Judges The Movie

Author notes

Chapter 1: Buddy Colt

SteveMyers22

on July 19, 2007

Ok, so more backstory about the project real quick … This blurb ran with the bestbuy entry for the DVD:
"Stephen Patrick Walker helms the direct-to-video feature Judges. An ensemble actioner starring D.J. Perry, Paul Ricioppo, Terry Jernigan, and Tyler Allen, and adapted from a series of popular comics, Judges updates the spaghetti Western to the present day. Evil rulers have overtaken the town of Learsi, and all is not well in this hamlet – until an angry, justice-seeking drifter named Buddy Colt comes riding into town and recruits a team of desperadoes known as the Judges to help him gain retribution for the annihilation of his brother. Working together, the Judges – among them, Danny Strong, Skinny Pete, Will Creed, Iron Joe Parelli, and Irish Pat Kelly – will go head-to-head with the villains – led by the nasty Sonny King – in an effort to wipe evil from the town once and for all. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide"

And that blurb got picked up in the New York Times. So according to the New York Times, I am the artist of a popular series of comics! That was news to me when I read it, but now I'm going to pimp that hardcore! Hah.

Anyways, the first character I did backstory comic for was Buddy Colt, the hero of the film. He's kind of a Clint Eastwood style stock western hero with a bad attitude. And this story is supposed to explain why he has that attitude. It went through a few rewrites, and that was my first time experiencing that kind of process (before all my comics work had been me as the sole creative force, so it takes some getting used to collaborating).

For the final two stories I stopped using such fine linework that you find in the Buddy Colt comic for a couple of reasons … one of them being I was going to miss the deadlines with some of the rewrites. Another reason being that the third chapter required a more whimsical artistic approach. And another being coloring is sometimes easier for me to do if I don't muddy up my own drawings with a lot of hatchy lines.

The cover I sort of aped from a pic I had drawn back in 1998, which itself is aped from a Bart Sears picture. I didn't realize that the director wanted a cover shot for each story, so I did this very last minute.