Judge Dread IS Doctor Sin!

[Leigh S]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but reading through the old annuals, something struck me about a comment in the first TPO article..

"Mills had been working on a series about black magic and the Occult, called Judge Dread" The first story "had something nasty going on at Stone henge, a black mass.  Judge Dread recognises the leader of the Satanists as someone he had sentenced to hang. That was the cliffhanger to the forst episode."

Obviously, the story never appeared and Wagner used the name for his own strip - "The concept was shelved, along with the art for the first episode by Lalia. Plans to publish it in a subsequent annual came to nothing"

However, in the 79 Annual, there is a story that fits this description perfectly called Doctor Sin Its six pages long, but the art on the last two pages appears to be by a different artist - and the cliffhanger on page 4 is the "Doctor" revealing he recognises the cult leader as a man he believes dead!  So surely this is the original Judge Dread?


Judge Dread

[Leigh S]

...heavily rewritten of course, so that the name is changed, and the and the stuff about his brothers hand added - I wonder who rewrote the story?

[Leigh S]

Looking at the artwork on page one, the dead guys head looks like its been redrawn by the artist who did pages 5 and 6 to look like the fellows brother!

If this is the stroy (and I'm pretty sure it is - its definitely Lalia art for the first four pages(he's signed the first page) - the only thing is the Sabbat is not being held at Stonehenge, as PAt Mills recalled, but even so, surely this must be the strip?

[paulvonscott]

May be watcher, I've just read it, the second guy doesn't have any letratone.  It's interesting, but Not great, I'm sure it could have been developed though.

[Kate_Halprin]

It can't be by Pat Mills - the Satanists are the bad guys!

I always got the impression that Judge Dread was supposed to be an historical strip but I could be wrong.

[Leigh S]

Heh - true enough, though it appears to be heavily rewritten to make the dead guy on page 1 Harry Ellis's brother (look at the art - the dead guy's head looks drawn in by the artist on page 5 and 6 - maybe it was his head missing in the original?!), and added all that stuff about his missing hand (which you see no evidence of until page 5.  That last panel on page 4 is soooo cliffhanger, with its wibbly lines!

Its likely that Pats script was very different to this version.  With the problems around toning down Invasion and Mach 1, maybe a scarred headless body was just too much?  It could well be that the story was rewritten by someone in editorial, based on the art and maybe the original script?  That said, the Satanists are opposing a motorway, so maybe if the story had continued Pat might have made them the heroes! :)

[Leigh S]

Rereading it, that first page is crying out for the guy to be saying "Wheres his HEAD?!" rather than right hand....  I'd love to see the original script hooked up to the original art if that was the case - groovy!

[Smiley]

Spooky. I thought this too. Lalia's art for the first four pages of Doctor Sin corresponded with the info on Judge Dread in The Mega-History.

As for the original Hanging Judge story, the only trace is a brief entry in the 2000AD Make-Up Book Prog 1-44, which relates to a four page Mills script (for which he was paid ?30) called 'Black Magic: Judge Dread - Original Instalment One', and was drawn by Argentine artist Horacio Lalia. A pencilled entry reads 'Unsuitable - except maybe in Annual'. As far as Mills can remember the strip was never published - anywhere.

However, I hit a snag. Could Bishop and Mills along with Colin Jarman & Peter Acton (authors of the history) have all overlooked the possibilty of Judge Dread being published as Doctor Sin in the '79 annual? Is it likely?

I daresay Mills couldn't give a monkey's and the others might only be guilty of printing the legend. But without any evidence to the contrary, it's the only thing that fits :)

[Leigh S]

Yeah, it seems unlikely that this has been overlooked all these years - however, doesnt it seem even more unlikely that Lalia would draw two Black Magic themed four parters that end with the same cliffhanger and feature a vampiric looking retired professional?  The fact that the art for the story has been amended and two pages added are the clinchers for me that this story is most likely Judge Dread.  

If not, where else would the four page unfinished Black magic story have come from?

[Leigh S]

I suppose the only way to know for sure would be to get Pat Mills to look at the artwork - I'm sure he would remember it - Its a shame he doesnt do conventions anymore.  "The Doctor Who of the Occult" - Doctor Sin?

I'd forgotten about the John Smith story in the action 92 annual - IIRC he said that he wrote that story for a DC character that never got revived, and just adapted it for the Action special?  I'm going to search through a few old mags and see what I dig up...

[Leigh S]

Think Im confusing it with Dr Fate... oh well - keep searching

[Leigh S]

According to the Alan McKenzie in the April 92 edition of Comics collector (later Comics World)...

The 2000AD Action Special has brought...60's characters...into the 90's.  Doctor Sin was a character originally created for Valiant, but who made his only appearance in the 1979 2000AD annual"

Hmmm - the plot thickens - was Lalia around when Valiant was about?  Would Valiant have printed such a gory story?  This is assuming Alan McKenzie wasnt misinformed himself....

[Smiley]

I wasn't saying Sin couldn't be Dread, I was agreeing with you that it most likely was. The point is we just don't know. There's evidence, but that needs confirmation from whoever commissioned or edited 'Doctor Sin' for the annual, or at least someone involved.

[Leigh S]

Yeah, Smiley - getting confirmation of whether it is or not would probably involve Pat Mills, as he is the only known name around from those times (though maybe Wagner might recollect it? less likely I suppose).  As I said, its a shame he doesnt do conventions, as we could have got an answer straight from the horses mouth - any way of contacting him through this site or Rebellion though?

[Wake]

I could give it a go...he responded to my last query about the Matchbox Raider Command.

Would you like to draft the question/evidence in as much detail as possible and send it to me?

Wake