2000AD’s Greatest Covers under the spotlight

By John Freeman on March 13, 2013

It’s been setting the newsstands ablaze with pulse-pounding covers for 36 years and now 2000AD is teaming up with one of its biggest fans to bring you the Galaxy’s Greatest Covers.

Long-term fan Pete Wells of 2000AD Covers Uncovered and 2000ADonline.com are coming together to give you exclusive access to the process behind the covers of 2000AD, from sketches to pencils to inks and finished art.

The blog will be featured every week on 2000AD’s official website, so that fans can see the work behind the Prog’s latest covers.

Things kick off tomorrow (Thursday 14th March) at 11.00am (GMT) when the blog bids ‘bon voyage’ to Ian Edginton (Victorian Undead) and Steve Yeowell’s (Zenith) mythical pirate epic The Red Seas! The series comes to a close this week in 2000AD Prog 1823 with a double-length episode and a swashbuckling cover from Yeowell.

Pete’s done some incredible work charting the creation of 2000AD‘s covers, such as this recent one by Simon Davis, inspired by a Saturday Eevning Post magazine cover from 1924 for his second Ampney Crucis cover of the current arc.

The cover features a mysterious, and somewhat disturbing Babbagist, as well as the Ampney Crucis strip’s two hapless heroes.

Pete walks fans through every cover where possible, from inspiration and initial roughs through to inks and final cover. He’s done this for both old and ‘ancient’ covers, uncovering a host of fascinating detail along the way.

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.