Cellar of Dredd: Carlos Ezquerra's Lawgiver - Signature Edition by Planet Replicas

Planet Replicas brought out a full size replica of Carlos Ezquerra's Lawgiver at the back end of 2018. This was the Signature Edition run of 100 pieces, which would come with a signed gold foiled certificate card. Sadly for comic fans around the world, our beloved King Carlos passed away and so things went quiet for a short time, as his fans mourned his death.

Planet Replicas came back to the fans and informed them that they would still get the gold foiled signature card but obviously, unsigned and that there would be a commemorative item included in this run of Lawgivers. There was no rush from the fans, as they knew things had slowed down due to the aforementioned sad event.

Sometime in the near future there will be another 250 pieces added to the total run but those will be just the Lawgivers themselves. The commemorative pieces were just for the initial run of 100. When these go online, make sure to grab one, as I am sure they will sell out rather rapidly and at only £85 plus P&P, you can't go wrong!

I was off to Wales Comic Con at the beginning of December, with a few photo ops booked with Karl Urban and a ton of stuff to be signed. I managed to have my Lawgiver sent early, so we could have Dredd himself holding it in a picture, which we succeeded in. Sadly he pointed his straight down the camera lens, so to the untrained fan, it might not be possible to figure out what he is holding! He also held in his left hand the Carlos Ezquerra Dredd badge and all in all it looks good, even with me stood next to him holding the MKI Lawgiver. Steve Green manipulated the background from plain white to Mega-City One.

The Lawgiver comes in a well designed box, that shows you exactly what you are getting and enough info to cover all bases.

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Can you see what they have done here. This is another reason why Planet Replicas are so in touch with their fans. For a start, they produce excellent merchandise, at reasonable prices but they know that these little extras really go down well.

This next piece is the gold foiled certificate card, which as you can see is credit card sized. Just looking at it and that blank space will always remind me of Carlos and all the enjoyment he has brought me, through his work.

Some people say you should never meet your heroes but as with many of the 2000 AD creators, that saying can be ignored. Carlos was a lovely human being and so up for a chat and a drink with his fans, as well as his fellow creators. A true gent!

This final piece is the special commemorative item that was included with the Lawgiver and if anyone tells you that they didn't well up a little when they held this in their hand, then they're lying.

I was mightily impressed with the Dredd groups on Facebook, as when the initial deliveries of the 100 Lawgivers arrived, nobody posted pictures of theirs for a while. I feel this was out of respect for Carlos and wanting others to feel the same, when they opened their box. Another part of why the Dredd fans are a breed apart. We might be a small but growing fan base but when something like this happens, it's not a case of SPOILER DROKK YOU!