Arthur James Ranson (born 1939) is an English comic book illustrator, known for his work on Look-in, Anderson: Psi Division, Button Man and Mazeworld.

Beck's Captain Marvel," and others (including, "[l]ater, John Buscema's Silver Surfer and his Conan, Jack Kirby's Thor").

[1] He says that Hampson in particular was an early influence, but that Finding Al Williamson's work changed my approach because he did not do comic book drawings but just drew well using his own natural line.

[3] Ranson first brought the precise techniques he had evolved through his apprenticeship to the UK TV comic Look-in, working first on portrait covers, and later alongside other major comics artists such as John M. Burns, Martin Asbury, Harry North, Colin Wyatt, John Bolton, Jim Baikie, Phil Gascoine, Barry Mitchell, and Bill Titcombe.

[1] After some time drawing "funnies", Ranson drew on his skill in translating pictures across mediums (generally using a Grant Projector, which "projects an image up onto a glass plate, on which one places tracing paper"), and brought his talents to bear for Look-in by creating strips based on such popular TV series as Sapphire and Steel and Danger Mouse, all written by Angus Allan.

[1] Ranson also produced a series of comic-strip biographies of well-known music stars and bands, including ABBA (1977),[4] Elvis Presley (1981), The Beatles (1981-2), Haircut One Hundred (1983) and The Sex Pistols (1983).

[1]Ranson describes Shelbourne as "an adventurous editor," who went the extra mile and even allowed the writer and artist to "go to Liverpool for research" for the Beatles strip.

[1] Ranson's best-known work for Look-in consisted largely of adaptations of two strips based upon totally different British television programmes.

[1] Ranson wryly notes that "[t]he reflected glory from the highly popular TV show made me a big hit with my daughter's primary school friends too.

"[1] Between 1977 and 1990, Ranson also produced strips based on such TV properties as Worzel Gummidge, Michael Bentine's Potty Time, Duckula (another Cosgrove Hall character whose comics adventures began in Look-in, but also spun off into its own title),[10] The Bionic Woman and The A-Team, and others.

[2] He also produced comic strips based on the TV adaptations of Richmal Crompton's "Just William" novels, Buck Rogers[11] and the film Logan's Run.

[2] Ranson also worked briefly for Marvel UK in the late 1980s, and even illustrated a couple of issues of the comics adventures of Dr. Who for Doctor Who Magazine in 1990.

"[1] He is especially fond of working on stories in which Anderson is "aware of" her age (of "being between forty and fifty years old") while still "retain[ing her] likeness and...

"[1] In 1990, 2000 AD stalwarts Kevin O'Neill, Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Grant and Mike McMahon were invited by Geoff Fry to begin work on a publication for Neptune Distribution.

[14] Neptune had acquired premiere British fanzine Fantasy Advertiser in 1988, and sold-out an issue featuring Mills & O'Neill's Marshal Law, prompting the move towards creating a line of comics spearheaded by that character.

Ranson remembers that he "[made] a small change to the end of Button Man," but praises Wagner's storytelling abilities, for being "self-contained.

[17] In 1993, Grant and Ranson contributed the two-part story "Tao" to DC Comics' Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight series (issues #52-53).

Written by one of Ranson's frequent collaborators, Alan Grant (a mainstay at 2000 AD, and also a major contributor to the Batman mythos), the story saw the two characters team-up to "solve the mystery of a missing civilization.