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Ron Smith - an undertstated artist

Started by Rumpole666, 30 October, 2012, 01:04:02 PM

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JTurner

Sort of on-topic, I re-read a lot of Thrill Power Overload yesterday and it struck me how monsterously bitchy it seemed to get in the nerve-centre. Obviously lots of egos thrashing about, but John (not Ron) Smith comes across as being a total cock.

Ron Smith is given a fair bit of love, though.

Frank

Quote from: JTurner on 31 October, 2012, 11:14:41 AM
Sort of on-topic, I re-read a lot of Thrill Power Overload yesterday and it struck me how monsterously bitchy it seemed to get in the nerve-centre. Obviously lots of egos thrashing about, but John (not Ron) Smith comes across as being a total cock. Ron Smith is given a fair bit of love, though.

The only contentious part of Thrill-power Overload involving Smith, John I can think of is his plan to re-script the word balloons of Chronos Carnival. I'm not sure that was ever a serious proposal, and it couldn't have made that strip any worse. I'd like to read it.

Mikey

Ron Smith was an absolute gem of an artist and there's no way anyone connected to 2000ad would deny it. He drew the definitive Uglies and Fatties, never mind the bonkers ordinary cits and the art on that Satanus yarn was genius. Molch-R's interview of Ron is one of the more memorable ones for me, the man lived a life even before he started with the funny books.

M.
To tell the truth, you can all get screwed.

shaolin_monkey


TordelBack

Quote from: JTurner on 31 October, 2012, 11:14:41 AM...John (not Ron) Smith comes across as being a total cock.

Is this one of these young person mean-the-exact-opposite modern argot things, like 'bad', 'wicked', 'random' and 'socialist'? 'Cos if so, you is totes amazeballs!

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 01 November, 2012, 01:27:45 PM
Blimey, he lived a life before Dredd, eh???

I loved the way that Molch-R's Megazine interview had this little throwaway boxout covering Ron's brief escapades as a spy...!

And, yes... Ron was the backbone of Dredd for a decade and a half. As such, he tended to get overlooked by every 'flashier' artist who came in-between, certainly by me, anyway! It's odd, because although I feel like I never rated Ron's work until much later in life, if you asked me to pick my favourite stories like many readers my age 'Shanty Town', 'Black Plague', 'Son of Satanus', 'Pirates of the Black Atlantic', 'Graveyard Shift', et al, are all right up there on the list...

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

shaolin_monkey

Pirates of the Black Atlantic!  Captain Skank!  Completely forgot about that one, and it's bloody awesome.  Does anyone know which Case Files that is in?  I'll rush out and buy it!

Cursed Earth Dweller

Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 01 November, 2012, 05:06:29 PM
Pirates of the Black Atlantic!  Captain Skank!  Completely forgot about that one, and it's bloody awesome.  Does anyone know which Case Files that is in?  I'll rush out and buy it!

Case File no 4.

Dark Jimbo

Case Files 3, 6 and 7 are all quite Ron-heavy, too.
@jamesfeistdraws

JTurner

Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 01 November, 2012, 01:27:45 PM
Blimey, he lived a life before Dredd, eh???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Smith_(comics)

Funny. I never read any of his Dredds, but from the list in Wikipedia I'd been reading his uncredited work elswhere for years. The loneliness of the uncredited artist...

MercZ

I liked the way Smith's art looked, at least from the case files I have. I was surprised too seeing that there's not much on him in the bios in the back considering how common he was in the earlier progs. I wonder if there was some falling out between Smith and others, or if it's just a case he isn't as marketable as other artists?

Frank

Quote from: MercZ on 03 November, 2012, 03:56:52 AM
I liked the way Smith's art looked, at least from the case files I have. I was surprised too seeing that there's not much on him in the bios in the back considering how common he was in the earlier progs. I wonder if there was some falling out between Smith and others, or if it's just a case he isn't as marketable as other artists?

Smith and Wagner didn't see eye to eye about a number of things. I think they're both wonderful, and Smith completely owned the most popular period of the strip. It's no coincidence that the most successful era of Dredd was one where the art was lent consistency by being drawn (primarily) by a small group of artists; even before the 200-300 period dominated by Smith and Ezquerra, it was Smith who provided the glue which held the Bolland/McMahon visual dynamic together.

That's before you take into account the fact that his Dredd strips in the Daily Star were the first and abiding impression many thousands of people had of the character, and are models of visual invention and narrative economy.

Spikes

#27
Quote from: sauchie on 03 November, 2012, 10:11:56 AM
and are models of visual invention and narrative economy.

Indeed, as his condensing of the Apocalypse War into one superb page proves.


TordelBack

Quote from: Judge Jack on 03 November, 2012, 11:33:13 AM
Indeed, as his condensing of the Apocalypse War into one superb page proves.

I can never get over quite how brilliant that half-page is. I wonder has the great Colin Smith of 'Too Busy Thinking...' ever seen it?

O Lucky Stevie!

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 01 November, 2012, 03:54:09 PM
 
And, yes... Ron was the backbone of Dredd for a decade and a half. As such, he tended to get overlooked by every 'flashier' artist who came in-between, certainly by me, anyway! 


You know, this squaxx has being reading since Prog 6 but it was only with the advent of this site that he became aware of the wrongheaded notion that Ron wasn't universally regarded as one of The Definitive Dredd Artists.

As much as Stevie loves Brendan McCarthy* it is Ron's Dredd that immediately springs to mind when he thinks of the character.


*It was only after the gorgeously fully painted Young Giant & the Cubist genius  that is Howler that he went back & re-evaluated Carlos'* & Mike's  body of work on the strip.


**Guess who opined to his best mate at school during The Apocalypse War that he much preferred Strontium Dog? Kids, huh? ;)
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"