2000 AD (comics)

Did You Know?

• Many stories by Pat Mills link into the Dredd universe, though have been partially retconned by the writer.
• Many stories written by Ian Edginton feature shared themes and references.

History

2000 AD was initially published by IPC Magazines, which later shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary. Fleetway was sold to Robert Maxwell in 1987 and then to Egmont UK in 1991, continuing to produce the title until 2000, when it was bought by Rebellion Developments. The idea for the comic originated in December 1975, when Kelvin Gosnell, a sub-editor at IPC, read an article about forthcoming science fiction films and suggested launching a science fiction comic. IPC publisher John Sanders asked Pat Mills to develop it; Mills brought John Wagner on board as script adviser. The name 2000 AD was chosen by John Sanders, as no one expected the comic to last that long. The original logo and overall look were designed by art assistant Doug Church. Mills decided to revive Dan Dare for public recognition, but a deal with Paul DeSavery, who owned Dare's film rights, fell through. Mills' experiences with earlier comics taught him that readers responded to anti-authoritarian attitudes, while Wagner saw that readers also responded to authority figures. Wagner developed an ultra-violent lawman patrolling a future New York with the power to arrest, sentence, and execute criminals on the spot, allowing the comic to be as violent as Action had been without attracting criticism, because the violence was committed by an officer of the law. Mills had developed a horror strip about a hanging judge called Judge Dread, but the idea was abandoned; the name, with modification, was adopted by Wagner for his ultimate lawman.

Editors

A long-running theme is that the editor of 2000 AD is Tharg the Mighty, a green extraterrestrial from Betelgeuse who terms his readers "Earthlets." Tharg uses unique alien expressions and appears in his own comic strips. Readers sometimes play along; for example, in prog 201 two readers wrote claiming they preferred to be called "Terrans," leading to a vote in prog 229. In prog 240 Tharg announced the result was a draw, and "Terran" became an accepted term for readers' letters in the Nerve Centre. Tharg used to distinguish male and female letter-writers with "Earthlet" and "Earthlette" until a letter in prog 314 complained, and Tharg agreed to use "Earthlet" (or "Terran") regardless of gender; from prog 531 the term "Earthlette" was reintroduced. Another running theme is Tharg's use of robots to draw and write the strips, which resemble the actual writers and artists. A fictional reason for Tharg to use mechanical assistance was given when the robots "went on strike," reflecting real-life industrial action. Tharg wrote and drew a whole issue himself, but when run through the quality-control "Thrill-meter," the device melted down on extreme overload; the offending issue was taken away to a lead-lined vault. The role of Tharg has been performed by editors including Pat Mills (#1–16), Kelvin Gosnell (#17–85), Steve MacManus (#86–519 or #500), Richard Burton (#520–872 or #501–872), Alan McKenzie (#873–914), John Tomlinson (#915–977), David Bishop (#978–1199), Andy Diggle (#1200–1273), and Matt Smith (#1274–present). Starting in December 2004, an additional editor's note titled "Damage Control" began appearing in the legal fine print, written from the perspective of Matt Smith.

Video game adaptations

The first video games based on 2000 AD were two Strontium Dog titles released by Quicksilva in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. Melbourne House brought the first Judge Dredd game to the Commodore 64 in 1986, with a ZX Spectrum version arriving the following year. Virgin Games handled the second Judge Dredd game in 1991, putting it out on the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. Martech produced games for Nemesis the Warlock and Sláine, while Piranha Software published a single 2000 AD game, Rogue Trooper, written by Design Design; Piranha had Judge Death and Halo Jones projects in the works that never saw release. Krisalis Software released another Rogue Trooper adaptation for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991. The 1995 Judge Dredd film sparked tie-in games for IBM PC (MS-DOS), Game Boy, Game Gear, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. An unfinished Judge Dredd arcade game, featuring Mean Machine and other Angel Gang members, was never completed but is available online for free, playable via an arcade emulator. A Judge Dredd Pinball game came out for MS-DOS in 1998, and the same year saw a Judge Dredd PlayStation title developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Activision. After Rebellion Developments acquired 2000 AD, more games followed: Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death in 2003, Rogue Trooper in 2006 for Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Windows, and an updated Wii version called Rogue Trooper: Quartz Zone Massacre in December 2009. A licensed choose-your-own-adventure game, Judge Dredd: Countdown Sector 106, was released in 2012 by Tin Man Games for iOS, later arriving on Google Play and Steam.

Related publications

The monthly Judge Dredd Megazine is currently a sister publication to 2000 AD. It was originally dedicated solely to expanding the world of Judge Dredd, but its scope has broadened in recent years to include stories from other universes. In 1978, the weekly title Starlord was launched, initially planned as a monthly, following a format similar to 2000 AD. It featured Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters, the latter introducing characters that later appeared in ABC Warriors. Starlord and 2000 AD merged later that year, becoming 2000 AD and Starlord. A third Starlord series, TimeQuake, ran for four weeks in 2000 AD over a year after the merger. Another weekly, Tornado, debuted in 1979 with a reduced focus on science fiction. After 22 issues, it merged with 2000 AD, bringing over the strips Blackhawk, The Mind of Wolfie Smith, and Captain Klep. For a period, the combined publication was called 2000 AD and Tornado. Diceman, released in 1986, was an early role-playing comic experiment that featured regular 2000 AD characters like Rogue Trooper and Slaine, alongside original characters such as Diceman himself. It was unsuccessful and lasted only five issues. Crisis, published from 1988 to 1991, was a sister publication with a different format from 2000 AD, though it shared many editorial staff and creators. Its early issues contained two science fiction stories aimed at an older readership, with strong political themes, and it attracted British creators seeking an adult market. The 2000 AD series Finn, which began the year after Crisis ended, continued the story of a character from Third World War, but with a greater fantasy element. Revolver, running from 1990 to 1991, joined Crisis but only lasted seven issues. Dan Dare appeared in Revolver’s original line-up and moved to Crisis after Revolver ceased. A Best of 2000 AD title, featuring reprints from early issues, was published in the mid-1980s. The Complete Judge Dredd began a similar reprint format in the early 1990s. Both were relaunched as Classic 2000 AD and Classic Judge Dredd in the mid-1990s, but were cancelled shortly after. The bimonthly 2000 AD Extreme Edition reprinted classic and hard-to-find stories, but poor sales led to its cancellation in mid-2008. Since then, a smaller reprint supplement has been included with the Judge Dredd Megazine.