Carlos Ezquerra

Carlos Ezquerra
Ezquerra in 2005
Born	Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra 12 November 1947 Zaragoza, Spain
Pseudonym(s)	L. John Silver
Notable works	Judge Dredd Strontium Dog Just a Pilgrim The Stainless Steel Rat

Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra (Zaragoza, 12 November 1947) is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra. He is best known as the co-creator of Judge Dredd.

Biography

Early work

Ezquerra started his career based in Barcelona, drawing westerns and war stories for Spanish publishers. In 1973 he got work in the UK market through agent Barry Coker, drawing for girls' romance titles like Valentine and Mirabelle, as well as westerns for Pocket Western Library, and a variety of adventure strips for D. C. Thomson & Co.'s The Wizard. The UK was a popular market for Spanish artists as the exchange rate meant the work paid well, but Ezquerra moved to London to be near the work,^[1] settling in Croydon with his wife.^[2]

Battle and 2000 AD

In 1974, on the strength of his uncredited work for The Wizard, Pat Mills and John Wagner headhunted him, through Coker, to work for the new IPC title Battle Picture Weekly. He drew "Rat Pack":^[3] inspired by the film The Dirty Dozen, the strip, written by Gerry Finley-Day, featured a gang of criminals recruited to carry out suicide missions. But his commitments elsewhere meant he couldn't draw it full-time, and other artists were also used.^[1] In 1976 Battle editor Dave Hunt convinced him to commit himself to the title, offering him the laid-back anti-hero "Major Eazy", written by Alan Hebden. Ezquerra drew nearly 100 episodes in the next two and a half years,^[3] basing the character's appearance on the actor James Coburn.^[1]

He was asked to visualise a new character, future lawman "Judge Dredd", for the science fiction weekly 2000 AD, prior to its launch in 1977. His elaborate designs displeased the strip's writer, John Wagner, but impressed editor Pat Mills, and his cityscapes persuaded Mills to set the strip further into the future than initially intended.^[2] But Wagner (temporarily) quit over ownership issues,^{[4]:pp. 12–13} and Ezquerra followed him when the first published appearance of the character was drawn by another artist, Mike McMahon.^[2] He returned to Battle, where he once again teamed up with Alan Hebden to create "El Mestizo", a black gun-for-hire who played both sides against the middle during the American Civil War.

In 1978 he and Wagner created "Strontium Dog", a sci-fi western about a bounty hunter in a future where mutants are an oppressed minority forced into doing such dirty work, for Starlord,^[5] a short-lived sister title to 2000 AD with higher production values.^{[4]:pp.39–41} Starlord was later merged into 2000 AD, bringing "Strontium Dog" with it.^[5] Ezquerra was almost the only artist to draw the character, until 1988, when writer Alan Grant decided to kill him off in a storyline called "The Final Solution". Ezquerra disagreed with the decision, and refused to draw the story, which was instead illustrated by Simon Harrison and Colin MacNeil.^[6] In 2000 Wagner and Ezquerra revived "Strontium Dog" based on a treatment Wagner had written for an abortive TV pilot.^{[4]:p. 211} Initially, stories were set before the character's death in a revised continuity, but 2010's "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha" brought Johnny back from the dead.^[7]

Other 2000 AD strips he drew included Fiends of the Eastern Front (1980), a vampire story set in World War II, written by Gerry Finley-Day, and adaptations of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels, with the title character once again resembling James Coburn. In 1982 he returned to "Judge Dredd" to draw "The Apocalypse War", a seven-month epic which he drew in its entirety. He has continued to draw the character semi-regularly, handling the whole of "Necropolis" in 1990, "Origins" in 2006-7, and many others.

The character of Stogie from the long running 2000 AD strip Robo-Hunter was given the full name Carlos Sanchez Robo-Stogie in tribute to Ezquerra.

Other work

Ezquerra has also collaborated numerous times with writer Garth Ennis on Bloody Mary, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, War Stories, a Hitman annual with artist Steve Pugh, and two Preacher specials (The Good Old Boys and The Saint of Killers miniseries) for DC Comics, and Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Entertainment.

In 2009 his son Hector inked his pencil work for Strontium Dog: Blood Moon.^[8]

Ezquerra occasionally uses the nom de plume "L John Silver" for work such as "The Riddle of the Astral Assassin!" in 2000 AD issue 118.

Bibliography

Comics

Comics work includes:

• Rat Pack (with Gerry Finley-Day, in Battle Picture Weekly, 1975, collected in Volume 1, 128 pages, Titan Books, September 2010, ISBN 1-84856-035-4)
• Major Eazy (with Alan Hebden, in Battle Picture Weekly, 1976–1978, collected in Volume 1, 120 pages, Titan Books, November 2010, ISBN 1-84856-441-4)
• El Mestizo (with Alan Hebden, in Battle Picture Weekly, 1977)
• Judge Dredd:
  • "Judge Whitey" (with Peter Harris and Mike McMahon, in 2000 AD #2, 1977)
  • "Krong" (with Malcolm Shaw, in 2000 AD #5, 1977)
  • "Robot Wars" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #10, 1977)
  • "Bank Raid" (with Pat Mills and John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1981), 1980
  • "The Apocalypse War" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #245-270, 1982)
  • "Meka City" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #271-272, 1982)
  • "Fungus" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #275-277, 1982)
  • "The Big Itch" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1983, 1982)
  • "Behold the Beast" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1983, 1982)
  • "It's Happening on Line 9" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1983, 1982)
  • "Destiny's Angels" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #281-288, 1982)
  • "The Executioner" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #291-294, 1982)
  • "The Night of the Rad Beast" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #296-297, 1982)
  • "The Prankster" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #308, 1983)
  • "The Starborn Thing" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #309-314, 1983)
  • "Condo" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #319-321, 1983)
  • "The Other Slab Tynan" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1984, 1983)
  • "Halloween" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1984, 1983)
  • "Beat the Devil" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Annual 1984, 1983)
  • "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #331-334, 1983)
  • "The Big Bang Theory" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1985, 1984)
  • "Tarantula" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1985, 1984)
  • "The Eat of the Night" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1985, 1984)
  • "John Brown's Body" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1986, 1985)
  • "Crazy R Raiders" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1986, 1985)
  • "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #438-439, 1985)
  • "Costa del Blood" (with John Wagner and Alan Grant, in Judge Dredd Annual 1989, 1988)
  • "Kirby's Demon" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #638, 1989)
  • "The Amazing Ant Man" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #640, 1989)
  • "Young Giant" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #651-655, 1989)
  • "By Lethal Injection" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #669-670, 1990)
  • "Rights of Succession" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #671, 1990)
  • "Dear Annie" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #672-673, 1990)
  • "Necropolis" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #674-699, 1990)
  • "Death Aid" (with Garth Ennis, in 2000 AD #711-715 & #719-720, 1990–1991)
  • "Return of the King" (with Garth Ennis, in 2000 AD #733-735, 1991)
  • "Judgement Day" (with John Wagner and Garth Ennis, in 2000 AD # 788-799, 1992)
  • "The Taking of Sector 123" (with Garth Ennis, in Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 2 #10-11, 1992)
  • "Christmas With Attitude" (with Garth Ennis, in 2000 AD #815, 1992)
  • "Inferno" (with Grant Morrison, in 2000 AD #842-853, 1993)
  • "I Hate Christmas" (with Mark Millar, in 2000 AD #867, 1993)
  • "Frankenstein Division" (with Mark Millar, in 2000 AD #868-871, 1994)
  • "Could You Be Judge Dredd?" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Poster Prog #2, 1994)
  • "The Time Machine" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #889-890, 1994)
  • "The Tenth Planet" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine vol.2 #58-62, 1994)
  • "Wilderlands" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #904-914, 1994)
  • "Parting Shots" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #915, 1994)
  • "The Candidates" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #917, 1994)
  • "Voting Day" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #918, 1994)
  • "The Neon Man" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #951, 1995)
  • "Megalot" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #952, 1995)
  • "Bad Frendz" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #955-959, 1995)
  • "Awakening Angels" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #958, 1995)
  • "The Pit" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #970-977, 1995–96)
  • "The Pit: Unjudicial Liaisons" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #987-989, 1996)
  • "The Pit: Bongo War" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #996-998, 1996)
  • "Beyond the Call of Duty" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1101-1110, 1998)
  • "Sector House" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1215-1222, 2000)
  • "Helter Skelter" (with Garth Ennis, in 2000 AD #1250-1257 & 1260-1261, 2001)
  • "Leaving Rowdy" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1280, 2002)
  • "The Girlfriend" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine #4.15, 2002)
  • "Phartz!" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine #201, 2003)
  • "Sturm und Dang" (with Gordon Rennie, in Judge Dredd Megazine #211-212, 2003)
  • "Brothers Of The Blood" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1378-1381, 2004)
  • "The Monsterus Mashinashuns of P.J. Maybe" (with John Wagner, in Judge Dredd Megazine #231-234, 2005)
  • "Matters Of Life And Death" (with Gordon Rennie, in 2000 AD #1452, 2005)
  • "Origins" (with John Wagner, in 2000 AD #1505-1519, #1529–1535 and #2007, 2006–2007)
  • "Tour of Duty: Mega-City Justice" (with John Wagner and Hector Ezquerra, in 2000 AD #1687-1693, 2010)
• Strontium Dog:
  • Strontium Dog (in Starlord # 1-10, 12-15 & 21-22, 1978)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 86-94 & 104-118, 1978–79)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 178-197, 200-206, 210-221 & 224-233, 1980–81)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 335-345, 350-359 & 363-385, 1983–84)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 416-434, 1985)
  • Strontium Dog (in 1986 2000 AD Annual, 1985)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 445-467 & 469-499, 1985–86)
  • "Bitch" (with Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #505-529, 1987)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD #532-536, 1988 2000 AD Annual & # 544-553, 1987)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 560-573, 1988)
  • "The Stone Killers" (with Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #560-572, 1988)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD prog 2000, # 1174-1180 & 1195-1199, 1999–2000)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD Prog 2001, 2000)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 1300-1307, 2002)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 1350-1358, 2003)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD # 1400-1403 & 1406-1415, 2004)
  • Strontium Dog (in 2000 AD Prog 2006 & # 1469-1472, 2005–06)
• Rick Random (in 2000 AD #118, 1979)
• Tharg the Mighty:
  • A Day in the Life of the Mighty Tharg (in 2000 AD #129, 1979)
  • Tharg The Mighty (in 2000 AD # 145-46, 1979)
  • Tharg the Mighty (in 2000 AD # 155 & 162, 1980)
  • Tharg the Mighty (in 2000 AD # 176-77 & 180-82, 1980)
  • Tharg the Mighty (in 2000 AD # 304, 1983)
  • Tharg the Mighty (in 2000 AD # 435-36, 1985)
  • Tharg the Mighty (in 2000 AD # 443, 1985)
  • Tharg the Mighty (in 2000 AD Winter Special # 3, 1990)
• ABC Warriors (with Pat Mills):
  • "Golgatha" (in 2000 AD #134-136, 1979)
  • "The Shadow Warriors Book I" (in 2000 AD #1336-1341, 2003)
• The Stainless Steel Rat (with Kelvin Gosnell, tpb, 208 pages, July 2010, ISBN 1-906735-51-4):
  • "The Stainless Steel Rat" (in 2000 AD #140-151, 1979–1980)
  • "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World" (in 2000 AD #166-177, 1980)
  • "The Stainless Steel Rat for President" (in 2000 AD #393-404, 1984–1985)
• Fiends of the Eastern Front: "Fiends of the Eastern Front" (with Gerry Finley-Day, in 2000 AD #152-161, 1980, tpb, ISBN 1-904265-64-2)
• Third World War (with Pat Mills):
  • "Hamburger Lady" (in Crisis #1-2, 1988)
  • "Sell out" (in Crisis #13-14, 1989)
  • "Back in Babylon" (in Crisis #17, 1989)
  • Untitled (in Crisis #18, 1989)
  • "All about Eve" (in Crisis #20-21, 1989)
• Anderson: Psi Division: "The Random Man " (with Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #657-659, 1989)
• Durham Red (with Alan Grant):
  • "Island of the Damned" (in 2000 AD #762-773, 1991)
  • "The Golden Mile" (in 2000AD Yearbook 1993)
• Al's Baby (with John Wagner):
  • Al's Baby (in Judge Dredd Megazine vol.1 # 4-15 1991)
  • Al's Baby (in Judge Dredd Megazine vol.2 # 16-24 1992-93)
  • Al's Baby (in 2000 AD # 1034-1044, 1997)
• Armageddon: "The Bad Man" (in Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 2 #1-7, 1992)
• Purgatory (with Mark Millar, in 2000 AD #834-841, 1993)
• Janus: Psi-Division: "Will o' the Wisp" (with Grant Morrison, in 2000 AD Winter Special 1993, 1993)
• Bob, the Galactic Bum (with Alan Grant and John Wagner, 4-issue mini-series, DC, 1995)
• Bloody Mary (with Garth Ennis, Vertigo, tpb, 2005 ISBN 1-4012-0725-1):
  • "Bloody Mary" (DC/Helix, 4 issue mini-series, 1996)
  • "Bloody Mary: Lady Liberty" (DC/Helix, 4 issue mini-series, 1998)
• Hitman (with Garth Ennis, in Pulp Heroes Annual #1, DC Comics, 1997)
• Preacher (with Garth Ennis, Vertigo, included in Preacher, Volume 4: Proud Americans, tpb, March 1998, ISBN 978-1-56389-405-3):
  • Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #3 (4-issue mini-series, October 1996, included in Preacher, Book 3, hardcover, December 2010, ISBN 978-1-4012-3016-6)
  • Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys (one-shot, August 1997, included in Preacher, Book 4, hardcover, June 2011, ISBN ISBN 978-1-4012-3093-7)
• Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand (with Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, Dark Horse, tpb collects Star Wars: Mara Jade - By The Emperor's Hand #1-6, 1999 ISBN 1-56971-401-0)
• Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (with Garth Ennis, Vertigo, tpb collects both mini-series, 2004: ISBN 1-4012-0353-1):
  • "Adventures in the Rifle Brigade" (3 issue mini-series, 2000)
  • "Operation Bollock" (3 issue mini-series, 2001)
• Just a Pilgrim (with Garth Ennis, complete hardcover, Dynamite Entertainment, 2009, ISBN 1-60690-003-X) collects:
  • Just a Pilgrim (Black Bull, 5 issues, 2001, tpb, 2001 ISBN 1-84023-377-X)
  • Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden (Black Bull, 4 issues, 2002, tpb, 2003 ISBN 1-84023-590-X)
• The Scarlet Apocrypha: "Red Menace" (with Dan Abnett, in Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 4 #17, 2002)
• Cursed Earth Koburn (with Gordon Rennie):
  • "Kuss Hard" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #221-223, 2004)
  • "Burial Party" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #228, 2005)
  • "The Assizes" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #239, 2005)
  • "Malachi" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #240-244, 2006)
  • "Going After Billy Zane" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #314-ongoing, 2011)
• Kev Hawkins (with Garth Ennis):
  • The Magnificent Kevin (DC/Wildstorm, 5 issues, 2005, tpb, 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0990-4)
  • A Man Called Kev (5-issue mini-series, 2006, June 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1324-3)
• Battlefields (with Garth Ennis, Dynamite Entertainment):
  • Tankies (3-issue mini-series, April–July 2009, tpb, 88 pages, September 2009, ISBN 1-60690-057-9, included in The Complete Battlefields, Volume 1, hardcover, 268 pages, December 2009, ISBN 1-60690-079-X)
  • The Firefly and His Majesty (3-issue mini-series, March–May 2010, tpb, 80 pages, August 2010, ISBN 1-60690-145-1, included in The Complete Battlefields, Volume 2, hardcover, 200 pages, July 2011, ISBN 1-60690-222-9)

Collected editions

Some of Ezquerra's more recent Judge Dredd and Cursed Earth Koburn work has been collected into one volume:^[9]

• Judge Dredd: The Carlos Ezquerra Collection (224 pages, Rebellion, ISBN 1-905437-35-8)

Toys

He drew the artwork on the header cards for Corgi model's range of X-Ploratron die-cast models. (Diecast Collector Magazine, September 2006 issue, page 38)^[10]

The four X-Ploratron models were;

• Corgi Model Number 2022; "X4 Scanotron"
• Corgi Model Number 2023; "X1 Rocketron"
• Corgi Model Number 2024; "X2 Lasertron"
• Corgi Model Number 2026; "X3 Magnetron"

Notes

References

External links

• Carlos Ezquerra at Comic Vine
• Carlos Ezquerra at the Internet Movie Database

Interviews

• Interview by Paul Ens (Ghent) from theForce.net