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2000 AD Message Board Cover of the Year Vote 2018

Started by Pete Wells, 09 December, 2018, 05:29:01 PM

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Pete Wells

Hooray! Now that we've had all of this year's glorious 2000AD covers, it's time for the annual cover of the year vote! You can see all the covers here, and of course, click 'em to enlarge 'em:

https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/2000-ad/2018

I'd like you to CLEARLY list your THREE favourites, in order. THREE points will be awarded to your fave, TWO points for second and ONE point for third. Please try and be explicit with this and maybe give a little comment to say why you chose each cover as it makes it a bit more interesting for the rest of us!

The closing date is midnight on Wednesday 2nd January 2019...

A Meg thread will be along shortly...

broodblik

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Eamonn Clarke

1. 2089. Chris Weston. Because everything is better with monkeys.
2. 2078. All hail Carlos the king.
3. 2106. Culbard. Just a beautiful image.

WhizzBang


Frank

#4
Quote from: Pete Wells on 09 December, 2018, 05:29:01 PM
https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/2000-ad/2018

I'd like you to CLEARLY list your THREE favourites, in order. THREE points will be awarded to your fave, TWO points for second and ONE point for third. Please try and be explicit with this and maybe give a little comment to say why you chose each cover as it makes it a bit more interesting for the rest of us!

The easiest way to avoid the usual confusion is to expend the extra effort needed to type the word POINTS, rather than just listing numbers. Of course, if we used the Eurovision system of DOUZE POINTS, rather than the multi-valent 1-2-3, there'd be no ambiguity whatsoever - but, as a native of Sunderland, Pete Wells wants no more to do with Europeans and their foreign muck.





I'd like to give Alex Ronald one.

ONE POINT for his up-above-the-streets-and-houses cover for April's prog 2076, in which Glasgow's real-life Alec Trench threw caution to the wind and pushed the slider on the colour saturation all the way up to 11, making John Higgins's retina-searing palette on the original printing of The Killing Joke look like the great Brian Bolland's drab colours for the reprint of The Killing Joke. Beyond making Dr Who's braces and the LGBT flag look like the first 20 minutes of The Wizard Of Oz, Ronald's recent work sees him introducing painterly textures to his already fine composition and draughtsmanship, adding new dimensions to his art and assuring him a place on this list for as long as Pete's good enough to organise the annual vote. Ronald's also embraced the tilt, lending his exquisitely rendered images fresh energy and dynamism. I like a tilt as much as any Dutchman.





DEUX POINTS

The Sauchie jury's TWO POINTS go to Chris-Journey-To-The-Weston's overly Dian Fossey rendering of that time Judge Dredd fought a monkey for some reason (2089). It's a chimp, not a monkey, but SHUT-UP!  In reality, my second slot was doubly penetrated by Weston-super-Mare's Skittles-themed cover for last week's comic, but after choosing Ronald's cover for the colours, I don't want to look like a complete colour tart (or someone who can only remember last week). If the older cover has an edge over the gremlins, it's in the quality of the draughtsmanship. Look how solid an object that Lawrod is, how Dredd's shifting weight is conveyed in his stance, and how the entire composition, even the background, bends to reflect and reinforce the movement this illustrates. That's where this image wins out over the more static gremlin art, while it's the sense of fun and energy in both those images that elevate them above Weston's meticulously rendered but ultimately pedestrian cover for January's 2065. Like Bolland, you get the best out of Weston when he's given a weird image to sink his impressive creative chops into.





Born in 1947, in the Zaragoza region of Spain, Carlos Sanchez Robo-Stogie Ezquerra IS CARLOS-FUCKING-EZQUERRA. Which would be reason enough to make the THREE POINT turn in his direction, but fortunately, the last cover the King left us is a real beauty. I almost prefer the obnoxious old-punk energy BLAM! of Rey Carlos's 2078 image and its hairy-leg shading, where Ezquerra's constant evolution of the character's look saw him incorporate a flaccid penis into the design of Alpha's helmet, but the classic handshake pose and that wonderful image of Wulf's cascading locks radiating out like the rays of the (red) sun, conferring his blessing upon the union like a saint from on high, win the day. One last red circle as the compositional focus of a cover before he took his leave, ending as he began all those years ago.



Sorry to go on at such length.  No I'm not.




Honourable mentions:

      

... especially new-old-boy Pye Parr's arsetastic cover and its depth of field, which pushes it out ahead of its more static rivals, like a twerking Boris Johnson. Like my top three (and the Carlos BLAM! cover), Parr's image uses that depth and perspective to draw your eye into the image and (imaginatively) inside the comic itself. If you're considering the cover as a means to entice readers to look inside at the contents, it's such an obvious and effective technique it seems odd that all artists aren't mandated to utilise this effect on every cover image.





NapalmKev

#5
3 Points. Prog 2072 - Weapon Master. Stunning picture of Joe Pineapples with a blade, gun and leather jacket. A cover that screams "Pick me up and read me you Thrill-Starved fool!"

2 Points. Prog 2097 - Psychos A-Go-Go. Striking cover featuring three murderous nutters with some screaming teens in the foreground. Again, a cover that demands the contents inside be read.

1 Point. Prog 2108 Germ Warfare. Beautifully drawn home made Dune-Buggy/Go-Cart racing through a forest of hair across a Human body. At the risk of sounding like a broken record (Hammer Time!) a cover that stands proud on the shelf.

Cheers
"Where once you fought to stop the trap from closing...Now you lay the bait!"

CitizenDoov

1st. 2089 Weston... who can resist a grapple with a Space Monkey?
2nd. 2102 Robinson
3rd. 2074 Zeinner

Lorenzo

1st: 2065 - I like seeing Joe on his knees...
2nd: 2089 - JD and monkeys, you gotta buy that surely?
3rd: 2092 - I'm not seeing enough love for Death around here.

honourable mention goes to 2086 for the gratuitous boob shot.

Tomwe

3: 2101 This Fiends cover felt a fresh subject matter.
2: 2110 I just love the multicoloured mini-men on the shiny background.
1: 2083 Where's Wally time travel characters. The highlight of the year for discussion and fun! Well done Neil Googe!

Proudhuff

3 points: 2081 ALL HAIL KING CARLOS!


2 points: 2089. cause nobody apes the Law... and a Steinbeck pun too


1 point: 2075. jaegir returns and Future war is the hell we were promised. Colby at his bestest.


Nul poq: Shirley we're passed this type of thing?

DDT did a job on me

Link Prime

My votes:

1st Place; Prog 2078 by Ezquerra. An iconic shot of Johnny dishing out some death. Great colouring and detail by the much missed King.
2nd Place; Prog 2087 by McCarthy. Dunno why I like this so much. The bizarreness of it? The unusual colouring? I just dig it man.
3rd Place; Prog 2098 by Millgate. Great 90's-tastic painted Dredd. Get this Droid back in the Prog.

abelardsnazz

1. 2078. RIP Carlos.
2. 2102. Cliff remains the cover master.
3. 2092. Langley does a great Death.

Richard


Gail Nedry

Hmmm, cheating a bit as I mostly buy collected/ TPB etc and I'm not familiar with some of the current line up.
But...a good cover is a good cover.

And this thread will just highlight how subjective to the reader the choice of what's a "good" cover is.
So my crusty, crunchie pals here's my 2 galactic groats worth.

3. 2074- Emily Zeinner. I'm somewhat envious of her digital jiggery pokery here. (PJ Holden has inspired me to go back and try again with digital work which I abandoned last year in favour of scratchy dip pens.)

2. 2084- Michael Dowling. (If he's not an occultist he should be with a name like that!!) And working some magic here with old boney and a couple of undead hotties. Lovely, horrible stuff.

And the winner is.....
1. 2078- Carlos Ezquerra- Just simply the best cover of the year. Not slighting anyone else's contributions but this is amazing.

Notable mention to 2079- McMahon! (It's been mentioned his influence on my art contributions here, but I wasn't aware of his stuff till earlier this year. Hell, I wasn't aware of most of this till end of last year...lol. But I'm flattered that it's been mentioned....even if I was channelling Alfreda Alcala...lol)

Rogue Judge


1) 2000 AD PROG 2078: AGENT OF DESTRUCTION! - King Carlos! An awesome, highly detailed pose of Johnny in action. I was also pleased to see this cover reprinted as a full page in the Warlord Games Stront game rules book. I'd really like to see it in B&W.

2) 2000 AD PROG 2089" THE APES OF WRATH! - I love apes and Weston draws great apes! Also, Dredd's space costume is awesome!

3) 2000 AD PROG 2075: IN THE FIELD OF BATTLE - I'm always happy to see anything Rogue Trooper related. This cover with the Norts is great and the colours create a claustrophobic environment that makes those suits look necessary. Coleby has quickly become one of my favorite artists.