Those of you who remember the 2000AD story “Harry Twenty on the High Rock”, written by Gerry Finley-Day with art by Alan Davis, first published in the 1980s, may recall that inmate Harry was shown the general layout of the orbiting prison satellite by “Old Ben”.
Well, freelance designer Jonathan Bluestone took that sketch, and just about everything we know about the High Rock, and, just for fun, produced a general plan of the prison, shared on Facebook, and has kindly given us permission to present it here. Enjoy!
“I’m a lifelong fan of the British comic book 2000AD,” says Jonathan, “and, as such, over the years, have produced artwork based on their intellectual properties.
“A couple of years back, I re-read the most excellent ‘Harry Twenty on the High Rock’ [republished in print in 2010, and digitally in 2015] and decided to produce a single sheet ‘general plan’ of the prison satellite. From inception to finished product, this took about a week.”
The story – retitled Harry 20 on the High Rock in collection – was first published in 2000AD Progs 287 to 307, first published in 1982, featuring Alan Davis’ first work for 2000AD. It’s 2060, and a hundred miles above the Earth orbits the High Rock – a maximum security prison crammed with 10,000 of the most vicious criminals from the world below. Falsely accused of betraying his government, Harry Thompson is given a twenty year sentence on the Rock, but amongst thuggish guards controlled by Warden Worldwise and psychotic inmates like Big Red One, the chances of staying alive for that long are looking pretty slim!
Jonathan’s design has prompted plenty of discussion, 2000AD and comics archivist Mac Mac Anorak noting the High Rock design itself seen in 2000AD was devised by the late John Watkiss, the original artist lined up to work on the “Harry Twenty” strip.
He suggests Watkiss’ design was likely inspired by “The Humming of the Ship”, a painting by SF/fantasy artist Tim White, used as the cover for the OMNI SF magazine in January 1980.
The archivist also noted Alan Davis was initially brought onboard the project as a back-up artist to provide the odd episode here and there, but soon found himself elevated to the sole primary position and being given the entire series to draw when Watkiss was unexpectedly delayed on another job, and so became unable to commit.
However, despite his reservations that the geometry of the High Rock itself didn’t work with certain aspects of plot and storytelling as outlined in the completed script, Davis was told the existing design was staying and that he’d simply have to make the best of it and work with what he’d inherited.
“Alan Davis made himself a small cardboard model of the High Rock to confirm his doubts that the basic geometry of the design he’d inherited and had to use just didn’t work with regard to certain plot points in the scripts: windows not actually overlooking areas they needed to, and a certain “blind spot” crucial to the storytelling simply not existing as it should!”
Jonathan says the not-for-profit blueprint was about two or three days’ work, and another week to check for errors.
“If you look closely, you might just be able to make out Harry, Old Ben and Genghis … I’m not saying where!
“I estimated, given the comic art, that the average ceiling height was about three meters, as this allows for piping and such, and then there are the floors, most of which follow a uniform thickness. Where the dining cage and the gymnasium were concerned, despite what it shows on Ben 90’s sketch, I figured they would be two, or even three levels high, as there is a track-mounted pit-gun emplacement that can be seen in certain scenes.
“I’ve had to take liberties with the balconies, but it is probably fair to say that when the story was originally illustrated in 1982 by Alan Davis, he didn’t have an exact idea as to the interior spaces. In fact, Davis comments that the High Rock just did not work as a shape, meaning the concept was a problem right from the very beginning.
“If you want to have a go at measuring the station, take one of my humanoid figures, assume it is two meters tall, and then, using that as a guide, calculate how many lengths define the station.
“When I was creating the image, I began with one known fact – that the cellblocks were eighteen levels deep. That allowed me to define the rest of the station’s length. Harry, Gengis, and Ben share a cell on the upper part of the diamond, as is evidenced by the curvature of the external bulkhead. I have a general plan for the cell, too, somewhere. It is about the size of a small bathroom.”
Jonathan is fully aware that “Harry 20” is the intellectual property of 2000AD publisher Rebellion, and presented his blueprint on a not-for-profit basis. But if some enterprising licensee should wish to suggest posters to Rebellion, you can find Jonathan here on Facebook.
Jonathan Bluestone is a freelance technical artist, self-taught and specialising in pixel-based artwork, who has worked with various artists, including the legendary Sydney Jordan in the 1990s. A life-long fan of 2000AD and early 1970s British comics, he’s created a number of marvellous science fiction blueprints that are well worth checking out; work includes homage to Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and “Harry Twenty on the High Rock”. He also produced an unpublished technical manual for a fantasy space freighter, “part of my own universe (we all have one),” he tells, that can be seen both at my profile, and in its 2024 incarnation here. “There is a whole unpublished universe and story associated with that.”
Where’s Harry Now?
For those of you what happened to Harry 20, Mac Mac Anorak points an answer to that question came 32 years after the series concluded when 2000AD‘s Free Comic Book Day 2015 Prog revealed the final page of its one-off story, “Death Rock”, by the pseudonymous “Barry Krishna”, with art by Ben Willsher.
In the tale, an explorer attempts to claim a new jungle planet in deep space for colonisation, but quickly discovers a group of humans have already staked a claim to the world – and on that final page, we meet their leader, and find out how they arrived there themselves, years earlier…
How do I Read “Harry Twenty”?
If you’re now looking to read the story, 2000AD published it in print way back in 2010, which you may be able to find secondhand; and released a digital edition in 2015, with the same ISBN. It was also included in a edition of The 2000AD Ultimate Collection, published by Hachette.
If you’re a fan, you’re not alone, one American reviewer, an Alan Davis fan, new to 2000AD back in 2011 declaring: “As much as it may sound like an overstatement, I feel quite confident in saying that Harry 20 on the High Rock is one of the best self-contained comic book stories I’ve ever read. The story and the artwork are perfect individually, and put together, they make for something truly awe-inspiring. If this book is at all representative of the quality of the rest of 2000AD, I can’t wait to read more. Consider me converted!”
• Harry 20 on the High Rock is still available as a digital edition | ISBN: 978-1906735913 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link | 2000AD Digital Edition
• 2000AD: The Ultimate Collection Issue 168: Harry 20 on the High Rock + Dead Men Walking (Hachette)
• Follow Gerry Finley-Day on Facebook
• Alan Davis is online at alandavis-comicart.com
• Jonathan Bluestone is on Art Station
• Tim White (1952 – 2020): A Gallery
• Harry 20 en High Rock was published in hardback by Spanish publisher Dolmen Editorial last year (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
With thanks to Jonathan Bluestone and Mac Mac Anorak for his notes on the story
“Harry Twenty on the High Rock” is © Rebellion Publishing
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
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.
Categories: 2000AD, Art and Illustration, British Comics, Comics, Digital Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
Leave a Reply