Gaze into the face of Dredd

The first official photo of Karl Urban's Judge Dredd from the set of the new Dredd movie, courtesy of 2000AD artist Jock.

It was 20 years ago today...

Happy Birthday Judge Dredd Megazine!

Pax Britannia - Blood Royal

It's here, at long last! And here's the fantastic ad from the back of the current issue of 2000AD to prove it.


You can get hold of your copy of Pax Britannia: Blood Royal right here. So, what are you waiting for?

The SFX Weekender

So, I drove down to Camber Sands yesterday for the second half of the SFX Weekender (I mean why else would you go to Camber Sands?) and had a great time.

I hooked up with David Moore and Jonathan Oliver of Abaddon/Solaris Books and signed some stock, as well as giving away some Pax Britannia badges, and was interviewed for a forthcoming podcast. I met ace Slaine artist and Preacher cover artist Glenn Fabry (who happens to think he's quite good). I was welcomed by Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers and ran into these interesting-looking fellows...


I listened to China Mieville talk about writing for the YA market (or not as the case may be), I listened to Jon Oliver read from his first novel The Call of Kerberos, I watched the fantastic Moon (starring the even more fantastic Sam Rockwell), I listened to a Q&A session with Toby Whithouse, creator of Being Human, having just watched a sneak preview of tonight's episode, and listened to a panel discuss the various merits, or otherwise, of tie-in and spin-off fiction (or tie-off, as one of the panellists called it).

Tom Baker regaling the crowds

Jon Oliver - lord of all he surveys

Glenn Fabry talks comic special effects budgets

Al Ewing - fellow Abaddon author

The 2000AD stand - Clint Langley and Leigh Gallagher draw for your entertainment

To conclude, here's a list of ten things that I now know as a result of the SFX Weekender that I didn't know 48 hours ago:

1) You can buy a bespoke Dalek for £3,000 but it'll take at least 10 weeks to make.
2) Glenn Fabry's thinking of becoming a teacher.
3) The novelisation of Snakes on a Plane was Black Flame's best-selling title.
4) Tom Baker gets chatted up in Waitrose by ladies of a certain age (that means they're in their 70s, I think).
5) Ianto Jones actor Gareth David-Lloyd was unaware of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's version of Torchwood, which they call Torchwool.
6) Cosplay is really just what my 3 year-old calls dressing up (but done by adults).
7) Gareth David-Lloyd would like to play Lion-O in a live-action version of Thundercats.
8) He-Man is camp.
9) Leigh Gallagher can't draw as quickly as Clint Langley.
10) This Christmas will see the release of the first Pax Britannia Ulysses Quicksilver omnibus.

Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects reviewed at 2000AD Review

Stumbled across this the other day - a rather pleasing review by Richmond Clements of Evolution Expects. You can read it here, at the 2000AD Review website.

The only real quibble/query/question I have regarding it is I have no idea what Mr Clements is referring to when he writes 'the villain’s Big Scheme is a bit familiar to both a certain superhero movie as well as a story from the pages of 2000AD.'

If anyone knows which film he means or which 2000AD story, please drop me a line and let me know. Thanks.

2000AD - it's back!

I know, I know, it hasn't really been away, but the website that us fans used to know and love has. But now it's back, with creator and strip databases intact and it's like an old friend has returned to hearth and home after months travelling the globe.

And to top it all, prog 1650 (this summer's jumping on issue) is stunning. When Shakara first came out I thought it was a one-trick pony, but how wrong I was. I love Henry Flint's alien designs on this strip and Robbie Morrison manages to surprise us once again.

Then there's Kingdom, by Dan Abnett and Richard Elson. What not to love there, from Them, to Gene the Hackman getting whet, to the ruins of Sydney? And of course Judge Dredd by John Wagner - the master wordsmith - illustrated by Colin MacNeil - the master pensmith.

So, what are you waiting for? Check it out now!

You were expecting someone else?

Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects is out now and available from all better bookshops. I was very pleased to find a full page advert in both 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine this week which I have reproduced here (in case you missed it).


And the reviews are already starting to come in too. You can read what Graeme Flory of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has to say about it here. And you can pick up your own copy here.

Happy reading...

Human Nature from Abaddon Books

Here's the rather cool advert for Human Nature that's appeared in recent issues of 2000AD and Judge Dredd the Megazine.

You can pick up your copy of Human Nature here.

Abaddon Books

Publishing high quality British fiction for the Commonwealth

since 2006!

Libraries and Leatherjack

I have recently been rediscovering the joy of libraries and, as a consequence, the 2000AD series Leatherjack. Let me explain...

I used to go to the library a lot. First of all, as a child, I went to the local library on a Friday, after swimming club, with my Dad. He was a voracious reader, everything from the latest Terry Pratchett to the latest book on chaos string theory. In those days I enjoyed the Dr Dolittle books and Willard Price adventures.

Then I used the school library, on a very regular basis, as a secondary school student; everything from Evelyn Waugh to translations of the Latin poets. The library continued as a means of study throughout my University years (as well as being somewhere that kept me supplied with Tim Powers novels) and when I moved to Nottingham to have a bash at being a freelance writer, I was in and out of the reference section all the time, as well as picking up Alan Moore's Swamp Thing collections.

After two years, I moved to London to teach full-time but continued to use the library, mainly for research. I remember I researched the history of knucklebones in Ealing library when I was writing Go Gos Are Go Go! (now reprinted as Go, Go Crazy For Those Bones).

As I began to make a proper living for myself at last, so I started to become more extravagant; I started buying more and more books, rather than borrowing them. As a consequence I have not been the regular visitor to the local library that I once was, and have bookcases groaning under the weight of all the hardbacks I've bought (can't beat the sound, smell and weight of 'em!). This has recently been compounded by the fact that the local library has been closed for months for a re-fit.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I visited the newly re-furbished the other day with my family and discovered that they have a fantastic - and up-to-date! - graphic novels section. So it was that I came home with the collected Leatherjack by John Smith and Paul Marshall, and The Courtship of Jena Markarov (by Robbie Morrison, Simon Fraser and others).

I read Leatherjack when it was published in weekly installments in 2000AD a few years ago, but it's great to be able to re-read it now, all in one go. The artwork is still breath-taking as is Smith's familiar purple-prose. Here's the blurb from the back of the collected edition.

The Klash is the war to end all wars. A conflict of intergalactic proportions, the whole quadrant is locked in stalemate between two hugely powerful rival factions – the Khmer Noir, ruled by the terminally ill Lord Qwish, and the Empire of Spinsters, half-senile fanatics headed by the Dowager Khan, who are leading a holy crusade against smut and indecency. Caught in the crossfire is the library world of Shibboleth, a planet which contains every book in every language ever written. The Spinsters want this hive of filth destroyed, but for Qwish it may hold the answers to his prayers…

On one level Leatherjack is a straightforward sci-fi action fest. On the other it is a dark treaty on the abuse of children for the purposes of war, about the clash of cultures and the power of language. If you've not read it yourself (or if you have but haven't done so for a while) why not pick up a copy from Rebellion (2000AD's publishers) or your local library!

Ghost Rider, Spurrier style

Exciting news! Over on his blog, novelist and comics writer Simon Spurrier - the man behind Gutsville, various 2000AD properties and Silver Surfer: In Thy Name - has announced that out at the end of August is the second Ghost Rider annual, Ghost Rider: Mercy! written by the good man himself.

You can read more about this imminent release at the Marvel site. But, for the meantime, congrats to Si and here's a sneaky peek at some of the gorgeous artwork to come.

A little discipline

One of the hardest things about doing what you love and working from home, is making sure that you do actually work and make a success of what you love doing. There's no bones about it, what you need is plenty of self-discipline - which is easier said that acquired.

Over at his blog Vicious Imagery, writer (and one-time editor of 2000AD) David Bishop makes the case very well. As David says, 'A writer writes. Onwards.'