Breathing Space in the Judge Dredd Megazine
Just a quick update to say that, in the new JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE (#294, March), the bagged ‘graphic novel’ is BREATHING SPACE by myself, Pete Doherty and Laurence Campbell.
I’m really happy to see this collected. It was my second story for 2000AD, written, probably, back in 2002-03, if memory serves. We opened with Pete Doherty (Shaolin Cowboy) on art, and the first episode by Pete still looks terrific. Pete had to drop out and Laurence Campbell took over. It was the first collaboration between Laurence and I, something we’ve since taken on to Wolverine, Punisher Max and hopefully more in the future. The series was eventually published in 2005, I think.
Reading it back in one sitting this weekend, it has its flaws, and some of the storytelling and panel layouts I was playing with are the most ambitious I’ve ever attempted. I’ve certainly not tried anything like it since.
But I have a huge soft spot for this story. There’s so many things I love about Breathing Space – the atmosphere, the overall sombre tone, the doomed narrative, which is wilfully uncommercial. I pitched it to 2000AD’s editor as a one-off. Every 2000AD series wants to create sequels and follow-ups, but Breathing Space definitely wouldn’t be back. I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say the protagonist dies in episode one… It’s also the most personal story I’ve ever written, probably, reflecting my state of mind at the time.
And it looks gorgeous. Laurence did his usual stunning job on it (Lee Townsend provided inks, so fans of Laurence’s US work where he inks himself can contrast and compare) and Pete came back to colour the series with the same uniform cold blue/grey tone that we talked about when we conceived the story. Pete’s colour job on Breathing Space is my favourite I’ve had on any of my comics. And he works with Laurence brilliantly. It’d be great if the three of us could do something else together in the future.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Really glad to see this get a second outing. I remember really enjoying it the first time round.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Thanks. You were at the London drinkup before Christmas weren’t you? If I’d have known I’d have said hi.