2000ad-cm-2017-poster-largeThe Cartoon Museum, London

The 2000AD 40th birthday celebrations continue with a fine selection of original comic book artwork at London’s Cartoon Museum, allowing you to get up close and personal with the pen and ink creations of the some of the galaxy’s finest art droids.

For those who turn their nose up at comic books, considering that the action-packed panels are nothing more than disposable matter for the masses, I invite them to pore over the super-sized, framed creations on the walls of the 2000AD exhibition. And size is the first thing that strikes you when you look at the artists’ work at nearly twice the dimensions of the final printed material. Brian (The Killing Joke) Bolland’s work on Judge Death Lives has always been a favourite of mine, so to see the original is a rare treat indeed. And that experience includes looking at the faint pencil lines beneath, the brush strokes within the blocks of black, the corrections, the glued-on speech bubbles and the annotations.

img_3595Grouped thematically by comic character rather than artist, the exhibition is a collection of around 90 pieces, predominantly from the 70s and 80s, though spanning the magazine’s 40-year run. It’s a delight to spot early work by the likes of Dave Gibbons and the afore-mentioned Bolland before they were courted by DC. While each artist has their own distinct style, being able to inspect their work at close quarters also lets you appreciate their different techniques and the nuances of pen and ink, ink on paper, watercolour, acrylic paint on board and letratone. Even the sight of the ‘Thrill’ icons pasted onto onto the corner of the pages gives a giddy thrill.

Judge Dredd is of course 2000AD’s most popular character and is showcased with artwork by Bolland (including The Day the Law Died), Mick McMahon (Judge Child), Ron Smith (there’s one of the newspaper Daily Dredds)

Elsewhere there are sections on Dan Dare, Robo-Hunter, Slaine, Halo Jones, Strontium Dog, Nemesis, Nickolai Dante and more. Even Judge Anderson gets her own section, with 10 pages from Fraser Irving, John Higgins, Cliff Robinson and Brett Ewins, as well as the Four Dark Judges by Kevin Walker and David Roach from A Dream of Death.

img_3593Personal highlights were Carlos Ezquerra’s James Coburn-like Stainless Steel Rat and Strontium Dog from Starlord #1, Ron Smith’s Blood of Satanus, Brendan McCarthy’s The Walking Dredd, Steve Dillon’s City of the Damned and Colin MacNeil’s America. And that’s before I mention Kevin O’Neill, Henry Flint, Redondo, Charlie Adlard, Glenn Fabry, Simon Bisley, Cam Kennedy…

In between the stands are glass cabinets of 2000AD curios, holding merchandise, annuals, comics, megazines, fanzines and props.

Verdict: This exhibition can’t even hope to include everyone’s favourites; lot of the original artwork no longer exists, is in the hands of collectors who don’t want to loan it or there’s not enough room to display it all. But all major characters are covered and there’s pieces from most of the top artists. But take care if you get too close your childhood favourites – you might experience a Thrill-Power Overload. 8/10

Nick Joy

img_3587Visit http://www.cartoonmuseum.org for more details. Running Tuesdays to Sundays until 23 April 2017.