Quick, which publishers are the pioneers of digital comics? You might think IDW or Marvel, but the UK’s Rebellion, publisher of 2000 AD, has been selling digital editions of its book since all the way back in 2005 with great success—it’s the fastest and cheapest way to get Judge Dredd if you don’t live in the UK after all. Now they are making their downloads DRM free. All comics purchased—past and present—via any method—web, Android, iOS—will now be available in DRM-free PDF and CBZ files.
Users will have a Rebellion ID that will allow comics bought through one platform to be available on others.
Apps for the Amazon Kindle and Windows mobile apps are on their way—and all purchases will be transferable via those apps as well.
Along with Judge Dredd, and current issues of 2000 AD, the weekly anthology of dystopic adventure, and the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine, classic issues of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Halo Jones, Sláine, Ace Trucking, and many more can also bepurchased.
The 2000 AD iOS app for iPad and iPhone was launched in 2012 and is consistently one of the top-grossing iPad newstand apps in the UK. You can download the free 2000 AD app for iOS here, and the brand new 2000 AD app for Android here.
Brian Bolland is a legend in comics, and would be just for his covers alone, but he’s also responsible for drawing classics like Batman: The Killing Joke, and Judge Dredd. He started his art career in his native United Kingdom illustrating his own fanzines while at art school, and then he moved on to contributing to underground publications like Friendz, Oz, and International Times. After he finished his course at The Central School of Art & Design in London in 1973 Bolland joined the talent agency Bardon Press Features, and was assigned various small comics jobs including a bi-weekly Nigerian comic called Powerman about an African superhero. Steady work continued from there, and he would eventually get to work on future comics hits 2000 AD, and Judge Dredd in the late 70′s.
He was recruited by Green Lantern artist Joe Staton who discovered him at a comics convention while visiting England, and thus the British Invasion of comics officially began! He started off doing covers for DC Comics, and then moved onto bigger projects like the 12 issue maxi-series Camelot 3000 with writer Len Wein. Later on he would be put more to use as a cover artist exclusively, rather than an interior artist, because his cover work is so detailed, and striking that I can only imagine how many thousands of comics he sold just based off his cover illustrations alone! Legendary covers for Grant Morrison’s Animal Man, The Invisibles, Wonder Woman, and The Flash solidified Brian Bolland as a legend in the industry. Throughout his carreer Bolland would also work on personal projects like the more sketchy styled Mr. Mamoulian, and the provocative The Actress and the Bishop.
In 2006 the book The Art of Brian Bolland was published, and it provides a very comprehensive overview of Bolland’s career including just about all of his classic covers, and examples of his photography work that he took while traveling the world over the years.
Brian Bolland has won numerous comics industry awards including over 5 Eisners, an Inkpot Award, and Favourite Artist in the British section of the Eagle Awards.
You can follow Brian Bolland on his blog here.
For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates
In Dredd’s long and illustrious career we’ve seen many a female Judge stepping up to the plate, from Anderson to McGruder, but the iconic British strip has never been written by a woman. Until now.
2000 AD, a sci-fi anthology that has run continuously since 1977, has enjoyed a reputation for creating fantastic women characters (Halo Jones!) in the various strips that focus on personality first, and gender last. Judge Anderson is perhaps the most well known example, and her portrayal in the 2012 film Dredd by Olivia Thirlby cemented that wonderfully by showing her as Dredd’s equal in every respect – including costume. In fact that very under-appreciated film is one of the strongest comic book movies of all time in terms of gender politics, carried out in a very “no big deal” manner.
It’s little wonder then that women make up a significant sector of the 2000 AD readership, and yet despite both the wealth of women characters in the book, and the number of women creators in the UK, it’s also long held a reputation as being a boys club when it comes to writers and artists.
You can imagine my delight then in our roundtable review of Prog 1824 last month when I saw Emma Beeby’s name attached to a new strip, Survival Geeks. I first came across Beeby a couple of years ago at Glasgow Comic Con, and she is perhaps best known for her Doctor Who audio stories along with her co-writer both there and at 2000 AD, Gordon Rennie. Rennie of course has been writing great stories at 2000 AD for years, and is thrilled to be working with Beeby.
Not only is this the first time Judge Dredd has been written by a woman, but Suicide Watch also sees the introduction of the strips first ever Muslim Mega-City One Judge, Judge Hamida. It’s really refreshing to see a publisher stepping up to the plate in terms of diversity both on the page and behind it, and with a world of solid and well-rendered characters at 2000 AD, I hope it leads to the progs being read by an even wider audience.
As with all Judge Dredd strips, Suicide Watch is completely readable to newcomers while containing elements of previous storylines. The city is decimated since the Day of Chaos events with 87% of the population wiped out, and Suicide Watch looks at the psychological damage to the survivors as suicide cults become ever more popular in the desperate slums.
Something worse though is hunting in the shadows, something that Dredd can’t quite remember… Psi-Judge Hamida is on the case!
Suicide Watch will be told in three episodes, with the first appearing in Prog 1826 this very week.
Judge Dredd: Suicide Watch (Prog 1826-1828)
Writer: Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby
Artist: Paul Davidson
Colourist: Chris Blythe
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Editor: Tharg the Mighty, Matt Smith
Publisher: 2000 AD
Add the UK’s 2000 AD—home of Judge Dredd—to the list of publishers going day and date. They’re even getting their own app, via the Apple Newsstand, which is offering a free introductory 69-page sampler with pages from Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos, Zombo, and Ichabod Azrael.
Subscribers get up to a 24% discount and a selection of free back issues. Single issues are $2.99/£1.99.
2000 AD was no stranger to digital—they already sell issues in DRM-free PDF and CBZ formats via their online shop.
“Making 2000 AD as accessible as possible is something we’ve been working towards for some time,” said Matt Smith, editor of 2000 AD. “For the first time we can offer easy, quick digital subscriptions so that readers can download the latest issue with a single push of a button.
“If you’ve ever had trouble getting hold of the latest 2000 AD, don’t like waiting for the physical Prog to reach your shores, or you just want the ease of having digital copies then our new app is ideal.
“With the DREDD 3D film coming in September and amazing storylines from some of the top talent in the industry, there’s never been a better time to subscribe to 2000 AD.”
The internet is crossing international lines! Or at least it is with 2000 AD, the essential UK anthology, which will soon be available digitally only 2 days after it hits UK newsstands. Not quite day and date but better than the two weeks it takes physical copies to get to the US. Copies can be purchased at 2000 AD’s own store; subscriptions can be purchased via Clickwheel.
In addition, 2000 Ad publisher Rebellion is working on their own digital comics platform for later this year.
2000 AD is proud to announce that digital editions of its comics are now available within 48 hours of them hitting newsstands in the UK.
In a major digital leap forward for the seminal British comic book, digital editions of 2000 AD and its sister publication, the Judge Dredd Megazine, are now available worldwide in CBZ and PDF formats in the 2000 AD store on the Friday after the print editions go on sale in the UK each Wednesday.
This means that for the first time, readers will be able to read both titles digitally in the week they’re published. This is a substantial shift from the current format, which only sees them go online once they are superseded on the newsstands.
2000 AD Prog 1776 and Judge Dredd Megazine 322 – featuring the talents of Andy Diggle, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Jock, Chris Weston, D’Israeli, John Wagner, Al Ewing, Henry Flint and many more – are the first editions to be available.
Readers in North America also currently have to wait two weeks to get physical copies of both UK-printed titles, while those further afield have to wait longer.
Editions will be available to buy from the 2000 AD store at http://shop.2000adonline.com/categories/comics, with digital subscriptions available at Clickwheel http://www.clickwheel.net
Computer games developer Rebellion, which owns 2000 AD, is also proud to announce that it is currently working on its own digital comics platform, due for release later this year. More details will follow in the coming weeks.
“This is a big leap for us,” said Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley. “We were one of the first publishers to produce digital copies of all our titles, though print editions were given priority. We felt this year, with 2000 AD’s 35th birthday and the Dredd film coming out in September, was the time to take our digital strategy forward. We’ve also got some exciting digital news coming in the next few months, so 2012 really is shaping up to be the year of 2000 AD.”
It is actually Psi Judge Hamida’s second outing. She was in the three part Gordon Rennie story called Scream which ran from prog 1737 to 1739.
It was the first Dredd story that I read weekly in the prog so it is nice to see Gordon Rennie bring the character back.
Do you think it’s likely that this story will be included in a future Judge Dredd TPB? It–and some of the other stories described in last week’s 2000 A.D. roundtable–sounds interesting enough that I’d actually like to read it right now, but I’m not sure whether any of my local New York comics shops carry the individual progs. Even if they did, the last time I tried buying 2000 A.D. by the prog, each one cost something like $4.95. This seems a bit steep when you’re primarily interested in just one or two of the 6- to 8-page stories. And the $4.95 pricetag was from at least ten or fifteen years ago, so I imagine the U.S. price per prog is higher now.
Cheers Kurt, I didn’t realise that – oops. Nice to see her coming back then, that Gordon Rennie does good stuff!
Marfisa – I think they’ll definitely be included in upcoming tpbs, but I’m not sure how long the cycle is (hopefully Mike Molcher will drop in and let us know!). I believe 2000 AD do digital versions with are fantastic for international readers in particular due to the shipping frustrations.
“Not only is this the first time Judge Dredd has been written by a woman, but Suicide Watch also sees the introduction of the strips first ever Muslim Mega-City One Judge, Judge Hamida. ”
Which is a bit odd because if I remember correctly, Christianity is outlawed and I thought Islam was as well, moreover Judges aren’t allowed any religion of any sort anyway.
Hi, Mike from 2000 AD here!
Yes, in all likelihood this will appear in a collection, though probably not for some time. As Laura says, it’s probably easiest to buy digitally – either DRM-free PDF or CBZ through our online shop or through the 2000 AD iPad app.
Charles – Judge Hamida is a Psi Judge and, as the story points out, they receive much more latitude than street judges. There have been both Christian and Sikh Psi Judges in the past. Also, Christianity isn’t outlawed in Mega-City One, and neither is Islam.
It is not that religion or belief has been outlawed but reduced to irrelevence. There is only one true religion in the Big Meg and that is The Law. The Judges are the religous police and the Chief Judge acting as “Pope” .
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