Messages

In 'Life and Death' Middenface refers to Johnny's reclaimed helmet as 'one of your buckets', implying he had several, so given how much the rest of his kit changes there's no reason there should be a single definitive version. It's not part of a uniform, it's a tool.

Also never try to understand Johnny's eyes in the terms set out in the story: as we all learnt in school,  if it was possible for a stream of high mass/ strong absorbtion Alpha particles to be sufficiently energetic to penetrate stone and body mass (cosmic rays, for example)  there would be enough ionising radiation to kill anything in their path long before they detected a hidden blaster. Whatever's going on in Johnny's Veerd Eyes it ain't Alpha particles (I've speculated his powers are psychic in nature and the glowing-eye-thing just a coincidental mutation, but that's just fanwanky head-canon).

Well, yes. Comic books are like that. If you insist on strict adherence to physics, you should probably find another hobby. If someone were to point out that the number of nuclear warheads necessary to flatten 80%+ percent of the North American continent would result in a cloud of atmospheric ash blotting out sunlight and years of attendant nuclear winter, then it pretty much puts the lie to any surviving Mega Cities, and so much for your Judge Dredd comic.

But people still like writing those books like "The Science of Superman", etc. We do find some amusement in having some kind of speculatively defined quasi-physics. It's just mental play.

Oh, and besides the dog's snout profile, there's also THIS that sticks in my head:

I based it mainly on Carlos TV pilot proportions.

He gave it the thumbs up.

Also consulted with Jock, the first versions were more rounded, but looked too banana-like.

Can also get a bit front heavy, so it was slimmed down.

Carlos can draw it quite pointy as well.



There's not a definitive version, it's just an adaptation of a comic that changes over time.

It's funny how things can affect your perception. Where I was originally seeing "turtle" (based mostly on the color scheme and rounded pads on JA's body armor and the two circular parts on the helmet) and you were seeing "insect", Andy Lambert pointed out the idea of a dog's snout, and ever since he did, now when looking at those full-profile panels Carlos drew, that's all I can see, with the camera serving as the nose. I'm thinking it looks something like a bull terrier.

But clearly in the TV bible design Carlos did for the helmet he's modified the surface curves of his original SD design, with an eye to practicality for prop fabrication, I think. The new design looks more real, and I guess designed more carefully, to maintain consistency when viewed from all angles. I guess the old design is still the one I have stuck in my mind, which seems more blunt and slightly more rounded.

Was it from that story where they let a bunch of the artists do one page of whatever they wanted, and they refused to print Mick McMahon's? I remember something about there being a charge of swiping leveled at somebody in that one (not McMahon's page, I think)?

https://books.google.ie/books?id=dyrcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT21&lpg=PT21&dq=mike+mcmahon+prog+500&source=bl&ots=g4Ue_YcvCD&sig=LOGaBumg9I3vYSC8UYjk0MXl_NY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAw6mFmqfTAhXHB8AKHTF7Ab0Q6AEIRDAG#v=onepage&q=mike%20mcmahon%20prog%20500&f=false

Right, that was it. "Tharg's Head Revisited", in Prog 500. And it was Mick McMahon accusing the plagiarization? I wasn't sure if Cam Kennedy had been involved in that and drawn a page, perhaps utilizing Kenny Who? to comment on another artist appropriating his work.

Thanks for pointing out those 2000 AD creator interview collections, Joe. I wasn't aware those existed, if apparently only available in digital -- I'm trying to avoid Kindle's format though. Have to think about those.

Was it from that story where they let a bunch of the artists do one page of whatever they wanted, and they refused to print Mick McMahon's? I remember something about there being a charge of swiping leveled at somebody in that one (not McMahon's page, I think)?

Now this one looks... maybe a little too "pointy"? Slightly more angular, than rounded, in front? JMO, don't take it too seriously! The one above is obviously way too far in the opposite direction, but even the production design drawings Carlos did for the movie look different in shape (not just the circular parts which were revised as auxiliary cams, more of the overall shape) than what he drew in most of the 1980s stories. I guess it depends on which panel in which story you're looking at, and what angle his head's pointing, as well. I guess it always does tend to look different when viewed head-on, at 2/3 angle, or in straight profile. On the other hand, your actor is well-cast! And apart from the slightly-too-pointy cam lens part, this is overall the best version, as the "cheeks" look right, as well as what I can see of the top sides and back.

Thanks again, Steve! You certainly have answers to questions.

Hey, is it just me, or...  does this one look like some kind of kinky Gerry Anderson parody ? I find it subtly disturbing on some level...

["I asked him if he was Denny O'Neil and then told him I was Cam Kennedy from Scotland. He just looked at me and said "Kenny Who?"]

"I asked him if he was Denny O'Neil and then told him I was Cam Kennedy from Scotland. He just looked at me and said "Kenny Who?"

These kind of embarrassing international cultural faux-pas could have been avoided, if only they'd invented Rosetta Stone Scottish for Americans back then.

I had a short think about why the camera helmet might be so important to Johnny Alpha. It can't be that documentation is an actual requirement in order to collect a bounty on an outstanding warrant, because most S/D Agents don't seem to have them.

It could be that Johnny just recognizes the cam-helmet as a useful tool in getting the job done, and he personally believes in documenting his work. The camera could be useful for secondary purposes like later analysis, gathering visual evidence and clues leading to arrests. Perhaps there are also certain optical wavelengths that the camera can record that are otherwise outside the normal visual spectrum.

Another important reason might be to present recorded evidence of "first rights". If the bounty claim were to be contested by another S/D Agent as rightfully his or hers, video documentation could make the difference, and there may be instances of 'claim-jumping' other S/D Agents bounties after the first agent has done all the hard work. ("Whack him and steal his bounty.") In cases of a joint effort to apprehend by a team of S/D Agents, all the participating Agents would also be documented as a matter of video record.

And of course it allows positive visual ID of suspects by comparison of the warrant against the suspected perp.

Maybe there's even a secondary market for the VR gaming industry, something like a "YOU are a S/D Agent!" game for the home market.

Kenny who is a bit of a take on the authors own attempts to break into American comics.So Kennedy probably recognized his style in somebodies work.
And even if it isnt always obvious,people at Big 2 were familiar with 2000ad.Take for example that odd period when every superhero adopted Zeniths style of jacket over costume.Granted Paradax did it first,but you know what I meant.

Oh definitely. Sometimes it has nothing to do with trying to copy something popular in an attempt to boost your own popularity. Sometimes its even the opposite, where the influenced artist seizes on a lesser-known's style in order to 're-invent' himself somewhat, figuring no one's going to catch it because the artist being copied in less popular in the copyist's marketplace. I remember Keith Giffen got bagged by The Comics Journal for copying... who's the euro artist? Jose' Munoz? I've forgotten now.

Not

Yeah, that Alpha is a real hippie! 

I guess this is a good place to ask as any.So a Kenny Who? related question-the bit about the company using a droid to reproduce Who's art is obviously a jab at another artist,but who?(pun not intended)Which American artist of the time was copying Cam Kennedy?

But this is before Cam Kennedy's actual American-published work, by some years, wasn't it? And I can't recall who was first to publish (not reprint) him in America. Had to be prior to Dark Horse's Star Wars, I think, so maybe DC?

I remember thinking that the Star Wars thing was what gained Cam Kennedy real acceptance by the Amercan market, though. Before that, he was too far from mainstream acceptability for the US. Which is why it seems odd to me that an American artist should be copying his style, if it wasn't that popular in America prior to Star Wars.

One question leads to another. You see a lot of Judge helmet replicas or custom jobs, anyone seen a Johnny Alpha helmet?

Also just wondering if anyone knows a link to some substantial interview with Carlos Ezquerra? I'm extremely curious about what he has to say about his craft, and what his own personal philosophy or viewpoint might be regarding art, and so forth.

Another weird question. I often wonder if Ezquerra was influenced artistically by either Joe Kubert (seems quite possible, as he's popular in Europe) or Robert Crumb? I see little bits and pieces of both those artists in his work, somehow.

And now that I think of it, does the 'X-ray vision' effect come from something like emitting alpha particles/waves from his eyes and a resultant reflective effect in a spectral range that only Johnny's eyes can perceive? Like radar or sonar, only involving alpha waves?