Wrap It Up

[lincnash]

Excellent thread Funt!

I had the mug, but it went the way of all things.

iirc you could buy the mugs retail or the 2000AD shop but mine came as a combined Tooth/Meg subscriber gift, I'm guessing 2005 or 2006?.
Always hand washed with regular use but still going strong.
It's the glowing Zarjazness of Bolland art that keeps it together :-)

2000 AD has had 82 wraparound covers, the JD Megazine has had 21 and there have been approximately (depending on what you count) 20 used for special spin-off publications.

Technically gatefold covers, but would the softcover Annuals/Yearbooks from the early to mid 1990s be included in a Tooth wrap-around list?
https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=specials&choice=2000AD92
https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=specials&choice=DREDD92
Unfortunately Barney just shows the front and no detail of the wrap-around/gatefold covers.

[Funt Solo]

iirc you could buy the mugs retail or the 2000AD shop but mine came as a combined Tooth/Meg subscriber gift, I'm guessing 2005 or 2006?.

Thanks for posting the pics - gave me nostalgia kicks. Figure mine must have been a sub-gift, as I don't tend to go out of my way for the merch.

Technically gatefold covers, but would the softcover Annuals/Yearbooks from the early to mid 1990s be included in a Tooth wrap-around list?

I have those for a later post - and I had to scan them in because I couldn't find any images of them online. Here's a sneaky peek of one:

[lincnash]

I have those for a later post

Aha! misread the chart, there they are in 'specials' colour-coded grey.
I sold all my hardback Annuals (including rare Rogue Trooper 1991) to a fellow Squaxx but did keep the floppy Yearbooks. You seem sorted for images so I'll leave mine in their plastic bags inside the cardboard coffin.

[Funt Solo]

04 - Gift-Wrapping the 80s

This is a small collection of three festive wraparounds - the first of which takes the form of the classic idea of Tharg dispensing gifts (from 1980's prog 192 by Carlos Ezquerra):





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Next we skip forward to 1984's prog 398, and a belter of a cover from Kevin O'Neill. His Santa seems to be sitting on (and squashing) an odd cross between Grobbendonk and Bonjo. I'm not sure what the evil cat at the back is doing, but it seems like a mole-like creature has come a cropper.





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Finally - it's another classic - this time from 1985's prog 450, and a visual summary of the exploits of D.R. & Quinch from the masterful Alan Davis. Again, it's the little details that matter - whether it's pterodactyls from their first Time Twister, or a copy of Mind the Oranges, Marlon. Note, as well, the subtle but dangerous difference between Quinch's Santa-hat and Crazy Chrissie's.







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Next: lesser-spotted...

[Jim_Campbell]

(from 1980's prog 192 by Carlos Ezquerra)

IIRC, the first time Carlos had drawn Dredd since leaving the strip in its first few months — his triumphant return with The Apocalypse War still being more than a year away at this point.

[JayzusB.Christ]

That Kev O'Neill cover is possibly my favourite cover of all time.  That mantelpiece monster alone is iconic.  And I'd never noticed the baying mob of snowmen watching the fight before.

[Funt Solo]

I'd never noticed the baying mob of snowmen watching the fight before.

Me either - I only spotted them when I cropped into the fight.

[Funt Solo]

05 - Tharg

If Tharg's on a wraparound, it's usually to introduce the rest of the thrills. In these three examples, it's all about Tharg himself. Well, sort of...

1981's Revenge of the Thrill-Suckers, prog 192, by Ian Gibson:

It's tricky to find a high quality scan of this one. I was fond of the Thrill-Sucker stories, as they (like the later Intestinauts) play around with scale and anatomy.
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1983's Return of the Editor, prog 325, by Eric Bradbury (after Robin Smith's layout, which is shown below):



The colander-helmet is probably my favorite bit of the design. Robin's idea for the third Zragian has a lot more weight behind it than in the final piece.
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1991's Special Low-Visibility Prog (722), by Steve Cook:

My understanding is that this was created in support of Squaxxian Squaddies who were deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Shield/Storm.

Next: cute work...

[Le Fink]

1981's Revenge of the Thrill-Suckers, prog 192, by Ian Gibson

This is brilliant, and I love Gibson's thrill sucker drawing. Who came up with the Thrill Sucker design? I'm sure Bradbury has drawn them a few times. Are they assembling on the guy's boot?

1983's Return of the Editor, prog 325, by Eric Bradbury

I find the layout more dynamic and exciting than the finished article. Shame Bradbury toned it down. Maybe he was leaning towards realism though. In as much as such a tableau can be realistic.

1991's Special Low-Visibility Prog (722), by Steve Cook

Interesting!

Thanks for posting!

[JayzusB.Christ]

I'm not quite sure how the Bradbury version has been toned down - looks pretty similar to me. Or is it just the art style you meant?

I liked some of those designy, low-detail covers like the camouflage one there.  Memorable ones for me include pastiches of Warhol and Gilbert & George, the dictionary definition of Thrill Power, and the Summer Offensive tabloid front page (though I very nearly missed that one on the newsagent's shelf, so probably not a great idea).

There was also the Sex Olympics Meg cover, and the In Memoriam one for Judgement Day, though the gravity of that image very much belied a what was quite a daft story about a Paul-Daniels-quoting Walter the Softy and his singing and dancing troupe of giant zombies.

[Le Fink]

I'm not quite sure how the Bradbury version has been toned down - looks pretty similar to me. Or is it just the art style you meant?

Just a throwaway comment. I feel that this one has more life and excitement in it:

Than this one:

Tharg's pose is a touch more dynamic and the Zraggians(?) look more snarly in the first one. On the other hand they're more grotesque in Bradbury's. Maybe it's just 'sketch' versus 'finished' with the loose version being understandably more lively.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I get you now. Yeah, much as I like Eric Bradbury, there's a lot more movement and energy in Robin Smith's sketch.

[A.Cow]

I get you now. Yeah, much as I like Eric Bradbury, there's a lot more movement and energy in Robin Smith's sketch.

Given that my main gripe with Robin Smith's art is that it's always too static-looking, it's lovely to see something much more dynamic from him.

[Jim_Campbell]

Given that my main gripe with Robin Smith's art is that it's always too static-looking, it's lovely to see something much more dynamic from him.

It's the bane of many an artist's existence that an exciting and dynamic rough will lose whatever indefinable something it had in the process of tightening up the drawing for the finished piece.

[Funt Solo]

06 - Gibson's Robots

A trio of robo-centric wraparounds from the masterful Ian Gibson...

1981's Raise Your Own Master, prog 209:

One of a rare set of wraparound cover stories that don't link to any of the thrills inside the prog.
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1982's Play It Again, Sam for Robo-Hunter (prog 292) is difficult to find a nice color scan of. Here are three versions: a mash-up personal scan, a black and white version from a GN and then a shot of the original art:





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1985's "Play Me Again, Sam", prog 439:

Where's Hoagy?
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Next: haunted...