Cover Story: The 2000 AD Design Art of Robin Smith

COVERS UNCOVERED

The early 80s saw 2000 AD hit its golden era. With Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Sláine and more firing on all cylinders it became the UK’s most exciting and innovative comic. Its covers played no small part in its appeal, and those covers were the brainchild of Robin Smith whose job was to lay out a cover design to pass to an artist who would transform it into the finished product.

This collection of some of Smith's cover layouts shows just how integral his ideas were to some of 2000 AD’s most famous and revered covers, and it’s a fascinating glimpse into the creative process.

Featuring covers by some of the galaxy’s greatest artists, including Brian Bolland (The Killing Joke), Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), Carlos Ezquerra (Judge Dredd), Kevin O’Neill (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Mick McMahon (Judge Dredd), Ian Gibson (The Ballad of Halo Jones), Alan Davis (Captain Britain), Steve Dillon (Preacher), Cam Kennedy (Rogue Trooper), Massimo Belardinelli (Ace Trucking Co.), Eric Bradbury (Mytek The Mighty), Brett Ewins (Johnny Nemo), Glenn Fabry (Sláine), Ian Kennedy (Dan Dare), José Ortiz (The Thirteenth Floor), Cliff Robinson (Judge Dredd), Kim Raymond (Roy of the Rovers), Ron Smith (Judge Dredd), Brendan McCarthy (Rogan Gosh) and Bryan Talbot (Nemesis the Warlock).

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 Press’s Green Candles, and is co-creator of The Bogie Man with John Wagner and Alan Grant.. Perhaps the most popular 2000 AD artist of all time, Brian Bolland’s 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, Bolland’s 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 is one of 2000 AD’s 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, Tharg’s 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 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 ‘Galaxy’s 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 O’Neill 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 Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, O’Neill 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.. 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 Galaxy’s 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.. One of 2000 AD’s best-loved and most honoured artists, Ian Gibson is responsible for the co-creation of The Ballad of Halo Jones (with Alan Moore), and created Bella Bagley, an unfortunate character in Judge Dredd’s world who fell head-over-heels in love with ‘Old Stoney Face’ himself! His work outside the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic includes Chronicles of Genghis Grimtoad, Star Wars: Boba Fett, X-Men Unlimited, plus the designs for the TV series Reboot.. 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 Galaxy’s Greatest’s 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. He has recently taken up the reins on Uncanny X-Men.. 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 Galaxy’s Greatest Comic includes Future Shocks and Rogue Trooper, while Dillon’s 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/Vertigo’s Preacher, co-created with 2000 AD’s Garth Ennis.. 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, Tharg’s 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’s 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. Massimo Belardinelli died in March 2007.. 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 Western’s pencils on The Leopard from Lime Street). High profile work on Mytek the Mighty (Valiant & Vulcan), the House of Dolmann (Valiant), Von Hoffman’s 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 ‘Galaxy’s Greatest comic’ include Rogue Trooper, Tharg the Mighty, Invasion and The Mean Arena.. Since his Future Shock debut in Prog 37, Brett Ewins has been one of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic’s most beloved artists. Co-creator of the classic Bad Company, Ewins has 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. Beyond 2000 AD, Ewins was a co-founding editor of Deadline magazine, and co-pencilled and inked the hugely acclaimed Skreemer series, which he co-created with writer Peter Milligan. He also created Johnny Nemo, which is now enjoying great success in Cyberosia Publishing’s new US edition.. Glenn Fabry is a classic 2000 AD artist, best known for his innovative and highly detailed work on Slaine, though he has also illustrated Judge Dredd and a Future Shock, not to mention part of the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover story 'Die Laughing'. Fabry's best-known work outside the Galaxy's Greatest Comic is almost certainly the full run of covers he painted for Preacher. However, his career is split between covers and sequential work, and he ahs also contributed to A1, The Authority, Global Frequency, Hellblazer, The Scarab, Swamp Thing and Transmetropolitan.. José Ortiz Moya’s 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 kid’s comics, in the US Ortiz was also working on and is arguably best known for illustrating several stories for Warren’s horror titles, including Eerie and Vampirella.. Cliff Robinson is one of 2000 AD’s 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.. 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. The Zaucer of Zilk for 2000 AD (being re-published by IDW in the US). 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 the new instalment of the Mad Max franchise called Fury Road, with director George Miller. Brendan currently has a big new cgi animated feature film and a bizarre new comic series (Nano Nano) in the works.. Bryan Talbot is one of the UK’s most respected comics artists. He has contributed to Future Shocks, Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Ro-Busters and Sláine in the Galaxy’s 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.

Karl Stock has written Tharg's Future Shocks for 2000AD, 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.

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 Press’s Green Candles, and is co-creator of The Bogie Man with John Wagner and Alan Grant.

Perhaps the most popular 2000 AD artist of all time, Brian Bolland’s 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, Bolland’s 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 is one of 2000 AD’s 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, Tharg’s 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 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 ‘Galaxy’s 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.