(CBR)The proposed “day of action” for the “Make a ‘Dredd’ Sequel” campaign turns out to be a rather cleverly planned piece of corporate synergy. The date, Sept, 17, is of course a New Comics Day, and the day “2000AD” Prog 1850 (as anticipated by ROBOT 6′s Brigid Alverson in this week”s Cheat Sheet), and “Judge Dredd Megazine” #340 are released. Both comics are optimized for new readers, featuring high-profile new series and contributors.
These new series include a Dredd strip based upon the movie continuity (as previewed here last week), and “Ordinary,” a creator-owned strip by the critically acclaimed team of Rob Williams and D”Israeli (again, previewed here last week); the press release from the publisher Rebellion flags the recent high-profile gigs for all the talent involved, such as “Damnation Station” being written by “Mighty Avengers'” Al Ewing.
Meanwhile, Rebellion and the “Make a ‘Dredd’ Sequel” campaign have put their heads together and released a joint statement to try and maximize the effect of their combined momentum:
On 18th September, we”re encouraging everyone to take part in a massive “DREDD” SEQUEL DAY OF ACTION – we”ve already made the moneymen who could get behind a sequel sit up and take notice by consistently keeping the DVD and Blu-Ray in the charts on Amazon and now on Netflix.
We”re asking everyone who”s signed the petition to come together next Wednesday and drive “DREDD” back up the charts – if everyone who”s signed the petition bought an extra DVD or Blu-Ray (either for themselves or as a present for a friend) or rented/bought it on iTunes and Netflix it will send the loudest signal yet that WE WANT MORE “DREDD”!
So spread the word that on Wednesday 18th September, you”re going to bring “DREDD” back into the public eye! Plus, it”s the day that the new comic book sequel comes out, with lots of media attention planned for this and the campaign.
The press release also links to the ongoing petition (currently standing at 80,000-plus signatures), as well as an official T-shirt. It strikes me that the blaze of publicity both parties are likely to create this week might be, in the long term, more beneficial to boosting the comics” circulations than bringing the Dredd sequel campaign closer to its goal. The best of luck to them with that, but I don”t wish to buy a second copy of a movie I already own.