Ron Turner (illustrator) - 1970s

1970s

In the 1970s, Turner began working for IPC Media (which had absorbed Fleetway), drawing strips for the Whizzer and Chips comic, such as "Wonder-car", "Archie's Angels" and "Danny Drew's Dialling Man", which were generally aimed at the young adult market. As well as contributing a regular Star Trek strip to IPC Media's TV21, he also continued his association with Gerry Anderson with Thunderbirds strips for the 1972 Thunderbirds Annual and the 1973 Countdown Annual.

In the late 1970s, Turner drew a number of "Judge Dredd" comic strips for 2000 A.D., although his style did not gain the favour of his editors, and the long-term assignment eventually fell to other artists—notably Mike McMahon, Brian Bolland, Ron Smith and Dave Gibbons. Instead, Turner found regular work on the re-launched version of IPC's formerly violent comic Action with "The Spinball Slaves"—a sequel to the science-fiction sport strip "Death Game 1999" (influenced by the 1975 film Rollerball) and its less violent sequel "Spinball". When Action merged with IPC's war comic Battle Picture Weekly to become Battle Action, Turner contributed a further "Spinball" sequel strip entitled "The Spinball Wars". He also worked on a revival of "Rick Random" in the re-titled 2000 A.D. and Star Lord.