Previewing ‘The 2000 AD Art Of Steve Dillon Apex Edition’: Brilliance On A Massive Scale

by Richard Bruton

Joining a list of greats – Bolland, McMahon, O’Neill, the late Steve Dillon becomes the latest artist to get his own 2000 AD Apex Edition in July.

Presented in a massive, over-sized book format, The 2000 AD Art of Steve Dillon Apex Edition contains work from Dillon’s 30+ year career at 2000 AD, all beautifully reproduced from original art.

Through his time at 2000 AD, Dillon’s art was enjoyed by readers on the pages of A.B.C. Warriors, Bad Company, Judge Dredd, Harlem Heroes, Ro-Busters, Rogue Trooper, and Tyranny Rex. After that, of course, he’d go on to Marvel and DC to great acclaim, including the collaborations with Garth Ennis on Punisher and Preacher.

Sadly, Steve passed away in 2016, way too young and way too early in his career at the afe of 54. This Apex Edition is a well-deserved monument to the life and art of one of 2000 AD’s great artists, something that celebrates the incredible talent and the lasting legacy of a truly great artist and amazing comic storytellers.

As with all the Apex Editions, this Steve Dillion edition is printed at the size of the original artwork, 19 x 14 inches, making it something absolutely huge and weighty, a veritable tome of great art. And as with all of them, this Apex Edition benefits from the archive and reproduction team at Rebellion/2000 AD who’ve really sprinkled their magic over this one to make it a perfect lasting legacy of Dillon’s art.

There’s so much in here – classic pages of Dredd in ‘Block Mania’, ‘Trapper Hag’, and ‘Cry Of The Werewolf’, alongside the ‘Emerald Isle’ storyline, one of his first collaborations with Ennis, the complete art for Alan Moore‘s sole A.B.C. Warriors story, ‘Red Planet Blues‘, with painted colour by John Higgins, perfect Rogue Trooper pages from ‘Bio-Death‘, and plenty more, including covers and sketches.

As with all of the Apex Editions, The 2000 AD Art of Steve Dillon gets released in a standard edition available from comic book stores and the 2000 AD webshop; and as a webshop-exclusive edition with special slipcase.

The 2000 AD Art Of Steve Dillon Apex Edition
Published by 2000 AD on 17 July in standard edition and 2000 AD webshop-exclusive edition with slipcase