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Jun 30, 2023

Archivos del creador de 2000 AD

31 de agosto de 2023 2000 AD te trae las mejores historias y arte de la galaxia en cuentos emocionantes cada semana, pero ¿quiénes son los droides detrás de estos cuentos? Bueno, cada mes nos sentaremos con

31st August 2023

2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest stories and art in thrill-powered tales every single week – but who are the droids behind these tales? Well, each month, we’ll sit down with one of the creators who’ve been responsible for keeping the thrill-power set to maximum to get those answers – this is the 2000 AD Creator Files!

We’ll tell you more about the artists and writers who keep the Prog and the Judge Dredd Megazine a Thrill-full read! For over 45 years, 2000 AD has been bringing you the best new talent out there and now we’re talking to one of the breakthrough Judge Dredd artists of the last few years… Jake Lynch.

It might seem to many that Jake Lynch has been an art droid for the longest time. But he actually only really broke through into Tharg’s workshop for droids in 2014, so it’s been less than a decade giving us great art and establishing himself as one of those rarest of things, a modern-day great Dredd artist.

So, if you’re ready, strap yourselves in for another Creator Files – and this one’s a long one. Grab a drink of your choice and settle down for a while. It’s long, but it’s damn good reading.

Okay then, are you’re sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin…

Jake Lynch, welcome to the Creator Files. How are you?

JAKE LYNCH: I’m good thanks. A little nervous, this will be my first deep probing and I understand you to be very thorough Droid.

Let’s go right back to the beginning – where were you born, what was childhood like, and what did comics mean to you when you were young?

JL: I was born around London but we left when I was 4 and moved to the county of Norfolk, which I’ve always considered home despite what locals tell me. I’m a complete bumpkin.

The first part of my childhood was wonderful, though I think I may have been a bit of a weird kid and often wonder if I caused any concern. Very introverted and socially awkward (I hated crowds and noise) and, if I’m honest, a bit of a ‘mummy’s boy’. But that was fine, we lived in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields, a river and trees. A very traditional upbringing I guess. In those days, dads were for discipline and Mums were for everything else – I was very happy.

Sadly, that all changed on my 13th birthday when my mum died from breast cancer. She had been ill for a few years but unfortunately, in order to protect us children, we never knew how ill. A few years after that we had also lost our home. It was one of those turning points when you came to realise that all the ‘pillars’ of your world, the foundations you always considered ‘solid’, were really only ever a push away from collapsing inward. Which is exactly what I spent the next 10-15 years of my life doing.

So, a brilliant childhood and a bit of a shitty youth. I genuinely believe I was made stronger by it, but it took years of tempering to get there.

Jake, you have our sympathies for the loss of your mom at such a young age. It’s a horrible thing to happen to you or anyone. But let’s use this moment to remind anyone reading this to get yourselves checked regularly. And if you have a bit of spare change, support some cancer charities such as Cancer Research UK and Worldwide Cancer Research. Oh, and Fuck Cancer.

What were you reading at an early age and where did it come from?

JL: I was lucky enough to have parents who encouraged me to read comics too. My dad was a huge fan of things like Asterix, so we grew up reading them, also, assorted super-hero comics, Batman, Spider-Man, which I enjoyed but never sucked me in. Yes, MAD Magazine, Beano and the like. Our own first proper foray into comics was Look-In, all about the TV shows of the time.

I was 5 when the first Star Wars came out and it changed my life, but it was a number of years after that when my brother came home with our first copy of 2000 AD. It became an obsession of mine, keying into that Star Wars stuff that was flying about my brain. I simply didn’t know that such a thing existed.

Every weekend my brother and I would have to take turns over who would read it first. Once that drama was over, the Prog would disappear and we would have to find where dad had taken it. 2000 AD worked on so many levels – we were all reading it.

After all that awful stuff happened, we had become really quite poor*, but despite this, 2000 AD was the one thing my dad would make sure we had every week and with the whirlwind that seemed to constantly blow across our lives in those early days, it became a real rock for me. A ‘constant’ to disappear into every week. I think it did for a lot of people.

*I still have a photocopy of a cheque for £17.89 on my studio wall. My father, who had a rather dark sense of humour, made it back in the day. It was once all the money we had in the world and is a constant reminder to me about appreciating what you have.

And here’s that cheque, thanks to Jake for sending it over…

Well, I’ve used one of the few messages to Tharg that I’m allowed to send every year to check about this and he’s come back to tell me that your brother and especially your dad are both officially Krill Tro Thargo. Absolute stars the pair of them.

Okay then, so that was how you got into 2000 AD, but when was it? What Prog number if you remember?

JL: I think the first Prog would have been early 300’s. I think we caught the end of Trapper Hag then into Star Born Thing. I was hooked from the start, I think it was all the different stories. I remember great big connections being made in my brain when I understood a Time Twister or Future Shock, but Dredd was always king closely followed by Rogue Trooper and Strontium Dog.

The next few years were spent collecting everything we could get hold of, filling in the blanks of what had happened before.

And as an artist who I think we can all agree is very much one of the great modern Dredd artists, what was your introduction to Dredd? What particular tales made you a fan? What artists on Dredd really made you sit up and think that this was sheer brilliance?

JL: That’s incredibly kind of you. That’s not something I feel.

Of course you don’t – no art droid we’ve ever talked to thinks they’re any good. It just seems to be part of the artistic mindset!

JL: I love that I have a job that I constantly learn from and get to go on adventures with my childhood hero.

There are far too many artists to name and I fear I will miss a load out now. As a very young reader it was artists like Brian Bolland, Ron Smith, Dave Gibbons, Brett Ewins. Then my tastes grew into the likes of the mighty Mike McMahon, Kev O’Neill, Brendan McCarthy, Carlos Ezquerra. Soon the latter started overtaking the former for me. 2000 AD had always embraced different styles. Indeed, the freedom we are allowed works, I believe, as one of its many strengths. I’ve loved them all and still do. An extra special mention to Cam Kennedy too, who straddled both camps for me and whose artwork has always appeared effortlessly fluid.

I could keep just throwing out names here, but I won’t. You all know them already, you read them too!

Were you an artist from a young age? What path did that take you on and were your parents encouraging of your talents?

JL: Apparently so but you don’t really think about it at the time. My Grandfather was both a painter and commercial artist. My mother was very creative. My father couldn’t draw for toffee but worked in advertising in the ’60s (a real ‘madman’) and I grew up being visited by loads of creative people.

I guess I never considered myself any good by comparison to all these people and their stories. But my parents were always encouraging, allowing me to do loads of 2000 AD-related murals on my bedroom walls.

I had loads of teachers tell me I had some ability right from primary school, but when you are in it, you can’t see it yourself. I only knew I loved to draw.

On a side note, I ended up playing in a band with one of my old secondary school art teachers many years after leaving and we became good friends, even though it took me a long time to stop calling him Mr Lawson instead of just John. They could all play – I sucked and like to think I dragged them all down to my level.

If I’m right, you went on to art college to study media with the hopes of becoming a storyboard artist? Where did the inspiration for that come from and why did you not pursue a career in comics from this point?

JL: Wow, you have done your research! Is it you I hear in the bushes late at night?

Ooops, busted. But then again, if I don’t do my research, I’ll have Tharg to answer to!

JL: Yes, I studied Media. It was a very new course at the time and in retrospect was not the right one for me. I don’t think I knew what I wanted to be, but did know you were supposed to go on to college. Yes, storyboarding was something that interested me a great deal. Indeed, I have done a little since then and would always be keen to do more. I also didn’t know you could get a job in comics let alone how to go about it at the time!

Due to the earlier events, school/education was not a particularly happy time for me. I was a bit of a ‘grey-man’ just trying to get through it, hanging out in the background. I was obliged to change schools midway through secondary education and didn’t really come out of my shell so to speak.

JL: Similarly, with art I didn’t know what it was good for. The idea that you could have a job drawing pictures seemed so far out of reach to an introverted, grieving kid living in Norfolk. I ended up dropping out of college. Looking back, I truly wish I had stuck it out. I had been approached by the Fine Arts course leaders who had seen my life drawing and wanted me to transfer, but by then it was too late. There are too few times in life where you can purely pursue your interests and I just blew my opportunity.

My dad was NOT best pleased…

Suffice it to say, the upshot was (roll of thunder) I was going to have to get a job (‘ulp)!

Yep, this would be your ‘wilderness years’ where you were out of comics, out of art, and working other jobs to make money. Where did this take you?

JL: I’ve done loads of different jobs, my first proper one was making UPVC windows, then became a glazer for the same company. That company eventually closed down (possibly due to the low-quality glazing work and manufacture) and I took my redundancy and paid for a crash course driving test which I passed. Now no one was safe. I once crashed and totalled two cars in as many weeks.

My dad was not best pleased… again!

I lived in a village called Great Ryburgh then. And it had a Wine Rack Factory which was where I ended up next. This tiny place received the Queens Award for Export while I worked there. I remember this guy with more medals than chest presenting the award while we all drank really, really cheap wine that made the glands in my neck scream. I started on the line there and ended up a power press operator, running the machines that punched the metals. I think it may have closed down since then as, it turns out, the world only had need for so many wine racks (and possibly historic power press management issues).

From there it was onto Blockbuster Video in my local market town of Fakenham. Ah, Fakenham, once voted the most boring place to live in England. Local legend had it that it was named by the Romans as they were attempting to conquer the Iceni and Britain on the whole. The story goes that, as the Romans were passing by, they saw the locals scrabbling in the mud and said, ‘F*ck ‘em’, and the name stuck.

Looking back, Blockbuster was one of my favourite jobs. I’ve always loved film and I had loads of fun, I also met an extraordinary bloke called Kris Mallett who worked alongside me. If you remind me I’ll tell you a great story about this guy later.

Whatever happened to Blockbuster video? Oh yeah, sorry about that. This was the first large corporation I brought down with my reverse Midas touch.

Yes, I was going to mention that – you really did manage to bring down every company you worked for didn’t you?

JL: Dotted throughout this time were both short and long periods of labouring on building sites. My old gaffer was not someone you should have been downwind of first thing in the morning and on too many occasions I was caught in the hurricane when I was obliged to hold his ladder.

This building experience ended up with me in France. Labouring on renovation sites, which was one of the best times of my life. Living in tents or caravans, eating awesome food in the local restaurants or cooking great steaks over a fire. I remember getting so drunk with one of the locals in the pouring rain. We ended back at his place drinking his ‘moonshine’ Eau-Du-Vie and playing boules, getting drenched. I was so hungover the next day, we returned to the Bar Tabac, where we had started the previous night, for coffee. The barman was clearing up the slops from the night before and he put them in a glass in front of me as a joke. We laughed then people started crowding round me. Then the local Mayor came in and I was basically peer pressured by the village into drinking it.

It was time to leave. Though it appears that anywhere I have worked soon shuts down, at this point I should say that I am NOT responsible for Brexit. I bloody loved it over there and can’t believe where we are now.

I have done other stuff but perhaps I’ll table that for later as it’ll tie in with freelancing and falling flat on my face.

Were you drawing during this time or had you put down the pens and brushes for good at this point?

JL: I was drawing on and off during this time. I remember quite clearly, after dropping out of college, making a conscious decision to stop drawing, I just couldn’t see the point of it in the ‘real world’. But I came back to it during my Blockbuster years. I was actually pretty good before I stopped and picking it back up came with the realisation that I had forgotten everything. I think this was a real trend for me in my late teens and 20’s. I was still very broken over my mum and every birthday stung like a bitch. I think it did for all of my family – my father could never remember my birthday, he had just erased the whole date from memory, they were really effing awful times.

Looking back it feels a little like I may have been self-sabotaging, but maybe I’ve over-thought it, but failing to move forward or commit was a real trend for me back then.

Though I still didn’t have much of a clue of how to get into comics the idea was becoming more and more appealing. I had access to a Fax Machine (!) and cheekily one night sent a fax to the ‘Nerve Centre’ with a very (VERY) dodgy Dredd pic on it. To my surprise I got a tryout Script in the post a few weeks later. It was the first clue about how to break in. This was during Dave Bishop’s tenure and is some indicator of how slowly the gears turn for me – the script was for Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future which was being produced to tie in with the Stallone Judge Dredd film, so guess that would have been around the mid ’90s and made me very early 20s

There came a point a few years later where I felt I had truly blown it and quit drawing (I thought) for good, but that’s another story…

Now, we’re towards the end of the 1990s here and you’re back in comics with the Judge Dredd fanzine Class of ’79.

That first Class of ’79 fanzine came out in 1998? 1999? There’s no definitive date I can see online – Rufus Dayglo’s cover art is dated ’98. That was one of the first of the 2000 AD fanzines – Dogbreath, the Strontium Dog fanzine, came out in 1997. And I’m not sure if there were more that came out before that?

JL: I’m not sure either. I think we were the first, I seem to remember that being said at the time, but, like Rufus, I can’t really remember. Perhaps it was the first Dredd Fanzine maybe? I do remember it being a great fun time though. I also did a cover for Dogbreath and a strip for Zarjaz many years later I think.

Class of ’79 was something that ended up being rather important in terms of the talent involved, many of whom would go on to feature at 2000 AD. Rufus Dayglo, Henry Flint, PJ Holden, Boo Cook, Gary Simpson, plus the late, much missed incendiary talent that was John Hicklenton – although he’d already been published in 2000 AD by then and was in the midst of his phenomenal Nemesis run at the time if I’m right. Similarly Henry had already had some work in 2000 AD at this stage.

And of course – you were there as well.

JL: Ha, yeah, very much in the background to these talents! But, yes, It does blow my mind how many came through and went on to 2000 AD from Class of ’79 in its VERY short run. Henry was already a mainstay but reached out to us to see if he could do something. Stew somehow talked him into drawing a strip.

Yes, Stew – Stewart Perkins, who put it all together and published the two A4 issues, writing as WR Logan. A lifelong 2000 AD fan, he later worked at the comic’s archives and served as an advisor to John Wagner on all things Dredd. And he’s of course immortalised by Wagner as Judge Logan – now Chief Judge Logan.

So, Class of ’79. How did you get involved and what work did you have in there?

JL: I met Stewart through mutual friend. Stew lived in Norfolk too, out Diss way. I mentioned that we were quite poor and that meant I couldn’t afford to go or stay at comic conventions, so my first meeting with Stew was him coming round my house and taking my portfolio to show on my behalf. I think he sort of took me under his wing.

Stew was ex-Army, very confident and friendly and me being a still quite introverted and insecure individual, we became good friends. He returned with tryouts from Wizards of the Coast and 2000 AD.

Stew and I were also involved with another Dredd Fanzine that he became increasingly frustrated with as he felt nothing was ever happening. He decided he would do it himself and dragged me along with him.

Grainne Forde, Rufus Dayglo and PJ Holden and myself became like the hub of it with Stewart at the head, driving it forward, it soon came together, pulling in so many others as it went.

JL: Andy Diggle had become the assistant editor at 2000 AD at the time and he became a great supporter of us.

Stew and I met John Wagner at the same time at a very small convention (where escapes me). We kipped the night in Stew’s car and were chased off by a caretaker first thing in the morning, when John was guesting. I’ve only ever known John to be a really decent human being. I’ve read all the stories of his ‘straight talking’, but to me he was always incredibly supportive and was really pushing for me to get picked up by 2000 AD.

Were you in there as just a writer (JUST a writer – oh the script droids will love that one!) or did you have any art in there at that point?

JL: I did a lot of the promotional stuff, advertising posters, layout bits and questionnaire kind of things etc. When Rufus came in and stumped up half the print money, a lot of my stuff was dropped. I was going to do both of the covers originally for example. Not a criticism in the least. My art was not strong enough and Rufus’s was simply miles better, it was quite obvious that he was going on to greater things.

I was originally going to do the Harry Heston strip but I asked Stew to see if Henry would be up for it – you just don’t look a gift horse in the mouth!

Ah, yes, Harry Heston – the creation of you and Stewart, with Henry Flint on art – an ape judge that you’ve since managed to work into Dredd canon. We’ll get onto that in a moment.

What were the thoughts of those involved about the creation of the fanzine and the playing in the 2000 AD sandpit?

JL: Part of reaching out to Andy Diggle was to make sure that we could play in the sandpit in the first place and the legal wording stuff. That’s how Andy became one of our supporters. I think we sent him a questionnaire along with our enquiries so he could get a flavour of what we were trying for. The idea was it was a sort of Academy of Law application with joke questions as well as more pertinent ones. I remember there was a blank space that ‘Psi Division’ had supposedly imprinted a psychic image on, with a question of what you saw. Andy wrote that he saw ‘a dog with its head split open’, so we knew we were going to get along fine.

JL: The approach we were taking was to make ’79 a homage to 2000 AD. The Editor would be fictional – WR ‘Whitey’ LOGAN was the first perp Dredd arrested in Prog 2. This also meant we would need a ‘flagship’ character and that really stumped us for a very long time. Heston popped into my head, I’m proud to say, in the bath. I remember a massive grin spreading across my face and I called Stew and told him not to worry but didn’t tell him any more.

We arranged to meet and I still wouldn’t tell him until we had a couple of pints, down one of his locals in the village of Scole.

The story I pitched was VERY different to the superior one that was printed, but we did agree on the character and we named him together – (Dirty) HARRY (Charlton) HESTON.

I think it may be worth mentioning the mighty Gary Simpson who was approached to write the scripts. They were great but Stew said he was obsessed with killing Harry at the end of each one and seemed to ignore any suggestion otherwise! Stew rewrote his first script and I rewrote the second. I don’t know about Stew, but I only lifted two lines from the second (sorry, Gary), but I had a plan that the next strip was going to be a riff on The Cursed Earth Dredd epic.

I wrote the third script but it sits on a hard drive somewhere these days. I remember it had a massive nod to the Burger Wars in it and cannibalism, with one of the crew realising what he had eaten and throwing up. The strip would end with Harry writing in his journal, ‘Sometimes the human race makes you sick’ – BOOM, BOOM (you’re welcome)!

After ’79 ended, I remember saying to Stewart that I would get Heston to crossover somehow. Bearing in mind that I had no foothold into that world I think Stew regarded me as a bit of a dreamer at the time and in truth, with no more ‘79 we were drifting apart.

With Class of ’79, were you doing this thinking it would be a way into 2000 AD as an art droid or was it simply another case of scratching that particular itch to make art?

JL: I think I was. John was rooting for me, and there seemed to be a sort of wave I was riding. I remember I did pencils on a tryout for the Dredd Sex Dolls script, before I knew Andy and he had picked me out of the pile and was pushing me to ink it up.

The problem was, deep down, I had a growing suspicion that I wasn’t very good. I could do a fair Dredd, but I felt I couldn’t do anything else. I think ultimately and after countless tryouts, Andy felt the same.

I remember receiving a large envelope from Andy some time later. There was no note inside just a few pieces of artwork that I had gifted him over time. The wave had crashed and I had wiped out. I knew the ride was over and I didn’t have a bloody clue what to do with the rest of my life – that was the next time I quit drawing.

No one to blame but myself and my inability to see things through again. But I will never forget that sickening feeling in my stomach as I opened that envelope as I walked back from the Post Office.

Oh bloody hell, Jake. You really did come through the hard way, didn’t you?

As far as Class of ’79 and the other great 2000 AD fanzines, including Dogbreath, Zarjaz, and others, what are your thoughts on them?

JL: I think they are great, ALL fanzines are. They are places to cut your teeth, meet like-minded people, and are just a lot of fun. I have no regrets other than losing contact with Stewart over the period after.

And how important is it that 2000 AD, both then and now, through various owners, have always seemed to have taken a hands-off approach to these works using their characters and properties?

JL: It would have been so easy, of course, for 2000 AD to simply say no, not allowed, not with our characters. Instead, over the years, they’ve allowed them to use the characters, even gently promoted them, seen them as something of a proving ground almost.

I think it’s very important to allow a degree of freedom. Imagine having a bunch of people who love something so much that they want to show the world and then telling them no. As long as they are not taking the mick, why not, what’s to lose?

But at some point you did come back to art – when was this and how did it happen? It was the odd bit of freelancing, wasn’t it?

JL: Well, as I mentioned, through my own ineptitude, I was cut loose with no idea what I was going to do. This started a long period of just sort of wandering about, cleaning work, bar work, and eventually I ended up in care work. I walked past a random care home one day and just walked in. With a bit of training, I took to it quite well and ended up becoming a Senior (running shifts and dispensing medicines sort of thing). Basically rich, private companies give you a couple of extra quid for a massive increase in responsibility. I don’t think I ever made a grand a month despite working full time. But slowly I started finding my feet and it looked like a new direction was opening up for me.

At the same time I met a guy called Paul Bennett who was a local web designer and he ended up introducing me to Photoshop. This was a ‘lightbulb’ moment for me and started my journey back to art.

Also, Senioring also meant I met loads of other healthcare officials and I got a call one day from a district nurse asking me if I would consider applying for a community based palliative care team that was being put together. At the time I didn’t even know what that was, but I had moved on to a not so great care home so there was no stopping me.

Joining the NHS, after private health care, was a revelation to me and for the next 10 to 12 years I was all in. It was the final piece of my puzzle too. I grew up, I put all my old hang ups behind me and learned what seeing things through truly meant. I worked mainly under the district nursing teams (you should see me do a two layer leg bandage, get blood out of an arm or perform CPR), I also did a stint in psychiatrics with children with severe behavioural difficulties. But I didn’t really enjoy it. I found it too step backish whereas I was used to, by this time, pushing forwards. But my main role was in palliative care, supporting patients who chose to die at home and their families through to the other side of it. The DN’s would identify patients they felt were imminent and my team would go in. It was a great honour.

I also started becoming quite proficient with Photoshop and I started feeling that old urge…

It started slowly. My drawing was rubbish, completely blown, but I could manipulate pixels pretty well. Which led me down the path of small bits of graphic design, advertising leaflets, promotional bumf and even Christmas cards for local businesses. Every job was a reinforcing that I could finish things.

Was it simply the fact that making art was the itch you just had to scratch?

JL: Yes, certainly something was happening. The drawing part of it grew sort of organically, having to do little touch-ups on these images as part of a job, blending stuff together.

And were there any thoughts at this point of making comics?

No, not really, I was sort of finding my place and comics were not part of that. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I have a 10 year period of not reading 2000 AD, it wasn’t part of the plan anymore. I was spreading my wings though. I can’t remember which website I used, but you could pick up storyboarding work. Sometimes paid but often not, the work was for producers to secure funding. This semi-professional period saw me getting ripped off left, right and centre, but you do learn very quickly that there are many people out there who, when wanting work, will say anything and deliver absolutely nothing.

But I was also learning.

With so many of the artists in Class of ’79, their move to the Prog came quite swiftly. For example, PJ Holden and Boo Cook got their first 2000 AD jobs in 2000, pretty much right after Class of ’79. But you – well, let’s just say you took a little while to move from Class of ’79 to 2000 AD, with your first work at 2000 AD, a StarScan, coming in 2012.

So, what the hell took you so long? Why that decade plus between Class of ’79 and the move to 2000 AD? What were you doing in that time? Were you still freelancing at that point? Working day jobs?

JL: Ha, Ha, yes indeed. Hopefully you can see why now. I was seriously in love with the NHS and was going to retrain as a nurse, but time was moving on and the service was changing.

Seeing what has been done to the NHS by this Government breaks my heart. I saw the start of that first hand. Each year, another bit was shaved off the wheel until it no longer turned as intended. There was a real push toward bureaucracy too. If to a hammer every problem looks like a nail, to a politician, every problem must look like paperwork and, along with all our duties, we had to start collecting stats. The Affordable Health and Care Act had also essentially privatised the service whilst making it look like record sums are still going in and keeping private the amount that is being bled out. Private business only goes for easy profit so services such as palliative suffer and I was becoming increasingly unhappy as more time went on. As I say, it was heart breaking.

Sorry, rant over…

No need to apologise. One of Britain’s finest achievements that’s being destroyed through government neglect and profiteering, it’s a disgrace what has happened to the NHS.

JL: I was doing work on the side. In fact it had gotten to the point where every job I went for I was being offered. I had also started sending stuff into 2000 AD again and was re-learning how to draw comics. I had forgotten so much and was rejected so many times. But I didn’t mind, I was an Art School dropout and I was receiving an education from an industry professional and all it cost me was the price of a stamp.

And what was it that made you change your mind? Again, I’ve seen you say it was the Karl Urban Dredd movie that put a fire under your ass?

JL: Yeah, that was pretty much it for me. I had heard there was a film that was going to be made and, keeping in mind I hadn’t read any Dredd for a very long time and being quite curious, I joined the 2000 AD Forum to see if I could glean any info. I had never been on one of these sites before and still consider myself to be a novice of this and social media generally. To be honest, I remember asking someone to explain what TBH meant.

Anyway, I came across a Dredd poster competition amongst the boarders there and thought I’d give it a go. To my surprise I won and I included the pic in some samples which is how Matt saw it. From that point, I made myself a deal. I would give it one last go but, were I not commissioned before the Dredd film came out then that was it (yeah sure).

So, you were pretty busy pitching to 2000 AD and getting rejected – what sort of responses were you getting from Tharg and his Earthly representative Matt at this point? And how did you respond to them?

JL: If I have any super-power at all it is the ability to get knocked down then get up, rejection has never bothered me. I think the young, broken, introverted, youth me just assumed that taking a beating was always just a starting point. It’s one of the reasons, in many respects, I feel so much stronger for my past. People who achieve success without setback tend to fall apart at adversity or failure, in my experience. I don’t seek it but when it’s in my face I eat it for breakfast!

I also cultivated a new attitude. I knew I wanted to do something creative or be around creativity. In many respects, due to my history, so much of my life had been about death and it had also become my job. I had, by that point, seen so much of it. I have no issues with it, but it was time to put a line under it, and make life about living.

So I said to myself, what do you want to be? – Comic or Storyboard Artist.Chance of that happening, you Norfolk Bumkin? – Slim.Okay, would you be happy being say a picture framer, you know, surrounded by art? – Yes, I think I would.Okay, working in an art museum, as a cleaner or incompetent security guard for example? – Yes, that could be fine.You do know you’re talking to yourself right? – I’m not, you are!

So I compromised and I realised there could be so many opportunities that moved me in a happier direction even if not the intended goal. I’m sure that sounds pretty obvious to you, but try to remember that I am and will always be, an idiot.

Right then, on to 2012 and your very first work in the Prog. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a Future Shock, not yet. You’d have to wait nearly two more years for that. Instead, it was a StarScan in 2012’s Prog 1771.

How did it come about and was it one of those ‘Oh my God, finally!’ moments combined with a dream come true feeling? Or did you have the feeling that this was just a first step and that you really had to work hard now to get in there with the art on a strip?

JL: Yes, as it happened it turned out to be that poster that Matt had seen in my samples, but I still hadn’t cracked strip work and that was what I wanted.

In Matt’s many, many rejection letters, there would always be a little nugget of information that, in my arrogance, I would ignore. Then, on one occasion I actually tried listening to the advice and my drawing instantly improved (thanks, Matt).

I sent off this next try-out with similarly low expectations.

I had also gone for another gig at this time on that website and was offered a huge job from it. I was still working full time and I knew that, if I took it, I would have to quit my job. True to form I bottled it and turned it down, I was too scared to go without the security of a job. My father used to say, never take any step forward that you don’t know how to step back from, and this, for me, was one of those moments. He also once said this, ‘Revenge is a PIE best served cold’, but he did drink a lot.

So I was kicking myself, for all my fine thoughts I had again blown it. A couple of weeks later I got a letter from Matt offering me a future commission.

I was in…

The first strip, like so many, was a four-page Future Shock, Dying Wishes, written by another relative newcomer to 2000 AD, Eddie Robson, in Prog 1862 in 2014. So, what was your feeling when you finally got the yes from Matt?

JL: I remember the first feeling was astounded excitement. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me!

I was on a late shift that day and I slipped the letter to the back of my clipboard where I kept my health service paperwork, so I could look at it again from time to time.

When the script finally dropped, the next thing I felt was anxiety. Would I really be able to do it? I am well aware of many of my limitations and that could have easily been exposed right there but, as I read it I thought, hey, I can do this.

One of my biggest weaknesses throughout my past was my inability to see things through, to finish the job and it was something I had consciously worked on, but this was the real test of that time. By complete coincidence, I also had a week off work when the script dropped.

In did it in 5 days I think.

Did you imagine at that point that a career was happening, that you could make a go of it with 2000 AD?

JL: Like anything, you would like it to be so, but experience had taught me to never assume, so I never did. Even to this day I don’t consider myself with my feet under the table.

In those days I said I had a foot in the door, but there was a long hallway I’d have to travel down first before I even entered room where everyone was. These days I’m standing in the back of that room, pretending to look at the decor, hoping no-one will notice me, just as I would at a real party!

Looking back at the art of Dying Wishes – yes, I know it may be difficult, artists never liking to go back to early days and all that – but what do you think of it now?

It’s light years away from the art you’re doing now for sure, but there’s definitely elements in there that you’ve taken through your art as the years rolled on. How would you describe it now? Has your line changed all that much, are you inking differently? I think it’s way more static than your work has become, although there’s definitely a good storytelling flow to your art even at this stage. And your tendency to use interstitial panels in between images is there at this earliest of pieces.

But the whole point of Future Shocks at 2000 AD is to get artists onboard early in their career, it’s all about seeing them learning their craft in the full gaze of the readers.

JL: I haven’t looked at it since doing it. I don’t look back at any stuff generally. I suspect I did it the best that I could, but my attitude has always been, the best piece in the next piece and I still live by that. Love the work you do intensely but as soon as it’s done forget about it and move onto the next. The only time I review stuff is just before I send it all in.

Since I now have longer runs on stories and often they call back to events from past strips, that’s the only time I look things up. The setup I have now just automatically backs everything I do up so it doesn’t even sit on my computer for very long. Once it’s done it’s gone.

It’s all about forward momentum for me. Something’s not working, got a problem? Just flow around it and come back. Don’t get hung up on some little thing that’ll drag you down. Always keep pressing forward. Learn from the past but don’t live there. I hope I have improved as a result.

As a little call back for you though, there is a race in Proteus Vex, that I drew from memory, from that first strip, that pops up from time to time, keep an eye out in Vex book 3 especially.

Sorry, that was a rather long winded way of saying I can’t really remember!

Layout on the other hand is one of my true loves and I find it endlessly interesting. It’s the secret art form and I would strongly recommend any aspiring artist pay close attention to it. That being said, I know I can be very guilty of being too flashy with it, but I hope not at the expense of the story. But, as I said before, this job is about constant learning. I hope one day I will get good at it.

I cringe at the thought of all the stuff I have put out there and am so grateful for everyone’s patience…

Now, very early on you got your first cover, on Prog 1895. And it’s a nice one – a great Dredd on Lawmaster.

Since then, you’ve gone on to be a regular cover artist on both the Prog and the Megazine – 21 in all I make it, which I reckon is pretty damn good for nine years of work.

We’ve talked quite a bit about your covers over at Covers Uncovered, but let’s go back to that very first one. What was it like to be handed the keys to the kingdom so early on? A first cover, a first Dredd? And looking back, what do you think of the cover?

JL: If memory serves, I still like that cover and not just because it was my first. I think my colour work was stronger back then. I do (very happily) so much black & white work these last few years, my colour has suffered for it. But I adore black & white, whereas I know I often hide in my colour.

My dad was very proud of me when I got into 2000AD, but he went over the top when I got the cover and bought loads to send to his friends – the silly sod.

It was, like many of my covers, a spec idea I sent to Matt, and marked me learning a little more about how it all worked.

Your dad keeps earning the respect of Tharg!

With your cover work, one thing I have noticed is that Tharg does like you doing Dredds and they’re very often stripped-down Dredds, minimal background, maximum impact, that sort of thing.

It’s something that puts me in mind of several artists who’ve kept things simple and design-led, but I suppose the one who immediately comes to mind is the work of Jock. Is that a deliberate decision on your part or was it simply a case of you did a few and Tharg liked them that way so you tend to go that way more and more?

JL: I don’t try to over-think them. I will have a sort of narrative in my head as I’m doing them but mostly it’s just about trying to make a strong composition. Matt is often quite easy-going but will very occasionally make observations to improve them.

I see a cover as like an invitation to potential readers, so just try to grab their attention.

Going back to the interior work, we’re not going to go through everything you’ve ever done here – as readers will see at the end with the bibliography, there’s an awful lot of work in the last nine years of 2000 AD that you’ve made!

What we’ll do is shift around a little and group various things, starting with Orlok and that writer/artist bromance you have with Arthur Wyatt.

But first, after that first Future Shock, you had a couple more one-off things, a Black Museum and a Sinister Dexter.

JL: A great deal of my memory of those times was panic, feeling very out of my depth. I would particularly like to apologise to fans of Sinister Dexter, I could never find my way into those characters. I knew what I wanted it to be in my head, but I just could not express it. It always felt messy to me.

And then you were suddenly dropped into Dreddworld. Or rather, Dreddworld-adjacent shall we say, with the two Orlok series in 2015, Eurozoned and The Rasputin Caper. These were not only your first multi-parters, not only your first experience of drawing the world of Dredd, but also your first time working with Arthur Wyatt, who’s gone on to become the writer you’ve worked most closely with.

(If you need the stats, of the 34 strips so far, 10 have been with Arthur, 6 with Mike Carroll.)

What’s the attraction for you of working with writers like Arthur and Mike? Or is it more that you have certain polaroids in your possession and they simply can’t say no?

JL: I have a strange quirk (I’m not entering Polaroid territory here!), where I have to have this weird ‘connection’ to a writers script, to kind of ‘feel it’. A script is a funny thing, it isn’t just the mechanics of a story, it’s the way the writer tells it to you as an illustrator. When I was scrabbling around in those early days, I connected very easily with Arthur’s writing style, which was such a relief at the time. I would hint and push to work with him as much as I could back then and still love to work with him to this day.

Often it’ll take me a few goes to get ‘inside’ a script’s style. Mike is a good example of someone that took me a while. I’m currently going through the process with Rob Williams, who is a writer I truly admire. I don’t feel I’ve fully connected with it yet, but I’m confident I will. The flip side are writers like Arthur and Al Ewing and, although I’ve only done one of his stories, Kenneth Neiman, whose writing style is extraordinary and roars out of the page to demand you follow! This feeling is a funny thing to try to put into words which is why I’m not a writer and they are some of the best in the business.

Especially with Arthur, there’s been a through-story to your work together from Orlok in 2015 right through to Regicide in 2022, the Euro crime syndicate tale.

Did you have any inkling back in 2015 that things would go that far, a seven-year epic Dredd tale that you would be involved with?

JL: So yeah, Arthur and I did Orlok together and it was challenging, but so much fun. I’d happily do him again in the same style, which came about as me just try to make it look like something from comics of the time. I know Arthur had planned out a third instalment, and what he told me of it, it was going to be really great, the best of the lot. I’ve mentioned that I don’t look back on stuff but whenever I think about it, I feel very fondly about it.

It is amazing to me how everything spiralled out from there. To have still be drawing the Red Queen after all that time was remarkable. We killed her a year or two ago and it felt a little like the end of an era for me.

JL: Also, toward the end of the second Orlok was around the time that I left the Health Service. I had tried to go part-time, but my new line manager was having none of it. I had been burning the candle at both ends and if I’m honest, I probably jumped a little too soon, but I was knackered and I asked Matt if he would consider to continue to use me, which he kindly said he would.

My final day was sweet. I remember emptying out my car of all my kit and tunics, and handing back my ID Badge and driving away. I am a huge fan of the series ‘Spaced’, and I had deliberately chosen the track ‘The Staunton Lick’ by Lemon Jelly for the car ride home. It was the song played at the end of the second series, when Tim Bisley had fulfilled his ambition of becoming a comic artist, just like me, though I suspect I may have had more in common with Kenny Who? after all that time!

After Orlok, you had your first Dredd inside the pages – although of course you’d done your Dredd version on covers by this point. Your first Dredd strip was with Mike Carroll in the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 2015 and the story Let’s Go To Work.

Now, at this point, what was the feeling of getting a Dredd and what do you think of that first Dredd work from yourself?

JL: I remember feeling very excited about getting my first Dredd. Then, as I did it, the creeping realisation came that I was not ready to do one. Mike is an incredibly supportive gentleman, and he was very kind about it, but nothing could lift my sense of disappointment with it at the time.

I had always wanted to draw Dredd and I genuinely thought I may have blown it and I’d never be invited to do the character again! It was also my first experience of Mike’s scripts and, as mentioned I hadn’t melded with the style then.

I don’t really feel I had found my technique or style back then. I think I only really have in the last few years. So much of this stuff feels very chaotic, like a cheap firework, firing off in every direction then going quiet before extinguishing with a lacklustre puff!

We said we’d circle round to this one again and here we are.

Your Harry Heston tale, again with Arthur Wyatt, again part of the long, complex, involved and rather great Red Queen saga, ran through Monkey Business (Meg 376-377, 2016), Ape Escape (Meg 386, 2017), and Krong Island (Meg 392-395, 2018) and was a call-back to your work with Stewart Perkins and the Class of ’79 fanzine.

We’ve already heard you talk of the creation of Heston, the genetically modified gorilla, an ‘uplift,’ with a love of justice thanks to Dredd’s inspirational text, ‘The Comportment Of A Judge’.

It was Stewart’s dream to see Harry become official 2000 AD canon and that’s something you and Arthur made happen with his appearance in Megazine #376. Sadly, Stewart passed away unexpectedly in May 2016, before the strip was published. But it must have been so satisfying to be able to finally bring back Stewart’s creation?

JL: Class of ’79 had ended and Stewart and I had drifted apart. I had made the ridiculous statement that I’d get Harry to crossover – me the bloke who had burned every bridge on his way to obscurity. But surprisingly that time had come.

I had taken to a new hobby of Matt-bothering, where I would pitch ideas to him and he would patiently explain to me why that particular idea was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.

I’d been holding off on Heston for a while but figured I’d give it a shot. So I put a page together featuring all the times Apes had appeared in Dredd and emailed it over. Still very much thinking of Heston as a Justice Department experiment, he would have been used to police the ‘Meg-illa Burbs’ which was a sprawling shanty town growing outside the City walls, predominantly inhabited by Apes and Muties.

Matt liked the character but pointed out that Justice Department genetic regs would not allow that, but he would consider him as a Jimp (Judge Impersonator).

JL: I had a little think about it and the idea actually started to make a lot of sense. Harry was created in a Fanzine, he was born out of a love for Dredd and in an ‘unofficial’ publication – sounds just like a Jimp to me! My only request was (as with Gary Simpson), you don’t kill him at the end and that was it, he crossed over.

Naturally, I asked for Arthur to write him and he gave him a lot more heart than I ever imagined.

On a slight aside, sometime before all this, when I was still working full time, a couple of my colleagues asked me if I was on Facebook (I wasn’t) and they insisted they sign me up. Within an hour of logging in I received a friend request from Stewart. It wasn’t like the old days, but it was nice to hear from him again. So when Heston crossed I felt honour bound to let him in on it, so I had to pitch it to him too. If he wasn’t happy I think it would have put me in a difficult position, but fortunately he loved the idea.

When I actually started on the strip I sent him the artwork on the sly, as it felt like the decent thing to do, and he was very happy with it.

A short time after that, Arthur sent me a link, which led to a Forum listing saying that Stewart had died. I’m very glad he got to see the artwork, but disappointed that he never saw it in print or got to read the story.

JL: I will always look back fondly on my time with Stew, as an introverted youth, he was a great person to be around. After he was gone and getting to know his then new partner, I wondered how much I really knew him at all but I’ll ALWAYS be very glad that I did.

Anyway, back to Harry, the cast has expanded over time too. Just like Dredd he now has an evil twin, Serpico, who has gone off to have a few adventures of his own interweaving with the Red Queen’s crime organisation also.

Arthur and I were talking about Harry the other day actually. Arthur has another adventure for him and I hope he will up for another adventure soon.

Again, jumping around the timeline of your bibliography a little…

You’ve talked about the Red Queen saga a lot already in connection to Orlok and Harry Heston. After the Harry Heston tales, the work with Arthur continued into The Red Queen saga with The Red Prince Diaries (Meg 404, 2019), The Red Queen’s Gambit (Meg 409-412, 2019), Grand Theft Royale (Meg 423, 2020), The Hard Way (Prog 2250-2255, 2021 – with Rob Williams), Regicide (Meg 445-446, 2022), and Sentinoid’s Big Idea (Prog 2297-2299, 2022, that one by Rob alone).

It brings together all the threads introduced in the Orlok and Harry Heston tales so wonderfully well and it’s really your and Arthur’s big contribution to Dredd (so far), carving out your own little area in Dreddworld.

JL: I remember very clearly designing the Red Queen. One of the funny things about my job is you should have a visual interest in as much as you can. She highlighted my complete disinterest in fashion and hairstyles and became a real growing moment for me. Her hairstyle came courtesy of Google and was something from some Film Noir – I loved it because it looked like an octopus!

I was so pleased when I saw her make a comeback and, as mentioned, her death was the end of an era for me. It does blow me away how long I’ve worked on her.

HAVN was your first creator credit for 2000 AD, back in 2017. Set in Nu-Iceland, 2139 AD, you and Si Spencer gave us a very different bit of Dreddworld.

You did the first two episodes with Henry Flint coming on for episodes three to six. What happened that you had to give way to Henry, and were you happy with HAVN or is it something of a missed opportunity for you?

JL: HAVN came toward the end of a difficult time for me. My father had become very ill and both my Brother and I had moved back to look after him. My brother would take the role of main carer and would look after him Monday to Thursday and I would take Friday to Sunday and work on those other days. It was exhausting. I would put dad to bed around 11pm on Sunday, go up and work for a few hours before going to bed, waking before 6am, doing the weeks shopping, before coming home and starting work. I’d then take a nap around 6pm for a couple of hours then start work again for another 9-10 hours. Then repeat. Fortunately, I only had to do the shopping once a week!

That was it for about two and a half years. Dad passed away just as I was starting the third episode but, as you say, Henry took over and instantly made me look like an amateur!

I, on the other hand, was beyond exhausted. So my memory of that strip, with apologies to all involved, is incredibly fuzzy. I do remember my croaking voice when I talked to a shop assistant around this time. I had been so locked away working that I hadn’t uttered a single word to anyone for 4 days and my voice was straining.

JL: On a couple of slight asides, if you would endure me. Did you know that the longest period I have ever worked at the drawing board was 28 hours? This wasn’t then, but thought I’d throw that out there.

My father was a very hard man. After his work in advertising, he got his Captain’s certificate, bought a boat, aimed it at the West Indies and set sail. He had some remarkable adventures out there which included fighting pirates who boarded his boat, threatening and holding my mother hostage. He didn’t suffer fools gladly. He drank and smoked hard and at times was not someone you wanted to get on the wrong side of. He dragged two traumatised children back from poverty after they lost their mum and when things were bad, it should be remembered he did it all while dealing with his own grief. Years and years of fighting to get our head above water and he did it.

The greatest tragedy was he didn’t die spitting in the face of someone dangling him off a cliff, but pretty much bed bound in a hospital bed at home in Norfolk. When he went, we were both with him and able to say thank you and how much we loved him.

It’s always a good thing to be able to say you said goodbye and thank you to loved ones. Again, our sympathies are with you there Jake.

Speaking of Henry Flint, you’ve taken on two of the Flint droids creations recently – Zombo and Proteus Vex.

JL: I’ve actually taken three of Henry’s strips. The first was outside of 2000 AD but within another Rebellion publication – Action, a strip that Henry had written himself called Hell Machine.

Well, so much for the excellent research – Tharg’s gonna be knocking at the door any moment, I can feel the anger from here! And especially since I interviewed you and Henry about that one! Oh dear.

JL: Sorry! With Hell Machine, I got an email from Keith Richardson over at Rebellion asking if he could give me a call. This was unusual and in my usual spiralling thought patterns I thought perhaps this is how Rebellion fired you, you know, give it the personal touch!

But as it happened, it was to talk me into taking the gig. Henry had taken ill and the job had become quite short on time. Keith was great and as soon as he told me the title I knew I was going to take it. But it was one of those times in life where, if you say you’re going to hit a target, you better damned well do so!

JL: I also consider it a bit of a turning point for me artistically. The short time limit meant I had to work out a quick method of production. I also had access to a couple of pages of Henry’s art and a few pages of designs. Somehow the two influences came together and started me down a different path.

I am very conscious about looking at other people’s art. I’m trying to walk my own line here but on this occasion, I think it was justified and really helped me grow.

I think it’s also worth pointing out the colour work of Jim Boswell at this point. He’d started working with me a strip or two before this one and really helped sell it. He’s been saving my neck ever since.

Yes, Jim, along with all the other somewhat unsung heroes that are Tharg’s colouring and lettering droids, deserve all the praise!

JL: From that point, I started getting offered some other of Henry’s gigs. Henry is always in incredibly high demand and rightly so. He always delivers something mind-blowing that leaves the rest of us wondering why we bother. But for once, this demand actually worked in my favour.

Your Zombo in the 2020 Sci-Fi Special was a sheer joy. Written by Al Ewing, The Immigrant had Zombo in a holding cell meeting Dredd. It was a comedy masterclass from you and Al, letting you really let loose with the gags.

Having talked to you before this, I know you’re a funny guy, but comedy isn’t something we’ve seen in your work much. Was it good to get to really go for it with The Immigrant here?

JL: That one off Zombo with Al was such a great experience. Reading a script that made me laugh out loud – he is such a great writer. I did ask permission from both him and Henry before starting and they were both very supportive. I’m not sure I would have been comfortable doing more than a one-off special though. My imagination is nothing like as unlimited as Henry’s and there is a certain kind of magic that happens when both he and Al work together and with a character as fun and unique as Zombo, it would be sad to see.

It wasn’t especially hard to do, it was, once again, all about the writing, it was very easy to bond with, Al is brilliant.

Yes, yes he is. As is Henry. But we have to say that the fans (and Tharg) think you’re pretty good too Jake! Not that you’ll take the compliment!

JL: [silence]

Okay, okay, moving on then to Proteus Vex – with you taking over from Henry on the strip that he and Mike Carroll created. You joined with series two and, so far, you’ve done series two to four, The Shadow Chancellor, Desire Paths, and Crawl Space.

It’s absolutely epic sci-fi and one that you’ve stamped your style on completely by this stage. It’s also one of those 2000 AD strips that look nothing like anything else. Obviously so much of the alienness of it all was there in Henry’s first series and his designs. But what do you think of the strip and how much input have you had with Mike to put your own style on it?

Presumably, you and Mike are working on more Proteus Vex right now?

JL: Yes, I have just started Proteus Vex Book 5. I wish I could tell you more but I will say that I think it’s the best of the lot. It’s mind-blowing how Mike has weaved so many elements through it, tied them together without, it seems, any force. Everything about it feels like it should be there – it’s just remarkable.

Vex has been a career highlight for me. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have been allowed to add on to Henry’s foundations and have made a good friend in Mike, who I respect a great deal.

I don’t know much about being a writer. But if it’s like art, then you have to work hard to make something look easy – and Mike makes it look effortless, just you wait and see.

2000 AD not only acts as a proving ground for writers and artists with Future Shocks and other one-off tales, but also as ready source of talent for other companies, particularly US comic makers. But not for you?

As far as I can see, your work in comics has been completely 2000 AD-based. You’ve had work in 2000 AD, the Megazine, and a couple of things like The Vigilant and that Action Special. But nothing outside of the 2000 AD family. Now, surely this can’t be because no one has asked or because no one believes you’re good enough. I imagine it’s more a personal choice. So, what is it about 2000 AD and working there that’s kept you with them for the past nine years?

JL: I always remember, In the NHS, you would have to do these yearly assessments where you would be asked where you would see yourself in the future. I would answer that I want to get good at what I was doing and I had no interest in getting promoted into incompetence.

I am really happy where I am and don’t really see why going onto America should be seen as a promotion. I don’t find superheroes that engaging, I’m a sci-fi nerd and am still just that little kid watching Star Wars for the first time.

I realised very early on that everyone needed to have a job. Something they could do for the rest of their lives. Well, I figured, if that was the case you need to cover two bases: one, you have to make a living and two, you gotta be happy, which is exactly how I am. Now, that’s not to say that if the right project came along I wouldn’t consider it, but I would do that for anything.

I have to say I don’t think 2000 AD has been in better hands, from Matt to Rebellion itself. It was highlighted to me a few years back when Covid was hitting and we were all going into lockdown. I was reading horror stories of big publishers cutting their creators loose. It’s one of the fears of freelancing I guess but, in their hour of need, publishers appeared to be prioritising themselves over the people who help make them – it was a scary time.

An email dropped from Rebellion, just letting us know that they had our back and we were going to get through this. A completely different business ethic and one of the reasons I am very happy working for them. I’ve seen Mr Kingsley (Sir Jason? – how am I supposed to address a Knight…does anyone know?) interviewed talking about Chivalric Code, but this was experiencing it first hand and I’ll always be grateful to him and Matt for giving me a chance and having my back.

Like so many comic artists, you’ve done work outside of comics, including contributing to The Sandman Netflix adaptation. First of all, how did that Sandman gig come about and, secondly, is it another case of the sad reality of comics being that commercial illustration is almost a necessity to pay the rent?

JL: This is the perfect point to tell you my Kris from Blockbuster story that I mentioned earlier.

So, back in the day, when I worked at Blockbuster, I met another employee called Kris. He was a lovely guy, really just decent and the sort of person you could work alongside easily. He was studying make-up at college while working there, which I thought was pretty weird, until I discovered he wanted to do the prosthetic make-up used in film and theatre. So he was a sort of kindred spirit to me.

We’d be working at the counter and when no-one was in, I’d be drawing big pictures of Dredd and he’d be punching hair into a mannequin’s head – you know, the usual.

To give you some small measure of what a small market town in Norfolk can be sometimes, I remember Kris telling me that he had told someone he knew about his ambitions and was told that he should give up as stuff like that didn’t happen to people like us.

Anyway, Kris soon after goes and does a make-up course with someone called Nick Dudman who, among so many other things, was doing a lot of work on the Harry Potter films. Kris was then ‘discovered’ by Nick and started working with him from the third Potter onward, learning his craft proper. It was amazing and also, for someone who suspected his earlier friend may be right about the rest of us, sad to see. But I was very happy for him, he had worked hard and totally deserved his break.

JL: We would get in touch from time to time, Kris started his own business, KM Effects Ltd, and it was growing and he was employing others. He had made a real go of it and I was ridiculously proud of him. I had also been picked up by 2000 AD and through some strange quirks of fate, Kris reached out to me and asked if I would like to submit some designs for a few of the shows he was working on, which included, at the time, Sandman and the School of Good and Evil, both for Netflix.

He has done some amazing work, but the thing that makes me happiest is the circular nature of it all, back working alongside each other, just like back in the day in that small market town, where none of us were supposed to amount to anything.

That old Blockbuster eventually became a Costa, and I used to thumbnail scripts in a quiet corner of it from time to time basking in the difference.

The sad truth about commercial art is, I can make more money in two days with Kris than two weeks in comics. But you should only work in comics if you can accept that. I live very simply, no-one forced me to do this and you won’t find me complaining.

At what point in your development did you think that you made the jump from hopeful art droid new to the Prog to an artist that’s not just recognisable but wanted by Tharg?

JL: I’m not sure I will ever feel that way. I think the nature of freelancing is learning to accept there is a degree of working without a safety net.

At the beginning, you feel very conscious of it, but you learn to live with it, but it is never fully out of my mind. I do worry about what I would do if it all ended as I’m not sure I’m fit for anything else or capable of being integrated back into society!

One thing that Rob Williams said of you in an interview you did for The Hard Way was this – ‘I think you can see bits of Henry Flint, a hint of Jock, the odd McMahon, and a Cam Kennedy influence on the page. He draws a very good Dredd. Jake feels like a contender in the next generation of great Dredd artists stakes.’

JL: I think Rob is being incredibly generous there. I hadn’t read that. I look forward to working with him again so I can really get to grips with his writing. I see good things in the future.

So, how’s it feel to be part of that next generation of great Dredd artists?

JL: Hopefully you may have noticed by now I don’t take compliments at all well though am very flattered by the comparisons. I would never consider myself ‘great’ or one of the greats but I do hope I have the attitude to learn enough for ‘greatness’ maybe one day – it keeps me hungry.

I always think about the ‘Dunning Kruger Effect’, particularly as it seems so prevalent in our government at this time. Put simply, the more you actually know about a subject the more you realise how little you know, the opposite being true for the beginner. The funny thing is we ALL suffer from this in one shape or another and our inability to recognise it in ourselves proves the point!

When it comes to your particular style, what is it, do you think, that marks it out as yours? What elements, what look would you say makes it a Jake Lynch thing?

JL: I have studied my ‘craft’ quite deeply, it is infinitely fascinating. Though they are different art forms, when I work I am storyboarding a film of the script, picturing camera moves and cuts and picking the best place to take a snapshot for the comics panel. Then it’s about arranging it pleasingly and keeping it readable while using the form to spin another level on the ideas – it’s so much fun.

Obviously, every art droid starts out with a huge list of influences – what are your particular artistic Gods – as Rob already mentioned, there’s a heady mix of Henry Flint, Jock, Mick McMahon, and Cam Kennedy in your art.

JL: There are too many early influences to mention, but if I were to give any advice, it would be that it is absolutely right to learn from these masters, especially when starting out.

But I think you should never aim at being the NEXT anything, you should try to be the first you, even if, artistically, it takes you a long time to find out who that is. Never stop learning. If I compared my work to these people I wouldn’t be able to see it, because I reached my style organically. I think I earned the lines I use and even though I would never put myself amongst them, I would hope that one day, with a great deal more practice, who knows? This sort of thing isn’t for me to judge and have never really thought about it.

I think one word that really comes to mind with your style is angularity. There’s also that sense of finding the interesting and unusual perspective, something that’s come more and more into your art, it seems to me, as you’ve grown in confidence.

How has your artwork developed over the years? Has it been a case of slowly growing into a style or was there ever a point where you made a deliberate decision to push your art in a certain direction?

JL: That’s a tough one to answer. Sometimes you try to steer your style, but I’ve never had huge success in doing that. I do what feels right at the time and by my natural reaction to the scripts I get.

What I would normally do is identify some issue I was having from a previous strip and tell myself that I have to consciously work on that aspect on the next strip. So I’m focused in on a weakness which will hopefully feedback into the style.

Either way I should, in some way, be improving. I sometimes wonder if the only reason I have reached a passable level these days is years of focusing in on these weaknesses finally paying off!

Sometimes though it can be quite stagnant and that can be so frustrating when you are trying to push forward.

Of course, every artist changes styles over the years. Taking Mick McMahon as the epitome of this, he’s an artist whose style has gone through some radical shifts, always experimenting, always looking brilliantly McMahon but always surprising you with whatever he comes up with next.

Is that something you can feel confident to aspire to yet? Or are you still at the stage of refining your initial style to get it just right?

JL: That’s another great question. McMahon is a huge hero to me, I’m constantly astounded by his ability to change. I don’t think I’m there yet, to be so deliberate with ‘natural’ ability is not something I have mastered. But yes, it would be an amazing skill. Who knows what the future will bring..?

There’s also an elongation in your art, your figures stretch beyond their panel borders at times.

Again, that’s a Mick McMahon thing, but also Mick Austin and many others who’ve gone towards art that’s less figurative and more experimental. Again, in concert with the angularity and the interesting choice of ‘camera’ angles, it can really make a Lynch page stand out.

JL: Thank you, once again, it comes out as it comes out. It will always be in reaction to the writing – always (and maybe just a little spin on the form).

And just as an aside, Mick Austin gets a bad rep in certain areas of 2000 AD fandom for that classic and infamous cover he did for Prog 618 – all sinewy Dredd and stretched out beyond reason – yet it’s so striking, the whole point of making a cover memorable.

JL: I love that cover…

Yes, that would be this cover from Mick Austin – and while we’re at it, a certain recent cover from the legendary Mick McMahon with that same vibe…

It’s something that’s happened, seems to me, as you became more and more comfortable in your artistic skin here.

And of course, you do do a damn fine Dredd chin and have a thing for McMahon-style BIG boots!

JL: Chin – Check. Boots – Check. What, no mention of my Eagle!?

Okay, okay, the Eagle’s pretty damn good too!

Going into your process here, I don’t want to be in any way insulting, but artistically you have what could be called a mixture of tight line and lots of thin, scratchy stuff going on. Has there been a switch in your inking over time, the line seems to have grown thinner with time?

JL: I think as I’ve gotten a little more seasoned perhaps I’ve gotten a little more technique. I basically work over my thumbnails and then scale them up. It cuts out a sort of pencilling stage and keeps the images quite loose and hopefully energetic.

These little thumbnails, as you would expect, are quite small and I use quite a fat pen to easily fill the area. When you don’t give yourself a lot of room, you have to keep yourself focused on what are the important lines.

Though I work digitally, I don’t use any fancy brushes or pens. It’ll mostly be a case of a small degree of clean up, toning and texturing and weighting the lines.

What do you think of your career so far? It’s been nine years plus since that first strip for 2000 AD and you’ve established yourself as one of the major artists in the Prog. Are you happy with your progress? Happy with your work? And reflecting on the last near-decade of work, would the younger Lynch have been rather chuffed to be where you are now?

JL: I have loved and continue to love my time with 2000 AD.

It is true, I am my own worst critic, but will always remember the advice that Andy Diggle gave me – don’t sweat every line. It’s comics, it supposed to be fun. He was right.

I think if I were to see my young self, I do think he would be chuffed, but I think the thing I would most like to say to him would be, hey, everything is going to be okay, you are going to end up strong, married to an amazing woman, and very happy with your lot. Oh and don’t hang off that tower block’s balcony in Spain, you dozy prat, I’m still getting flashbacks!

Oh, the stupidity of youth! But also a very good bit of advice to youth there, it will get better in the end.

Okay Jake, just for fun – what’s the one strip/character/idea that you would absolutely love to run with? Imagine you have carte blanche from Tharg to do anything, use any character, come up with whatever insane idea that’s been percolating away in your brain!

JL: Ooo… that’s a good one. I have a few: ABC Warriors, but as they were originally. Armoured Gideon, but set during the Second World War, fighting Hitler’s occult forces.

I’d like to have a crack at a short run of Rogue Trooper (but that’s being very ably filled by the awesome Patrick Goddard), but just to see if I could. Robo Hunter – yes I like drawing robots, so let’s also throw in Banzai Battalion too!

I did pitch an idea for Movie Dredd, which I would have loved to do. It was about Tek Div creating a device to bring Dredd back from Deadworld. He was understandably much changed from his time there but essentially the same man. Naturally the device had unexpected results and a few other dead world beings were also been brought back and deposited around the city and Dredd has to go after them. Except it turns out its not Dredd they brought back, it was Kraken and one of the others that got out was ‘Deadman’ Dredd. Sadly, they had stopped the series by then or possible because of this pitch.

Well, for a while we had positive Jake, but here we are back to the Jake that believes he’s cursed to bring things down!

And FINALLY! What’s next for you? Have you already got plenty of 2000 AD work on the horizon?

JL: Nope, I’m booked out until May on an extra-long Proteus Vex and can’t take anything else on.

There’s also a personal project I’ve got called Pablo, something that I’m sure I’ll never get time to finish, but would really like to one day (it’s actually quite a good story). I have 2 children’s stories inside my head that doubt will ever get out! Pablo was something I wrote years and years ago. I started working it up in between comic commissions, but I am very happy to say I don’t get the downtime anymore!

JL: I’m blissfully ploughing my own furrow, in my own little world, like the harmless bumpkin I am. Thanks for stopping by and sitting a spell y’all.

Oh, before you go, perhaps one last story if you would indulge me? A small tribute to my old man who did so much for us perhaps?

As I mentioned he had many adventures. He would tell us stories of going into offices of big corporations who had welched on advertising payments and would start removing furnishing from their waiting rooms in front of their clients and leaving them on the pavement outside for collection. That would always make them pay up and I think dad always really loved punching up against a bigger opponent.

But the story I would like to leave you with was his constant battles with local authority.

He was always the type to ask forgiveness rather than permission and then forget to ask for forgiveness. And he enjoyed warring with the local council who he would refer to as bearded men with clipboards. One day, after he done another thing wrong, one of these people came into the garden to see him and read him the riot act.

My father took a moment, then spoke: ‘You see that gate over there? That’s not to keep you out, it’s to keep you in. But I’m feeling particularly generous today and I will let you choose the tree you’re going to swing from’.

The reason they came to see him is another story, but perhaps we will save that for another time…

Goodnight.

And that, one and all, is where we left things. Thank you so much to Jake for really opening up to us about his life and his work for the Creator Files. It might have been long, but I think we’re all even more impressed by the Lynch droid after reading it!

As for more from Jake, there’s plenty of his excellent work at Covers Uncovered – Progs 2017 , 2172, 2181, 2203, and 2297, plus Megazine 446. Then we also have a few interviews with Jake – The Red Queen’s Gambit (with Arthur Wyatt), The Hard Way (with Arthur and Rob Williams), Jake & Henry Flint talk Hell Machine from the Action Special here, and then there’s talk of Dredd, Y-fronts, and more with his wonderfully daft Dredd & Zombo strip, The Immigrant, in the 2020 Sci-Fi Special. There’s also an illuminating 2000 AD – From The Drawing Board video to view here.

Finally, for more behind-the-scenes videos and info from Jake, be sure to go and sign up to his Patreon and follow him on Twitter, Instagram.

Now, we always like to end with a bibliography. And in Jake’s case, it’s rather large! However, a caveat here, as Jake says, ‘I don’t keep records of what I’ve done, as I am normally trying to forget!’ So this is a collation of records anywhere and everywhere I could find them! If I’ve missed anything, please don’t tell Tharg!

List of covers:2000 AD – Progs 1895, 1922, 1945, 1955, 1957, 1990, 2017, 2043, 2104, 2147, 2172, 2181, 2203, 2297, 2339, 2348.Judge Dredd Megazine Volume 5 – issues 376, 382, 392, 411, 446.

Comics work:Star Scan: Judge Dredd – 2000 AD Prog 1771 (Feb 2012).Future Shocks: Dying Wishes – 2000 AD Prog 1862 (Jan 2014), written by Eddie Robson.Tales From The Black Museum: And Death Must Die – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #348 (May 2014), written by David Baillie.Sinister Dexter: The Generican Dream: Congo – 2000 AD Prog 1889-1892 (July 2014), written by Dan Abnett.Orlok, Agent of East-Meg One: Eurozoned – 2000 AD Prog 1912-1917 (Jan-Feb 2015), written by Arthur Wyatt.Orlok, Agent of East-Meg One: The Rasputin Caper – 2000 AD Prog 1924-1929 (Apr-May 2015), written by Arthur Wyatt.Judge Dredd: Let’s Go To Work – 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 2015 (June 2015), written by Mike Carroll.Tharg’s 3rillers: Repossession Orders – 2000 AD Progs 1973-1975 (Mar-Apr 2016), written by Eddie Robson.Judge Dredd: Monkey Business – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #376-377 (Sept-Nov 2016), written by Arthur Wyatt.Judge Dredd: The Cube Root of Evil – 2000 AD Progs 2007-2009 (Nov 2016), written by Arthur Wyatt.Havn – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #382-383 (Apr-May 2017), written by Si Spencer.Judge Dredd: Ape Escape – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #386 (Aug 2017), written by Arthur Wyatt.Future Shocks: Alt-Life – 2000 AD 2049 (Sept 2017), written by Rory McConville.Sinister Dexter: Snake-Skinned – 2000 AD Prog 2051 (Oct 2017), written by Dan Abnett.Judge Dredd: Krong Island – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #392-395 (Jan-Apr 2018), written by Arthur Wyatt.Judge Dredd: The Paradigm Shift – 2000 AD Progs 2082-2086 (May-June 2018), written by Michael Carroll.Anderson, Psi Division: Dark Angels – 2000 AD Prog 2100 (Sept 2018), written by Alan Grant.Judge Dredd: The Red Prince Diaries – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #404 (Jan 2019), written by Arthur Wyatt.Judge Dredd: Citizenship – 2000 AD Prog 2123 (Mar 2019), written by Rory McConville.Judge Dredd: The Red Queen’s Gambit – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #409-412 (July-Oct 2019), written by Arthur Wyatt.Doctor Sin: Tribunal – in The Vigilant: Legacy (Aug 2019), written by Simon Furman.Anderson, Psi-Division: Judge Death: The Movie – 2000 AD Prog 2150 (Sept 2019), written by Alan Grant.Judge Dredd: Future Crimes Unit – 2000 AD Prog 2167-2168 (Feb 2020), written by Rory McConville.Judge Dredd: The Relic– 2000 AD Prog 2171-2173 (Mar 2020), written by Kenneth Niemand.Hell Machine – Action Special 2020 (Mar 2020), art on p.7-15, written by Henry Flint.The Immigrant (Zombo & Dredd) – 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special (June 2020), written by Al Ewing.Judge Dredd: Grand Theft Royale – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #423 (Sept 2020), written by Arthur Wyatt.Proteus Vex: The Shadow Chancellor – 2000 AD Prog 2212-2219, 2221-2223 (Dec 2020-Mar 2021), written by Mike Carroll.Cadet Dredd: Lawbreaker – 2000 AD Regened Prog 2233 (May 2021), written by Liam Johnson.Judge Dredd: The Hard Way – 2000 AD Prog 2250-2255 (Sept-Oct 2021), written by Rob Williams & Arthur Wyatt.Proteus Vex: Desire Paths – 2000 AD Prog 2262-2274 (Jan-Mar 2022), written by Mike Carroll.Judge Dredd: Regicide – Judge Dredd Megazine Vol 5 #445-446 (June-July 2022), written by Arthur Wyatt.Judge Dredd: Sentinoid’s Big Idea – 2000 AD Prog 2297-2299 (Aug-Sept 2022), written by Rob Williams.Proteus Vex: Crawl Space – 2000 AD Prog 2312-2324 (Dec 2022-Mar 2023), written by Mike Carroll.Judge Dredd: In The Event Of My Untimely Demise (from part 6) – 2000 AD Prog 2338-2340 (June-July 2023), written by Mike Carroll

31st August 2023

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30th August 2023