In 1981, when he began the Judge Dredd story 'Block Mania', which he was slated to draw all nine episodes of, his drawings were tight and precise with well-defined areas of black and white. įollowing 'The Judge Child' his art took a high contrast black and white direction, and in colour stories in annuals, explored patterns of flat colour. Writers John Wagner and Alan Grant gave McMahon the spookier, more atmospheric episodes to draw. He returned to Dredd the following year for the next long story, ' The Judge Child', with a different, more considered style, and rotated with Bolland and Ron Smith.

In 1979 McMahon took some time off from Dredd to draw Pat Mills's robot disaster squad Ro-Busters and its spin-off ABC Warriors, alternating with Kevin O'Neill and others, and under O'Neill's influence his work became tighter and his figures chunkier. He drew the bulk of the first long-form Judge Dredd story, ' The Cursed Earth', with the slower, more meticulous Brian Bolland contributing occasional episodes. His figures were lean and loose, his pen lines thrown down with verve and energy, and hatching was done with a fully charged brush.

McMahon's early work was characterised by a quick, spontaneous approach that verged on the messy. Other artists, such as Ian Gibson and Brian Bolland, followed his lead, putting their own spin on the way McMahon was developing the character and his world.

When Wagner returned to his creation, McMahon became the character's most regular artist.

Mills, who was editor at the time, chose McMahon because he could do a passable imitation of Ezquerra's style, but the more he drew the more his own style emerged. Judge Dredd was created for IPC's new science fiction comic 2000 AD in 1977 by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, but problems in pre-publication led to both creators walking out, and the first published story was written by Peter Harris and Pat Mills, and drawn by an inexperienced young artist called Mike McMahon.

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