Latest Comic Guest - CARLOS EZQUERRA

[showmasters]

Latest Comic Guest Announcement - Carlos Ezquerra

 

Attending: Friday, Saturday & Sunday

 

 

Artist: 2000 AD – Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog; Bloody Mary; Adventures of the Rifle Brigade; Battle Picture Weekly

TO MANY people he is the Spanish artist who created Judge Dredd’s iconic look but Carlos Ezquerra’s career encompasses so much more than that.

He started his career drawing war and Western comics for Spanish publishers. After two years he was approached by two British comics publishing giants, and began working for Fleetway and DC Thomson in 1972.

For the former he contributed to such romance titles as Valentine and Mirabelle while most of his output for DCT was on a variety of strips for The Wizard. He also worked on Top Sellers’ Pocket Western Library.

In 1975 he moved on to IPC, specifically to Battle Picture Weekly, where he worked on a variety of strips, most notably Rat Pack and Major Eazy. Two years later he designed not only Judge Dredd but also the look of Mega-City One, the setting for the iconic Lawman of the Future’s stories, for 2000 AD.

However the Spanish artist only illustrated Dredd’s historic first appearance (in Prog 2) and one other story before returning to Battle for the short-lived El Mestizo. From there he moved on to a new IPC weekly.

For Starlord, which launched in 1978, he conceived Strontium Dog in collaboration with T.B. Grover (a pseudonym for writers John Wagner – with whom he co-created Judge Dredd – and Alan Grant). Before the year was out Starlord was merged with 2000 AD with the Grover/Ezquerra team migrating their mutant bounty hunter to the self-styled Galaxy’s Greatest Comic.

In 1982, Ezquerra, who drew virtually every one of Strontium Dog’s appearances until 1988, reunited with Wagner and Dredd for the classic Apocalypse War, a seven-month long epic which he illustrated in its entirety. He has continued to draw the Lawman of the Future’s exploits periodically ever since either in 2000 AD or its monthly companion title, Judge Dredd Megazine.

He also worked with 2000 AD founder Pat Mills, with whom he conceived The Third World War, which ran in Crisis, 2000 AD’s politically themed companion title, from its launch in 1988.

Ezquerra’s US debut came in 1995. The Spanish artist, who also co-created Fiends of the Easter Front [1980] and Durham Red [1991] for 2000 AD as well as drawing the weekly’s adaptations of Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat novels [beginning in 1979], drew DC’s Grant/Wagner-written Bob, the Galactic Bum four-parter. That was followed later in the year by a DC one-shot, Lobo: I Quit, and then in 1996 by the Garth Ennis-written Bloody Mary four-parter for Helix, DC’s short-lived science fiction imprint.

The Spanish artist, who also co-created The Bad Man [1992] for the Megazine and Al’s Baby [1997] for 2000 AD, has never really slackened when it comes to contributing to the two British titles. His work for American publishers has, however, been more sporadic.

Collaborating more often than not with Ennis, the Spanish artist’s US credits have included a 1997 Bloody Mary sequel and – for Vertigo (DC’s mature readers imprint) – 1997’s Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys and 2000’s four-issue Adventures of the Rifle Brigade and its 2001 sequel.

Across the same period he also drew two Star Wars comics: 1997’s Bobba Fett #½ (for Wizard) and Dark Horse’s six-issue Mara Jade the following year. Those – unlike Black Bull Comics five-issue Just a Pilgrim [2001], its 2002 sequel and Vertigo’s 2003 one-shot, War Story: Condors –weren’t written by Ennis.

With his 2000 AD/Megazine work continuing apace (primarily in partnership with Wagner), in 2005 Ezquerra illustrated The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin, a five-parter published by DC’s WildStorm imprint. That was written by Ennis as was the remainder of his US work: 2006’s A Man called Kev (another DC/WildStorm five-parter) and Battlefields: The Tankies, a three-parter published by Dynamite in 2009.

After brief runs on DC/WildStorm’s Ennis-written The Boys [2009] and Dynamite’s 2010 and 2012 Battlefields series, Ezquerra eased back on his workload, restricting himself to 2000 AD and the Megazine, remaining a regular contributor to both to this day.

[mckee74]

Excellent. Thank you SM.

 

Any chance of Jock please?

[bundyse]

Hope to finally meet him,

[Capetown19]

Now we going to need John Wagner to return to LFCC.

[fanboy67]

Anyone know what he charges for a A4 sized commission?

[only_jay]

Might get him to sign my Dredd movie poster!

[PenThePirate]

Anyone know what he charges for a A4 sized commission?

I'd like to know how to go about requesting one! Cant find any info online.. (must confess only having spent about ten minutes looking...)

[Wrong Name]

 

Anyone know what he charges for a A4 sized commission?

I'd like to know how to go about requesting one! Cant find any info online.. (must confess only having spent about ten minutes looking...)

 

 

Some guests will post on their websites/social media pages that they are taking orders on there before the con, but with most that I've seen you go up to them first thing and speak to them about it. I got an awesome pic of Groot and Rocket a few years ago by Andy Lanning (need him back by the way SM) by getting to his table early.

[PenThePirate]

 

 

Anyone know what he charges for a A4 sized commission?

I'd like to know how to go about requesting one! Cant find any info online.. (must confess only having spent about ten minutes looking...)

 

 

Some guests will post on their websites/social media pages that they are taking orders on there before the con, but with most that I've seen you go up to them first thing and speak to them about it. I got an awesome pic of Groot and Rocket a few years ago by Andy Lanning (need him back by the way SM) by getting to his table early.

 

I figured that would probably be it. Will try and grab him early doors on Thursday. Id love a black and white Johnny Alpha and Dredd double shot