2000 AD

Over the past few weeks, Mondo seems like it's been on a dedicated and very effective mission to separate me from as much of my money as it can, but finally, it's taken a break from the high-end Batman: The Animated Series posters that it's been putting up for sale at random times on Twitter. Now Mondo's just doing a super-amazing poster of Judge Death instead and... c'mon, Mondo. I only have so much to give. If you're not familiar with Judge Death - one of the best-designed villains in the history of comic books - he was created by John Wagner and Brian Bolland in 1980 as an interdimensional counterpart to Judge Dredd. While Dredd has a pretty hard-line stance on crime, Judge Death comes from a world where it was determined that since all crime was committed by the living, life itself must be a crime, leading him to kill off billions of people in various dimensions' Mega Cities One over the next 35 years.

For too long, the action figure world has been a lawless land of vagabonds, mutants and ne'er-do-wells. There's been no order out there on pegs or retail shelves. That will soon change however, as ThreeA is releasing the lawman of Mega City One to bring justice to toy collections everywhere. Continuing its line of 2000 AD figures, the ThreeA Judge Dredd will soon join Judge Death, Sam Slade, Gronk and Judge Fish. It's actually not the first Judge Dredd figure to release stateside, nor is it the first 1:12 scale action figure to debut this year, but the sudden resurgence of 2000 AD's enforcement officer in this format is welcome to be sure. Inspired by the art of Carlos Ezquerra, Brian Bolland, and Mike McMahon, ThreeA's Judge Dredd looks as grumpy as ever in his signature Judge's uniform and helmet. The figure has been slightly stylized to give Dredd a bit of ThreeA's personality, but he's still unmistakably the bad-ass with a badge we've all come to know and respect (and fear).

Nowadays, I think we can all agree that Thrillpower is for everyone, but that was not always the case. In the late '70s, with 2000 AD a success after its first year of publication thanks to strips like Judge Dredd, the publishers decided that the world needed "2000 AD for girls," and thus Misty was introduced to the world. The weekly magazine ran between 1978 and 1980, directed at girls with a focus on supernatural horror, and is still remembered fondly despite its relatively short 101-issue run. Now, for the first time in 35 years, it's set to be reprinted starting next September, starting with stories from Pat Mills, John Armstrong, Malcolm Shaw and Brian Delaney.

The weekend is here! Put down your paperwork, throw your stationery out of the window, and do a victory spin in your office chair, because it’s time to catch up on that greatest of all media: comics! What’s been going on this week? There’s so much comics that there’s no way anybody can keep up with all of it — so Weekender is here to catch you up on some of the stories you may have missed, and some of the best writing about comics from the past few days.

If you've ever read through Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth, the sprawling epic that took the future's most brutal lawman outside of Mega-City One on a journey across an atomic wasteland in the years since its original publication, then you may have noticed that there are a couple of strips missing from the paperback collections. Four strips from the original story, the two-part 'Burger Wars' and 'Soul Food' arcs, featured versions of Ronald McDonald, the Burger King, the Jolly Green Giant, and other corporate icons, twisted into post-nuclear villains. As you might expect, that caused a bit of a problem back in 1978, and under fears of a lawsuit, those four strips were excised from later reprints of the landmark story. Until now, that is. Today, 2000 AD announced the upcoming Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Uncensored, a new printing of the story that will restore the "banned" strips for the first time in almost forty years.

Time to break out the Judge-approved party hats and frosted birthday munce, everybody: This week marks Judge Dredd Megazine's 25th birthday! It was back in October of 1990 that the future's most uncompromising lawman became too big for even 2000 AD to handle, and he spun off into his own title. To mark the occasion, this week's issue features the start of a new Dredd story from John Wagner and Colin MacNeil that revives Total War, the terrorist organization that made its first appearance in Megazine #1 and the groundbreaking "America" storyline, but that's not the issue's only callback to the past. When it hits stands this week, the Megazine will have a cover by Barry Kitson, with Dredd towering over 25 defeated enemies.

The week’s over! And with it we reach the final days of September --- which you've all done a dazzling job with, by all accounts. But while you’ve been off working and living and doing all those things that humans do, what have you missed in the world of comics? With Weekender, ComicsAlliance is here to give you a heads-up on some of the stories that you might have overlooked, and to showcase some great writing on comics for you to enjoy over buttery crumpets this weekend.

It was only a few days ago that we brought you the news that Chris Burnham would be providing an extremely violent cover for 2000 AD prog 1950, but there was another piece of the story that you might have missed on account of being distracted by Judge Dredd blowing people's fingers off right there on the cover. Every now and then, 2000 AD will take the opportunity to give readers a new jumping on point, and when #1950 hits shelves on September 30, it will have four brand-new stories. Check out a preview.

I've talked to artist Chris Burnham a few times at conventions, and I've always got the feeling that if there's one character that he's super into, more than anything else, it's 2000 AD's Judge Dredd. The guy is a fan of Mega City One's unique brand of law-enforcement thrillpower like few others, and now, he's finally getting a chance to draw him in an official capacity. On September 30, with the release of 2000 AD prog 1950, Burnham will join the small group of American artists who have lent their skills not just to Dredd, but to the cover of the magazine. And if that wasn't enough of an incentive to check it out, it's happening just in time for one of the magazine's new reader-friendly issues, featuring the start of four new story arcs.

I'm a big fan of Mezco's One:12 Collective. It all started when I first got my hands on the prototype Dark Knight Returns Batman that kicked the line off. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the detailed, mixed-media figures, but once I held the aged Bruce, I knew this collection had incredible potential. The second release, Judge Dredd, was equally as impressive, but wasn't a must own for me. I loved the design, but felt I could forego this piece in lieu of upcoming pieces like the Flash or Superman. Then I saw the Black and White variant prototype of Judge Dredd at SDCC. I'll put it plainly; I'm a sucker for black and white variants. It all started with NECA's Mirage-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles box set, and has continued through the years. There's just something more intriguing about a figure whose design has been whittled down to its most basic essence. Of course, where 2D linework can easily express a full figure, there's a true talent in being able to translate the simplified aesthetic into an appealing action figure. Even though the Judge Dredd Black and White NYCC variant doesn't quite have the same attention to line details as something like DC Collectibles' Blue Line Batman, its monochromatic scheme still catches my eye in a way the standard version doesn't.