RIP Ron Smith

[sheridan]

My starting line-up of Dredd stories (have mentioned elsewhere that I had a bundle of progs handed to me by the next-door neighbour).  Some weeks were missing, and it took until I found Fantasy World to get the other episodes.

The Prankster, The Starborn Thing, King of the Road, The Stupid Gun, Condo, Cry of the Werewolf.

Then when I started actually buying the progs (not everyone for some reason, so I had to fill in a few gaps): The Weather Man, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Graveyard Shift.

It didn't take long for me to start getting the Eagle reprints - The Blood of Satanus was one of the earliest coloured-in Dredds I remember!

[Colin YNWA]

No one and I do mean no one, including the greats like Carlos, filled Mega City One with such incredible life. He was an amazing talent on all levels, but his work on the citizens of Mega City One was unsurpassed. Both hideous and glorious in equal measure. So inhuman yet imbued with such humanity. So crazy and yet so real.

He draw one of my all time favourite Dredds in 'Portrait of a Politican'. I don't think any other artist would have been able to add such humanity into an orangutan running for major of Dredd's Metropolis. Just astonishing.

We might have lost another legend, but his legacy will live on long in to the future. My thoughts are with his family. Rest in peace Ron Smith and thank you.

[Pete Wells]

Ron worked on some of my very, very favourite Dredd classics. Some of my earliest, and fondest memories of Dredd, were the Daily Star Dredds (like many, I point people in the direction of these if they want to know more about the character and his world), the Palais De Boing(R), the Invisible Man, Dave the Orangutan, Otto Sump, Citizen Snork, the Black Plague, Marlon Shakespeare, Captain Skank and so many more. His depictions of Mega-City One citizens were easily the best, as they were rightfully absolutely crazy, and his Dredd profile is the one I copied most as a kid.

Thanks Ron, thanks for some wonderful and truly treasured memories. A sad day indeed.

[Buttonman]

Such sad news. I was surprised to see on Barney that Ron's last 2000ad appearance was in Prog 899 - nearly 25 years ago. What a long shadow he has cast that his strips are still remembered and regarded so highly.

I see Ron's daughter added her comments to the 2000ad Facebook tribute and seemed genuinely amazed at the esteem her Dad was held in.

The Pye image is fantastic and I hope it is included in a Prog tribute - a life and career well worth celebrating.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Prog 889! Wow. He was a true great. Nobody did spotty MC1 juves like him, and very few gave such character to the city.  A massive, massive part of my childhood, was Ron, and I'm not sure the Dredd film could have looked so great without his influence.

[broodblik]

Ron Smith is one of the artists who help form Dredd into the character and world we know today.

Another tribute to Ron: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2019/01/ron-smith-passes-away.html

[norton canes]

I genuinely think he was 2000 AD's best ever artist. An extraordinary and unique talent.

[broodblik]

[I, Cosh]

Sad news. I started reading in the late 200s so Ron Smith's Dredd was always an integral and defining part of the strip for me. Shanty Town was probably my first introduction to Ron's incomparable crowds of muties and freaks. A great artist. RIP.

[geronimo]

His work was so distinctive, no-one else like him and he must have been a real work horse considering how much he has turned out in his career.
 I remember his King Cobra, in Victor, I think. He always had a great sense of space and motion in his panels, just the right man to balance McMahon and Bolland, he had a touch of each of their styles.

[abelardsnazz]

Sad news. Ron drew Dredd in my first Prog (377) so my first impressions of the character were formed by him. The Stupid Gun, Pirates of the Black Atlantic, The Graveyard Shift...the list goes on. And his work on the Daily Star strips was sublime. RIP Ron.

[AlexF]

Oh man, another big big name in 2000AD. His Dredd one-offs remain the funniest and most lunatic. I echo the love for his mega-citizens, and indeed his Mega City 1, constantly throbbing and heaving with people and buildings and vehicles and everything. This picture of the juve unwrapping that umtpy candy positively vibrates with emotional impact.



My condolences to his family and friends.

[Richard]

That cover for prog 389 was re-used for a Best of 2000AD Monthly, and that comic was my first exposure to Judge Dredd. I always loved his work, with his distinctive and unmistakable style -- he was one of those artists where you knew who it was without having to read the credits. He illustrated some of my all-time favourite stories, such as City Block and Death of a Judge, and a whole host of others. So much detail in every panel. I missed his work when he retired.

[Rogue Judge]

My introduction to Dredd was through the first few case files which included lots of Ron's artwork. He was an immediate favorite, definitely in my top 3 Dredd artists. Dredd, Otto Sump, the Fatties etc. Ron's work comes first to mind.

Rest in peace Ron, thanks for the art!

[McNulty]

Definitely one of the greats who made 2000AD what it was. Sadly missed.