Judas! RIP

The last issue of Judas! has just dropped through my letterbox. It’s a bumper double issue (19/20), running to 144 pages, its focus on Modern Times flanked by a typically wide range of additional meaty articles.

Throughout its five year life, Judas! has succeeded in treating Dylan’s art with an appropriate seriousness. Editor Andrew Muir has covered much of the ground you hoped he might. The legions of fanzinistas who ruin much specialist music publishing – “me, me, me, and, oh yes, how Dylan fits in on the periphery of my...” – have, by and large, if not entirely, been kept at bay. And Keith Wootton’s fine design/production has raised the stakes for niche magazines about popular music.

If you’ve collected a full set of Judas!, you now have a handsome file, brimming to the gills with good Dylan writing. Wootton and Muir should be proud of their legacy. Serious Dylan fans owe them a huge debt of gratitude.



Gerry Smith