He was asked to visualise a new character, future lawman Judge Dredd, for the science fiction weekly "2000 AD", prior to its launch in 1977. His elaborate designs displeased the strip's writer, John Wagner, but impressed editor Pat Mills, and his cityscapes persuaded Mills to set the strip further into the future than initially intended. But Wagner (temporarily) quit over ownership issues, and Ezquerra followed him when the first published appearance of the character was drawn by another artist, Mike McMahon. He returned to "Battle", where he once again teamed up with Alan Hebden to create "El Mestizo", a black gun-for-hire who played both sides against the middle during the American Civil War.