Not having been a Deca Thargo since 1997, it is rare that a 2000AD cover grabs me by the Id and will not let go until my ego and super-ego have reviewed that piece.
Many will think that the cover for Prog 1949 is a homage to the Brian Bolland cover from issue 1821 where we have Dredd almost as a Lincoln-esque figure, but this piece is much darker than that.
For those of us that remember British TV from the 1970s and 1980s, it has a more sinister undertone; a reminder of someone sitting centre stage in a garb that paid no lip service to the acceptable cultural mores of the day. A man in a comfortable chair, witha persona that gave you the image of stability, but with an undercurrent of darkness…
Is it possible that this image is based on something a bit more tangible than the febrile imagination of an artist?
I spoke to artist Dave Kendall about it, who commented: “Well… If you’re going to draw evil then you draw on something in reality.” And, for me, the piece has echoes that reverberate throughout my childhood. And I will say that if the story is half as scary as the cover, then don’t read it at night!
Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News