Ian Gibson Pen Names in Early 2000Ad

[SpaceSpinner2000]

Hey folks, I've got a question about early 2000AD that maybe someone can help me with. For our show we're looking at 2000AD in late 1980/1981, and we're starting to see a lot of Ian Gibson returning to the comic, mostly drawing Dredd and occasional Tharg strips. My question is: Why is he drawing under a pen name? He's generally listed on the Credit Cards as Emberton when he draws Dredd and Q. Twerk when he draws Tharg. This seems odd to me because he was previously listed under his real name when he was drawing Robo-Hunter, and will use his real name for later stuff like Halo Jones. Can anyone think of a reason why he (or IPC editorial) would want his identity hidden for just a few months in the early 80s? It's not like Gibson doesn't have a distinctive art style!

Anyhow, interested to see if anyone has any ideas, thanks!

[JOE SOAP]

It's been said before that he used pseudonyms on artwork he wasn't quite happy with.

[skurvy]

Pretty sure I read a quote from Ian Gibson somewhere explaining that Q. Twerk stands for 'cute work'.

[Colin YNWA]

It's been said before that he used pseudonyms on artwork he wasn't quite happy with.

Isn't that similar to Carlos using LJ Silver for the same reasons?

[Steve Green]

I can't remember Carlos' exact reasoning - I think it may have been more characters he didn't create - so ABC Warriors, or that episode of Rick Random.

[Colin YNWA]

I can't remember Carlos' exact reasoning - I think it may have been more characters he didn't create - so ABC Warriors, or that episode of Rick Random.

Arh actually that makes a lot of sense.

[Frank]

It's been said before that (Ian Gibson) used pseudonyms on artwork he wasn't quite happy with.

I can't remember Carlos' exact reasoning - I think it may have been more characters he didn't create

It's sort of the same reason, but I thought Carlos only wanted to work on strips where he was the sole artist. *

I think in both instances it's also a case of being asked to help out editorial by doing a rush job at short notice. Compare the almost line claire rendering in those Q Twerk strips to the insane level of detail Gibson lavished upon his early Dredd and Robohunter.

It's work they literally don't want to put their names to.


* Hence the Herculean feat of drawing the entire Apocalypse War solo, when all previous epics (and Blockmania) had been the work of many hands.

[norton canes]

I'm sure I remember one of his strips being credited to 'T. Qwerk'. Did I imagine this?

[Colin YNWA]

As I recall LJ Silver was also a tribute to Hugo Pratt one of his favourite artists who did a classic version of Long John Silver in Treasure Island. I seem to consider this fact but have no idea how I know it so stand to be corrected!

[Leigh S]

I either read or have come to assume the pirate angle was because IPC was being robbed!