Who is the most prolific or the most influential Dredd artist over time? and whom is the artist who has the most appearances?
I am sure that most people will without a shadow of doubt state Carlos Ezquerra on both counts. He is surely one of the co-creators along with Wagner of Dredd.
The first 100 progs were the time of 3 artists whom together draw almost 80% of the initial run of Dredd: Mike McMahon, Ian Gibson and Brain Bolland. These 3 divided Dredd as a major character in the comic-scene. Each one had their own distinctive style.
Next came Ron Smith which is the artist that really establish Dredd as the de facto British comic character. After the late great Ron came great artist like Steve Dillon and Cam Kennedy. It was only with The Apocalypse War that Carlos really start taking the reins and his style almost become synonym with the way that many of us saw Dredd.
Colin MacNeil came along and only really establish himself long after his first appearance. For me the next big artist was Henry Flint. In today's terms it will hard to decide between these two which is the mainstay Dredd artist.
The top 10 most appearance by an artist:
Artists First Appearance Total Appearances
Carlos Ezquerra 5 261
Ron Smith 104 151
Henry Flint 1014 119
Colin MacNeil 608 100
Ian Gibson 13 85
Paul Marshall 647 74
Mike McMahon 2 71
Cam Kennedy 342 70
Steve Dillon 205 49
John Burns 738 45
For me it all boils down to two artist Carlos Ezquerra or Ron Smith (again RIP :'( ). They even occupy the two top-spots in the moist appearance list.
How would the list look if you included the daily star strip
If I included the daily strip ,the meg and the specials Ron Smith might end up as no 1.
The thing about Ezquerra is the sheer longevity of his time on the strip. With people moving on to other things, and also far less often drawing Dredd, it's hard to see how that will ever be repeated. (Fling and MacNeil, for example, do still draw the occasional Dredd, but that feels as much like an event than a fairly regular thing.)
Ezquerra had longevity on the strip but there was also long periods where he did not draw Dredd (he was mostly doing SD) but would comeback and do a mega epic. Ron on the other hand would do a lot of once-offs Dredds. In recent years MacNeil has done alot of Dredd compared to his start in the prog (he also looks like the goto guy on a lot of the strips - I do not see this as a negative because he is certainly one off the best to grace the pages of the prog)
Interesting to see Paul Marshall in there. I think he's a somewhat underrated droid. I used to be quite indifferent to his stuff as a teenager but I've come round to seeing him as a real great- always reliable, seems to be able to draw anything, consistent, his Dredd is spot on and his worlds always feel solid and believable, however fantastical they might be (Firekind). He's maybe not as distinctive as those at the top of the list, or as influential, but he's just really really good, and has been for decades!
I always liked Paul Marshall's art. He has been around since the same time as MacNeil.
If we are talking most influential I would say it's a close call between Mick McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra. They pretty much did all there is to do with Dredd's appearance. Carlos concept, evolved by Mick a lot. Wouldn't say the Dredd uniform or character design has evolved since the 80's. McMahon is the king of drawing mega city and the lawmaster for me too.