Dredd & Anderson Mega-Mugs

These two pint mugs (they only hold ONE pint) are the second pair of mega-mugs from 2000 AD who have produced many excellent LRD's (Liquid Refreshment Dispensers) but these are right up there with the best, due to the design work. Again these two were only available from the 2000 AD shop and were a limited edition.

Once you've added your postage and packaging, they came to £25:49 but I must say that the packaging is superb and there would be no way that these beauties would be broken on arrival. By the way, these took less than 5 days to arrive!

Again we have two of the 2000 AD greats on these mugs. On Dredd we have Mick McMahon while on Anderson, we have Dave Roach! I do love the background artwork on the Anderson one!

As with the other two if you look in the base you get an extra surprise, which you will see when you scroll down the photos.

Don't forget to click on any photo to enlarge it!

Again, I've included a normal LRD just to show the size difference!

DREDD 3D - Urban IS Dredd!

 

At last we have the DREDD film that all the fans have been waiting 35 years for. If you don't know much about the character, then don't worry! You don't need a long winded origins story to bring you up to speed, as Karl gives a voice over to the opening shots that tells you all you need to know. Once he's finished it's time for 90 plus minutes of action.

Urban nails old stoney face perfectly, his mannerisms, his voice and his general bearing. When he talks it's in a way so that people listen. Why waste fifty words when five will do to get your point across and he doesn't need to shout to hammer the point home. He handles the action sequences like a pro and his weapon drills are spot on, along with his precise unarmed combat skills. What you see is believable and a joy to watch as he goes about his job!

Thirlby brings Anderson to life with a superb display of empathy and controlled aggression, as she has to prove in these 24 hours that she has the determination and skills to be a Judge in Mega-City One! She goes about this even when she feels and sees the consequences of her actions at certain stages through the film and sometimes it can be quite heartbreaking for her!

Headey plays a brilliantly villain as Ma Ma. Brought up in the slums and decides that she needs to be Top Dog and takes to that role easily. There's none of that insane crime boss stuff here. Understated is how I would best describe her and at some stages you could actually feel sorry for her! Could I describe her as a victim, that's for Dredd to decide!

As for the action sequences, I thoroughly enjoyed them and couldn't pick any faults. The training that Karl and Olivia have done shows on the screen, as they never put a foot wrong as they progress through the film. They are brutal, methodical and clinical in their pursuit of bringing Ma Ma to justice!

 

The Slo Mo is cleverly shot and even when you are watching horrendous round impacts on flesh, or glass shatter it brings a vivid beauty to the eye and you forget about the carnage you are witnessing but rather pick up on the tranquillity of it all! Think the Discovery Channel but up a few notches!

Alex Garland has brought a Dredd to the screen that is just what the fans have wanted and his script is lean, never lets up and is right to the core of the character. What you get on screen is what the fans have been reading in 2000 AD for 35 years. Also, one amazing nod to many of the writers, artists and fans is that Alex has crammed names in places throughout the film and it is a pleasure to catch a glimpse of names you know but obviously this only works if you know them in the first place!

At last John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra have a film that does 'justice' to their creation!

To me this is the best adaption of a comic book character since Christopher Reeve was and always will be, Superman!

DREDD - Innocent by Campbell & Williams

 

By now you will have all bought your Prog 1799 and will have read the final part of this strip. If not, do not worry as there are no pics from part two in this article!

This is all about how Laurence Campbell decided to draw this strip and very interesting it is indeed and don't forget to have a look at his blog here!

The seed for this interesting idea was sown at Demoncon3, where I was on patrol as Senior Street Judge Burdis! Laurence saw me a few times breaking heads, drokk! I even Judged him at one stage. He also did an excellent Dredd head for my A2 page of 'Dredd Heads' and I also bought a page of original art from him.

 

 The Dredd head by Laurence joins some illustrious company

 

A DeMarco page pecilled by Laurence and Inked by Dylan Teague

Anyway, a few months had passed and the Mighty Tharg had decreed that it was time for Laurence to enhance the prog with his dramatic and stylish artwork again, on none other than a DREDD tale! This was to be written by Rob Williams and be set after the 'Day of Chaos' storyline, which nigh on destroyed Mega-City One! This got Laurence to thinking about when I was wearing my uniform and he asked me if he could take some reference shots of me dressed as a judge. In return he would let me have some of the art from the strip. How on earth could I refuse such an offer!

 

Due to us both attending the convention in Maidstone it was obvious that we lived within a reasonable distance of each other. Then again, when has distance ever got in my way for a bit of Dredd! We sorted a day out for me to come over and so one Saturday morning, straight after work (I did shower) I drove across to Laurence's house.

 

He showed me his prelims of the strip and it looked excellent, it really had the feel of how the Wagner storyline had left the city and the Judges. Just looking at this showed me how well his finished strip would look in the prog. Now was the time to get into character and don the uniform.

 

Laurence wanted me to act out certain panels and poses and do it under different lighting, so that he could compare what it looks like in real life to what his artistic eye picks up when he draws a strip. As a reader and fan of Dredd, I found this fascinating and it opened my eyes up to why artists draw figures in certain ways. One of the main things I learnt from Laurence, was the Lawgiver placement for when firing towards the reader and I now use this stance when being photographed at conventions. I would always place it in front of my face in line of fire towards the target but Laurence wanted me to place it slightly to the side, so that my face was not obscured. I'm sure all you artists know this but it was all new to me!

 

The time flew by and everything Laurence envisioned was done and so it was time to depart. All I had to do now was wait till the story was about to appear in the prog (which as you all know now, it has). I contacted Laurence over the summer, as I would be in his area during that time with the family and so organised a day to choose my pages. To say this was hard was an understatement, it took me DROKKIN' AGES! Every page had something on that I really loved and I could see little bits of me in certain panels. Laurence had said that I could pick two pages from each part. I knew that these pages were in demand, as I had seen a few people enquire about this upcoming strip on his facebook page. By the way, If you want any of the pages, then they will be in GOSH and for sale through them, so best contact them quickly here!

 

Here are two pages for you to look at from part one, these include the rough layouts as well.

 

Page 3 Roughs

 

 Finished

 

 Page 4 Roughs

 

Finished

 

I wonder how many of you could see me, if at all! My wife recognised my stance in some of the pics which was a relief!

As I said this was a very enjoyable experience and has helped me see artwork and how it progresses in a new light and I can't thank Laurence enough for that!