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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 6:24:54 GMT -5
Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 6:24:54 GMT -5
I couldn't find a thread anywhere on the forum relating to 2000 AD so I thought I'd start one, just to see if anybody else here actually reads the self proclaimed "Galaxy's Greatest Comic". For the benefit of the uninitiated, 2000 AD 9the brainchild of Pat Mills, sometimes known as the godfather of British comics, and at other times as "that guy who created Marshal Law") is a weekly science fiction anthology comic published in the UK, originally by IPC Magazines/Fleetway from 26th February 1977, and by games company Rebellion Developments since 2000. It's currently up to 1950 issues (known as "progs", short for "programmes", which probably seemed futuristic in 1977) and for the last 38 years has been consistently giving us some of the finest comics ever written and launching, or significantly boosting, the careers of a multitude of creators including Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Alan Grant, Kevin O'Neill, Grant Morrison, Dave Gibbons, John Wagner, Garth Ennis, Bryan Talbot, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, Glenn Fabry, Brett Ewins, Simon Bisley and Mark Millar, many of whom have since gone on to become some of the most respected names in the industry worldwide.  Lead character Judge Dredd (introduced in the second issue and a constant presence ever since) has become internationally famous and possibly the best known British comics character of all time, not least because of two big budget movies (though we tend not to talk about the 1995 one with Sylvester Stallone)...  ...and while others, like Rogue Trooper, Sam Slade: Robo-Hunter, Zenith, Halo Jones, Nikolai Dante and the ABC Warriors, may not have achieved such a level of recognition, they've still been thrilling generations of comics fans on this side of the pond for decades now. Hopefully, they'll continue to do so for decades more. I personally have been reading 2000 AD since the year it started, and I can't really imagine life without it. |
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shaxper
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 6:38:55 GMT -5
Post by shaxper on Sept 29, 2015 6:38:55 GMT -5
Read it for one year and enjoyed it at the time, but in hindsight, very little of it was memorable. Considering both the cost and how much space it was taking up in my collection, I decided to stop after a year and will probably never return. But it was good reading.
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 7:05:35 GMT -5
Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 7:05:35 GMT -5
Read it for one year and enjoyed it at the time, but in hindsight, very little of it was memorable. Considering both the cost and how much space it was taking up in my collection, I decided to stop after a year and will probably never return. But it was good reading. If you don't mind me asking, what year? Arguably 2000 AD's real Golden Age was the early eighties (roughly 1981-85) but it's generally been pretty good, the exception really being much of the 1990s. The period from roughly '89-97 was particularly terrible, with a surprising number of the worst stories coming from the crayon...sorry, I mean pen...of Mark Millar. |
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Confessor
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 7:15:51 GMT -5
Post by Confessor on Sept 29, 2015 7:15:51 GMT -5
I was quite a big fan of 2000 AD as a kid back in the early '80s, although weirdly I seldom used to buy it myself. My best friend at the time got it religiously every week and I tended to read his copies, rather than purchase my own (hey, funds were scarce...pocket money will only go so far!). By far my favourite strip in the comic was Judge Dredd and, in particular, I loved The Judge Child Quest and the Angel Gang stories that spun out of that (Mean Machine Angel and Fink Angel were always my favourites). Also, my friend and I loved The Apocalypse War storyline. We also loved the Judge Death stories and the Judge Anderson, Psi-division stories as well...I think we may've both had a small crush on Judge Anderson.
I followed the adventures of Dredd up until around the time of the Chopper story "Oz", which I'm guessing would've been around 1987 or '88. After that, I stopped reading my friend's copies so much...memory tells me that this would have been when I briefly moved to another town and as a result didn't see my friend quite as much.
Other stories that I enjoyed from 2000 AD during that 1980-1988 period would be Sam Slade: Robo-Hunter, Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, and Ace Trucking Co. However, I would never say that I loved everything in 2000 AD: things like D.R. & Quinch, The Ballad of Halo Jones, Nemesis the Warlock and Sláine bored me rigid, although I've more than once thought that the time for re-exploring and re-examining those strips is ripe. I bet that I'd appreciate them more as an adult reader.
These days I don't own any issues of 2000 AD, but I do have a full run of all 33 issues of the U.S. Judge Dredd series that Eagle Comics put out between 1983 and 1986, plus the three attendant mini-series: The Judge Child Quest, Judge Dredd's Crime File and Judge Dredd: The Early Cases.
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 7:28:36 GMT -5
Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 7:28:36 GMT -5
I was a big fan of 2000AD as a kid back in the early '80s, although weirdly I seldom used to buy it myself. My best friend at the time got it religiously every week and I tended to read his copies, rather than purchase my own (hey, funds were scarce...pocket money will only go so far!). By far my favourite strip in the comic at that time was Judge Dredd and, in particular, I loved The Judge Child Quest and the Angel Gang stories that spun out of that (Mean Machine Angel and Fink Angel were my favourites). Also, my friend and I loved The Apocalypse War storyline. We also loved the Judge Death stories and the Judge Anderson, Psi-division stories as well. I followed the adventures of Dredd up until around the time of the Chopper story "Oz", which I'm guessing would've been around 1987 or '88. After that, I stopped reading my friends copies so much...memory tells me that this would have been when I briefly moved to another town and as a result didn't see my friend quite as much. Other stories that I enjoyed from 2000AD during that 1980-1988 period would be Sam Slade: Robo-Hunter, Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, and Ace Trucking Co. However, I would never say that I loved everything in 2000 AD: things like D.R. & Quinch, The Ballad of Halo Jones and Sláine bored me rigid, although I've more than once thought that the time for re-exploring and re-examining those strips is ripe. These days I don't own any issues of 2000 AD, but I do have a full run of all 33 issues of the U.S. Judge Dredd series that Eagle Comics put out between 1983 and 1986, plus the three attendant mini-series that Eagle Comics put out: The Judge Child Quest, Judge Dredd's Crime File and Judge Dredd: The Early Cases. I actually think The Ballad of Halo Jones was one of the best things Alan Moore ever wrote, but I'll confess, it didn't strike me as such when it was first published. As a 14 year old, I was much more into the grandiose cosmic opera of Marvelman than a story about the trials and tribulations of a girl who didn't actually seem to do very much. The Dark Judges are back in the current issues, by the way.  |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,874
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 7:56:04 GMT -5
Post by shaxper on Sept 29, 2015 7:56:04 GMT -5
Read it for one year and enjoyed it at the time, but in hindsight, very little of it was memorable. Considering both the cost and how much space it was taking up in my collection, I decided to stop after a year and will probably never return. But it was good reading. If you don't mind me asking, what year? Arguably 2000 AD's real Golden Age was the early eighties (roughly 1981-85) but it's generally been pretty good, the exception really being much of the 1990s. The period from roughly '89-97 was particularly terrible, with a surprising number of the worst stories coming from the crayon...sorry, I mean pen...of Mark Millar. Off-hand, I don't recall. Maybe 2010? I remember some key storylines including Gene the Hackman, a story inspired by the movie Them!, and something about a weird looking alien that was trying to take revenge on someone or something for the destruction of his planet? No major Judge Dredd arc. |
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 8:00:02 GMT -5
Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 8:00:02 GMT -5
If you don't mind me asking, what year? Arguably 2000 AD's real Golden Age was the early eighties (roughly 1981-85) but it's generally been pretty good, the exception really being much of the 1990s. The period from roughly '89-97 was particularly terrible, with a surprising number of the worst stories coming from the crayon...sorry, I mean pen...of Mark Millar. Off-hand, I don't recall. Maybe 2010? I remember some key storylines including Gene the Hackman, a story inspired by the movie Them!, and something about a weird looking alien that was trying to take revenge on someone or something for the destruction of his planet? No major Judge Dredd arc. Kingdom was the story of Gene the Hackman and his fight against the 'Them', and it seems to be one that people either really loved or found totally forgettable. I must admit, I fall into the latter camp. |
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shaxper
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 8:02:03 GMT -5
Post by shaxper on Sept 29, 2015 8:02:03 GMT -5
Off-hand, I don't recall. Maybe 2010? I remember some key storylines including Gene the Hackman, a story inspired by the movie Them!, and something about a weird looking alien that was trying to take revenge on someone or something for the destruction of his planet? No major Judge Dredd arc. Kingdom was the story of Gene the Hackman and his fight against the 'Them', and it seems to be one that people either really loved or found totally forgettable. I must admit, I fall into the latter camp. For me, it was the highlight of that year  I vaguely recall a story about fallen angels that I really enjoyed too. Oh, and there was an unnecessarily long storyline about Scottish(?) warlords playing soccer with human heads? That was my least favorite arc of that year. |
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shaxper
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 8:05:20 GMT -5
Post by shaxper on Sept 29, 2015 8:05:20 GMT -5
Slaine. It was a Slaine storyline.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Sept 29, 2015 8:14:43 GMT -5
I actually think The Ballad of Halo Jones was one of the best things Alan Moore ever wrote, but I'll confess, it didn't strike me as such when it was first published. As a 14 year old, I was much more into the grandiose cosmic opera of Marvelman than a story about the trials and tribulations of a girl who didn't actually seem to do very much. Yeah, it's funny how what you disliked comics-wise as youngster can later really blow you away as an adult reader. I'm very much like that with Charley's War from Battle Picture Weekly. Back in the early '80s I thought it was one of the most unrelentingly boring comic strips that I'd ever read -- I was much more into the hi-octane dogfights and daring-do of Johnny Red and the cool as f**k, cigar-smoking Major Eazy. Of course, these days those other strips seem laughably unrealistic, while I think that Charley's War is probably the single greatest British comic ever created (with Frank Hampson's Dan Dare coming a very close second). |
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 8:36:55 GMT -5
Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Sept 29, 2015 8:36:55 GMT -5
I have already professed my allegiance to Tharg numerous times on the forum, as I was born the same week the mag was, and I own every single prog from #1 to Around #1600, plus all Megazines, specials and Toxic until the same time, at which I stoped buying aiming to read it all before going on with new purchases. I Disagree with the assertion that the mag was at its lowest between 1989 and 1997. For me, it's at it's lowest whenever John Wagner isn't writing Dredd, which isn't the case during that time. The real decline is really after prog 1100 IMHO, as it's then trying to find its identity and often fails. There's been loads of great strip since that, but I never could get into Durham Red, Nikolai Dante and many of the new mainstays.
My favorite arcs aside are Cursed Earth, and America in the megazine.
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 8:49:58 GMT -5
Slaine. It was a Slaine storyline. Irish rather than Scottish warlords then, I suspect. And yes, I can't fault you on that. Slaine was at one time a very good strip, but sadly it's become increasingly repetitive over the years. It should really have been retired by now, I think. That's strange, though, as Pat Mills has somehow managed to keep his other ongoing series', Savage and ABC Warriors, fresh and interesting for years. I think Slaine is basically self indulgence on his part... |
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 8:53:10 GMT -5
I actually think The Ballad of Halo Jones was one of the best things Alan Moore ever wrote, but I'll confess, it didn't strike me as such when it was first published. As a 14 year old, I was much more into the grandiose cosmic opera of Marvelman than a story about the trials and tribulations of a girl who didn't actually seem to do very much. Yeah, it's funny how what you disliked comics-wise as youngster can later really blow you away as an adult reader. I'm very much like that with Charley's War from Battle Picture Weekly. Back in the early '80s I thought it was one of the most unrelentingly boring comic strips that I'd ever read -- I was much more into the hi-octane dogfights and daring-do of Johnny Red and the cool as f**k, cigar-smoking Major Eazy. Of course, these days those other strips seem laughably unrealistic, while I think that Charley's War is probably the single greatest British comic ever created (with Frank Hampson's Dan Dare coming a very close second). Very much in agreement on that last part, and my experience with Charley mirrors yours. As a kid, I generally skipped past it and read stuff like Major Eazy and Rat Pack instead, but it really was a masterclass in how to write good comics, and a quite frighteningly realistic portrayal of the horrors of war. |
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 9:00:23 GMT -5
Post by tingramretro on Sept 29, 2015 9:00:23 GMT -5
I have already professed my allegiance to Tharg numerous times on the forum, as I was born the same week the mag was, and I own every single prog from #1 to Around #1600, plus all Megazines, specials and Toxic until the same time, at which I stoped buying aiming to read it all before going on with new purchases. I Disagree with the assertion that the mag was at its lowest between 1989 and 1997. For me, it's at it's lowest whenever John Wagner isn't writing Dredd, which isn't the case during that time. The real decline is really after prog 1100 IMHO, as it's then trying to find its identity and often fails. There's been loads of great strip since that, but I never could get into Durham Red, Nikolai Dante and many of the new mainstays. My favorite arcs aside are Cursed Earth, and America in the megazine. It took me a long time to really 'get' Nikolai Dante, but one day it just seemed to click with me and I went back and read the first couple of runs and really enjoyed them. Same with Sinister Dexter. I never did really get to grips with Durham Red, though; she was fine as a supporting character for Johnny Alpha, but I never really saw the point of her solo series, particularly after she was sent into the far future and separated from the world of the Strontium Dogs. Thing is, though, as an anthology with a constantly changing line-up, I tend to find that there are always at least three out of five strips that I like even if I'm indifferent to or actively dislike the other two. Other strips I really hated were the Mark Millar reboot of Robo-Hunter, the appalling Babe Race 2000 (also by Millar) and the utterly incomprehensible Tyranny Rex. |
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2000 AD
Sept 29, 2015 10:31:18 GMT -5
Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Sept 29, 2015 10:31:18 GMT -5
Sinister Dexter. I never did really get to grips with Durham Red, though; she was fine as a supporting character for Johnny Alpha, but I never really saw the point of her solo series, particularly after she was sent into the far future and separated from the world of the Strontium Dogs. Thing is, though, as an anthology with a constantly changing line-up, I tend to find that there are always at least three out of five strips that I like even if I'm indifferent to or actively dislike the other two. Other strips I really hated were the Mark Millar reboot of Robo-Hunter, the appalling Babe Race 2000 (also by Millar) and the utterly incomprehensible Tyranny Rex. Ah yeah, Sinister Dexter also is one I never cared about, a Pulp Fiction spoof with little world-building. Those Mark Millar ones are indeed quite bad, but he did some really good stuff there, that should be pointed out. Oh and I really love Tyranny Rex, really underrated series IMHO. It really is a precurssor to Tank Girl in some way. So If one doesn't like Tank Girl, I'm not surprised one wouldn't get into Tyranny Rex, even if it's more adventure focused. |
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