Cliff Robinson - Son of a Gun!

BLAM! Nobody, but drokkin' nobody, does a stock Dredd cover like the legend that is Cliff Robinson. This magnificent artist is responsible for some of the most iconic Dredd images of all time and without doubt some of my all time favourite covers too.

To my delight, Prog 1684 saw another Cliff belter which decided the theme for this blog entry - The snappily titled 'Cliff Robinson's Dredd Pointing His Lawgiver at the Reader' collection. We'll kick off with the afore mentioned cover before taking a trip down memory lane to drool at some of his other fine, fine work...

Below is Cliff's initial idea for the cover. Though frighteningly similar to the final piece, you can see that there are subtle differences such as the closeness of the shot, the pose and the expression on Dredd's face... Next is a 'sketch' of the cover which is damned beautiful in it's own right!

Followed by the prelim where details such as composition and the location of the blast from the gun can be addressed (it's right over the bar code!)

Then, the absolutely stunning line art of the piece, amazing...
And finally the coloured version, good Grud it's beautiful!
I thought I'd include the published cover so we can note the placement of Dredd and the slight transparency and layering of the muzzle flash to ensure pertinent information about the comic can be seen and the pesky bar code can be scanned correctly...
So, lets kick off the 'Cliff Robinson's Dredd Pointing His Lawgiver at the Reader' collection with erm... Dredd not firing a Lawgiver at the reader. This is the cover of Prog 1529 which depicts young Dredd and Rico having their first taste of action, protecting their Clone Father Chief Judge Fargo during the Origins epic. Note this was before the arrest of President Big Bad Bob Booth so the Justice System and, presumably, most of the tech that goes with it, has not been formed yet, hence the clunky guns...

Moving away from Cliff for a brief moment, here's Ron Smith's Star Scan from prog 995, showing the Mark 1 Lawgiver and treating us to titbits of information like it has a range of three miles and the six types of bullet it fires - Normal, Ricochet, Heat Seeker, Incendiary, Armour Piercing and the celebrated Hi-Ex!So here we have inks and colours for Prog 745 showing Dredd's special brand of negotiation while tracking down an East Meg Clockwork Pineapple to avoid a diplomatic incident...

Next a recreation of Prog 775, which depicts Dredd arresting his first ever perp, Bert Dubinski from the Dredd story "First of Many."

Here's a Star Scan from Prog 900...And, for those like me, who think that the Lawgiver Mk 1 is far too weedy for their tastes, here's a wonderful unpublished cover that proves that is doesn't look too shabby when you're looking down the business end of one! Onto the much cooler looking Lawgiver Mark 2. Designed by Jason Brashill and Jim Murray and field tested intermittently in Progs from around the 1050 mark, the Lawgiver Mark 2 boasts a range of improvements over it's predecessor. Again, the gun boasts six standard types of ammo, with an option of gas rounds replacing the incendiary or heat seeker round and a stun charge capable of disabling multiple opponents with a non-lethal charge.

The weapon came into active service in the story 'Gun Play' in Prog 1122 where we learn that Doomsday bad guy Nero Narcos had hidden code which would cause the guns to explode at a given signal...

Here is Brashill and Murray's design from Magazine 3.50:And Cliff's limited edition print which is available from Termight Replicas...

So, here's the inks from the cool action packed cover of Prog 1246...



And another belter from 1268, wow...
And a drokking mean looking 1275...

Here's an eye popping image of Dredd blasting an android terrorist from 1286...

And a real favourite of mine, the cover of 1345, beautiful...

Finally in our tour of "Cliff Robinson Draws Dredd Pointing His Lawgiver at the Reader" collection draws to a close with some covers from other publications. Firstly, the cool cover or Megazine 284...

And some classics form the Law in Order collections, starting with Cliff's amazing take on Mick McMahon's opening page for the Cursed Earth Epic...

And the inks and colours for the reprint of the Judge Death...

Without a doubt, Cliff is one of the shining stars of 2000AD with his iconic depiction of Dredd absolutely everywhere from Candy Cigs to 'How To Draw Judge Dredd' guides to poster flags and I hope this blog entry reaffirms why.