Officer Downe: An Worthy American Take on Judge Dredd
Looking at this first issue of Officer Downe I’ve got to say that at first glance I was not blown away with the cover — however once I looked inside the book my sirens were going off. The illustrations by Chris Burnham remind me of a cross between classic EC comic books, Gary Panter’s work for RAW magazine in the 80s with just the right touch of French comic book art. The story by Joe Casey is sort of an American take on Judge Dredd, and it also reminded me a slight bit of the first Mad Max movie (which is a good thing). This comic is a one shot published by Image and is due out in July.
Nick Kent notes:
For what it’s worth, that comic has to be substantially inspired by Geof Darrow (Big Guy, Hard Boiled, Matrix mecha designer) it’s way closer to his work than Panter or EC. From the few images you posted I agree about Judge Dredd: Geof Darrow is an american based in France as far as I know, so the French comics reference is observant. Though this artist eased up a little on the obsessive detail compared to Darrow’s own art but the use of detail is clearly there.