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[Alan Moore]

The next issue of the THE END IS NIGH will launch at Impressions Gallery in Bradford on Sunday 1st November at a fantastic free event!

Our first issue since 2006 sees writers Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair pay tribute to the post-apocalyptic genius of JG Ballard, we mark the forthcoming milestone of 1,000 days till the end of the world, we examine The Rise of the Machines, we ponder as to which animal will unleash the next killer flu plague, we ask is Obama the Antichrist ... and it all comes with a free game of END TRUMPS, where the fate of mankind truly is in your hands!

The whole thing is topped off with an amazingly apocalyptic cover by Defoe artist Leigh Gallagher! We also have contributions from writer John Reppion, along with 2000 AD boarders Ed Berridge and The Emperor!

Keep an eye on www.endisnigh.co.uk after this weekend for the chance to get your hands on a copy - stocks are limited!

Here is the blurb about this weekend's event:

From the Large Hadron Collider to the end of Mayan calendar in 2012, our fascination with potential apocalypse is ever present. Inspired by our exhibition The Last Things, Journalist Michael Molcher and editor of zine The End is Nigh, will take an informed yet satirical look at the speculation surrounding the end of the world in his free illustrated talk at 2pm. Join us and help predict the date the world will end!

Throughout the afternoon the award winning independent Comic Book Shop OK Comics, will be transporting their Drink and Draw event over to Impressions. Like-minded comic fans, budding artists and designers will be able to meet, exchange ideas, sup free hot tea and scribble away. Paper will be rolled over all the tables in the Studio and pens left everywhere, so come along and draw whatever you feel like. Everyone is welcome no matter what your artistic ability and pro comic book artist Leigh Gallagher will be on hand to trouble shoot your illustration irritations at his drop in surgery.

OK Comics will also be bringing a selection of apocalypse themed comic books, which you can browse over a wedge of cake, or yours to buy and take away.

Amble into the gallery and you'll have a last chance to see our exhibition The Last Things by David Moore before it closes on 8 November 2009. Described by writer Iain Sinclair as a "photographer of secret spaces", Moore provides an exclusive glimpse of the Ministry of Defence's secret crisis management centre beneath the streets of central London. This hidden space, only to be used in a major national emergency, hides a strictly controlled working environment continuously on stand-by in which a looming sense of threat is ever present.

So do come along, meet the team, be the first to buy the new issue and hang out in a great venue!

It was indeed printed. Somewhere I have several episodes, if not all of it.

I stand corrected.

AFAIK Ron's Dredd adaptation never saw print, since the movie flopped. The panels in the feature were a bit of a 'world premiere'.

And thanks for the kind words guys. Glad you enjoyed the feature. As I've said here and elsewhere, it was an honour to meet Ron.

M²

[Dude!]

Dude! I'm only going on the clues Ron Smith gave me, so you can hardly expect his memory to still be perfect!

Ta luv

Lo! Am hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction for a couple of things I need to dig out but can't find ...

So, do you know:

Which prog the Michael Jackson-u-like was thawed out, only for them to discover he was ... well, a bit damaged by the cryogenic process.

and

Which prog there was a Ron Smith-drawn Dredd tale in which there's a man made of clock parts, with cogs and springs and the like? Possibly set in the Cursed Earth?

I hereby fall upon your mercy and pity. Reward? My gratitude and loads of cash*

Cheers

M.





* may not be true.

D'oh ...

mm

Yo.

Doing some re-re-research (I know, surprises me too) and wondered if anyone possibly had a copy of Comics Comics number 4 (launched at last year's San Diego) that I could steal/buy/get scans of?

Cheers

mm

http://comicscomicsmag.blogspot.com/200 ... ebuts.html

News just in: unanimous NOT guilty verdict. Jury was out for three and a half hours.

That's great everyone, thanks for your contributions. They've now been packaged up and packed off to the great Mr Smith.

Cheers

mm

Hey, y'all - tis the last 24 hours for replies ...

Thanks for all the comments so far - do keep them coming. There's still a week left!

Cheers

mm

Here's my effort. And may Grud forgive me...


A gelflare bursts above me and I know I'm dead.
Sister Hope screeches Chuck Wesley hymns in my ear as I realise my back is on fire, suit microfilaments desperately spraying suppressing foam as Vatican chemscent arrays spurt globules of death across the gravel like Jovus Grud's own holy seed.
There is blasphemy here. This book, this despicable tawdry tome: I can feel its sin, heavy with guilt, full of dirty words you'd get a spanking for in Sunday School, you naughty boy! My blood is up and I give the filthy perverts a burst from the Ruler of Righteousness, fletchettes marked in millimetres and inches flicker into the dark and I imagine I hear a satisfyingly bloody gurgling.
Hope is now speaking in tongues, claiming St. Joey of Central Perk is ravaging her: I tone down the whispercom amid eruptions of laser-split pavement, sprint down a corridor glittering with a spider's web of lovewire. I graze one of them and my thighs tingle. I begin to... to have unnatural thoughts about Sister Hope... the way her hips stretch her suit... I think that perhaps it would be nice to stop and touch my... No! Impure thoughts! Guide me, oh Jovus, in the clear and pure way - cleanse my mind with thy Holy Scissors of godly censorship!
A slavering herd of Gadarene Swine barrels around the corner, an avalanche of sharpened trotters, muscles pulsing with stimshock. A Prayerbook takes out some, but still they come. Hope tells me they've found the Pope Mobile and she's breaking out the Divine Wind. Grud help us.
My cussgun makes short work of another Papist pig dog. This book, this sacrilegious slur, must be removed from the grip of the InterPoper - Jovus I can hear them panting...!
Cornered! Thick doors bar the way. Too slow, woman! Jovus Grud, help me in my hour of n... the swine, they should be on me by now, tearing at my virginal limbs. I turn and they... cower before me - seemingly unable to move, to approach the door.
Fortunately, I share not their reverence and break out the Psalmsaw. To the tune of 'Let Grud arise and smite his foe's backside', it sighs through the lock. Still they stand off. I smash through the door, slamming it behind me and there is... silence.
Blood thunders in my ears. The ground rocks slightly. Hope has set off the Wind, pray Grud she takes as many of the Swiss Bank Guard with her as possible.
Heavy shimmerblinds block out the light. All that is visible in the gloom is the glint of candlelight on long, white incisors.
'How frightfully splendid - Sister Faith, isn't it?' says the voice. As my eyes widen in the gloom, I see a man dressed in an elaborate dressing gown, ebony cigarette holder clamped between fearful teeth.
'I was just about to begin high tea,' he adds and, with an unnatural grin, proffers a triangle-cut cucumber sandwich.
'Care for a bite?'

Evenin' all

Been a while since I've posted here but, y'know, been busy and whatnot ...

I recently had the very great pleasure of interviewing the inimitable Ron Smith, all-star Dredd artist and veteren of the British comics scene for more than fifty years, for a forthcoming feature in the Megazine. Pleased to say he was a most gracious host and a lovely chap, full of stories about his years in the business and still had a real sparkle in his eye.

He very nicely allowed me to take away some of his unseen or rarely seen artwork to scan in to illustrate the piece, and I'm shortly going to be returning it. However, during a chat with Mr Ewing the other evening we both commented on how much we liked Ron's stuff (Hotdog Run was the first Dredd I ever read) and how much love within the fan base still remained for him and his work.

So here's the deal - in two weeks from now, I'll be sending a package back to Smith Towers containing the leant artwork. But I'd like to show Ron just how much he's still remembered and loved by the readers. Please feel free to use this thread to write your own personal message to Ron - once the fortnight is up I'll print them off and include them with the returned artwork.

Please, no abusive, sarcastic or negative posts - this is meant to be for Ron, a guy whose legacy at 2000 AD is second to none.

Let's show the love, people.

Cheers

mm

Texting is no substitute for face-to-face communication.