Comics Interview — Special Edition - Judge Dredd vs Batman

Creator of Neil the Horse, Saba traces his deep influences from Carl Barks and Milton Caniff to Walt Disney, explaining his lifelong antipathy toward superhero comics and his roots in musical comedy and radio production for the CBC. He discusses the origins and philosophy behind his three main characters as universal character types, and articulates his ambitions to expand Neil into animation, children's books, and color comics while leveraging a Disney-style collaborative model with other artists.

The British artist discusses his early underground work before being recruited to 2000AD for Judge Dredd, comparing his more literalist, narrative-focused approach with Mike McMahon's evolution of the character. Bolland describes his transition to DC work through Green Lantern covers and the twelve-issue Camelot 3000, detailing the mounting delays caused by his obsessive pencil-as-ink technique and his complicated feelings about colorist Tatjana Wood's palette choices. He also reveals the collapsed Batman Meets Judge Dredd project scripted by Alan Moore and reflects on Frank Miller's influence on the field.

The veteran fan-turned-professional editors recount their origins in science-fiction fandom, their pioneering fanzines, and the chain of events surrounding their hiring as co-editors of the Comics Buyer's Guide and Comics Collector after Krause Publications acquired both. They discuss the changes they made to CBG (typesetting, new columnists, bulk program) and offer pointed advice to the industry on using graphic novels to reach non-comics audiences.

DAK's editorial introduces the issue by reflecting on the pleasures of good conversation about comics, framing the issue's three interviews as examples of the meaningful exchange of ideas that comics professionals rarely have time for.