Book Review - The Art of Judge Dredd by Jock

The Artbook Collector
3 minutes ago
5 min read

October 23rd 2025

Mark Simpson, better known as Jock by his fans, made a name for himself in the comic book world with his work on the iconic Judge Dredd. Since then, he has gone on to work on many more characters, but also on movies too, continuing to showcase his talent as an artist.

Now there is a new way to add some of that art to your collection, with The Art of Judge Dredd by Jock, a look back at his work on the 2000 AD universe from Rebellion Publishing. It was released on October 21st and a copy has made its way to the collection here, so I can share some details and thoughts on this dive into the book!

Build Quality

The book comes as a 24cm x 31cm hardcover and has 224 pages. This is a good size and fits in alongside other artbooks on the market which is great. The paper is also very good; it’s of high quality and that comes with a nice print finish too, while being held in by strong binding.

I also like the cover choice, the heavy black highlights Jock’s style, while its use on a white background with added red makes it pop. This would certainly stand out on a shelf in a book store and so I think it’s very effective too.

Content

The Art of Judge Dredd by Jock starts with an inside look back at the life of the man himself through interviews and details written by Michael Molcher. It’s 8 spreads of text with a smaller image or two on each one. I like that they put the heavy reading up front to then focus on the art later on, because it creates a nice follow up after hearing about how he first started.

Here you learn about how he was creating art as a teenager, through to his first published work for 2000 AD in 1995, his career growth, influences, working on movie concept art, and more. Not only is it a good way to get to know his background, but the inclusion of both published and pre-published art is a thoughtful touch.

The rest of the book is split into 3 chapters, Judge Dredd, Dredd (2012) and 2000 AD. In each one the work is presented in no particular order, as noted at the bottom of each page where it gives the details on what the art was for and the year. It’s a simple structure, but I do like that the concept art for the movie Dredd was placed in the middle to break up the comic book work.

As for the art itself, you get all the goodies. For the comic book art you will find early layout sketches, inks, full colour pages, and cover design progression. It’s a fantastic showcase of Jock’s striking style and shines the spotlight on why he stands out in the profession. I particularly like pages that show the layout designs next to the finished pages, so you can see how ideas get tweaked and adjusted by the artist.

Covers are shown in a similar way in places too and are a highlight for me. Seeing the loose sketches and layouts followed by the finished piece is always fun to see. It’s easy to have a book that acts as a gallery of the finished art, but seeing how it started is much more engaging. If you’re familiar with Jock, you know that part of his mastery of blacks and negative space are always incredible, both of which are displayed wonderfully with poster designs, covers and his inks. The choices of what was included will certainly be appreciated by fans.

The Judge Dredd chapter also includes Shirley Temple and Lenny Zero artwork alongside everyone’s favourite enforcer. There are also no text bubbles on the pages, so you can fully take in the art. There is an interesting part with a written script of what is on each page and panel for Lenny Zero, followed by the pages in black and white. This gives a unique look at how ideas are executed from a description to life on the page.

The 2000 AD chapter also showcases the inks, coloured pages, and covers. Here you will find his work on Reapermen, Red Tide, Bad Company, Tor Cyan, and more. I’m sure the book could have been filled up with nothing but Judge Dredd art, but I like there is a lot shown in this chapter too.

Another highlight for me is the Dredd (2012) chapter, a change in style that showcases concept art for the movie. The more grounded tone, while keeping the same visual identity of Mega-City One is a brilliant example of someone transitioning their skills with a new goal. It includes art for costumes, locations and keyframes. You’re left understanding how Jock then went on to work on many more movies after this, because it’s all superb.

Credits

As this is an artist focused book, the credit is written in large text on the front cover! However, in the cases where someone else did the colours, such as those from Chris Blythe and Gary Caldwell, they are noted on each page. This is the best way to credit an artist and so a good job for this release.

Use of Space

Overall, I like design, the covers and interiors take up the full page, or share more than one in a smaller size. There are some pages that have some empty space where an early interior layout is smaller in size, but sketches shouldn’t stretch out too much for the purpose of maintaining the visual quality. The layouts and background are kept simple, making it an art first approach and that works perfectly here. There is a small amount of image loss in the centre fold where the art crosses over, but this doesn’t happen often and doesn’t detract from the wonderful job from the team.

Value

The RRP of the book is $50/ £40 and that puts it at a reasonable price in the artbook world, certainly at the lower end of the range of what you expect to see in 2025. This is never a bad thing and of course, discounts can always be found on top of this too.

Using Amazon as always for consistency, the book is down to $46 in the US and £29 in the UK just a couple of days after its release. This will of course fluctuate, but with a good RRP and price drops already available, the value here for those that want some Dredd art on their shelf is very good.

Verdict

The Art of Judge Dredd by Jock delivers a fantastic mix of artwork to pore over, all of which highlighting why the artist deserves this showcase of his talent. Those that love the brutal world of Mega-City One will find a lot to enjoy here and even those less familiar, but are fans of Jock himself, will get a lot out of the sketches, inks, posters, and concept art throughout!

If you enjoyed the review and previews and would like to add the book to your own collection, you can do so here;