Competition Time - win Judge Dredd : The Restricted Files Vol 02

You may have seen the thread over at 2000adonline about this comp and are now visiting to gather your answers, if not read on.

Over on the 2000ad site you will see the outline of the competition here. What you have to do is look at the picture there and compare it to the picture here and the picture on Futurequake. There are items missing from the both these pictures, not saying how many as that would be too easy.

All you have to do is figure out what is missing and then pm me through the 2000AD site with your answers, remember to say which picture has what missing. It's really that simple. Now look below and start thinking!

The winner will be announced on the 18th of August in the Rowdy Yates Block Citizens Yap Shop over in Paltalk. Don't worry if you can't make it there as many people will bear witness to the draw for the lucky winner.

That's it folks, it really is that simple, now go and visit those two other sites and seek out the answers and get back to me. Who knows, you may be the lucky one!

2ft movie Dredd model

This was another of the many 2000AD/Dredd related anniversary presents that my amazing wife has bought me over the years. It's a fully built and painted 2ft tall Dredd in the style of the Stallone movie.

In the years when I used to buy Model & Collectors Mart and scour it from page to page for merchandise I found this in one issue and so asked Carolyn to get it for me, I can't remember exactly how much it cost but I think it was less than £100. I prefer to buy models fully finished, as I'm crap at all that building and painting malarkey. Once the cheque was sent off I waited for it to arrive, sadly this was not to end well.

When the parcel arrived I asked Carolyn if I could open it straight away to check it and then put it away for the anniversary, I'm glad I did. As soon as I opened the parcel I could tell it was broken, as the head was too far over to the right. I picked out all the packaging and the head was snapped off at the neck and the torso was broken. How could this happen, it was packaged so well and extremely securely, I was not impressed to say the least! How on earth can those postie gits not understand the meaning of 'FRAGILE' all over the parcel. I rang up the place I bought it from and they said send it back and a new one would be sent out.

I went to the postal collection place and said I wanted to return the parcel, to which the lady said it would cost. Before she could finish I said I don't think I'll be paying seeing as you lot broke the model in a parcel that said Fragile and was sent recorded delivery. After a short Mexican standoff she relented, it was the only outcome that I was going to accept anyway.

A couple of weeks later the new model turned up and it was undamaged, thank God. It now resides in the dining room stood on top of one of the bookcases, along with 3 other models that are allowed out of the cellar.

Judge Dredd Novels (Virgin)

This run of 9 books came out between 93 & 95 and I ordered mine through Waterstones. Not bad as when a book came in they rang you up to let you know, nice bit of service.

The series consisted of the following books :-

The Savage Amusement by David Bishop, cover by Cliff Robinson
Deathmasques by Dave Stone, cover by Sean Phillips
Dreddlocked by Stephen Marley, cover by Arthur Ranson
Cursed Earth Asylum by David Bishop, cover by Arthur Ranson
The Medusa Seed by Dave Stone, cover by Sean Phillips
Dread Dominion by Stephen Marley, cover by Cliff Robinson
The Hundredfold Problem by John Grant, cover by John Higgins
Silencer by David Bishop, cover by Frank Quitely
Wetworks by Dave Stone, cover by Steve Sampson

Now I could rabbit on about each book and what I thought of it but seeing as I have only read them once and that was the day they came out, I wouldn't be able to do them justice. I also read them in such a way as to not put a crease in the spine, as that would ruin the book and the more you read them the greater the risk of damage.

Anyway, I did enjoy the variety of the stories and the supporting characters that helped flesh out each tale. It's just a pity that these books finished after such a short run and we had to wait many a year for the next batch of novels from 2000AD but not by Virgin.

I'm sure you'll be able to find them on ebay nowadays, so what are you waiting for go and buy one now, or you will never find out how Dredd manages to........

The Ultimate Judge Dredd Item

Look closely and you will see, no not the beard that annoys Dredd and my wife (she likes the look but not the feel). A 33 year wait is over and it was well worth the waiting. Just look at that badge everyone, it's a thing of supreme beauty, I can't begin to explain how happy I am.

You talk to any fan on the forums about what they would like to have merchandise wise, from Judge Dredd and apart from the 'nearly' impossible Judge uniform, they would all love to have a personalised Judge badge. Well folks, you may not know but I'm sure you all do, there is a short film in production at the moment. It's by director Steven Sterlacchini and it's called Judge Minty, the amazing uniforms and props used in this film have all been produced by the extremely talented Daniel Carey-George of Custom Creations.

Now I follow everything that appears online by this creative team, just so I can keep up to speed with what is happening. Did I ever tell anyone that I'm a versatile extra in this film, no! okay lets move on.

When I saw a badge with Steven's surname on appear in a post somewhere, I was straight in there to see if the dream would be possible. Let's just say when I turned up for the weekend shoot in London, just gone (10th/11th July 2010) I was an extremely happy person and thanked the team for being so kind. Now before you all start going I want, I want. This is a non profit fan film, so you can't all start pestering the team for badges as it's against the rules. Plus, why would you want a badge with my name on!

Just so Sam might one day get to wear one, I had two made (he never wore the Dredd pj's when he was the correct size, so it ain't looking good). Here they are side by side, there is no computer trickery as I am crap on the computer stuff, there actually are two badges side by side.

By the way, I better add the main man behind the camera is Stephen Green and his skills will make everyone look like the real thing!

Convention Sketches! (part 1, the Dreddcon's)

You can't really call most of these sketches as the artists have put so much time and effort into each piece, it seems wrong to give them that title. But that is what they are known as!
I managed to get my first sketches during the time when the Dreddcons were happening. I was more a collector of merchandise at the time but after seeing some of the pieces that people had to show, I joined the bandwagon. I think the first sketch was by Boo Cook and it was Dredd (obviously), since then I've managed to have pieces produced by numerous artists, including Colin MacNeil, Simon Bisley, Jock, Rufus and many others. This first batch is from the Dreddcon's that I went to, not many to begin with but like I said it took a while to start collecting them! I think the long queues didn't help, lol.

So as you can see I have put a little bit of effort into catching some great artists and having wonderful pieces drawn for me. I really enjoy the whole process that the artist employs as he starts his sketch and how it appears before my very eyes. Some go straight in with the outline and you can see straight away what is coming. Others seem to scribble away, not really doing anything vaguely familier, then all of a sudden the character jumps off the page. During this time I like to have a chat about the actual piece but may end up talking about anything under the sun, which frequently happens.

Above all I find this is one of the best parts of the comics world, chatting to an artist as he draws a unique piece of art, just for you. It takes great skill and talent to produce what they do, especially under the watchful gaze of a fan and with all the distractions of a convention hall.

Here are two of my favourite artists actually doing sketches for me, both were at Dreddcon 6.5 and I'm sure you can guess who they are!

Just realised that the sketches that Simon and Colin are not shown, sorting that out now. Simon's is shown with Jock's, as I couldn't scan the inside page of that RPG metal cover, bloody awkward.

The strange case of Prog 1159

I'm sure you've all seen this prog, with it's Devlin Waugh cover by Sean Phillips and the free cd (if not get your arse on ebay and buy it). Well did you know that there is another cover to this prog, yes folks another cover!

Even the might of Barney only shows the Sean Phillips cover but due to a stroke of pure luck and good eyesight I found the unknown, alternate cover.

I had already bought the prog from my local comic shop The Grinning Demon and after my normal long chat I wandered about the town. Eventually I ended up in Smiths at the comics area, ready to spread the 2000AD's across the shelves (and the Megs) and what did I see. Well at first I thought it was last weeks prog as I didn't recognise the cover, then I wondered if next weeks had come in by mistake, that is until I opened it. The contents are the exactly the same and there is no mention in the Nerve Centre about the two covers, how strange! Obviously I bought a copy and went straight back to the comic shop to speak about my find. The only reason we could come up with about the two covers being in the same town was the suppliers are different but still we had no idea about why two covers.

At one of the Dreddcons I mentioned this to Tharg's minions and if I remember correctly they said that they had a deal for those cd's but only managed to get 30,000 of them and so had to quickly come up with a different cover. The cover is of Mazeworld by Arhur Ranson and on here it looks almost 3D. Well I suppose I better put the prog up or no-one will believe me, so here it is.