Simon Coleby
Dave Sim covers Judge Dredd: Year One
The oddest piece of news I’ve seen today is that Dave Sim has drawn an alternate cover for the first issue of IDW Publishing’s Judge Dredd: Year One. The comic’s creative team will please 2000AD fans, as it features current wearer of Tharg’s rubber-mask-and-boiler-suit-combo Matt Smith as writer, underrated “Simping Detective” artist Simon Coleby on interiors, and the great Greg Staples painting the regular covers. Staples is no stranger to the young Joe Dredd, essaying the character as an actor in the Judge Minty fan film, a recent hit at U.K. comic conventions.
This is, I presume, another welcome side effect of Sim’s recent deal to bring assorted Cerebus projects to IDW. Sim’s detente with modern comics continues apace. See both covers, Sims’ and Staples’ almost-ludicrously detailed version, below.
Brian Wood, Simon Coleby create Lord of the Rings game prologue
Screenshot from "The Lord of the Rings: War in the North"
As Tolkien fans watch for the next update from the set of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is gearing up for the fall release of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, the action RPG game set during the journey of the One Ring. Developed by Snowblind Studios, the game takes place in the great northern wastes of Middle-earth, where three heroes confront a growing army even as the Fellowship winds its way toward Mordor.
To encourage pre-orders through certain retailers, Warner Bros. Interactive is offering a digital comic produced by corporate sibling DC Comics, written by Northlanders creator Brian Wood and illustrated by Judge Dredd and The Authority artist Simon Coleby. Curiously, as IGN.com notes, gamers who pre-order through Toys ‘R’ Us will have access to both parts of the comic, while those who go through Amazon will only get Part 2.