Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Interlude: the Dreddcount part 2

Artists

OK, so you know without thinking about it who has written more Dredd – but who has drawn more? This is a toughie for sure, and it turns out there isn’t a straightforward answer…

Art by Cam Kennedy; Words by John Wagner
(big feet meme by Mike McMahon)

I’ve counted up using the same criteria as with the writers, only this time covers come into play, too. I’m including in this count covers / star scans that relate to the Judge Dredd story inside the Prog/Meg, even if Dredd himself does not feature.

Art by Greg Staples
This relates to the Dredd story
inside, so it counts towards
Staples's Dredd total
 I’m also including covers that feature Dredd prominently as part of a general 2000AD ensemble. I’m also including all-new covers that were used on reprints (but not reprinted covers) directly produced by the House of Tharg - 2000AD monthly, Classic Judge Dredd etc, and, this time around, that includes the audio dramas and in-house novels. Covers produced for the Titan comics reprint collections, and covers designed for the US market (i.e. Quality comics) are listed in brackets.

Art by Colin MacNeil
this relates to the Shimura story inside -
it doesn't count towards MacNeil's total.
I’m not including covers/stories that relate to Dredd’s world (even if Dredd ends up appearing as a character), so no Anderson, Psi Division amongst many others.*


But, as before, I’ve not counted anything relating to the movie-Dredd in either incarnation, or the IDW Dredd stuff (on the grounds that these are essentially different characters or at least part of a different Universe.**)



Art by Cliff Robinson
This definitely counts!
Enough with the pre-amble. Who are the top 10 Judge Dredd artists (by volume)?
Well, it depends, so here are two alternative Top 10s for you:

Version 1
1. Carlos Ezquerra (as it should be; has drawn more episodes of Dredd than anyone else by some margin)
2. Ron Smith (even without his years as the newspaper strip mainstay)
3. Cliff Robinson (cover artist at large)
4. Ian Gibson
5. Mick McMahon
6. Brian Bolland (even without all his cover work, he's drawn more Dredd than you might think)
7. Colin MacNeil (America; what more needs be said?)
8. Henry Flint (king of the latter day mega-epic)
9. Cam Kennedy
10. Paul Marshall (bet you didn't see that coming)

Art by Carlos Ezquerra; Words by Wagner & Grant
Art by Ron Smith; Words by Wagner & Grant

Art by Ian Gibson
Version 2
1. Ron Smith (has drawn the most individual Judge Dredd stories, even ignoring the Daily Star Dredds)
2. Carlos Ezquerra
3. Mick McMahon
4. Cliff Robinson
5. Ian Gibson
6. Brian Bolland
7. Greg Staples
8. Colin MacNeil
9. Paul Marhsall
10. Cam Kennedy

To unpick the logic behind the two lists, I'll present the bald data for ALL Judge Dredd artists who have a total count of at least 10 epsiodes/stories/covers. If there’s a name you think is missing, it’s because their total count is less than 10.***


Art by Mike McMahon; words by John Wagner
 
Art by Brian Bolland; Words by John Wagner

Art by Henry Flint; Words by John Wagner

Chin by Colin MacNeil
Words by John Wagner


Total 1 is straightforward: stories + ‘normal’ covers, and does not including the newspaper strips.

Total 2 gives a figure that combines individual episodes and all covers. I have somewhat arbitrarily judged that 15 episodes of the newspaper strip counts as a single episode equivalent of a 2000AD Prog episode (rounding up to get whole numbers).****


Name
Total 1
Stories
Episodes
Covers
Total 2
Ron Smith
131
80 (+266)
161 (+1117)
51
287
Carlos Ezquerra
120
75
302
45 (+3)
350
Mike McMahon
94
53
88
41 (+15)
144
Cliff Robinson
91
44
47
122 (+2)
171
Ian Gibson
81
68 (+24)
98 (+634)
13 (+5)
159
Brian Bolland
68
21
42
47 (+47)
136
Greg Staples
67
25
50
42
92
Colin MacNeil
58
32
100
26
126
Paul Marshall
57
45
91
12
103
Cam Kennedy
55
41
90
14 (+1)
105
Robin Smith
53
22
23
31
54
Henry Flint
50
31
93
19
112
Pete Doherty
47
28
52
19
71
Jason Brashill
43
12
19
31
50
Brett Ewins
43
22
30
21 (+2)
53
John Higgins
38
35
59
31
90
Steve Dillon
38
19 (+1)
51 (+41)
19 (+1)
74
Brendan McCarthy
38
21
34
17 (+8)
59
John Burns
36
27
60
9
69
Dermot Power
36
10
21
26
47
Sean Phillips
31
7
10
24
34
Liam McCormack-Sharp
30
16
22
14
36
Kev Walker
30
11
31
19
50
Trevor Hairsine
29
8
22
21
43
Mick Austin
29
10
21
19
40
Chris Weston
28
17
22
11
33
Dylan Teague
27
9
14
18
32
Dean Ormston
26
10
20
16
36
Ben Willsher
25
17
41
8
49
PJ Holden
20
18
26
2
28
Anthony Williams
23
18
23
5
28
Siku
21
12
24
9
33
Jock
21
7
10
14
24
Glenn Fabry
21
8
8
13
21
Simon Bisley
20
9
9
11 (+8)
28
Barry Kitson
20
15
20
5
25
Jim Murray
20
8
9
12
21
Colin Wilson
19
13
24
6
30
Karl Richardson
19
9
20
10
30
Will Simpson
18
13
30
5
35
Jim Baikie
18
11
19
7
36
Simon Davis
18
6
10
12
22
Mike Collins
17
16 (+13)
22 (+734)
1
72
Richard Elson
17
12
19
5
24
Garry Leach
17
12
15
5
20
Simon Coleby
17
11
18
6
24
Mark Harrison
16
2
6
14
20
Carl Critchlow
15
12
33
3
36
Boo Cook
15
8
15
7
22
John Ridgway
14
8
29
6
35
Patrick Goddard
13
12
27
1
28
Nick Percival
13
3
15
10
25
Alex Ronald
12
9
16
3
19
Kim Raymond
12
9
13
3
16
Duncan Fegredo
12
3
3
9 (+1)
13
Dave Taylor
11
7
20
4
24
Arthur Ranson
11
6
6
5
11
Clint Langley
11
2
2
9
11
Andrew Currie
9
9
24
0
24
Nick Dyer
9
9
17
0
17
Lee Sullivan
8
8
16
0
16
Simon Fraser
8
8
14
0
14
Jeff Anderson
8
7
12
1
13
Leigh Gallagher
8
6
14
2
16
Steve Yeowell
8
5
7
3
10
Charlie Adlard
7
5
21
2
23
Inaki Miranda
7
5 (22)
10 (22)
0
12
John Hicklenton
5
3
13
2
15
Calum Alexander Watt
4
3
9
1
10
Carlos Pino*****
0
(26)
(1091)
0
(73)
 


Art by Paul Marshall

*Got to draw a line somewhere. I’m drawing it at stories that ran under the banner ‘Judge Dredd’ – basically the same criteria begin used to include stories in the Case Files/Restricted Files range, which is more selective than the Mega-Collection range. I am including the first ‘America’, though, because come ON. That is a Judge Dredd story through and through.

**And if you prefer to disagree, it’s not too hard to plug in the missing numbers yourself…

***So no Kevin O’Neill, no David Roach, no John Cooper, no Frank Quitely among many others.

****Yeah, Megazine episodes are longer. Not to mention the Batman crossovers. Perhaps a truly dedicated stats nutcase would start in on an individual panel count…

*****Poor Carlos Pino never drew a ‘proper’ Dredd episode for the Prog, but did slog his way through the Mark Millar / Alan McKenzie years at the end of the Daily Star Dredd era. I’ve never seen one of these episodes, but am curious to see Pino’s take on Dredd.