Tharg bust

This was something I found by accident whilst searching through model mags in Smiths. I used to pick up a mag, scan through it and write down and phone numbers or addresses of any 2000AD item quickly (nowadays you could take a photo on your phone but in those days it was pen and paper).

It stands 17cm by 13cm, so it's not too big so as to take up valuable space on display. Not much more to say about it really, as that's all there is to tell. Don't know who made it and I've only ever seen one other and that was painted and somewhere online!

Still needs to be painted but that is the way it will stay, mainly because I'm a shit painter, as you will see in future blogs!

If anyone wants to have a go at painting this, I'm happy to oblige!

2000AD Phone Covers

This set of four phone covers was another buy at my most productive Dreddcon (the one where I filled two black sacks with goodies). Made in 2002 (for that is the date on the packaging), these are another quiet release by 2000AD. Sadly for me I didn't have a mobile at the time so there was no need to buy a spare Dredd, otherwise I would have bought the appropriate phone and used the bloody thing.

The set consists of Judge Dredd, Judge Death, Durham Red & Mega City Punk, I have no idea why they would choose a punk. I mean how many characters are there in 2000AD and they pick that! Still better to have a set than not!

Anyway here are the four covers laid out for you to look at, enjoy!

Restricted Files Vol 02 WINNER

At 20:00 in the 2000AD chatroom the winner was announced. Late in the day KevLev managed to get the correct answer in but sadly for him it was all in vain!

Anyway I digress, I wrote down the names of the seven potential winners onto pieces of paper, shuffled them and turned them over. I then asked the room to pick the numbers 1 to 7 in any order. CraveNoir picked 4, 2, 7, 5, 1, 6 & 3 and so I wrote them onto the backs of the paper in that order.

When 20:00 came I asked Lady Festina (as she was not in the competition) to pick any number between 1 and 7 to see who would win and so after a tense build up she eventually came up with 5 (she did say she nearly went for 3). I then keyed the mike and asked my son, Samuel to turn over number 5 and call out the name on the reverse.

Shark it was, which was for The Legendary Shark and so our winner was known. After many boos and accusations that he had used mind control, the room accepted him as a worthy winner.

By the way the numbers were allocated thus :-
1 Emperor.
2 Iborl.
3 Buttonman.
4 KevLev.
5 Shark.
6 CraveNoir.
7 NoisyBlast


Finally I better say what was missing from each picture. There were 3 items missing from both pictures but one item was the killer and caught most people out (it was on my blog).
 
FutureQuake had the following missing.
Trading Card (sketch)
Dredd Bust
Wulf Heroclix
Cellar of Dredd had the following missing.
Candy Sweets
Tiny Dredd Head (on the front left corner of the RPG game box)
Front of Killdozer

I was going to show you a picture with all the items marked but that would be to easy, just look back for the one or two items that you missed and you will slap your forehead.

Lool forward to another competition in the future sometime!

News of the World Dredd Story

This is the story that appeared in one of the national papers as the film was about to come out and I actually had to buy the News of the World, just to cut these out, the things I have to go through for my collection.

It's written by John Wagner and drawn by Ron Smith and if your eyesight is poor just click on the first image and you can enlarge each part of the story. Amazingly Dredd manages to keep his helmet on for the first two installments!

Well, I hope you enjoyed that tale!

Edit :- I asked John Wagner through his Facebook page how this came about and his reply was as follows :-

"I was hoping you'd never ask me that. The commission came from the film producers, who owned the rights to the film script. They also chose Ron Smith. Despite deep reservations about the script I have to confess that - greedy and lacking in principle as I am - I did it purely for the money. Other work has paid more handsomely thanks to later royalties/film deals etc, but on a work for hire basis that strip remains the most lucrative thing I've ever done. Not that it paid a fortune, mind, but it only took four days."

      Thanks to John for being so forthright with his reply.

Commission by PJ Holden for this Blog

What a crap header I've had on this blog, just coloured writing on a black background, how boring! The problem is what to do about it. Earlier in the week, after seeing Pete Wells commission on the 2000AD forum I decided to get a commission done myself.

I contacted PJ Holden and gave him the briefest of instructions about what I wanted. It had to have Dredd, me and the name of the blog in the picture. Also, if possible, could the name be in a position where it could be cropped off so as to be used as the header on the blog (as you can see I decided on the whole picture in the end, as it's that good).

Later that day he got back to me with his initial idea and I was extremely impressed. Not only had he incorporated all that I asked into the picture but it was a story in itself!

I gave the go ahead to continue with this idea and in the same day the next stage of the picture appeared.

Next up was the finished piece where PJ added all the little extras, like the Judge Dredd Case Files, a pile of 2000AD's, a helmet, model, etc... All these add to the enjoyment of the picture, especially as my cellar really is like this.

Also he cropped off the top, as I asked earlier in the brief (before he had even begun) so that I could use that as the blog logo but I'm gonna stick with the picture itself, as it tells it as it is!

Now if you want to see a couple of extra pictures, then pop along to PJ's blog, where he writes about this commission, incuding some arty talk. In fact while you are there get yourself a commission, as you won't regret it. At the moment I'm just waiting for this to arrive and when it does it will be framed but not until I've had a bloody good look at it!

I AM THE LAW : ANTHRAX

This record was made in 1986 and I have the 7" picture disc and the 12" disc with the fold out poster. I have to admit that I've never played them, as I don't have a record player anymore. I didn't buy them when they came out, mainly due to the fact that I was never in the country much at that time, so they became another eBay purchase.

The 7" has Dredd on the front, stood in front of the US flag, with his Lawgiver drawn. It seems to done in the style of Cliff Robinson (I think) but is actually drawn by Charlie Benante, who is the bands drummer (good job I looked the band up). On the rear it has a Judge's badge with the bands name emblazoned across it.

The 12" single opens up into a massive poster that depicts the cover of both singles. It also depicts all the members of the band as Judges, one major problem is that they all have long hair (uniform violations). It also has the song lyrics written down on the internal sleeve.

Joey Belladona : Lead Vocals

Ian Scott : Rhythm Guitar

Dan Spitz : Lead Guitar

Frank Bello : Bass

Charlie Benante : Drums

Here are the lyrics, which actually prove that they do know what they are talking about and actually are fans.

Finally, here is the poster of 'Old Stony Face' himself, again drawn by Benante. Here is the poster and I've included a pic of the rear, just so you get some idea of the scale, yes it's just the size of 6 x 12" singles!

Mutants in Mega-City One

This amusing record was released in 1985 by two members of Madness (Smyth/McPherson). It came in three versions, a 7" & 12" version and a 7" picture disc. The cover of all  three versions is an iconic picture of Dredd with his Lawgiver drawn, by Brian Bolland. The rear is another Bolland piece, Fink Angel and Ratty emerging out of a manhole and looking at a poster showing the lyrics to the actual song.

Here are the words in close up.

The 7" single looks exactly like the two pics above but has a different number at the top right on the rear of the sleeve. My version has a few creases and that's why I didn't put it as the main picture on this post, as you will notice below.

If you want to enjoy this ditty, then watch this video and after it finishes the actual mutants make a visit on childrens tv.  Video

By the way, here is the picture disc. Slightly different on the rear but otherwise the same two pictures.

Enjoy the song!