Wrap It Up

[IndigoPrime]

Metalzoic what a great cover. I just wish we can get a reprint. I believe DC is the problem

It's such a weird thing. Why wouldn't DC be up for allowing a reprint of this strip? Or perhaps it wanted too much money, which made the endeavour unviable. I'd bloody love to see Metalzoic (ideally in B+W) given the full-on HC oversized treatment, with those glorious full-colour covers included as well. Alas, Kev is no longer around to provide insight into the strip, but I'm sure Mills could be roped in to write an intro.

I'm still very happy that I somehow, years ago, managed to buy a fairly good copy of the DC trade for a price that wasn't bonkers. But it is a skinny and fragile little thing. And that Kev artwork always looked all the more powerful in black and white.

[Funt Solo]

EDIT to include a Thing That Went Over My Head - I didn't realise the Beltain Giant was a real thing when I read the strip first, much less that it had a massive stalk-on that McMahon wisely obscured with smoke.  Though looking into it further, it may only date back to Cromwell's time, but who cares?  I seriously doubt there were dragons and sea-demons in Slaine's time either.

Apparently, the erection was added later: "Lidar scans, conducted as part of the 2020 survey programme, have concluded that the phallus was added much later than the bulk of the figure, which was (probably) originally clothed.".

I like that this is perhaps the first evidence of drawing a willie on someone else's art. See also: American Vandal.

(If you're seeing Homer Simpson in the second image then you have a rare psychotic condition known as Cerne-Homerosis Simpsonica.)

[JayzusB.Christ]

The "um... synthi sausage" line has gone down in history but taking a step back it's a pretty bizarre thing for Dredd to be saying. To what question, and to whom, is he answering? Why does he have one on a fork while on his bike? Is that fork part of the Justice Department's standard equipment for motorcycle officers? So many questions.

I think the simplest explanation is that Dredd has found the sausage-and-fork on the road.  He spots something on the ground in front of him as he patrols and thinks it may be a clue, but can't make out what it is at speed.  He scoops it up, stares at it and realises... it's a synthi-sausage?!  After all, I'm sure we've all been out driving* at one time or another and taken a fork in the road.

The second explanation is that Dredd felt something hit him in the head, and grabbed it as it bounced into his lap.  Again, he snatched it up and examined it, only to realise the offending item was a deliberately-hurled sausage on a fork.  Result: three-to-five in the juve cubes for Tucker, Gonch, Hollo, and Zammo. 


* Not together**
** Not until we club together for a forum-seating clown car that we can all squeeze into.

That always struck me as a very weird non-contextual thought-bubble too.  Whilst your explanations are far better, I'm going to be a boring twot. Most of us would spell it 'mmmm, synthi-sausage!' as in an expression of gustatory satisfaction, but it was an art editor rather than a regular writer on text duties.

EDIT - I've probably just drunkenly missed the joke that everyone else was alluding to.  Ah well, it's Paddy's day, so I have an excuse, so I have, so I have.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

EDIT to include a Thing That Went Over My Head - I didn't realise the Beltain Giant was a real thing when I read the strip first, much less that it had a massive stalk-on that McMahon wisely obscured with smoke.  Though looking into it further, it may only date back to Cromwell's time, but who cares?  I seriously doubt there were dragons and sea-demons in Slaine's time either.

Apparently, the erection was added later: "Lidar scans, conducted as part of the 2020 survey programme, have concluded that the phallus was added much later than the bulk of the figure, which was (probably) originally clothed.".

I like that this is perhaps the first evidence of drawing a willie on someone else's art. See also: American Vandal.

(If you're seeing Homer Simpson in the second image then you have a rare psychotic condition known as Cerne-Homerosis Simpsonica.)

I heard somewhere the big lad was added to the big lad to fuck with Cromwell, who loved antiquities, but hated vulgarity.

[13school]

Metalzoic what a great cover. I just wish we can get a reprint. I believe DC is the problem

It's such a weird thing. Why wouldn't DC be up for allowing a reprint of this strip? Or perhaps it wanted too much money, which made the endeavour unviable. I'd bloody love to see Metalzoic (ideally in B+W) given the full-on HC oversized treatment, with those glorious full-colour covers included as well. Alas, Kev is no longer around to provide insight into the strip, but I'm sure Mills could be roped in to write an intro.

I'm still very happy that I somehow, years ago, managed to buy a fairly good copy of the DC trade for a price that wasn't bonkers. But it is a skinny and fragile little thing. And that Kev artwork always looked all the more powerful in black and white.

It's a real puzzle why DC blocked a reprint of Metalzoic - it's not like it's earning anything for them now. All I can think is that there were various contractual bonuses or payouts attached if they ever went to a second printing which made it not worth their while (or they would have had to pay a lawyer to look at the contract and they couldn't be bothered). It was during that weird period in US comics where they would give the creators some rights but not all, which made untangling things tricky later on - I think the only time DC has ever reprinted one of the graphic novels they published in that format was the final New Gods story by Jack Kirby, which is a very different thing to a stand-alone GN by a couple of creators they don't care about.

Sadly the colours on the DC version aren't much even by the standards of the time, but the B&W pages look incredible - definitely put me down for a B&W version when the powers that be realise how good it is

[JayzusB.Christ]

I heard somewhere the big lad was added to the big lad to fuck with Cromwell, who loved antiquities, but hated vulgarity.

Now that I didn't know.  Fair play though, I'm not a massive nationalist but I'm all about fucking with Cromwell. He was a muppet.

[Funt Solo]

12 - Strontium Dog

Not only are Stont wraparounds rare, but finding high quality scans of them is a bit tricky. Forgive this post, then, for having some dodgy repro of these rare artefacts.

Carlos Ezquerra's The Big Bust is Go!, prog 417:




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Carlos Ezquerra's Slavers of Drule, prog 425:

(Points here for realizing this is a double-pun. Slavers is another word for drool.)

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Colin MacNeil's Dark Memories, prog 686:




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Next: just routine...

[Blue Cactus]

12 - Strontium Dog

Not only are Stont wraparounds rare, but finding high quality scans of them is a bit tricky. Forgive this post, then, for having some dodgy repro of these rare artefacts.

Carlos Ezquerra's The Big Bust is Go!, prog 417:




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Carlos Ezquerra's Slavers of Drule, prog 425:

(Points here for realizing this is a double-pun. Slavers is another word for drool.)

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Colin MacNeil's Dark Memories, prog 686:




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Next: just routine...

Beautiful stuff.

[Funt Solo]

13 - Perps

Perps come in all shapes and sizes...

Cliff Robinson's West Side Rumble (from 1985's prog 434) is clearly paying homage to West Side Story:


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Greg Staples' Stay on the Right Side of the Law (from 2011's prog 1750) has been featured on Covers Uncovered, so has various versions to enjoy:








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Jon Davis-Hunt's A View to a Kill (from 2012's meg 320) gives us a fairly standard "Dredd points gun" on the front cover, but then turns that into a bank heist when we include the back:


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Next: pie in the sky...

[Funt Solo]

14 - Ian Kennedy

Ian Kennedy was a wonderful artist with a unique set of skills in being able to visualize world war era machines. Watching an interview with him in his later life, he mentioned that he was never quite happy with the way he drew hands. I like to show my nervous art students his work, replete with (naturally) hands, and let them know that he was both a very successful life-long artist, and also someone who wasn't necessarily happy with some aspects of his work.


Messerschmitt's in the Mega-City (from 1985's prog 466) is an out and out classic cover, marrying Ian's skill at recreating Messerschmitts with a fantastic cityscape. The "Pie in the Sky" is wonderfully Mega-City, and the German pilot's shout really brings the scene home.


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Welcome to Your Future (from 2015's mega-prog 1961) harks back to the earlier spread with another giant structure in the air - perhaps weather control? Dredd has something of his earlier look here, with an ethnicity it's hard to pin down.




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Next: check your billy...

[Funt Solo]

15 - Planking

Sky surfers, assemble!


Cam Kennedy's Midnight in the Mega-City (from 1985's prog 424) was part of the classic Marlon Shakespeare reinvention tale Midnight Surfer. In the background, there's some of his old graffiti, and that of his ill-fated scrawl rival The Phantom.




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Patrick Goddard & Dylan Teague's Stand & Deliver (from 2021's prog 2219) demonstrates the superb high quality we've come to expect with modern techniques. Mona Plankhurst's tribulations are as compelling as Chopper's, but there's perhaps less out and out escapism and more kitchen sink (ironically) reality. Still, it all started with the Chop, and there's a nod to that hiding in the background.






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Next: all those moments...

[jrdd]

Thanks for the interesting roundup Funt - the Chopper one (prog 424) reminded me of this reworking by Dave Elliott for the Quality Comics reprint:

[JayzusB.Christ]

I had that reprint comic years ago.  It's a fairly admirable Cam Kennedy impression.

[Funt Solo]

I've only just figured out why they have the mirror-writing.

[Funt Solo]

16 - Landmarks

The big numbers matter, and here we look at progs 500 and (one version of) 2000.


Prog 500's Special Souvenir Issue (from 1986) has, I think, twenty artists providing a gallery of thrills. Like any top twenty, it's probably safe to say that the passage of time would suggest a different grouping. This prog was a different size than normal, with shiny cover paper - heralding a bigger change coming twenty progs later.



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Prog 2000's Galaxy of Stars (one of the variant covers from 2016) takes a different position - with Tharg dominating and the space-bus off in the background and obscuring the characters. That back cover's not really doing much - even if it is an exploding star.




Who's that next to Slaine, being cool on the back seat? Also - everyone is smiling (even Kano) except for Dredd.


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Next: time-slices...