Just incase you couldn't read the dialogue in the 'banner'.
The work of greats like Frank Bellamy and Al Williamson, whose art I have admired for many years, makes the craft of the Daily Newspaper strip something more than just another illustration job.
Before them there were even greater legends ( true legends ) who shaped the genre of strip illustration. But I was never exposed to them as a 'reader', only to appreciate them after the event. Whereas Bellamy especially was someone who entertained me daily.
I was greatly saddened when he died. And even sadder when I found I didn't get the gig to replace him on the story of Garth. So, when I was offered the opportunity to take up the Dredd strip for the Daily Star, I jumped at the chance. The money was dreadful ( no pun intended! ), as most of the payment went to Maxwell because he owned the copyright to the character. But I wasn't doing it for the money. I was doing it in homage to the greats who had made the media special. There is a great skill in making such a restrictive format look exciting, day after day. And I wanted the chance to try.
Some days I failed! Some days weren't helped by the whole week's artwork being lost in the editorial offices!!?? The editor did say he suspected 'industrial sabotage'..? But I doubt that even Dredd is that important. So I figure it was just stupidity on their part. And the time when the winter snows were so bad that they had to send a helicopter to Giles to pick up his cartoon piece - my week's work got stuck on a train, stranded en route to London. So I had to dig my car out of the snow every morning for the next week or so to slither my way down to the one working rail line that could deliver each page to Brighton, where the editor could pick it up on his way into the office. And all that for the peanuts they were paying! I must have been mad! But I was a man on a mission. I wanted to do 'strip' work as well as I could. Honestly, it had nothing to do withthe girls with no clothes on who adorned page 3!! In fact John called me up, for indeed it was Mr Wagner who was writing the scripts, as he wanted my support in his challenge to the editors of the Star. They had printed a picture of a young teenager with some kind of caption promising to show her on page 3 as soon as she was of age. Yep. It was a pretty tasteless rag! ;) And eventually I had had enough of it. I felt I'd done some good work and quite a lot of bad. It was time to move on.
But the journey was worthwhile. And it had the perk of making me famous enough to be invited as special 'celebrity' guest to the Lord Mayor's Show in Plymouth. Not really as great as all that. For it transpired that my main duty was to sit in a draughty hut on top of Plymouth Ho, offering to sketch for the locals.
I wasn't dressed well enough to be allowed into the ball ( nobody warned me to bring a DJ ). But the fireworks display over the water was spectacular!!
One of the things I enjoyed most was the interplay between Dredd and Anderson. It was something that was rarely seen in 2000AD. But in the daily strip John and Alan seemed to feel free to play with the idea more.
There was also the delightful cast of characters.
John was never averse to the occasional 'sexual' pun. ;)