Advance Preview: ‘Cover Story: The 2000 AD Design Art of Robin Smith’
by Richard Bruton
2000 AD‘s classic covers of the early 1980s, drawn by comics royalty but all designed by the brilliant Robin Smith:
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Another one of those really fascinating books from 2000 AD now, as Karl Stock puts together a look behind the scenes of the comic in the early ’80s.
It was hitting its stride, full of classics of the golden era – Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Sláine and so many more written and drawn by some of the finest comics talent of the time.
And a big part of that was the covers that were so striking, so original, and managed to jump off the stands back then. These were covers by masters of comics, doing incredible things. Artists including Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Carlos Ezquerra, Kevin O’Neill, Mick McMahon, Ian Gibson, Alan Davis, Steve Dillon, Cam Kennedy, Massimo Belardinelli, Eric Bradbury, Brett Ewins, Glenn Fabry, Ian Kennedy, José Ortiz, Cliff Robinson, Kim Raymond, Ron Smith, Brendan McCarthy, and Bryan Talbot, a who’s who of comics talent of the time.
But you may not have known that it wasn’t the artists who came up with the ideas for those classic, iconic covers – no, that was down to Robin Smith, art editor, whose job was to lay out a cover design to pass to an artist who would transform it into the finished masterpiece.
Well, it won’t come as a surprise that Cover Story: The 2000 AD Design Art of Robin Smith is a collection of that incredible Robin Smith work, together with the final covers, all put together by Karl Stock. It should be a fascinating look at the creative process and a perfect snapshot of the golden age of 2000 AD.
Cover Story: The 2000 AD Design Art of Robin Smith is released by 2000 AD on Wednesday 12 February 2025.
