2000 AD Covers Uncovered: Santa’s Come To Slay! Cliff Robinson on Prog 2362’s Mega- Xmas Prog cover…
13th December 2023
Every week, 2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest artwork and 2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes you behind-the-scenes with the headline artists responsible for our top cover art – join bloggers Richard Bruton and Pete Wells as they uncover the greatest covers from 2000 AD!
This week, one of the finest cover stars of all Tharg’s art droids returns for a festive Covers Uncovered – it’s Cliff Robinson’s Santa-spectacular for the 100-page Xmas Prog 2362
On a cover coloured by Dylan Teague, it’s time to bring the carnage as Mecha-Santa and his robo-elves cause chaos to Dredd, Tharg, and all the staff droids at 2000 AD towers with something that’s unmistakeably, brilliantly, Cliff Robinson.
Inside the triple-sized end-of-the-year Prog, Tharg’s blessed us with a stuffed bag full of zarjaz strips to thrill you through the festive period. It’s a Prog of two halves, with the latter half full of ongoing tales Helium, The Devil’s Railroad, and Feral & Foe. But the first seven strips in this 10-strip blowout are all pulse-pounding one-off thrills starring some of the most iconic characters in the Galaxy’s Greatest’s long history.
Judge Dredd (sort of) opens proceedings in A Matter of Life & Dredd by Ken Niemand and Tom Foster, with a seasonal tale of ghosts of the Dredd family past. We have new adventures for Rogue Trooper in Runaway by Geoffrey D. Wessel and Simon Coleby, Anderson, Psi-Division in The Game Within by Torunn Grobekk and Kieran McKeown, and a sinister and seasonal tale of blood in Fiends of the Eastern Front by Ian Edginton and Tiernen Trevallion. And Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin’s Azimuth returns for a one-off before series two next year with an introduction to this incredible new world that’s going to blow both Dexter and you loyal readers away in surprise.
And finally, we also have a very special one-off tale of Johnny Alpha and Wulf in Strontium Dog: Alpha, with art by Dan Cornwell and a debut from long-time fan of 2000 AD, comedian, actor, and presenter Rufus Hound. For more from the Hound droid, be sure to pick up the Christmas Judge Dredd Megazine issue 463, also out right now, where he’s interviewed by Karl Stock – alongside a suitably stuffed set of strips, meaning it’s double the Christmas delights for you.
Cliff Robinson has been a mainstay in the Prog since way back, with his first interior work coming in 1984’s Prog 362 with the Future Shock, Dead Clever. But it’s as a cover artist that most fans will know Cliff, and he’s provided so many beautiful covers over the years, beginning with Prog 414 in 1985. We’re looking at something like more than 150 covers over the years – and every single one of them quite incredible, with all that clean line, highly detailed, meticulous artwork, packed with dynamism and imagination. Over the years, his covers have always leapt off the shelves and burned themselves into readers’ minds, and this Xmas Prog cover is no exception.
It all starts, of course, with an idea, this one being all about the terrifying Mecha-Santa and his robo-elves terrorising the ranks of 2000 AD Towers, with the first pencil sketch looking very much like this…
It’s pretty much all there from the off – but there’s more to add, the robo-elves on the rampage and the individual editorial droids joining Dredd and The Mighty One is escaping a marauding mech-Santa. First though, more details on Dredd and Tharg…
Next, time to get to work detailing the rogue’s gallery of editorial droids to feature on the cover – and according to Mech-Santa they’ve all been very, very bad this year…
And what better minions for Mecha-Santa than a swarm of flying, laser-blasting robo-elves? As usual from Robinson, it’s that perfect mix of characterisation – part ridiculous, part nightmare-inducing…
Once Cliff has all the elements sorted, it’s time to get them all in place and begin assembling that final cover…
After that, we need snow, snow, and more snow, plus the background details of MC-1… there’s no droid that does MC-1 quite as well as the Robinson droid.
Finally for Cliff’s part of the cover, it’s back to the character layer and time for those beautifully detailed Robinson inks before then inking the whole thing.
The only left to do is to send it over to Cliff’s regular colours droid, the ever-excellent Dylan Teague who, as usual, brings Cliff’s art to vivid life with that fabulous colouring job. And that, one and all, is how a stunning Cliff Robinson cover comes about.
Huge thanks to Cliff for sending along the artwork to the Xmas Prog 2362. It’s always an absolute pleasure for us to be able to share his classic artwork with you.
You can find the triple-sized end of the year blowout 2000 AD Prog 2362 wherever you pick up your weekly dose of Ghafflebette comics, including the 2000 AD web shop from 13 December. It’s on sale for three weeks a perfect end to yet another thrill-powered year, with the next Prog on sale on 3 Jan 2024 to start the new year with even more thrill power!
And to end, going all the way back to the Robinson droid’s very first Prog cover…
