John Wagner Back! Judge Dredd The co-creator and top scribe of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comics Returns AD 2000 Over the summer, this seven-part epic machine rulesand Colin McNeil – connecting the threads that preceded his most famous works, especially those from 2019 machine method. After launching Mechanismo, the robot judge, to fill open positions in the Department of Justice, we saw what happens when machines decide to take over.
However, Wagner didn’t completely break away from the stability of Rebellion/2000 AD. Last year, we unexpectedly returned specter – as we all know, due to the sudden loss of close collaborators (and Special Police Judge co-creator) Carlos Ezquera 2019. Alan Grantof creators own red army rock series artist Dan Cornwell. Spector: Integrity – Story about robot detective fighting corruption published in monthly magazine judge dredd magazine The publication time is from April 2023 to January 2024, and the collection version is expected to be on shelves in April 2025.
This isn’t Wagner and Cornwell’s only work: their sci-fi football book red army rock Reprints and continuations will be seen in Magazine Soon, the two created a new work of Wagner’s classic war cartoon Night Shadow will appear next week Combat Moves #2.
With so much going on, The Beat’s Dean Simmons Chatted with the great John Wagner about robots, retirement, SWAT judges and more…
Dean Simmons: Welcome back to SWAT, John! you once said machine rules storyline will end machine laws 2019…
John Wagner: Did I say that?
DS: …five years later, here we are. Why now?
Jevon: To be honest, I doubt I even thought about it at the time. I’m probably trying to retire for the umpteenth time and imagine I’ll never come back. Well, here I am, it would be unwise to think that the story is over. In fact, I’m currently psyching myself up for work on the sequel.
DS: Some of the judges’ reactions to being eliminated by mechanical units at the beginning of the story seem to be quite extreme (i.e. a string of suicides). Do you think this particular reaction is unique to the judges? Why?
Jevon: Judges devote their entire lives to their work. For most people, finding themselves suddenly relegated to a supporting role can be soul-destroying. It’s the same for many of us – our role in life has become such a part of us that losing it suddenly leaves a gaping hole. Apparently I’m no different. I might try to be John Wagner, that old retired guy waddling around his garden planting beans and onions, but something keeps pulling me back The way I think I will always be. I never imagined it would be like this when I first started working years ago, but “comics writer” now runs through me like writing on rock.
DS: Oftentimes your stories tend to end in ways that are game-changing for the world of Joe Tread. Do you like throwing curveballs into the creative pool? What kind of repercussions do you think the ending of Machine Rules will have?
Jevon: Yes, I love surprising people, that’s half the art of storytelling. It wouldn’t be interesting if the reader knew what was going to happen next. Like the fact that there will be a sequel.
DS: Mechatronics has been around since the 1990s, and you’ve revisited it a few times since then, and the first major storyline of “J.A.D.” was in 1977 robot war (This has not been mentioned yet specter series). What keeps you coming back to the topic? Could contemporary events, such as the recent rise in the prominence of artificial intelligence in the discourse, influence this?
Jevon: I’m fascinated by the future, especially robots, although how things will play out seems like a moot question as I firmly believe that we are currently completely screwing up the planet and its rulers, and there is no way we can take action in time to avoid it if there is indeed still time , allowing many humans to survive.
But, our impending doom aside, one of my biggest regrets is that I won’t be able to witness the fruits of all our human ingenuity… driverless cars, robot servants, sexmeks, cancer cures, and more. Will robots really become sentient? Sure they can fake it, but can they feel it? I guess so.
However, talk about humans leaving and living on another planet (presumably Mars) is complete nonsense and I wish people would shut up about it. Just think about the energy required to launch a spacecraft to Mars – how many spacecraft are we going to launch to Mars? The current state of the planet is bad enough. Maybe that’s okay for some self-centered jerks like Musk, and I’m glad to see them go, but for the rest of us – we have a world, and it’s a very good world, let’s We try to take care of it.
Artificial intelligence is now very interesting, dangerous, and at the same time very beneficial. But we have to control it instead of letting it control us.
DS: Elsewhere, you have a second installment with Dan Cornwell Night Shadow Releases next week (October 2) and appears on Combat Moves #2. What can we expect from this new story?
Jevon: Fierce fighting action. Some lovely art. This is a very shocking development. I won’t say much more, just the resurrection fighting Great to see. Garth Ennis Well done to the other contributors and editorial. fighting This comic drew me back into comics when I was trying to quit the world of comics back in 1974, and it will always be special to me.
DS: Was it difficult returning to a series after thirty years? How do you get back into the mindset of writing?
Jevon: I have a long attachment to the sea, growing up next to it, and frigates played a very interesting role in the war. They seemed to encapsulate a large part of my idea of the British character – brave little guys, always ready for a quarrel. I can speak of “our” Britishness because a few years ago I finally took the plunge and became a citizen [note: John was born in the US]. I even got a welcome note from Priti Patel [former British Home Secretary, 2019-2022]. Better than the one I received when she tried to evict me.
So anyway, it’s easy to get back into the story. But I did find that I had already covered most aspects of the War of the Atlantic, so it was difficult to find new, fresh material. The idea for the latest story came from artist Dan, and it’s a pretty surprising twist.
DS: it appears red army rock, specterand Night Shadow You and Dan Cornwell are working closely together. How did you first meet Dan and know he was a perfect fit for your artistic style?
Jevon: I’ve been looking for an artist to draw red army rocka non-professional, didn’t need a huge page rate since I planned to pay for the materials myself. I found Dan there Zaljaz or dog breathingcan’t remember which one—two fanzines later run by the deceased Dave Evans. I liked his style, so I contacted him. Dan was driving a bus in Brighton. He saw my email and practically jumped out of his skin, crashing the bus into a traffic line and causing over £300,000 worth of damage. Ha, no, well, he thought someone was lying to him. He tells this story often and I won’t repeat it, but he and I get along really well so we continue to work together on other projects and will undoubtedly do more in the future.
DS: You also recently revisited and completed specterwhich you started with Carlos Ezquerra. How did you decide to come back and bring Dan in as Carlos’ replacement?
Jevon: Spector is a character created by Carlos for the story Alan Grant I’ve never been successful. He’d been sitting around for years, but always seemed too good to forget, so when Carlos and I decided to write a new story, I pulled him out of the drawer and racked my brain until I wanted A new character emerged. Long after Carlos died and only two episodes in, I couldn’t bear to return to this story, but it stuck with me – could I really let one of his best creations sit idle?
I knew Dan would do a great job – not copying Carlos’ style, but staying true to his intentions, and respecting him, so while I did consider other artists, Dan was an easy choice.
DS: When can we see you again? We know there’s a third series red army rock come judge dredd magazine – Will there be more? specter?
Jevon: I’m not sure Spector. No plans yet, but never say never. Currently, as I said, I’m working on the sequel machine rules. What happens next? I have a few ideas floating around in my head, but nothing concrete so far, so please leave suggestions on a postcard…
Night Shadow will log in Combat Moves #2 On sale October 2 (UK) / October 30 (US) — Preview: JUL241988
entire Judge Dredd: The Machine Rules The saga (serialized in progs 2392-2398) is now available in print and digital editions directly from the 2000 AD online store. For PREVIEWS comic shop order requests Prog Pack reference MAY241895 (Progs 2390-2393, available now) and JUN241946 (Progs 2394-2397, shipped October 2) and JUL241987 (Progs #2398 – shipped October 2) and JUL241987 (Progs #2398-23401)
red army rock Coming soon to “Special Police Judge” magazine. and all collected Spector: Integrity The series will be released on April 23, 2025
