2000 AD Online Forum

Just seen this over at ECBT 2000ad new Bolland cover for Prog 1821.

http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/brian-bolland-returns-to-2000ad-with-1821s-cover/ (http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/brian-bolland-returns-to-2000ad-with-1821s-cover/)

Pretty cool, if generic Dredd on chair stuff.

Bolland is Bolland. I'll buy anything with his name on. :lol:

I hear his next project is designing the packaging for a line of dildos, so good luck with that.

Quote from: Thunders McQueen on 07 February, 2013, 10:10:20 PM
I hear his next project is designing the packaging for a line of dildos, so good luck with that.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Dredd sitting in a chair?

Take a drink.

Burdis called it ages ago on twitter (https://twitter.com/JBurdis/status/297097921407635458/photo/1). Bolland did always say he and other artists were only refining and elaborating upon the innovation and stock of imagery originating from Mick McMahon (http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=204&Comic=2000ad).

Note the use of the fasces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_symbolism#Fascism_.28Italy.29), beloved imagery of all fascist movements - including ancient Rome - and the subject of the anecdote illustrating the strength of family ties which Alvin Straight relates to the young runaway in David Lynch's The Straight Story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tuFgZ_X5sN8#t=437s). I have to go now, I have something in my eye.

Oh, yes! Wonderful cover. Reminds me of that one he did during the Inferno storyline, for some reason.

Quote from: sauchie on 07 February, 2013, 10:41:50 PM
Note the use of the fasces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_symbolism#Fascism_.28Italy.29), beloved imagery of all fascist movements

It makes no sense in the context of the (very silly) story, but this was still one of my favourite endings to any film:

So this is what the one-less-Meg-a-year is paying for! 

If you ask me this is a missed opportunity - Dredd's hands could have been posed to read 'Goaty' in ASL ('G-T' I I suppose), thereby cementing a venerable urban legend and celebrating a new tradition.

That Bolland still has it, though - such a strong, unmistakable style.  Bound to be worth a good few impulse buys - and here's hoping the contents are hookier than Claw Carver fishing for Hookjaw with a gae bolga. 

Strangely unmoved by that Bolland,  the house of cards image however is chilling as is the Monkey Planet one

So, the copy of IDW's "Complete Bolland Dredds" I've had for less than a week is no longer complete?

Quote from: sauchie on 08 February, 2013, 07:13:11 AM
It makes no sense in the context of the (very silly) story, but this was still one of my favourite endings to any film:

It makes no contextual sense because it was lifted from a Kevin Smith comic book.  Smith spoke about it at length during some of the "audience with" Q&As at great length, and stressed that in no way did he think Tim Burton was a hack living off other people's ideas, oh no, and that it is perfectly normal for directors to call a press conference and make a public statement that in no way was the twist ending of their film stolen from the writer of a comic book who oopsy daisy seems to actually be a noted writer and director.

Quote from: Dash Decent on 08 February, 2013, 01:50:54 PM
So, the copy of IDW's "Complete Bolland Dredds" I've had for less than a week is no longer complete?

"Complete"???
Just how long have you been reading comics Dash???

Reading?  What's that?

It's near Basingstoke, isn't it?

I hate to say this because his talent is measured in a far larger scale than anything I'll ever draw but this Bolland cover is not particularly good. Since he went digital, it just doesn't add up anymore. Someone mentioned the TDW book...? This doesn't even come close to what's in there.

Nonetheless, just like Dio hooking back up with Iommi, Butler and Appice to give us one last (albeit unofficial and decidedly very average) Black Sabbath album before the poor soul died, it doesn't really matter that it's nowhere near as well done as in his prime. BB's given us enough for one lifetime...

IDW book. Sorry.

Quote from: blackmocco on 08 February, 2013, 03:22:11 PM
I hate to say this because his talent is measured in a far larger scale than anything I'll ever draw but this Bolland cover is not particularly good. Since he went digital, it just doesn't add up anymore. Someone mentioned the TDW book...? This doesn't even come close to what's in there.

While I know what you mean, the chilling degree of precision in Bolland's art still retains its fascination for me. The move to generating everything in photoshop has only accentuated that aspect of his work, and aesthetic fascism is definitely appropriate to the depiction of Dredd and the monumental iconography of Justice Department. Bolland has spoken about the obvious pitfalls which photoshop's endless layers and opportunities for revision and variation present to a perfectionist of his caliber (i), but I wouldn't ascribe the difference between the work of his which appears in the IDW book and his more recent output entirely to the use of a wacom tablet.

I remember reading with horror his revelation - in the 1987 Judge Dredd annual - that he doesn't (or at least, didn't then) collect comics anymore, and his attitude towards his revered Dredd work is delightfully irreverent and dismissive. I think that's a more likely explanation for any apparent disengagement with the material to be detected in Bolland's work, and when he lands an assignment which allows him to indulge his passions for odd imagery and beautiful women (ii) the results are just as great as ever. I think Dredd's one of those characters in whom Bolland's chief interest is as a technical challenge, rather than a passion project - but when the results look as good as that new cover image, I can forgive him for not being a drooling fanboy.


(i) I bet if you zoom in on the shading of Dredd's legs, every individual line will be flawless. Those walk-throughs he does of his creative process demonstrate that he's as interested in getting the perspective lines perfect as he is in the characters or the finished image. He's described his obsessive attention to detail as a curse and the result of obsessive/compulsive behaviour, and that he often prefers the energy and rough charm of his thumbnails (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ei2sWBjzVRc/ULVWQuQW0NI/AAAAAAAAAZg/PflQ9aN5ECs/s1600/BGK+11+rough+2+lo+res.jpg) to the finished art.

(ii) see his covers for The Invisibles (https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1142&bih=600&q=bolland%2C+dial+h&oq=bolland%2C+dial+h&gs_l=img.3...1235.7879.0.8865.15.11.0.4.0.0.136.1179.5j6.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.2.img.yIXmY7PSw6M#hl=en&tbo=d&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=bolland%2C+the+invisibles%2C+cover&oq=bolland%2C+the+invisibles%2C+cover&gs_l=img.3...109177.113375.2.114135.14.14.0.0.0.0.100.1048.13j1.14.0...0.0...1c.1.2.img.SjA73hoKDtM&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=b386725236805b6&biw=1142&bih=600), Dial H (https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1142&bih=600&q=bolland%2C+dial+h&oq=bolland%2C+dial+h&gs_l=img.3...1235.7879.0.8865.15.11.0.4.0.0.136.1179.5j6.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.2.img.yIXmY7PSw6M#hl=en&tbo=d&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=bolland%2C+dial+h%2C+cover&oq=bolland%2C+dial+h%2C+cover&gs_l=img.3...8746.10832.0.11322.7.7.0.0.0.0.85.535.7.7.0...0.0...1c.1.2.img.BhXoX3Emf0c&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42080656,d.d2k&fp=b386725236805b6&biw=1142&bih=600) and Zatanna (https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1142&bih=600&q=bolland%2C+dial+h&oq=bolland%2C+dial+h&gs_l=img.3...1235.7879.0.8865.15.11.0.4.0.0.136.1179.5j6.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.2.img.yIXmY7PSw6M#hl=en&tbo=d&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=bolland%2C+dial+h%2C+cover&oq=bolland%2C+dial+h%2C+cover&gs_l=img.3...8746.10832.0.11322.7.7.0.0.0.0.85.535.7.7.0...0.0...1c.1.2.img.BhXoX3Emf0c&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42080656,d.d2k&fp=b386725236805b6&biw=1142&bih=600)

Well look, Bolland's one of the masters, isn't he? There's no disputing that but the Batman thumbnail you posted there illustrates my point. It's vibrant and thrilling. It looks like it moves but there's something so overworked about Bolland's finished product these days and, I can certainly testify to this personally, the endless possibilities something like PS offers isn't necessarily a good thing for an artist. Sometimes something looks fucking awesome as a sketch and when you tighten it up and correct it, you lose the energy the art originally had. This is a very common thing with artists.

I feel the precision he puts into his art these days completely sucks the life out of it. While I'm sure if I got my rulers out and checked all the perspective points they'd match up, it doesn't hide the fact that this drawing, while beautifully drawn and rendered, is, to my eyes, static and flat. Technically proficient but cold.

I agree that I think he's probably sick, sore and weary drawing Dredd and coming up with new ways to present him. And lest it be taken wrongly, I love Bolland. The man's given me so much.

Quote from: blackmocco on 08 February, 2013, 08:13:34 PM
I feel the precision he puts into his art these days completely sucks the life out of it. While I'm sure if I got my rulers out and checked all the perspective points they'd match up, it doesn't hide the fact that this drawing, while beautifully drawn and rendered, is, to my eyes, static and flat. Technically proficient but cold.

Aye, we're basically in agreement. I'd draw an analogy with what happened to Glenn Fabry after Slaine The King; he'd taken that obsessive level of detail, controlled line work and anatomical accuracy (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqva3kNLpe1qmg4b2o1_500.jpg) to a level where I don't think any strip artist had been before or has been since. There was nowhere else for him to go in that direction, and when he came back to comics it was with the boot up the arse and fresh perspective which Simon Bisley's much looser and more irreverent style had offered him.

Maybe Bolland's problem is that there's no-one who has even come close to matching or even challenging him in the very specific area in which he specialises. If Bolland had devoted a few years to knocking out Mr Mamoulian strips he might have come back to the process of creating absurdly detailed and well composed images with the same ferocity as Fabry has shown since renewing his acquaintance with the .01 brush (http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/223031_433715709999677_1949129243_n.jpg).

If we had all these fúckers back in the prog full-time, we wouldn't be complaining.

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 08 February, 2013, 09:05:57 PM


If we had all these fúckers back in the prog full-time, we wouldn't be complaining.

Wanna bet?

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 08 February, 2013, 09:05:57 PM


If we had all these fúckers back in the prog full-time, we wouldn't be complaining.

Course we would. Complaining's the only thing I do well...! Haha!

A Bolland cover is cool, but can we have a new six-page story from him please?

Quote from: Richard on 09 February, 2013, 05:57:38 PM
A Bolland cover is cool, but can we have a new six-page story from him please?

Bolland's said he would return to the strip if Wagner wrote a new story involving the fatties for him to illustrate.

QuoteBolland's said he would return to the strip if Wagner wrote a new story involving the fatties for him to illustrate.

What happened to the days when script droids were snivelling little wretches, literally chained to their desks, as opposed to today's industry-striding colossi surrounded by fawning worshippers?

A fatty story, Wagner, do you hear me? Get to it, or Mek-Quake gets an early dinner.

...and it will be drawn by Eric Bradbury.

Hey, leave Bradbury alone he's one of the greats!

The Bolland cover is great though.

QuoteHey, leave Bradbury alone he's one of the greats!

I know... it's just that he was the go-to droid for drawing bad things happening to other droids in the nerve centre.  Just trying to make the threat more real for that slacker Wagner.

Ah I see, I thought you were dissin my man :P

Hell no, he was a gem!  He had that seedy, shabby and very British style that you just don't get these days.  I  miss him - nobody drew horror one-offs, and Zragian Dictators, like Bradbury.

Kinda disappointed that he's only doing the cover art, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Abe and the Fasces.

http://km.eduvate.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/lincoln-statue.jpg

Quote from: Little_Tengu on 10 February, 2013, 12:57:24 AM
Kinda disappointed that he's only doing the cover art, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Bolland doesn't really do strips anymore, and when he does, he insists on writing them.

It's a massive shame :(

Quote from: Jimmy Baker's Assistant on 28 June, 2013, 03:51:47 PM

Quote from: Little_Tengu on 10 February, 2013, 12:57:24 AM
Kinda disappointed that he's only doing the cover art, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Bolland doesn't really do strips anymore, and when he does, he insists on writing them.

It's a massive shame :(

When was Bolland's last full strip?

'Killing Joke'? He did a Batman: black and white but I don't know when.  Or do you mean for the prog? I think that was the last episode of 'Block Mania' wasn't it? Or the single page he did for Prog 500 'Tharg's Head Revisited' which didn't appear until an annual some time later...

Quote from: sheldipez on 28 June, 2013, 06:15:05 PM
When was Bolland's last full strip?

In his afterword to Killing Joke deluxe edition he says that was his last strip with another writer.

If he's done any significant comics since then then I'm afraid I've missed them.

Since then I think he has written all his own stuff, like the actress and the bishop and black and white.

Beautifully rendered front prog art by Bolland. For me though a bit soulless in its final result. To much computer aided stuff going on perhaps. I would love to see a looser Bolland style and painted in water colours or acrylic.