Cover Story: The 2000 AD Design Art of Robin Smith

About Karl Stock

Karl Stock Karl Stock has written Tharg's Future Shocks for 2000 AD Dredd prose fiction for the Judge Dredd Megazine and strips including Sniper Elite and Death Wish for Rebellion titles such as Battle The Vigilant and Cor! & Buster as well as interviews and features about comics for the Judge Dredd Megazine Tripwire Comic Heroes and more. He is the co-author of the 40th anniversary edition of Thrill-Power Overload 2000AD's official history and lives in Scotland. Robin Smith Aside from his own co-created Bad City Blue Robin Smith has illustrated Future Shocks Judge Dredd Mean Machine Rogue Trooper Strontium Dog Tharg the Mighty and Time Twisters. He is also the illustrator of Paradox Presss Green Candles and is co-creator of The Bogie Man with John Wagner and Alan Grant. Brian Bolland Perhaps the most popular 2000 AD artist of all time Brian Bollands clean-line style and meticulous attention to detail ensure that his artwork on strips including Dan Dare Future Shocks Judge Dredd and Walter the Wobot looks as fresh today as it did when first published. Co-creator of both Judge Anderson and The Kleggs Bollands highly detailed style unfortunately precluded him from doing many sequential strips although he found the time to pencil both Camelot 3000 and Batman: The Killing Joke for DC Comics. Dave Gibbons Dave Gibbons is one of 2000 ADs most popular artists having co-created Harlem Heroes and Rogue Trooper. He has also pencilled A.B.C. Warriors Dan Dare Judge Dredd Mega-City One Ro-Busters Tharg the Mighty Thargs Future Shocks and Time Twisters as well as having scripted several Rogue Trooper stories making Gibbons one of the few 2000 AD creators to have served as writer artist and letterer! Beyond 2000 AD Gibbons is unquestionably best known for his work on the award-winning classic Watchmen (with Alan Moore) but he has also drawn Batman Doctor Who Give Me Liberty Green Lantern Superman Star Wars and his graphic novel The Originals. Carlos Ezquerra Carlos Ezquerra was the co-creator of Judge Dredd Strontium Dog Rat Pack Major Eazy and many other fan-favourite characters. He designed the classic original Dredd costume as well as visually conceptualising Mega-City One. In addition to these credits he also illustrated A.B.C. Warriors Judge Anderson Tharg the Mighty and Cursed Earth Koburn amongst many other stories. Outside of the Galaxys Greatest Comic Ezquerra illustrated the first Third World War episodes in Crisis magazine and became a regular collaborator with Garth Ennis working on Adventures in the Rifle Brigade Bloody Mary Just a Pilgrim Condors The Magnificent Kevin and two special Preacher episodes. He died in 2018 but his profound influence on the world of comic art cannot be overstated. Kevin ONeill Kevin ONeill was a 2000 AD legend. From working as an art assistant on the very first prog he quickly became involved in the creative side of the comic co-creating classics like A.B.C. Warriors Bonjo From Beyond The Stars Metalzoic and Nemesis the Warlock. Outside the Galaxys Greatest Comic ONeill was briefly notorious as the only artist ever to have his work rejected wholesale by the Comics Code Authority! Happily his notoriety quickly became fame and acclaim as his work on strips like Marshal Law and most recently The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen raised him to a very high profile. Mick McMahon His characters all spiky lines and outsized boots Mick McMahon some times known as Mike co-created perennial 2000 AD favourites The V.C.s and provided Tharg with many classic episodes of Judge Dredd Ro-Busters A.B.C. Warriors and Sláine. Outside of the Galaxys Greatest Comic he drew an adventure with the original Cybermen for Doctor Who Magazine; Sonic the Hedgehog for Sonic the Comic; and in America issues of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight plus the mini-series Tattered Banners and The Last American the latter co-created with John Wagner and Alan Grant. Ian Gibson One of 2000 ADs best-loved and most honoured artists Ian Gibson was responsible for the co-creation of The Ballad of Halo Jones (with Alan Moore) and created Bella Bagley an unfortunate character in Judge Dredds world who fell head-over-heels in love with Old Stoney Face himself! His work outside the Galaxys Greatest Comic includes Chronicles of Genghis Grimtoad Star Wars: Boba Fett X-Men Unlimited plus the designs for the TV series Reboot. Alan Davis Alan Davis is one of the most respected pencillers currently working in the comics industry. Debuting in 2000 AD with the space-based prison drama Harry 20 on the High Rock he followed with the immortal D.R. and Quinch which remains one of the Galaxys Greatests most popular series. Davis also contributed to short stories and Judge Dredd before heading for America and almost instant acclaim. His US career has included Avengers Batman and the Outsiders Captain Britain ClanDestine Detective Comics Excalibur JLA Killraven Miracleman Star Wars and X-Men. Steve Dillon Steve Dillon is a fan-favourite 2000 AD writer and artist and the creator of both Hap Hazzard and the Irish Judge Joyce. His writing for the Galaxys Greatest Comic includes Future Shocks and Rogue Trooper while Dillons pencils have graced A.B.C. Warriors Bad Company Judge Dredd Harlem Heroes Ro-Busters Rogue Trooper and Tyranny Rex. Dillon shot to international superstardom as a result of his work on DC/Vertigos Preacher co-created with 2000 ADs Garth Ennis. Cam Kennedy Cam Kennedy is another hugely popular 2000 AD artist having illustrated many Judge Dredd strips and co-created luckless wannabe creator Kenny Who? and the Taxidermist. A key early Rogue Trooper artist he has also drawn Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham Judge Dredd Tharg the Mighty Thargs Future Shocks and The V.C.s. His extracurricular work includes Axel Pressbutton Batman Lobo Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Star Wars. Massimo Belardinelli Massimo Belardinellis career started with painting the backgrounds for animated cartoons for Rosi Studio in Rome. In 1977 he started working for 2000 AD where his distinctive style graced many strips including Dan Dare Sláine Meltdown Man and Ace Trucking Co. Belardinelli has been much praised for his delicate brushwork and intricate representations of the fantastic. He died in March 2007. Eric Bradbury Eric Bradbury began his comic career at Knockout working on such humour strips as Blossom and Our Ernie. He moved onto the adventure western Lucky Logan sharing art chores with Mike Western (Bradbury would go on to ink Westerns pencils on The Leopard from Lime Street). High profile work on Mytek the Mighty (Valiant & Vulcan) the House of Dolmann (Valiant) Von Hoffmans Invasion (Jet!) Death Squad (Battle) Hook Jaw (Action) and Doomlord (The Eagle) followed. Bradbury has been described as an unsung hero of 2000 AD having contributed to many popular strips in the long-running sci-fi comic. His credits in the Galaxys Greatest comic include Rogue Trooper Tharg the Mighty Invasion and The Mean Arena. Brett Ewins Since his Future Shock debut in Prog 37 Brett Ewins has been one of the Galaxys Greatest Comics most beloved artists. Co-creator of the classic Bad Company Ewins also contributed to A.B.C. Warriors Daily Star Dredd Judge Anderson Judge Dredd Kelly Mega-City One Rogue Trooper Ro-Jaws Robo-Tales and Universal Soldier. Glenn Fabry Glenn Fabry collaborated on Sláine for 2000 AD with the strips co-creator Pat Mills. He later leant his famous painted style to Crisis Revolver and Deadline. He is perhaps best known for his painted cover art on Vertigo's Preacher and Hellblazer for which he won an Eisner award in 1995. Ian Kennedy Ian Kennedy joined D.C. Thomson & Co. as a trainee illustrator after leaving school in 1949. His first published work was to ink the black squares of a crossword puzzle. He later moved on to Amalgamated Press's Knockout before returning to D.C. Thompson as a freelance artist. Throughout the 1950s Kennedy mostly drew war comics for titles such as Hotspur Buster and The Wizard. He branched out into sci-fi in the 1970s doing regular work for 2000 AD Star Lord Battle Picture Weekly Buddy Blake's 7 and Eagle. José Ortiz José Ortiz Moyas sixty plus year career began after he won a contest which ran in the Spanish magazine Chicos. In the 1950s he worked on many digest strips for Editorial Maga including Capitan Don Nadie Pantera Negra and Jungla. Agency work saw him produce several strips for foreign publishers particularly in Britain where he illustrated Caroline Barker Barrister at Law for the Daily Express Smokeman and UFO Agent for Eagle magazine and the Phantom Viking in Lion. In the seventies and eighties Ortiz worked on several British popular strips including The Tower King and House of Daemon for the New Eagle Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd for 2000 AD and The Thirteenth Floor for Scream! which he co-created with John Wagner and Alan Grant. Whilst doing all of this work on UK kids comics in the US Ortiz was also working on and is arguably best known for illustrating several stories for Warrens horror titles including Eerie and Vampirella. Cliff Robinson Cliff Robinson is one of 2000 ADs longest-serving artists having made his debut with a Future Shock way back in Prog 362! Since then he has co-created Mother Earth and illustrated numerous Judge Dredd strips as well as Future Shocks Judge Anderson and Venus Bluegenes. Kim Raymond Kim Raymond began his career as a junior artist in the Character Merchandising Division at the Walt Disney Company in London. After a year in the role he decided to pursue a career in comics and found work on DC Thomsons girls titles Mandy and Tracy. From there he moved to IPC and titles such as M.A.S.K. Robo Machines and Starcom. For 2000 AD Raymond contributed art to Future Shocks Judge Anderson and Judge Dredd. In the late 80s with licenced comics limiting opportunities for artists to create original characters Kim returned to Disney where he has forged an impressive career as an artist and consultant. Ron Smith Ron Smith was a British comic artist whose career spanned almost fifty years. He drew humour strips such as Deed-A-Day Danny and Young Joey for Amalgamated Press Knockout before moving onto adventure strips with The Flame and the Arrow and Ryan of the Redcoats. For DC Thomson & Co. Smith worked on Hotspur Adventure The Wizard The Topper The Dandy and The Beezer as well as the girls titles Bunty and Judy. In the early 1980s Ron Smith was a regular and prolific artist on Judge Dredd for 2000 AD where he co-created some of the strips most memorable characters including Dave the orangutan. He also contributed many covers work on Rogue Trooper and Chronos Carnival and he illustrated an extensive run on the Daily Dredd strips in the Daily Star newspaper. Brendan McCarthy Brendan McCarthy began working for 2000 AD in its early days and as his style developed he created and designed many memorable strips for the comic including the British Japanese and OZ judges the Judda/Chopper storyline Zenith and Sooner or Later. His later comics work includes the celebrated Rogan Gosh the controversial banned Skin the influential Strange Days the Dr Strange/Spider-Man series Fever for Marvel and more recently. During the eighties he moved into designing pop videos and then went on to create the visuals for the groundbreaking hit cgi animated TV series Reboot. This led to work in Hollywood on such projects as the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie Lost In Space and Highlander. He also co-wrote and designed Mad Max:Fury Road with director George Miller. Bryan Talbot Bryan Talbot is one of the UKs most respected comics artists. He has contributed to Future Shocks Judge Dredd Nemesis the Warlock Ro-Busters and Sláine in the Galaxys Greatest Comic and most recently wrote and illustrated a silent one-off. Beyond 2000 AD Talbot is renowned for his body of graphic novel work which includes The Adventures of Luther Arkwright Heart of Empire The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland.