SLADEK.

Script: David Broughton. Art: David Broughton.

Dave Evan's and the ZARJAZ editorial team had accepted and published my first story ‘The Graduate’ I decided to submit another Judge Dredd based story. In December 2010. So I started work on a script featuring Judge Sladek (see 2000ad progs 461-463) that would directly follow 'The Graduate'.  By January 2011 I had finished five pages of artwork which can be seen along with the rough page layouts below.

Confident of success I emailed Dave Evans with a script and finished artwork. A few days passed and Dave got back to me. The ZARJAZ editorial team had decided to reject the story with the main reason being that the story covered too much old ground that had already been seen in the Prog.

I was disappointed. After thinking it through I could see their point of view.  A little later, I emailed Dave to thank him and the editorial team for taking the time to look at my work. Dave was very positive about it all and offered me the script for 'Big Jimping' by Lee Robson to draw.  Once again I thought it through and I quickly decided that it would be good practice for me to draw my first script by someone else in about ten years.  So I accepted gratefully.

Rough page layouts and finished page art.

Above: Rough layout (left) and finished artwork (right) for page one.

Above: Rough layout (left) and finished artwork (right) for page two.

Above: Rough layout (left) and finished artwork (right) for page three.

Above: Rough layout (left) and finished artwork (right) for page four.

Above: Rough layout (left) and finished artwork (right) for page five.

Above: Proposed artwork for a ZARJAZ cover. At this point in time I didn’t know that ZARJAZ covers were normally drawn by official 2000ad artists.