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2000 AD
Publication information
PublisherIPC Magazines, Fleetway Publications, Rebellion Developments
ScheduleWeekly
FormatOngoing series
Genre
Publication date26 February 1977 to present
No. of issues1,799 regular issues, plus 52 specials and 36 annuals (as of September 2012)
Main character(s)Judge Dredd, Tharg the Mighty, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Nikolai Dante, Sláine
Creative team
Created byKelvin Gosnell, Pat Mills, John Wagner
Written byJohn Wagner, Alan Grant, Pat Mills, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Ian Edginton, Alan Moore
Artist(s)Mike McMahon, Carlos Ezquerra, Dave Gibbons, Massimo Belardinelli, Jock, Frank Quitely, Frazer Irving, Dom Reardon, Ian Gibson

2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-themed comic. Devised by Pat Mills with the assistance of John Wagner, it was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. It was one of a range of comics sold to Robert Maxwell as Fleetway Publications in 1987, and then on to Egmont UK in 1991. Fleetway continued to produce the title until 2000, when it was bought by Rebellion Developments.

As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue (known as "progs"). Its most successful character is Judge Dredd. Other long-running characters include Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Sláine and the ABC Warriors. Creators who have contributed include Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Bryan Talbot, Brian Bolland and Mike McMahon.

The "Summer Offensive" was an eight-week experiment in 1993, when new editor Alan McKenzie gave free rein to writers Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and John Smith, to a mixed reception. Morrison wrote a Dredd story, "Inferno", and a drug-influenced comedy adventure, Really & Truly. Smith contributed Slaughterbowl, in which convicted criminals on dinosaurs are pitted against each other in a deadly sport, with the survivor being granted his freedom. Millar wrote Maniac 5, an action-packed series about a remote controlled war-robot. During this run was a satire of British tabloid attitudes titled Big Dave, written by Morrison and Millar and drawn by Steve Parkhouse.

John Tomlinson became editor in 1994, and a second crossover between 2000 AD and the Megazine, "Wilderlands", began. Written by Wagner and drawn by Ezquerra, Mick Austin and Trevor Hairsine, it followed on from "Mechanismo", a series of stories in the Megazine in which Justice Department, opposed by Dredd, tried to introduce robot judges. With Wagner writing, Judge Dredd was again the flagship strip.

Former Megazine editor David Bishop became editor of the weekly in 1996 but sales continued to decline. Unsuccessful series were dropped, and a number of new series were tried out, some more successful than others. Writer Dan Abnett introduced Sinister Dexter in 1996, a strip about two hitmen influenced by the film Pulp Fiction, which became a regular feature. In 1997, writer Robbie Morrison and artist Simon Fraser, who had worked with Bishop on the Megazine, created Nikolai Dante, a swashbuckling series set in future Russia starring a thief and ladies' man who discovers he's the illegitimate scion of an aristocratic dynasty. There were also gimmicks, like the "sex issue", sold in a clear plastic wrapper, The Spacegirls, a series attempting to cash in on the popularity of the Spice Girls, B.L.A.I.R. 1, a parody of Tony Blair based on M.A.C.H. 1, and an adaptation of the Danny Boyle film A Life Less Ordinary.

A new Dredd epic, "Doomsday", appeared in 1999 and again ran in both 2000 AD and the Megazine. Wagner had been laying the foundations for this story for several years, introducing the main villain, semi-robotic gang lord Nero Narcos, and supporting characters like Judge Edgar of the Public Surveillance Unit, and Galen DeMarco, a former judge who had quit after falling in love with Dredd and become a private eye.

1999 also saw the return of another character, Nemesis the Warlock. After a break of ten years, writer Pat Mills decided to bring the story to an end with "The Final Conflict". The series was drawn by Henry Flint in a style that recalled Kevin O'Neill's early work on the series, as well as Simon Bisley's ABC Warriors work.

The decade ended with a special 100-page issue called "Prog 2000". Behind a cover by Brian Bolland, Nemesis wrapped up for good in a final episode drawn by Kevin O'Neill. War broke out in Nikolai Dante, and writer Gordon Rennie and artist Mark Harrison introduced future war story Glimmer Rats. Another old favourite, Strontium Dog, was revived by Wagner and Ezquerra, telling new stories of Johnny Alpha set before his death, with the conceit that previous stories had been "folklore" and the new stories were "what really happened", allowing Wagner to revise continuity.

The 2000s

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In the year of its title and beyond, 2000 AD bounced back under the ownership of Rebellion Developments, with editors Andy Diggle and Matt Smith at the helm. Rebellion continues to develop stories (and computer games) based on classic characters such as Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd, and has also introduced a roster of new series including Shakara, The Red Seas and Caballistics, Inc.. It has also published a tie-in to the film Shaun of the Dead in a story written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright.

The comic continues to uncover new British talents, including Boo Cook, Dom Reardon and Al Ewing. It has also benefited from an improved dollar-pound exchange rate that has meant the comic can now afford to re-employ some of the talent thought lost to America.

Recently[when?] a number of shorter self-contained stories, partly created by the new wave of talent, have run including London Falling, Stone Island and Zombo. Other developments include a revamping of the Judge Dredd Megazine which has included a section acting as a showcase for British small press comics. Starting in program 1500 was a Judge Dredd story "The Connection", a 'prelude' to a 23-part Judge Dredd epic "Origins" which filled in a lot of the details about Dredd's past.

In prog 1526,[1] dated 28 February 2007, 2000 AD celebrated their 30th anniversary.[2] The issue saw the start of two new storylines: Nikolai Dante (by Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser) and Savage (by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard), along with a one-off episode of Flesh (by Pat Mills and Ramon Sola). The run-up to this saw the first arcs of new series Stickleback and Kingdom.

2000 AD was also made available online through Clickwheel,[3] another Rebellion Developments-owned firm. In December 2007 they started making the latest issue available to download as a PDF[4] and then in early 2008 they announced they had added an archive of the 2007 issues to the service.[5] They launched the Clickwheel Comics Reader in July 2008 that would allow the digital versions of the comics to be downloaded and read on the iPhone and iPod Touch.[6]

The 2010s

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On 19 March 2012 The Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history, which included 2000 AD.[7]

List of stories

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A complete index of stories published in 2000 AD from February 1977 to September 2012 (#1 to 1799) is here (.pdf file). [8]

Continuity

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Main article: 2000 AD crossovers

Although there is no overall shared universe containing all 2000 AD stories, some stories spin-off or crossover into other stories. Most notable are the many stories that occur in the Judge Dredd universe and the early stories of Pat Mills, which are frequently interlinked and also link into the Dredd universe.

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  • The current sister publication to 2000 AD is the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine, which originally focused exclusively on expanding the world of Judge Dredd, but in recent years has expanded its focus to include other stories set in other universes as well.
  • The bimonthly 2000 AD Extreme Edition presented reprints of classic and hard-to-find 2000AD stories, but poor sales led to its cancellation in mid-2008. Since the cancellation, a smaller reprint supplement has been packaged with the Judge Dredd Megazine instead.
  • Starlord was a weekly title (originally intended to be monthly) launched in 1978 following much the same format as 2000 AD and included Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters which introduced characters that would later reappear in ABC Warriors. The two titles were merged later the same year and published as 2000AD and Starlord. A third Starlord series, TimeQuake, also had a 4-week run in 2000AD over a year later.
  • Tornado was a weekly title launched in 1979. There was less emphasis on Science Fiction series. It was merged with 2000 AD after 22 issues, transferring the strips Blackhawk, The Mind of Wolfie Smith and Captain Klep. For a while the publication was 2000 AD and Tornado.
  • Dice Man was an early attempt at creating a role-playing comic featuring regular 2000 AD characters such as Rogue Trooper and Slaine, as well as original characters, like Diceman. The magazine was not a success and only lasted five issues.
  • Crisis (1988–1991) was a sister publication that did not follow the format of 2000 AD, but did share many editorial staff and creative teams. Early issues featured two SF-themed stories aimed at a slightly older age group than 2000 AD and soon became a magnet for British creators who wanted to create comics for the adult market. The 2000 AD series Finn, begun the year after Crisis was cancelled, continued the adventures of the character from Third World War, though with more of a fantasy emphasis.
  • Revolver (1990–1991) joined Crisis though it only lasted for seven issues. Dan Dare was in the original line-up, and this transferred to Crisis when Revolver finished.
  • Toxic! was a short-lived rival publication, established by 2000 AD talent, that was published during 1991.
  • A Best of 2000 AD title was published in the mid-1980s which featured reprint material from early issues of 2000 AD. In the early 1990s, The Complete Judge Dredd began publication in a similar format. Both titles were relaunched as Classic 2000AD and Classic Judge Dredd in the mid-1990s but were cancelled soon after.
  • A yearly hardcover annual was published from 1977 to 1990 (though the cover dates on the annuals were always the following year). From 1991 this was replaced by a softcover 2000AD Yearbook; the last of these was published in 1994. There were also annuals/yearbooks dedicated to 2000 AD characters such as Dan Dare (1978–1979, cover dated 1979–1980), Judge Dredd (1980–1994) and Rogue Trooper (1990). An annual 2000AD Sci-Fi Special was published during the summer months between 1977 and 1996, plus the 2000AD Winter Special (1988–1995 and 2005), Judge Dredd Mega Special (1988–1996) and Rogue Trooper Action Special (1996). (1996's Judge Dredd Action Special was a tie-in to the defunct Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future rather than 2000AD proper).
  • In April 1992, a 2000AD Action Special featured six strips reviving classic British comics characters such as the Steel Claw. Of these only Kelly's Eye also appeared in 2000 AD proper.
  • In the mid-1990s a series of 2000 AD Poster Progs were published, each featuring a new strip. There were five Judge Dredd poster magazines, plus one each for four other 2000 AD series: Nemesis the Warlock, Strontium Dogs, Sláine and Rogue Trooper.
  • A series of American comic format reprints started in 1983 by Eagle Comics with the first issue of an ongoing monthly Judge Dredd title. Eagle Comics also reprinted other 2000 AD material in other titles. The license to reprint 2000 AD material in the US was later taken over by Quality Comics. These reprints ended in the early 1990s.

Video game adaptations

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2000AD video games for 8-bit computers include games based on Strontium Dog by Quicksilva for the ZX Spectrum in 1984, Nemesis the Warlock and Sláine bu Martech in 1987, Rogue Trooper written by Design Design / published by Piranha in 1986 and Judge Dredd by Virgin Games in 1990, all released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum platforms. Melbourne House also released a Judge Dredd game on the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1987. Judge Death and Halo Jones games for the ZX Spectrum were being developed by Piranha but never released [9].

Krisalis Software released an adaptation of Rogue Trooper for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, and the merchandising that accompanied the 1995 Judge Dredd film included tie-in games for the IBM PC (MS-DOS), Game Boy, Game Gear, PlayStation, Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

A Judge Dredd Pinball game was released for the PC (DOS) in 1998.

With the purchase of 2000 AD by Rebellion Developments, a computer game company, several more 2000 AD-linked games have been released or are under development. Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death was released in 2003 and Rogue Trooper followed in 2006 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC.[10] An updated version for the Wii has also been announced.

Famous creators

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Well known creators who have worked for 2000 AD include:

Many of these have since moved on to work for American publishers such as DC Comics (especially the Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints) and Marvel Comics.

Editors

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Main article: Tharg the Mighty

2000 AD purports to be edited by an alien called Tharg. Tharg's human alter egos have been:

  1. Pat Mills, #1–16 (1977)[11]
  2. Kelvin Gosnell, #17–85 (1977–1978)[12]
  3. Steve MacManus, #86–519 (1978–1987)[13]
  4. Richard Burton, #520–872 (1987–1994)[14]
  5. Alan McKenzie, #873–914 (1994)[15]
  6. John Tomlinson, #915–977 (1994–1996)[16]
  7. David Bishop, #978–1199 (1996–2000)[17]
  8. Andy Diggle, #1200–1273 (2000–2002)[18]
  9. Matt Smith, #1274–present (2002–present)[19]

(Assistant editor Nick Landau largely edited the comic himself in 1978 while Kelvin Gosnell was occupied with editing new sister title Starlord.[20])

Awards

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Although the various stories and creators have won awards too (see the various entries for details) the comic itself has its own trophies:

  • 1990:
    • Won the Eagle Awards: Favourite Comic - British
    • Won the Eagle Awards: Roll of Honour
  • 2004: won the Diamond Comics Awards: Best comic
  • 2006: won the Eagle Award for Best British Colour Comic
  • 2010:
    • Won the Eagle Award for Favourite Colour Comicbook - British

Fanzines

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2000 AD has an extremely lively and thriving fanbase, which has produced a number of independent fanzines.

Between 1994-96, "Fear The Badge" was an erstwhile but overly ambitious attempt at a 2000 AD fanzine based around the Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Robo-hunter universes. With original artwork, stories and articles, the fanzine would act as a showcase for talent wanting to break into comics. Its editor/creator, Paul Dick, partially disabled himself, wanted to donate some of the zine's profits to a different disability charity each month. However, the fanzine's genesis was plagued by bad luck, not least of all Dick's health worsening. Despite the good intentions and hardwork of its creator (as well as the keen interest and support from both amateur and professional 2000 AD contributors), the fanzine's full potential sadly never was realised. Only a dummy run of 50 copies of issue 1 were ever produced.

In 1998 W.R. Logan, frustrated at the lack of activity from the comic's publishers both in promoting the title and also in making best use of new talents, decided to create an independent title using 2000 AD copyrighted characters and situations. This was titled Class of '79, named after the year of Dredd's graduation from the Academy of Law - 2079. The first couple of issues contained work from now-professional comics creators Rufus Dayglo, Boo Cook, Henry Flint and PJ Holden and won the best Self Published/Independent Comic Award at the 1999 National Comics Awards.

In 2001, Andrew J. Lewis created Zarjaz comic, with strips featuring characters from a variety of 2000 AD stories. There were also interviews with Alan Grant, Frazer Irving and Alan Moore, as well as an extensive article on breaking into comics as a writer.

Another long-running fanzine, dedicated to the world of Johnny Alpha, is Dogbreath, originally run by the pseudonymous Dr Bob it is now being produced by FutureQuake Publishing. In 2003, Arthur Wyatt created FutureQuake, a fanzine devoted to the Future Shocks format. Although Class of '79 now appears to be on hiatus, all three of the other titles are in continuous publication, Zarjaz having started up again with a new issue 1.

In addition, a number of small press comics have emerged from the 2000 AD fanbase, including Solar Wind, Omnivistascope and The End Is Nigh.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Prog 1526". 2000ad.org. 28 February 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  2. ^ 30 years of the future, BBC, 26 February 2007
  3. ^ Clickwheel. "Clickwheel site". Clickwheel.net. Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  4. ^ 2000AD Goes Digital: Taking Brit Comics Online, Newsarama, 17 December 2007
  5. ^ Rebellion, Clickwheel Post 2007 2000AD Archive Online, Newsarama, 15 February 2008
  6. ^ SDCC '08 - Clickwheel Unveils Comics Reader, Newsarama, 30 July 2008
  7. ^ "Beano's Dennis the Menace on Royal Mail comic stamps". BBC News. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  8. ^ File description page at WikiCommons
  9. ^ 2000 AD page on the ZX Spectrum games, includes emulator and downloadable ROMs
  10. ^ "2000 AD Licensees", Moby Games. Retrieved 23 September 2007.
  11. ^ Pat Mills at 2000ad.org
  12. ^ Kelvin Gosnell at 2000ad.org
  13. ^ Steve MacManus at 2000ad.org
  14. ^ Richard Burton at 2000ad.org
  15. ^ Alan McKenzie at 2000ad.org
  16. ^ John Tomlinson at 2000ad.org
  17. ^ David Bishop at 2000ad.org
  18. ^ Andy Diggle at 2000ad.org
  19. ^ Matt Smith at 2000ad.org
  20. ^ "A brief history of Starlord" from "Watch the stars!" website

References

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