Tuesday 12 May 2015

2000 AD - April 1977.

It's the return of the feature that's taking the internet by storm as I look back at what sci-fi majesty 2000 AD was flinging at us exactly thirty eight years ago. Who could forget that epic day in March when I first launched this feature?

Well, clearly I could because I did, which means I totally forgot to to do this feature in April, meaning I'm now a month behind.

Then again, 2000 AD is still for sale in 2015 AD which makes it a full fifteen years behind, so at least I'm not that bad.

2000 AD #6, MACH 1

It's all gone a bit Weird War Tales.

I assume MACH MAN was M.A.C.H.1 and had temporarily forgotten his own name at the sight of rampaging skeletons heading towards him.

2000 AD #7, Dan Dare

Dan Dare having trouble with his Biogs.

2000 AD #8, Flesh

It's the first issue of 2000 AD I ever owned.

I was so impressed by it that I cut the cover off it and glued it in my scrapbook. I like to think that did wonders for the value of the comic.
2000 AD #9, Harlem Heroes

It's nice to see Deathlok paying a visit to the 2000 AD universe.

I think this might be the Harlem Heroes' first cover.

Bill Savage has yet to make a front cover. Has all his fighting against the Volgans been in vain? Did he blow up the Channel Tunnel for nothing?
2000 AD #10, Judge Dredd

You see? This is what should have been in those Judge Dredd movies. Did the people who made them not have a clue?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A great series of covers - Nazi skeletons, weird aliens, dinosaurs, zombie cyborgs... what more could you want from a comic?

Issue 10...erm, excuse me, prog 10 was the start of the Robot Wars storyline - "Death to the Fleshy Ones!!!" - when the Judge Dredd strip first gave a hint of what it would become. Saw that last film version on tv recently, and I have to agree with you, Steve - the makers are indeed clueless. Some people just have no sense of humour.

Btw, prog 9 was the first cover by the mighty Dave Gibbons, which I reckon is a more notable milestone than being the first Harlem Heroes, a story I wasn't much into ... mainly because it seemed to be a straight lift from Death Game 1999 in Action, even down to the same player turned into a homicidal zombie cyborg assassin subplot. If I'm honest, though, it was more likely due to the post-Action clean cut approach - when HH was rebooted with mindless violence as Inferno, I thought it was great, even though it was just as derivative... Sad, eh?

-sean

Anonymous said...

Hmm... went on a bit there; sorry about that, Steve.

-sean

Steve W. said...

It's OK, Sean, I fully appreciated your comments. :)

John Pitt said...

You''re only a couple of weeks behind schedule, Steve, not a full month. After a weak start, the Robot Wars is where Dredd started to pick up. I haven't seen the second Dredd film yet, but from the clips I've seen, I haven't a clue what it's about!

Steve W. said...

John, the second Dredd film is pretty straightforward. Basically, Dredd and Anderson have to make their way to the top of a skyscrapercity without getting killed by the bad guys. It's not a bad film but it lacks the quirks and foibles we've come to expect of the strip.