As they are, the shelves are a pretty decent encapsulation of the inside of my brain, focussing on my favourite authors and favourite themes.
From Westeros to the World of Mortal Engines, via the Hyborian Age and Mega-City One, right through to the Planet of The Apes and the Wild West, this is a guided tour of my psyche and my primary, literary gaming inspirations.
Of course, these are not my only book shelves in the house, but are my most recently built and filled.
Pretty sure, now, there's no more room for any more shelves... although there's always room for more books.
Philip Reeve
Conan The Barbarian
Robert E Howard
HP Lovecraft and The Cthulhu Mythos
Westerns - there are more Western paperbacks in another cupboard
Judge Dredd & 2000AD (plus a sneaky little RPG that has yet to find a home)
Hi. This vid product examines two very early, transformative stories in the Judge Dredd canon. It’s time to travel to the future setting of Mega-City One and have some fun poking tyranny in its stupid eye.
The latest issue of the ever-brilliant Judge Dredd Megazine
This week issue 2470 of the weekly 2000AD sci-fi comic anthology comic, along withissue 489 of the Judge Dredd Megazine - the monthly Dredd-centric spin-off - popped through my letterbox just in time for 2000AD's 49th birthday celebrations today (February 19).
I can't recall if I purchased the first issue of the Megazine when it was launched in 1990 (I suspect not), but I certainly remember picking up the very first issue (prog) of 2000AD, back in 1977, when I was 10.
One of my few remaining vivid memories from that age is of sitting in the back of my parents' car, eagerly reading this comic that was unlike anything I had seen before.
I suspect mum and dad were taking me somewhere "fun", but I was more interested in my copy of 2000AD.
Early issues often came packaged with gifts, such as "biotronic" stickers with the second issue, so you could emulate John Probe (the star of the comic's Six Million Dollar Man clone M.A.C.H. 1)with the illusion of robotic parts peeking through your skin!
It's weird now to think that the big selling point of 2000AD initially was its Dan Dare strip (which, despite some striking visuals, ran for less than two years), and Judge Dredd - now a pop culture icon - didn't even appear until prog two.
2000AD was gritty and darker than my usual fare at the time, and thus felt more 'grown up'.
There are stories from those early days that have firmly cemented themselves into my psyche: such as Flesh (about time-travelling cowboys harvesting dinosaur meat), Shako (soldiers versus a man-eating polar bear in the Artic), and some of the more twisted of Tharg's Future Shocks (self-contained Twilight Zone-like stories with an inevitably bonkers surprise ending).
I read the title weekly for a long time, but, as is my wont, eventually found something else to hold my attention (probably American comics, roleplaying games... and girls).
Judge Dredd's debut in prog #2
I can't pinpoint exactly when I stopped reading 2000AD regularly.
However, I do remember devouring several of the early, important, Judge Dredd story arcs, such as The Judge Child, Judge Death Lives, and the Apocalypse War, which would have taken me to at least prog 270.
Sláine, Pat Mills' mythical Celtic berserker,first appeared in prog 330, and I know I followed his early adventures in the magazine, as I immediately grokked the fact that the ideas presented there could be ported over into a redefining of the "berserker/barbarian" character class in Dungeons & Dragons.
So that's six or seven years of loyal reading.
There was one aspect of the magazine that I never really bought into: the fact that it was supposedly edited by an alien called Tharg (a pseudonym adopted by all the actual editors), who arrived on Earth with his arsenal of "cool" alien slang.
He was an extraterrestrial Stan Lee, but gregarious Stan was always 'The Man', whereas, for me, Tharg was a pale imitation.
I've mellowed rather now and the cringe I felt as a teenager about this whole idea now simply makes me smirk a bit.
In subsequent decades, it was primarily Sláine and Judge Dredd that brought me back into the 2000AD fold, picking up either single issues from newsagents or graphic novel collections of stories from bookshops (or later, Amazon).
Although, for many years, there wasn't the same frisson of excitement picking up and reading the odd prog here and there compared to when I was 10.
It felt as though so much geeky media - and society in general - had shifted in that similar ("don't talk down to young readers") direction, even though 2000ADwas the trailblazer.
However, in the last year I have resumed my subscription to 2000AD, paired with my longer-running one to the Megazine, as I'm now finding the various stories - on the whole - in the anthology title are gelling more with my tastes.
I also love the fact that 2000AD's still going strong, and that new readers are discovering the joys of its gritty, British adventures every week.
Can't wait to see what the publishers, Rebellion, have lined up for 2000AD's 50th anniversary next year.
Meet The Shrivelwoods is a 40-page Gothic horror-comedy written by fan-favourite 2000AD scribe, musician and artist Kek-W, available through his Bandcamp merchandise page.
The publication contains two text stories about the creepy Shrivelwood family, wealthy and decadent maple syrup magnates who bear a superficial similarity to The Addams Family but with the darkness dial turned up to thirteen.
The Old Dank Manse, the first story in Meet The Shrivelwoods, tells of a contemporary, failed romance writer seeking solace in the bosom of her rich Vermont extended family, at their "crumbling Gothic mansion", but finding something much stranger than she expects.
The second, Christmas With The Shrivelwoods, takes the form of a late 19th Century letter from Minnie Shrivelwood to her uncle, Heinie, who is currently restrained in the Hartford Retreat For The Insane. It's a bonkers - matter-of-fact - recounting of the family's preparations for the Christmas holidays.
Both tales blend surreality and slapstick with leftfield black humour, shock revelations and general absurdity, as should be expected by those who have read Kek-W's Dark Judges: Fall of Deadworld work in the universe of Judge Dredd.
I was also reminded of the Wojciech Has's very weird The Hourglass Sanitoriumfor the short stories' occasionally unsettling, nightmarish narrative logic and potentially disturbing imagery.
Rambling - by design - the chapbook's two stories are delightful, amusing, and quick reads that most definitely leave you wanting to hear more about the different generations of this peculiar, and freakish, inbred family of maple syrup-obsessives.
On May 6, a 35th anniversary edition of the legendary Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham graphic novel will hit UK streets.
Recounting the first - of several - meeting of the toughest crimefighters from Mega-City One and Gotham, the high-octane team-up graphic novel, penned by John Wagner and Alan Grant with ground-breaking painted art from Simon Bisley, will be reprinted in a larger size (all the better to appreciate the stunning artwork), using brand new scans from the original printing film - restored by publisher Rebellion's "experienced reprographics teams".
The award-winning 64-page book, which established Bisley as a star of the medium, will only be available in the UK.
Originally published in 1991, Judgement on Gotham pitted the Ultimate Lawman against the Dark Knight Detective, with Judge Dredd and his psychic colleague Judge Anderson forced to team up with Batman after the undead arch-fiend Judge Death escapes from Mega-City One to Gotham City and, alongside The Scarecrow, wreaks havoc – from murdering the masses to headlining a rock concert!
Don't Want To Rush These Things: After 19 years, work shall begin on my castle
As we reach the end of January (which seems to have dragged on for about 30 weeks) I thought it was about time to lock in some aspirations for 2026.
HEALTH
Obviously after last year's health debacle (losing about seven months of the year because my legs stopped working properly and being in a great deal of discomfort), I want to get better this year.
More exercise and a healthier (urrgghhh!) diet are key. Hopefully, at the very least, I can bring my blood sugar levels down so I can get the steroid injections in my spine that will allow me the freedom to do more beneficial exercises.
READING
I've already stated that I want to get back into reading more this year (eyes willing), both novels and comic books, as both have slipped in the last seven or eight months.
I also have a massive backlog of comics to get through. Even though my pull-list continues to shrink, fresh issues keep arriving every month and I keep getting further and further behind.
My Read Judge Dredd Every Day is going... okay. I read either a story from volume one of the Complete Case Files or fresh material from current issues of the weekly 2000AD or the monthly Megazine pretty much every day. Pretty much.
CASTLE
For my 40th birthday (god, I can't believe it's been that long), Rachel's dad built me a tower that I could then decorate - along the line's of Rachel's dolls house hobby - and while I've collected a lot of "bits" to go inside it, two decades on and I still haven't started proper work on it.
I keep flip-flopping on the theme of the tower in my mind (sometimes it's a superhero HQ, sometimes it's a U.N.I.T. base from Doctor Who, and sometimes it's even a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy castle!). This year I really must get on with it.
I'D RATHER BE KILLING MONSTERS
The tabletop roleplaying Facebook group I started over six years ago, I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters, is ticking over nicely, with almost 460 members but I'd really like to kick it up a gear.
I want to make the group more interactive, get more conversations flowing.
At the moment it feels as though there's about a dozen of us doing all the heavy-lifting. I'd like to get more members of the group engaged and talking about their own games, the campaigns they're running or playing in, monster/treasure/trap ideas etc
And, of course, I'd always like to increase the membership.
PROJECT 60
This is the big one for me, my core focus for the geeky projects I want to have in place before I turn 60 at the end of this year. Yes, it includes everything I've set in stone above but the two major things I'm channelling my energies into are establishing a singular roleplaying campaign for me to run - that will have legs - and a (skirmish) wargame with painted miniatures and terrain that I can play solo or invite friends over to play.
The current top contender for a roleplaying game is the anime fantasy Twilight Sword.
When it comes to skirmish games, for a while I was spreading myself a bit thin by embracing several genres and settings, but I've finally decided that I need to concentrate on just the Western game Dead Man's Hand.
I'd hoped to get started on terrain building and painting last year, but my osteoarthritis put the kibosh on that. This year I will make up for that.
For the first time in years, Rachel and I opted not to stay up and see the New Year in last night, instead we watched It's A Wonderful Life and headed to bed by about 10.30pm.
Unfortunately, come midnight and the local fireworks began crackling and popping around the neighbourhood, Alice freaked out and woke me up.
The poor pup was doing her usual jumping off the bed, then asking to be picked up, then jumping off again - all while panting like a small, furry steam engine.
Even once the fireworks stopped, she didn't - anticipating sudden loud noises that never came.
I think it took the better part of an hour to finally calm her down so that she would go back to sleep.
I soon followed, but my circadian rhythm was already disrupted and I awoke again around 6am, knowing I wouldn't nod off again any time soon.
On the plus side, this allowed me to hit my "Read Judge Dredd Every Day" target before the sun had even risen.
For my money, the strongest comic book of the year was the Judge Death 2025 Mega Special, from Rebellion.
I've always loved the fact that the futuristic, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi world of Judge Dredd also freely embraces the supernatural.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that my favourite villainous characters in the decades-long, ongoing saga are The Dark Judges: Judge Fear, Judge Mortis, Judge Fire and their iconic poster boy, Judge Death.
This year's Mega Special, published to celebrate 45 years of Dredd's demonic nemeses, showcased all four of the Dark Judges in their own nightmare-fuelled short stories, beautifully written and illustrated by a variety of creators from 2000AD's stable of talent.
Antony Johnston's ultracreepy Fade To Grey (with art from Lee Carter and letters by Rob Steen), for instance, gave me a whole new appreciation of Judge Mortis
This 48-page magazine, released in time for Halloween, has been the only comic book in 2025 that, once I'd reached the end, I had a powerful urge to simply start again at page one.
Imagine my delight this Christmas when I discovered that Rachel had not only got me a print of that incredibly striking Brian Bolland cover but also had it framed, so that it was ready to hang once the seasonal festivities were in the rear view mirror.
Inspired, in large part, by Booktube- and Michael K Vaughan, in particular - I'm setting myself some personal "book reading challenges" for 2026.
In recent years my reading has gotten a bit slack, for various reasons (a combination of health, the easy ubiquity of television, and general laziness), and so I have been inspired to inject a bit of discipline into this important pastime.
The first challenge (seeking to emulate Michael's "reading Superman every day") is to Read Judge Dredd Every Day.
The plan is to start at the first page of the first Complete Case Files (which reprint every Dredd yarn in chronological order) and read on from there. Over the years I have accumulated (as shown above) the Complete Case Files 1 - 20, with some waifs and strays from the later volumes.
So, that should keep me going for a good while.
The other challenge I'm setting myself is to read the new Conan The Barbarian hardback novels (see below), published by Titan, as well as the Red Sonja novel written by the peerless Gail Simone.
I think this is a solid basis for getting some organised reading going in the New Year.
Hopefully, by then, I will have made significant headway into my backlog of monthly comics (I'm pretty sure I'm six or so months behind on most titles), as well as trimming my pull-list to prevent such scenarios arising again (and for financial and space reasons).
There's also a new Philip Reeve book, Bridge of Storms, due in February, which will obviously jump to the top of my TBR pile the moment it drops on my doormat.
Audiobook-wise, I'm working my way steadily through Stephen King's Dark Tower saga - with diversions to other worlds between each volume - and hope to start book four, Wizard and Glass, in late January/early February.
This will be new territory for me, as I'd originally read the first three books pretty soon after they were published (not that I could remember much past the first, so the audios felt like new stories anyway).
This is an exciting prospect - even if Wizard and Glass is over 27 hours long - as I've oft wondered how the tale of Roland the Gunslinger concludes... and have been very diligent in avoiding spoilers for all these years.
I have a shelf of King books, outside of The Dark Tower they're mainly collections of short stories but I also have The Shining, which may get a look-in next year, depending on how the Conan reading goes.
Stephen King shelf - with my original Dark Tower cassettes (left), with King reading the story
As I race towards my sixtieth birthday next year, I can't help feeling that it's time I got my "collecting" hobbies under control before I end up on an episode of Hoarders or Rachel finds me buried under a collapsed pile of books, comics, and blu-rays!
I've already mentioned that my life-long love affair with roleplaying games is dwindling, thanks to the dawning realisation that I'm never going to run a "forever campaign" that comes close to my hopes and dreams.
I still want to keep playing, and won't - and can't - stop thinking about RPGs, but the constant need to be working on 'my next great roleplaying project' has definitely eased off.
Picture, if you can, the amount of space I could create in our house if I sold off all the games (and supplements) that I own but which I'll never read or revisit.
That's going to take a lot of effort to do properly, but it might generate a decent sum of money to bulk up my ever-shrinking bank account.
On the other hand, I'm currently thinking of burying myself in Cubicle 7's Doctor Who RPG, just not with any expectation of running it (it's simply not a game I could imagine my group, The Tuesday Knights, taking to).
However, I quite fancy the idea of creating Whoniverse scenarios, settings, gadgets, aliens etc to share with the readers of this blog.
If I were to return to running a campaign, with any chance of it surviving more than three or four sessions, it would almost certainly embrace the simplicity of old school Dungeons & Dragons-style gaming. As I did many years ago with the Tuesday Knight's three-year Heroes & Other Worlds campaign.
Honestly, I'd just really love to run a hardcore dungeoncrawl at some point. Just not now.
For reasons of both space and finances, I also need to trim my comic book pull-list from its current 25 titles a month down to something more manageable.
Part of my problem has been that my osteoarthritis has made me feel so uncomfortable that concentrating on reading (and finding a good position to do so) has led to a four or five month backlog of unread comics.
Some, I fear, will have to remain unread if I ever want to get back up-to-date.
Going forward, I'm thinking of streamlining my reading to: DC's Superman (and family); Marvel's Fantastic Four; and Titan's Howardverse titles (Conan The Barbarian, Savage Sword, Solomon Kane etc)
There'll be a few odds and ends in there as well: such as Dynamite's "occasional" Fire and Ice.
I've also heard a rumour that the long-delayed Afterlife With Archie (the greatest unfinished zombie comic book saga of all time) might have finally - after a 10 year hiatus - clawed its way out of the grave to resume its run, but I'll only believe it once that new issue is in my hands.
Of course, on top of all this, there's still my monthly Judge Dredd Megazine subscription and odd runs of 2000AD (I'm still undecided on whether to wean myself off the latter or take out a subscription to sit parallel with my Megazine one).
So, that's still a lot of comics each month, but - as long as I can catch up - it feels like it'll be easier to keep on top of.
The biggest afternoon tea Rachel and I have ever seen
Last weekend, I marked my birthday with a level of food consumption that would have made Mr Creosote proud.
In my excitement, I fear I may have gotten a bit carried away. With the constraint of my current increased state of disability, my usual "going out and doing something active for the day" was put on hold, making way for a number of magnificent food-centric activities instead.
On Saturday, Rachel's parents took us - including Alice - for a meal at my favourite, nearby pub-restaurant, where I managed to consume a three-course Christmas meal. In the evening, watching Strictly in a borderline food coma, I could only manage a bowl of ice cream (I needed something to take some of my pills with).
Then on Sunday Rachel, Alice and I went to the wonderful Pup Cup (the dog café in Tonbridge High Street), where Rachel had prebooked us afternoon tea for two.
It turned out to be the biggest (and most delicious) afternoon tea either of us had ever seen (see picture above), and we ended up having to take a few top tier cakes away in a "doggie bag" for later.
The evening was rounded off with a KFC, although I suspect that might have been a "wafer thin mint" too far 😂
My weekend of excess ended up with me not feeling particularly chipper in the middle of Sunday night and fearing I might explode. However, I got back to sleep and felt a lot better by Monday morning.
This week I've been halving my daily portions of breakfast toast, snacks etc
Haven't even started my birthday cake yet!
Family meal on Saturday
Dog-themed t-shirts for dog-themed café
Downing my favourite strawberry milkshake
Alice always loves The Pup Cup for the attention she gets
Presents waiting for me on my birthday morning
Wonderful presents from Rachel
Rachel turned me into a Funko Pop!
Pop! me comes holding a comic book and a pizza box - seems about right!
Welcome to The Triple C Ranch*, for the official opening of the Cowboys, Capes, and Claws blog - my personal odyssey through the realms of horror movies, Westerns, and superheroes (not necessarily in that order).
Mosey on in and make yourself comfortable. There's plenty to read - and watch - from the get-go as I have postings dating back to January 1. Many of these are what I term "retro reviews" (it's in the tags under the post), which are reviews I've written over the years but were originally to be found on other sites (different blogs, Facebook etc).
However, you'll also find plenty of fresh material, encompassing my real life "adventures" and the various areas of geekdom that tickle my fancy (and hopefully yours).
I'm aiming for a laid-back, easy-going, approach here and welcome comments, opinions, and constructive criticism (even after almost two decades of blogging and a career in local and trade journalism, I'm still learning and honing my craft).
The blog was deliberately designed to be bright and cheerful and - as with all the blogs I create - is best viewed in "web format" (that is, on a laptop or PC) rather than in "mobile format". While it will, of course, be accessible in the latter format, I just feel you miss out on a lot of the bells and whistles that have come with the 'carefully crafted' appearance and features of the site.
Stetsons - and capes - are cool!
Yes, there will still be typos - even in the older material. My brain often zigs while my fingers zag - especially when I'm writing enthusiastically - and things go unnoticed because I inevitability proofread my posts "as I intended them to be" rather than "what is actually on the page".
There'll be some Doctor Who and roleplaying chatter along the way, between the comic book stuff and movie reviews.
Hopefully you'll also see a lot of wargaming-orientated material as I slowly pull together my Dead Man's Hand game and possibly a Judge Dredd one as well... before I turn 60 next year (aka PROJECT 60).
This has also contributed to a surprising loss of interest in roleplaying games (particularly the effort involved in running them), which I hope to dissect and analyse in due course. However, I am looking forward to playing in Pete's upcoming Outgunned game.
But don't worry: this isn't going to become a sports blog - unless you count musings on Red Dwarf's Zero Gravity Football, 2000AD's Aeroball, or the awesome 1990 post-apocalyptic sports movie Salute of The Jugger.
If you've got this far, I'd be mighty pleased if you clicked on the "follow" tab down in the right-hand column (marked "posse"), to allow this humble offering to slide into your reading list - and give me some idea of how may of you fine folks are actually still interested in my twaddle.
Crack a cold one, pull up a chair, and sit a while... you've got 321 days of reading to catch up on.
*Please note, I will probably never refer to this site - or my home - as The Triple C Ranch ever again, but it worked for this welcome post.
Good news for PROJECT 60 and the land of Dead Man's Hand. My latest couple of painted posses are galloping back to me from professional painter, Matt of Glenbrook Games Painting Service.
As shown above, the two sets - produced by Great Escape Games - are The Family (a group of well-armed, militant religious zealots) and A Fistful of Clints (five different Western characters played by Clint Eastwood).
While these are sitting, patiently, in my gamesroom, I'm not yet sure if I'll send them to Matt before Christmas or not.
As to the Judge Dredd miniatures mentioned last time, I continue to snatch up sets I don't already own that I see on eBay for a reasonable price. However, given that Warlord has killed the line off, the prices are already starting to rocket upwards on the secondary market.
I'm looking at this as a more long-term project now, as I really ought to concentrate on one thing at a time. And that one thing is Great Escape Games' excellent Western skirmish game.
Dead Man's Hand remains my primary PROJECT 60 objective on the wargaming front, even though my plans to put together all the buildings I've purchased for the setting have been temporarily scuppered by my misbehaving spine.
I still have just over a year to 'complete' PROJECT 60, and - health-willing - I aim to devote more time to it in 2026. Particularly, the time I'd planned to spend on it THIS year!
Released on DVD in 2015, Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD is agleefully foul-mouthed oral history of Britain's foremost home-grown comic book.
Through a series of talking heads, the documentary charts the comic's growth from its birth in the depressing and anarchic days of the late 1970s.
After 2000AD's founder Pat Mills' first attempt to kick back against the turgid state of boys' comics - Action - had been crushed by the establishment, he realised that sci-fi was a better avenue for his style of storytelling.
Eventually, the success of 2000AD attracted the attention of American comic book companies, particularly DC, and the local talent was quickly poached (Brian Bolland, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison etc) and 2000AD began to suffer because of this.
And it's not really until the title was brought by video game company Rebellion in the year 2000 that the comic started to regain some of its former glory.
A veritable galaxy of comic book talent appears in this documentary, from Pat Pills, Alan Grant and John Wagner, to Grant Morrison, Dan Abnett, Brian Bolland, Kevin O'Neill, Carlos Ezquerra, and Dave Gibbons, to name but a few.
First and foremost this is a historical document, presenting the story of the title, its struggles, its inspirations, and the targets of its subversive satire, but it's also a joyful celebration of a counter-culture icon, a scrappy little niche comic book that has endured for decades, and retained its uniquely British accent, despite occasional great adversity.
It also looks at the enduring legacy and influence 2000AD has had on the comic book landscape (interviewees from DC Comics acknowledge there'd be no Vertigo imprint without 2000AD, for instance) and cinematic aesthete (pointing out that Robocop was a better Judge Dredd film than the first actual Judge Dredd film etc).
Growing up with 2000AD, this was the first comic I read regularly. I still fondly remember the 'free gifts' with the first few issues (a Frisbee, 'bionic' stickers etc) and, in those post-Star Wars days, early strips like Dan Dare and, of course, Judge Dredd had a massive impact on my imagination, my writing, and eventually my gaming.
My pop culture Odyssey: a slice of super-powered geek life with heavy emphasis on pulp adventure, horror, comic books, westerns, superheroes, sci-fi, giant monsters, zombies etc
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