Judge Hershey & Fergie Story Books

I bought these two books as soon as they hit the shelves in '95, strange that! They're both written by Richard Mead and published by Boxtree and cost £2.99. They contain 28 pages of the action from the Stallone film, sorry I was laughing when I wrote that last bit.

These are written for the younger market, the age of which I can only guess, as they don't put an age group on the cover! Also there are a few mistakes in each, which might show that they didn't really care that much in the production values of both books!

First up Hershey's Story this tells the story from her point of view and starts from the Block War but mysteriously forget's to mention the death of Judge Briscoe, in fact he doesn't get mentioned at all and neither does Fergie!
Anyway the story rapidly moves along with some more minor niggles and mistakes, including a picture from the very end where Dredd exits the Statue of Liberty put into the story at the time when the Judge Hunters arrest Dredd, sloppy!
I've enclosed a picture of one of the pages from the book, just so you can enjoy the action as well.

Page 11

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Next up is fergie's version and this is told in third person, no idea why the books are different like that but at least they manage to both have numerous mistakes!
This one starts on the Aspen Shuttle heading towards Aspen! It all goes down hill from there, we have a picture on page 16 reversed, so that the eagle is on the wrong shoulder. It mentions that Dredd grabbed a uniform when entering the Hall of Justice, and not that he punched another Judge out and stole it. The gunning down of the Council of Five is also missed out.
Topping it all off is a picture of the ABC Robot on page 21 which shows one of the SFX crew stood behind it, dear God!
Here's a page of action for you to read!

Page 18

Overall they are okay for the younger reader but I think that if these were published today the youngsters would rip them apart because of all the mistakes. A little bit more thought should have gone into the production of these and they would have been perfect for the younger market!

2000AD Postcards (Series 1 & 2)

There have been two official sets of postcards issued from 2000AD over the years, along with numerous other ones that I have collected (more about those in a later blog). When I looked back at these sets I had a few surprises, like Shakara is that old and also see how Staz had already drawn Rogue.
Every so often I take a few to a convention to get signed, so you will see a few with the artists scribble across them. Anyway let's stop yapping and begin with the show :-

2000AD Postcards Series 1 (2001)

2000AD Postcards Series 2 (2002)



Now I just await Rebellion to think about a Series 3

The Ones That Got Away (part 1)

This will be an occasional series of items that slipped me by. The reasons may vary but still, they are not in the cellar!

Let's start with a series of T-Shirts. I saw an advert for these in the flyer above but thought there would be plenty of time to buy one or two, when I eventually got around to it.
How wrong I was!

At the Birmingham Memoribillia event in '95 I saw the complete set behind the Dredd display stands. Alas I was too busy taking pictures of the movie items on display and buying other stuff to really take notice of these, hence this is the only picture that I have of the shirts.

They are behind the City Wall Judge (featured at the start of the movie, they also checked Fergie's id) and show that they actually came in other colours than black. They came in a ladies fit as well and they all looked quite good. I wish I had bought them now as I have NEVER seen them since, not even on ebay.

I have learned a valuable lesson from this experience and now have a priority buy list when the new movie comes out. I will not be caught out again!

Sugar Puffs - Movie Tie-in

When the Stallone film came out, one of the very few tie-ins that happened (make that the 'only' one) was with the cereal Sugar Puffs and it came in the guise of info booklets (that opened up into posters), stickers, 3D cardboard ABC robot and a basic game (on the back of one of the boxes).

The boxes came in two sizes, the 625g and the 320g. The smaller box had a game on the rear, called SAVE MEGA-CITY ONE and it was 'very' simple to play (instructions on the base of the box). Collect 20 points and then spin a 6 to win!

The larger box was the 'Special 3D Model Pack', this had a false back and when you lifted it from the box a cut out model of the ABC Robot was underneath.

On both packs was an offer to buy a Dredd watch for £3.49  (I already had this). Also there is a picture of the Honey Monster in a Judge outfit on both of the boxes, my favourite part.

I initially bought 1 of each sized box and when I arrived home opened them to see what amount of stuff was on offer, inside! It turned out that the info booklets consisted of 3 different types.

Dredd's World

This opens up into a picture of Dredd from the torso up. The info in the booklet tell's you about The Janus Laboratory & the Aspen Prison along with basic info about Dredd. One mistake that it has is that it shows Dredd holding the shotgun and it says that he is holding the Lawgiver Mk II.

Here are the stickers!

Dredd's Hardware

This opens up into a picture of Dredd with the Lawgiver held aloft standing in the corridor from the block at the start of the film. The booklet has two cutaway diagrams inside The Lawmaster Mk IV & The Lawgiver MkII. It also shows a Vital Credentials Unicard, Handcuffs & an Aspen Prison ID Card. Finally it shows the Lawmaster in street mode & flight mode.

Here are the stickers!

Mean & Dangerous

This opens up into a picture of the ABC robot (which has then been painted over). The booklet has a few pictures of The Angel Gang, Mean Machine & the ABC robot and not much else.

Here are the stickers!

I had to make sure that I had two of each of these, one to keep sealed and one to open, just to see what was inside. This is what has stopped me eating any Sugar Puffs for over 15 years, it was torture trying to get the two complete sets. In the end I gave loads of the stuff away! Even though this was an ordeal I would like to see another cereal tie-in when the new film comes out, I just hope it's Shreddies this time!



Prop Clip Board

I was bought this prop by my lovely wife, as part of a few Dredd items for my birthday/Valentines day presents (the dates are a week apart). There never seems to be anything worthwhile that comes up or the items are way over priced and thus many are still for sale now, which proves my point, GREED!

Anyway, this came from the memorabilia site Movie Bits and along with the prop itself I received a certificate of authenticity, stating what it was and when it was sold, February 2007. It's just as it says but the funny bit is that you can't hold any sheets on it due to the top piece being held onto the main piece with two pop rivets, movie magic!

You actually see this in the scenes where Dredd is talking to all the cadets and taking them through the Lawgiver but you have to look for it, which I did!

With a bit of luck there should be a flood of interesting stuff from the new Dredd film being made available to the fans this year. Then again, I'm sure all the prop stores will get in first and try and fleece us all.