- Note: This is an article about the British comic book "2000 AD", rather than the year 2000
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction oriented comic.
The publication, which serialises a number of separate stories each "prog" (see glossary, below) was established by IPC Magazines in 1977. IPC, later Fleetway, continued to produce the title until
1999, when it was bought by Rebellion Developments.
It has been a successful launchpad for getting United Kingdom talent
into the larger American comics market, and has also been the source of a
number of film licences. Unlike earlier weekly titles 2000 AD was based on a 6 page strip
format. This gave the writers greater opportunity to develop character and meant that the artists had greater scope in designing
the layout.
The editor of 2000 AD is Tharg the Mighty, a green alien from Betelgeuse who terms his readers "Earthlets". Tharg uses other unique alien expressions and even appears
in his own comic strips. Readers sometimes play along with this: for example, in Prog 200 a pair of readers wrote to Tharg
claiming that they preferred to be called "Terrans"; the resulting controversy ended in Tharg's accepting a challenge for a duel
at a galactic location.
A second running theme, or joke, is Tharg's supposed use of robots to draw and write
the strips — some of which may bear a marked resemblance to 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 that occasionally halted IPC's comics production during the 1970s and 1980s). Tharg
wrote and drew a whole issue himself, but when he ran it through the quality-control "Thrill-meter", the device melted down on
extreme overload. The offending issue had to be taken away, by blindfolded security guards, to a lead-lined vault where there was
no danger of anyone seeing it accidentally.
See: British comics
Popular characters
Popular characters from the comic include:
Famous creators
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.
Glossary
2000ad, like some other children's comics of the period, used invented words and phrases to tie in with the theme of the
publication. In this case, to appear more futuristic or alien. Some of these words were the result of simple typing mistakes in
the offices at IPC, while some are derived from other sources.
- Prog - short for programme — a term used by the comic in place of "issue" or "edition"
- Thrill-power - measurement of the quality inherent in 2000ad.
- Borag Thungg - Betelgeusian greeting.
- Squaxx - reader of 2000ad, consumer of thrill-power.
- Earthlets - term that Tharg used to refer to humans (whether they read 2000ad or not).
- Earthlettes - similar to Earthlets, but applied to females only. This caused a furore on the letters page and eventually was
deprecated in favour of the now gender-neutral term "earthlets", though now Terrans seems to be in vogue.
- Florix Grubandae
- Splundig vur thrigg - farewell, common sign-off.
- Kril Tro Thargo - honour bestowed on those who have performed services to thrill-power (typically by converting non-readers
to the cause, or by buying and shipping copies of comics to readers who can't buy them for some reason, say because they're in a
far-flung country that doesn't sell 2000ad).
History
The 1970s
In December 1975, Kelvin Gosnell, a sub-editor at IPC Magazines, read an article in the London Evening Standard about a wave of forthcoming science fiction films, and suggested that the company might get on the
bandwagon by launching a science fiction comic. IPC asked Pat Mills, a freelance writer and editor who had created Battle Picture
Weekly and Action, to develop it. Mills brought fellow
freelancer John Wagner on board as script adviser and the pair began to
develop characters. The name 2000 AD was chosen as no-one involved expected the comic to last that long.
Mills' experiences with Battle Picture and Action had taught him that readers responded to his anti-authoritarian attitudes. Wagner, who had written a Dirty Harry-inspired tough cop called One Eyed Jack for Valiant, saw that readers also responded to authority figures, and developed a character that
took the concept to its logical extreme, imagining an ultra-violent lawman patrolling a future New York with the power to arrest, sentence, and if required execute criminals on the spot. Meanwhile,
Mills had developed a horror strip, inspired by the novels of Dennis Wheatley, about a hanging judge called Judge Dread
(after the reggae artist of the same
name). The idea was abandoned as unsuitable for the new comic, but the name, with a little modification, was adopted by
Wagner for his ultimate lawman.
The task of visualising the newly-named Judge Dredd was given to
Carlos Ezquerra, a Spanish artist who had worked for Mills before on Battle. Wagner gave Ezquerra an advertisement for the film
Death Race 2000, showing the character Frankenstein clad in black
leather on a motorbike, as a suggestion for what the character should look like. Ezquerra elaborated on this greatly, adding
body-armour, zips and chains, which Wagner originally thought over the top. Wagner's initial script was rewritten by Mills and
drawn up by Ezquerra, but when the art came back a rethink was necessary. The hardware and cityscapes Ezquerra had drawn were far
more futuristic than the near-future setting originally intended, and Mills decided to run with it and set the strip further into
the future. By this stage, however, Wagner had quit.
IPC owned the rights to Dan Dare, and Mills decided to revive the character to
add immediate public recognition for the title. Paul DeSavery, who owned Dare's film rights, offered to buy the new comic and
give Mills and Wagner more creative control and a greater financial stake. The deal fell through, however, and Wagner walked.
Mills was reluctant to lose Judge Dredd and farmed the strip out to a variety of freelance writers, hoping to develop it
further. Their scripts were given to a variety of artists as Mills tried to find a strip which would make a good introduction to
the character, all of which meant that Dredd would not be ready for the first issue.
The story chosen was one written by Peter Harris, extensively rewritten by Mills and including an idea suggested by Kelvin
Gosnell, and drawn by newcomer Mike McMahon. The strip debuted in prog 2,
but Ezquerra, angry that another artist had drawn the first published strip, quit and returned to work for Battle. Harris' script
set the format for much of the rest of the Dredd stories in which futureshock effects of the introduction of new technologies or social mores are arbitrated by the
conservative moralism of Dredd.
Mills had created Harlem Heroes, about the future sport of aeroball, a futuristic, violent version of basketball with jet-packs. Wanting to give the new comic a distinctive look, Mills
wanted to use European artists, but the work turned in on Harlem Heroes by Trigo was disappointing. Veteran British
artists Ron Turner and Barrie Mitchell were tried out, but
a newcomer called Dave Gibbons won the editor over with his dynamic,
American-influenced drawings and got the job. Mills wrote the first five episodes before handing the strip to Roy of the Rovers writer Tom
Tully.
Dan Dare was extensively revamped to make it more futuristic. In the new stories he had put into suspended animation
and revived several centuries in the future. Several artists were tried out before Mills settled on Italian artist Massimo Belardinelli, whose imaginative, hallucinatory work was fantastic at visualising aliens,
although perhaps less satisfying on the hero himself. The scripts were endlessly rewritten in an attempt to make the series work,
but few Dan Dare fans remember this version of the character fondly. Belardinelli and Gibbons later switched strips, with
Gibbons drawing Dare and Belardinelli drawing the Harlem Heroes sequel Inferno. When Gibbons took over Dare
in Prog 28 the strip was refashioned as a 'Star Trek' style space opera.
The other opening strips were M.A.C.H.1, a super-powered secret agent
inspired by The Six Million Dollar Man;
Invasion, about a "Volgan" (thinly disguised Russian) invasion of Britain opposed by tough London lorry driver turned guerrilla fighter Bill Savage; and
Flesh, a particularly violent strip about time-travelling cowboys
farming dinosaurs for their meat. M.A.C.H.1 was killed off in 1978 but a spin off
"M.A.C.H. Zero" continued into the 1980s. Bill Savage was given a prequel "Disaster 1990" while "Flesh" had a
straight sequel in 1979.
Once the comic had been made ready to launch, Mills quit as editor and handed the reigns to Kelvin Gosnell, whose idea it was
in the first place. Gosnell appeared as the fall guy in the Tharg photostrips that were a feature of the comic in its early
years.
Wagner swallowed his pride and returned to write Judge Dredd, starting in prog 9. His "Robot Wars" storyline was drawn
by a rotating team of artists, including McMahon, Ezquerra, Turner and Ian
Gibson, and marked the point where Dredd became the most popular character in the comic, a position he has rarely
relinquished. Dredd's city, which now covered most of the east coast of North America, became known as Mega-City One.
A new story format was introduced - Tharg's Future Shocks, one-off twist-in-the-tail stories devised by writer Steve Moore. 2000 AD
still uses this format as filler and to try out new talent. One early Future Shock was drawn by 2000 AD's then art
assistant Kevin O'Neill.
Wagner introduced a new character, Robo-Hunter, in 1978. The hero, Sam Slade, was a private detective-type character specialising in robot-related cases. José Ferrer was the original artist, but the editorial team were not happy with his work and
quickly replaced him with Ian Gibson, who redrew parts of Ferrer's episodes before taking over himself. Gibson's imaginative,
cartoony art helped drive the series' style from hard-boiled detective to surreal comedy. As the series continued Sam was joined
by an idiot kit-built robot assistant, Hoagy, and even, after a crack-down on smoking in IPC comics, a Cuban robot cigar, Stogie, designed to help him cut down on nicotine. The hero started out based on Humphrey Bogart, but after a few years he looked more like Ted Danson.
Other ongoing strips included "The Visible Man" detailing the misfortunes of Frank Hart a man whose skin had been made
transparent due to exposure to nuclear waste and "Shako" the story of a Polar Bear pursued by the Army because it had swallowed a
secret capsule.
Pat Mills took over writing Dredd for a six-month "epic" called The Cursed Earth, inspired by Roger Zelazny's Damnation
Alley, which took the future lawman out of the city on a humanitarian trek across the radioactive wasteland between the
Mega-Cities. McMahon drew the bulk of the stories, with occasional episodes drawn by Brian Bolland. The story saw Dredd moved to the colour centre pages for the first time while "Dan Dare" was
given the front page.
IPC had launched a second science fiction comic, Starlord, which was cancelled
after only 22 issues and merged into 2000 AD. Two strips strengthened 2000 AD's line-up: Strontium Dog, a mutant bounty hunter created by Wagner and Ezquerra, and Ro-Busters, a robot disaster squad created by Mills. Ro-Busters gave O'Neill the chance to spread his
artistic wings and led to the popular spin-off ABC Warriors. "Dan Dare" was
suspended while the "The Cursed Earth" was finished in time for the merger. Wagner returned to Dredd following the merger
to write The Day the Law Died, another six month epic in which Mega-City One was taken over by the insane Chief Judge Cal,
based on the Roman emperor Caligula. Another cancelled title, Tornado, was merged with 2000 AD a few months later, but contributed nothing
memorable to the line-up.
2000 AD also featured adaptations of three of Harry Harrison's
The Stainless Steel Rat novels, written by
Gosnell and drawn by Ezquerra. The appearance of the main character, galactic thief "Slippery" Jim DiGriz, was based on James Coburn, evidently a favourite of Ezquerra's: Coburn was also the inspiration
for Major Eazy, which Ezquerra
drew in Battle.
In 1979 "Battle" was cancelled and a set of war based stories was moved across including the Ezquerra drawn "Fiends of the
Eastern Front". Finlay-Day starts "The VCs" a future war story drawn by McMahon, Cam Kennedy and Gary Leach.
In 1978 2000 AD launched the annual 48 page Summer Special including a full length Mach Zero story drawn by O'Neill.
The 1980s
Following the mergers with Starlord and Tornado the title was given various relaunches. Judge Dredd was now the titles main
feature and was moved to the centre pages including the prestigious colour center spread for the "Judge Child" storyline. Dredd was drawn in
rotation by McMahon, Bolland and the veteran Ron Smith. Dan Dare was dumped but ABC Warriors, Strontium Dog, Robo-Hunter and The
Stainless Steel Rat were all regulars while "Mean Arena" was an abortive attempt at a future sport strip to replace "Harlem
Heroes" that at least gave chances for new artists Cam Kennedy and Steve Dillon. The major development was
Pat Mills' "Nemesis the Warlock" introduced through a set of
short stories before being made a regular series. Nemesis gave O'Neil a distinct strip in the comic for the first time and
introduced a more expansive fantasy story.
In 1982 there was another relaunch with the Finlay-Day/Gibbons future war "Rogue Trooper" and "ACE Trucking Co.". Alan Moore had managed to sell some
scripts to the comic as a freelance and was rewarded with a series "Skizz" as well as a regular set of one-off stories "Twisted Tales". Partly as a response to
the early 80s fad for fantasy role playing games Mills launched "Slaine" that also gave
Glenn Fabry a break into the
magazine. Moore and Alan Davis created D.R. and Quince that proved a fan
favourite and in 1984 Moore created "Halo Jones" with Ian Gibson - the titles
first female lead strip. Newcomer Peter Hewitt gave the title its first genuine super hero
witth "Zenith".
The 1990s
The 2000s
Related publications
Starlord was a weekly title launched in 1978 following much the same format as
2000 AD and included Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters which introduced characters from the ABC
Warriors. The two titles were merged in 1979.
Tornado was a
weekly title launched in 1979. There was less emphasis on Science Fiction series and when it was merged with 2000 AD a year later
only one story Black
Hawk made the transfer, though other stories Wolfie Smith and Captain Klep later made appearances in 2000ad,
largely due to IPC editorial policies against 'wasting' stories that had already been paid for.
Crisis was a sister publication that didn't follow the format of
2000ad, but did share many editorial staff and creative teams. Early issues featured two SF-themed stories aimed at a slightly
older age group than 2000ad and soon became a magnet for British creators who wanted to create comics for the adult market.
Revolver joined
Crisis though didn't last as long. Dan Dare was in the original lineup, and this transferred to Crisis when Revolver
finished.
Current sister publications to 2000 AD include the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine, focusing on expanding the world of Judge Dredd, and the quarterly 2000 AD
Extreme Edition focusing on reprints. In the past 2000 AD has been accompanied by a variety of reprint publications.
References
- David Bishop (2002-2003), "Thrill-power overload!", Judge Dredd Megazine vol 4 issues 9-18, issues 201-209
- Termight fan web site (http://www.2000ad.nu/termight/references.html)
External links
 |
This article is part of WikiProject Comics, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to comics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to
this page, or visit the project page, where
you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
|
