Arthur Ranson

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Sample of Arthur Ranson's art on Judge Anderson story The Jesus Syndrome

Arthur Ranson is a British illustrator whose photorealistic drawing style has been appearing in British comics since the early 1970's.

Having trained as a stamp designer in the 1960's, Ranson first brought the precise techniques he had evolved as a result to TV comic Look-in, working alongside other major comics talents such as John M. Burns, Martin Asbury, Harry North, Colin Wyatt [1], John Bolton, Jim Baikie, Phil Gascoine, Barry Mitchell and Bill Titcombe. There he created strips such as Sapphire and Steel and Dangermouse, all written by Angus Allan, as well as an official comic strip biography of The Beatles.

In 1990, Ranson moved to major British sci-fi comic 2000AD, where he has remained in employment ever since, apart from short stints on Batman and X-Men (Soldier X) comics.

Since coming to 2000AD, Ranson has only ever worked with two writers. With John Wagner, he co-created the ultra-violent Button Man. As well as being the first non-sci-fi strip to appear in the comic's 15-year history, Button Man is also notable for being one of the few 2000AD creator-owned strips.

With Alan Grant, Ranson co-created Mazeworld, a fantasy epic, and the two continue to collaborate on Anderson: Psi Division, the long-running adventures of Cassandra Anderson. A spin-off from Judge Dredd, Cassandra Anderson is a Judge with psychic skills, including telepathy and precognition. In 1993, Grant and Ranson contributed the two-part story "Tao" to DC Comics' Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight series (issues #52-53). Ranson's artwork drew praise from the title's (American) readers, many of whom were unfamiliar with the artist's work in the UK.