Commission by Carlos for fan Ben Heywood, depicting Slippery Jim and Angelina. Thanks, Ben.
Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra (born 12th November 1947, died 1st October 2018) was a Spanish artist working mainly in British comics, best known as the co-creator of Judge Dredd. He began his career drawing war stories and Westerns for various Spanish publishers in Barcelona, before in 1973 getting work in the UK through agent Barry Coker. He drew romances for girls titles including Mirabelle and Valentine, as well as working for Pocket Western Library and D.C. Thomson's long-running adventure title Wizard. In order to be closer to his work, Ezquerra moved with his wife to Croydon.
In 1974, Pat Mills and John Wagner headhunted Carlos from D.C.Thomson to work on IPC's new title Battle Picture Weekly, for which he drew Rat Pack and a lengthy run on Major Eazy (almost 100 episodes over the next two and a half years).
In 1977, he was asked to design a new character, Judge Dredd, for the new title 2000 AD, but when the character's first published appearance was drawn by another artist, Carlos refused to touch the character again for some time (since then though, he has come to be regarded by many as the definitive Dredd artist).
He returned to Battle, and then co-created the character Strontium Dog for IPC's new SF weekly, Starlord (though the strip soon moved over to 2000 AD). Ezquerra was almost the only artist to draw Strontium Dog until 1988, when the decision was made to kill off lead character Johnny Alpha in the story The Final Solution. Ezquerra disagreed strongly with this decision and refused to draw the story (though he would later return to the strip when the decision was reversed and Alpha was first revived in a series of flashback stories and ultimately raised from the dead).
He also drew Fiends of the Eastern Front; Rick Random; Tharg; Janus: Psi-Division; ABC Warriors; Anderson, Psi-Division; Durham Red; Purgatory and the Stainless Steel Rat for 2000 AD, as well as Third World War for Crisis, Comrade Bronski for the revived Eagle and Al's Baby and Cursed Earth Koburn for the Judge Dredd Megazine.
Additionally, he has worked on occasion for American publishers including DC Comics (on Adventures in the Rifle Brigade; Bloody Mary; Hitman; Preacher; The Magnificent Kevin and War Stories, all with writer Garth Ennis, and Bob the Galactic Bum with Alan Grant and John Wagner), Black Bull (on Just a Pilgrim, also by Ennis) and Dynamite Entertainment (on Battlefields, also with Ennis). He worked on one story, Invasion of the Hornu, for the short lived Nigerian title Powerman, and drew several covers for Marvel UK's Fury weekly.
Carlos occasionally used the pen name L. John Silver (usually when working on characters he himself had not created), and lived later in life in in Andorra. He never stopped working, though his son Hector Ezquerra regularly inked his pencils towards the end of his life. Carlos died on 1st October 2018, and 2000 AD publishers Rebellion almost immediately gave away a collection of his short stories in a special tribute magazine given away free with the Judge Dredd Megazine.
The 2019 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special was a special tribute issue featuring the two completed installments of 'Spector', the series he and John Wagner were working on when he died. His passing sparked a controversy over whether or not 2000 AD should allow another artist to continue his Strontium Dog series, with many feeling that this would be unthinkable.
Accolades[]
In 2015 Ezquerra was awarded the San Diego Comic Con Inkpot Award for Achievement in Comic Arts.
The 2000 AD character Stogie, from the long running comedy strip Robo-Hunter, is named Carlos Sanchez Robo-Stogie as a "tribute" to Ezquerra.
The original first page of Carlos Ezquerra's first Dredd strip, with his prototype logo.
Dredd with beat cop from Ezquerra's first Dredd story, unpublished at the time. The idea of the regular Police serving alongside Judges was dropped before the first actual published story.
Private commission piece featuring Galen DeMarco and Dredd
