one being Judge Giant by Rufus (those are talked about in detail on another blog). Every box was numbered, as you can see below and overall it's a good design layout. The way Dredd with the sunburst behind sticks up is well thought out. I think each box cost around £25, at first!

Also nice to see the product is manufactured in the UK.

It wasn't long before the prices came tumbling down for the boxes and cases, mainly because the fans were not happy and word spread that the set was, lets be kind and just say flawed! I opted for getting a case for Christmas as there was no other 2000AD merchandise out there! Also if you bought a case you would get a couple of ultra rare sketch cards included. I had none in mine so emailed the company and they sent 2 Cliff Robinson sketch cards out to me, RESULT!

The folder was another nice design, even if it was way too big to hold just the series one that it advertised on the front cover.

Now we come to the set itself. Of the first nine the header card looks out of place in the folder. The rest of the cards are excellent, using some of the best 2000AD artists around to draw you in with their art.

On the rear of the first 9 cards is the cover of the first ever issue of 2000AD, once you lay the cards out as shown below!

Next up is the Classic Covers. Now this is a strange mix in my opinion, not due to the artists but the progs chosen and also why did they cut the borders from some of the front covers? I also think it would have been better to have had a cover from every new logo era that 2000AD has gone through.
Nice info on the back which will help anyone who has never read 2000AD.

Next up is The Art of 2000AD. What a superb bunch of pics and artists we have here, showing us a mix of characters old and new. I like the way the characters on the front cross the black outline into the green border but don't on the back.

Now we have the next subset and I don't understand why we have a coloured card in the top corners, but it is symmetrical. Again we have another excellent array of art chosen.

On the back we have a superb Kevin Walker pic. Two points, could no's 33 & 36 not have had their numbers placed to the left and could no 35 not have been placed at the bottom right, as it's on Dredd's head! It's these little things that show the lack of thought sometimes.

Next up is the Snap Shots selection. More excellent pics and also great to have the info on the back. One minor point, most 2000AD readers will know the artists on cards 37,38,39,41,42 & 45 are the same as on the front, but just to help the uniformity they could have had their names included, as the other 3 have names on.

This subset is extremely weird. Kev Walkers drinking image on one side, well only part of it and not putting the other part on the rear but a Dante image instead. Why?

This orange art set is brilliant, with some of the greatest ever 2000AD artists showcasing their art, and it again crosses over the border.

On the back we have the left side of Kev Walker's drinking pic, slightly spoilt by white numbers and their placement. Again an odd choice having broken the image up and not using it on the previous subset of 9.

This set of 9 cards is just a complete waste in my opinion. Cards showing sketch cards that you can collect with the set, just what is the point of that?

They even manage to get the name wrong on the credit on the front of card 65!!!

I notice they don't include the 'non' 2000AD artists in this lot, I wonder why!

Next up are the 2 checklist cards.

The set ends on this gold embossed subset with the covers of the annuals for both 2000AD and Judge Dredd and its in chronological order, which is nice. On the back is a Dredd picture by Carlos Ezquerra.

Overall an interesting effort but with way too many mistakes and not enough thought put into the actual layout of the cards and what to put on them. I mean those 9 cards with the montage on the front and back, aaargh!

As said earlier the prices came down for this series as it just didn't sell, so Series Two never came to fruition.

Sadly great art couldn't save this badly thought out series, in my opinion!

30 Years of 2000AD Sketch Cards (NON 2000AD Artists)

2011-09-02T00:19:00.001+01:00

Okay, now that you've seen the 2000AD artists sketch cards it's time for the artists who have nothing at all to do with Tharg's mighty organ and believe me, you'll be able to tell why! I just find it incomprehensible as to why they would have done this but they said it would bring people to the prog, which I found hard to believe at the time. I think these artists just do sketch cards from what my searching has uncovered, saying that I only searched a few names and then began to cry and gave up!

You will notice that there are different card designs in these, I think this was because when the sketch cards were handed out years ago, the company doing it was called Cards Inc. Many moons later another company took the idea over and that company was called Strictly ink and rather than let the initial sketch cards go to waste, they just added them to the series. Another reason that the set is so shoddy!

Credit where credit is due, I do like the Warren Martineck cards but the rest are........well I'll leave that to you lot to judge.

Enjoy!

Don Pedicini

John Czop

Warren Martineck

Rick Molinelli

Omaha Perez

Tom Hodges

Jessica Hickman

Mark Dos Santos

Robert Hack

Sarah Lyon

Ryan Orosco

Andy Fry

copied

(Greg Staples)

Gary Ochiltree

Nik Neocleous

Carolyn Edwards

Robert Aragon

Kevin Graham

Amy Pronovost

Chris Henderson

Unknown

As you can see, it's a right old motley bunch of artists and the only reason that I have more than one from some is because they came in the boxes that I bought. I then had to search for the other 'artists' to complete my mission of one card from each.

You can see that I don't even know who did the last two cards but the signatures are different to any of the rest but who cares!

As a treat to help you recover from the above I shall now show you the backs of the sketch cards. The brown ones have five different designs but the blue has just the one.

I hope you enjoyed the backs of the cards and wonder like me, why they didn't just stick with 2000AD artists and give the set a more credible feel.

30 Years of 2000AD Sketch Cards (2000AD artists)

2011-08-26T00:38:00.002+01:00

A few years ago a new trading card collection came out, things were looking good, or so we thought!

This new attempt in the trading card merchandise stakes was from Strictly Ink and it was to be called '30 Years of 2000AD'. I managed to see them handing out sketch cards to some of the 2000AD artists at one of the Dreddcons in Oxford and then it went quiet. A few years later they announced that the first in a series of cards was about to hit the streets! Sadly it was doomed to fail once the fans knew what was heading their way!

It looked good from all the hype but the writing was on the wall. On the promo flyer it mentioned 2 levels of sketch cards, level one would include 'many' artists who had drawn for 2000AD and level two... We need go no further, many artists who had drawn for the prog, all the artists should have drawn for the prog to be part of these sketch cards!

So we have a few 2000AD artists showing their skills but to also include generic sketch card artists was a big no no as far as I and many fans were concerned. I even sent an email to the firm producing the cards to ask why and their answer was that it would draw the people who like these artists to 2000AD. I didn't think it would and because of that it buggered up the whole collection, as far as I'm concerned.

Here I will show you the 2000AD artists that were included in the set, along with some who were not, plus a few extra surprises which I'm sure you will be able to figure out where not in the set either!

When I bought the first few boxes I came across a fair few of these and decided that I should collect at least one from each artist. There was no point trying to collect all of the cards as that would be insane, even for me. You can still see quite a few floating around ebay with surreal prices attached to them and I doubt those will ever sell, unless the price comes down.

I thoroughly enjoyed collecting these, especially cards from the artists who never managed to be officially in the set. What I didn't enjoy collecting was the set you will see next week!

Dredd/Dark Judges statue

2011-08-19T03:21:00.000+01:00

I picked this up from ebay ebay quite a few years ago and it just sat in my collection for years, as I could never paint such a thing (the unpainted one is at the bottom of this post). Then one day ebay (again) had a fully painted one up for sale and I managed to buy it for the opening bid, which was about the same price I paid for the unpainted one years earlier. I think it was around the £50 mark but can't really remember.

This is one of the few models that I actually have on display in the rooms above ground level. It's not the greatest item but it has a certain something that I like. I suppose it's the quirkiness and the way Dredd towers above the 4 Dark Judges. Also the paint job is excellent in it's own right. By the way, it stands just shy of 1 foot tall.

Did you see the Chopper tag on the rear?

Now for a few close ups of the characters and the Book of Law.

Just to finish off, here is the unpainted version and it also shows the model as it comes, in two parts!

Spugs - Movie Version

2011-08-12T15:00:00.001+01:00

Here we have the movie set of spugs. I've started with the wallet, which is exactly the same as the wallet from the comic set.

This set has 50 base cards, which include art pieces as well as the stills from the movie. Also include are a couple of holographic slammers and five holo cards!

Here are the holographic slammers.

The five holo card set.

Finally, this is what is printed on the back and as you can see these have a plain white background unlike the comic set!

Not as good as the comic set but I do like the three spugs with the artwork on them, just a pity that they are so small.

Spugs - Comic Version

2011-08-05T07:23:00.002+01:00

These came out when the Stallone film hit the screens. It's an American craze, from what I gather but they managed to send a few of them over here! Above is the wallet and below a close up of the words on the back of it.

There are two collections from CMA, this one and the Movie one. They are stored inside the wallet 8 to a page, like below!

This set comprises of 50 base cards, a wallet and an unknown (but possibly 50) number of alternate cards, which have the Dredd badge embossed onto them with a gold effect. It was extremely hard to get the few alternate cards that I did, so I didn't bother with that never ending mission

Here are the five alternate cards that I managed to aquire!

This is what the back of each spug has printed on it, obviously they have different numbers!

Not a bad little collection overall, especially as all the pictures are taken from some of the best Dredd artists work that has graced the pages of the prog! I'm sure many of you will be able to figure out who they all are, quite easily!

Dredd notebook

2011-07-28T20:33:00.006+01:00

Yes folks, it's an A5 notebook with Stallone's head on each page.

I did use a page, just to deface the git but seeing as it already had a few pages missing when it arrived from America, I wasn't too bothered about losing another page!

Rogue Trooper Bobblehead

2011-07-26T01:26:00.001+01:00

This is the last of the Genetic Infantrymen (GI), depending on what story you read but seeing as it's Rogue we'll stick with that.

Again the box is the same and the blister packet altered to custom house the figure.

I must admit after having a good look at these for the first time in many a year, I am impressed with all the details, especially as it's not what you would call a specialist figure costing £100 upwards. I think these were around the £15 mark but can't really remember, to tell the truth!

Here are Cliff's Designs for Rogue.

Again we have what seems to be a bit of a bonus detail added to this figure. Behind Rogue we have the head covering from a dead Nort on a cross, nice little touch!

Now that I've had another look at all these I just wish we had some other figures from 2000AD to play with. Just imagine all the ABC Warriors for a start!

Johnny Alpha Bobblehead

2011-07-25T05:46:00.002+01:00

Here's Johnny Alpha, from the Strontium Dog strip, plus the Gronk for good measure!

Again the packaging is the same as the others, just the blister packet being different to hold the figure securely.

Again it's all in the details and this statue has the best added detail, that being the Gronk clutching Johnny's leg, as he's terrified of most things.

Again, just before the actual pictures of the figure, here are Cliff's designs for Johnny.

Mean Machine Bobblehead

2011-07-23T20:22:00.008+01:00

Here is the Angel Gangs most feared member, the seemingly unkillable Mean Machine!
As with the rest, the packaging is the same, although when Mean arrived his claw was not attached, due to the blister packet. This was probably because it would have made the blister packet stick outside the front of the box (bad for transit). I've since glued this piece in place and so can't put it back into the box with the front cover on, as you will see from the second picture below.

Now for the pictures from all angles just to give you a better look at the figure. My favourite part of this figure is the stitching and scar left behind from his arm being amputated.

Once again, here are Cliff's designs for Mean, before you see the actual pictures of the figure.

Judge Death Bobblehead

2011-07-22T19:32:00.005+01:00

Next up is Judge Death and again, I really like the whole design work that has gone into this series. First up is the packaging, showing the figure inside and out!

Now for the figure itself, it's the little extras that help make this all the better. The pile of bones he's standing on, the Dimension Jump device on the back of his belt and of course the logo on the front of the base.

Just before the pictures of the figure, here are Cliff's designs for Death.

Judge Dredd Bobblehead

2011-07-22T07:31:00.004+01:00

What is a Bobblehead?
It's a figurine with an oversized head attached to the body by a spring and when you touch the head, it bobbles about!

There are five 2000AD characters in this set from Cards Inc and first up is Judge Dredd.
Over the next few days the short posts will follow the other four, Death, Mean, Alpha & Rogue! Each of these characters is secured in a blister packet tightly placed inside an excellently designed box.

All the boxes are the same, without the characters name on individually but the blister packet is moulded to each character, so it has a decent amount of protection during transit. The box stands 8" tall and each figure comes in at around 7 & 1/2", so there's no waste of space, as you can see!

The back of the box has a small bio about each character and on the base it gives credit to the creators of all five characters, alongside the artist responsible for the bobblehead designs, Cliff Robinson.

Here are the drawings by Cliff for this Dredd figure.

I really like these, mainly because of all the details that have been added and because it's so quirky. Okay the paint job isn't the best around but I can live with that. I think I first saw these as prototypes at one of the Dreddcons in London and then they came out soon afterwards.

The base of figure has a small can of Boing, which adds a little nod to stories in 2000AD and at the front of the base has Joe's logo from the early years.

On the base of each bobblehead is the following stamp of approval. Again, nothing about each individual character but it supplies all the info you need about who made it and who it's licensed from.

Dredd/Anderson Pint Glasses

2011-07-15T07:50:00.000+01:00

Whilst meandering around the madness that is ebay I stumbled across these two items and so just had to buy them. Luckily for me I only paid the opening bid, which was about 99p or something! The chap even offered to engrave other pint glasses if I wanted but I thought I better not go down that route, otherwise it may never end!

Here are some individual shots to show the sides as well. Please excuse the reflections as I'm not a professional photographer, as you can see but the conservatory has the best light!

Dredd Electronic LCD game from Tiger

2011-07-08T11:05:00.000+01:00

This is another bit of merchandise that came out when that film hit the big screen! I only bought one so have no idea how the game plays, I suppose I should buy another one from ebay one day but I feel it is too crap to be worth the hassle.

On the back it shows 4 screen shots of the superb action that you control and here they are in all their enlarged glory!

At least we had some improvements with the next generation of Dredd games. Keep watching for them on here!

Nikolai Dante Novels (Black Flame)

2011-06-28T19:47:00.010+01:00

One of the best characters to come out of 2000AD in many a year is Nikolai Dante. With his roguish charms and his heroic adventures, that he just happens to fall into by circumstance, he manages to defeat the odds with a careless abandon!

Story by

David Bishop

Cover by

Simon Fraser

'It's 2672AD, in a future where the Russian revolution never happened and Nikolai Dante is the most wanted man in the Empire. Fifty million roubles have been put up as a reward for his capture. Any sensible man would be hiding off-world, but the swashbuckling rogue enjoys living dangerously!
Fighting to stop a terrifying weapon being unleashed by a shadowy doctor, the only thing that stands between Dante and success is a finishing school full of beautiful young ladies. How can the carousing scoundrel resist the temptation?'

Story by

David Bishop

Cover by

Simon Fraser

'In this riotous tale of the near future, Nikolai Dante is caught by the Parliament of Shadows: a cabal planing to overthrow the Tsar. He is given a stark choice - do the cabal's work or face execution. Decisions, decisions...

The Russian rogue is teamed with beautiful assassin, Mai Tsai, and sent to the Himalayas where a lost mountain fortress hides a secret weapon. But nobody has ever found the Forbidden Citadel and returned alive. Meanwhile, the Tsar's notorious Imperial Black regiment - renowned for their cruelty and brutality - also searches for the citadel. This deadly army is led by Ivanov the Terrible, a ruthless sadist who has an old score to settle with Dante.

The snow runs red with blood as Nikolai fights for his life on the roof of the world!'

Story by

David Bishop

Cover by

John Burns

(although it says Simon Fraser inside)

'When visiting Britannia, Dante is framed for a Royal murder within minutes of arriving and the only way to escape the executioner's blade is to catch the real killer. Honour be Damned! is a saucy swashbuckling romp and a good-natured dig at jolly old England.'

David Bishop has managed to capture the very essence of Dante, as he weaves his way through these tales of heroic deeds. Not that Dante would want to do such things but sometimes these deeds just seem to fall into his lap, in more ways than one!

Painted 2000AD Miniatures

2011-06-23T19:30:00.002+01:00

Over the years I have collected various miniatures from the RPG collections. These include figures from Denizen, Titan, Citadel (one and the same really, just different packaging), Wargames Foundry, Mongoose and a few other odds and sods.

I did paint a few figures when Sam was born in 99 but since then I've never had the time, so I went the way of ebay, plus I managed to find a painter through myspace who did over 50 of them. At a very reasonable price I might add!

Before the youtube clip showing the collection, I thought it would help to see a few close up shots, so you can see some of the detail (on some of the figures).

Some of the Mongoose miniatures are the actual ones that they had painted to advertise their figures on their website and also from the covers of their boxes. Luckily for me I saw that they had put them on ebay one day and so I just had to buy some. If you can be arsed to look closely, you will spot them!

I thought you wouldn't bother doing all the checking, so I rummaged through them and found some of the street gang figures from their box!

I know the club has been snapped off the juve at the front but Sam is able to get into the 'Cellar' and mooch about!

Dredd digital watch

2011-06-17T06:23:00.000+01:00

During the release of the Stallone film a few pieces of tat came out and this was a piece of MEGA tat. It's a digital watch which has to have it's cover lifted to reveal the digital display. I'm sure many a kid broke that within a few days!

The only good thing about this merchandise is the actual packaging. It's got a fantastic bit of Bolland art on the front which really draws you to the item, if you ever saw it on display! The Cliff Robinson Dredd on the watch cover is too small to really enjoy and yet again the art is lifted from 2000AD's past and not something done just for the product, which is a shame.

Just as an extra, here are two more crap watches that I bought off ebay, I WAS BORED!

1995 Judge Dredd advent calendar

2011-05-06T07:21:00.000+01:00

Picked this up from Woolworths (remember that place) in '95 and have just kept it sealed in the cellar ever since. It's over a foot long and just over 5 inches wide. The art on the front is by Richard Dolan and by Arthur Ranson on the rear!

Nothing much else to say really, apart from it's filled with chocolates and that it's still unopened!

Justice issue Judge's Helmet

2011-04-29T01:40:00.000+01:00

This item was bought through Wake's website Termight Replicas and is absolutely superb. No sooner did I open the parcel when it arrived than it was on my head and I was stood in front of a mirror admiring myself. Don't laugh, you know you would do the same, if you had the chance!

It was made by the very taleted prop maker Jonathan Bayliss (he of the Lawgiver build) and he gladly told me about the whole build process -

"I sculpted it in clay and moulded it in silicone,from that mould I made a fibreglass master which I spent a long time cleaning up. Once I had a helmet in a reasonable state I remoulded that (again in silicone). With that mould I pulled a number of fibreglass copies, each one has to be finished with lots of sanding and car body filler. Once they are done I primed them and sprayed them into matt black, once thats done I mask up the helmet and spray the red. Once that has fully dried I give it a couple of coats of lacquer. Once that is complete I attach the forehead badges which were made in the far east (these were commissioned by wakefield carter of termite replicas they are made of a zinc alloy and plated in 24 carrot gold... I originally thought that was over kill but I have to admit I do think it added a lot to the final pieces)

I then hand shape the lenses and use a special process to tint them, once they are installed I make up the padding with plastazote and glue that in place. Finished helmet!"

These are one of those items that a fan just adores, at it really is one of the main, if not THE symbol of the Judges in the comic (as far as I'm concerned). It's so distinctive that as soon as you see it, there can only be one person wearing such a thing and that's a Judge!

Obviously the above is a pristine helmet. Below is what one looks like after the first day on a Hotdog run in the Cursed Earth (this is a prop from the Judge Minty film and was made by Daniel Carey-George, you didn't think I would damage a helmet did you!)

I bought my helmet from Wake when he mentioned that he had a second batch of 10 in production. I only just missed out on the first batch, still I have one now and that's all that matters. Rumour has it that there may be one last batch of these beauties on the way and it may be more than 10.

Just a few final pictures to wet your appetite!

I think I can see some eagles in that last picture, very interesting indeed!