I’ve been considering the contribution of 2000AD recently. This must be why I’ve just found a big box of Zenith Phase III and Phase IV in their original (tatty-as-all-hell) progs.

(Yes, I want them all. No, I’m not sure if they’ll stand up to scanning!)

I’ll try to find some of the wonderful 2000AD thrill dictionary terms over the weekend. It was the inspired luncacy that gave a generation of English kids their own sci-fi geek language before we learnt of the term “Poozer.”

Splundigg ver thrigg!

Yeah, I remember reading about that…

Incidentally, Blackjak, John Smith actually had a little-remembered Vertigo series from the early days called Scarab, and as many wonderful John Constantine stories there have been, by so many wonderful writers and artists, I contend that # 51, by him and Sean Phillips, is the best issue of Hellblazer ever. Well, that or the penultimate issue of “Rake at the Gates of Hell.”

Scarab was John Smith!?! Sheesh… Just goes to show, I never really used to spend much time focussing on writers or artists in those days, I just tended to pick up books with intriguing characters… And Scarab was one I’ve got!! (Somewhere in the mountain of long-boxes in the roof!)

Hellblazer I started with Garth Ennis, so I must have missed John Smith’s issue, but if you rate it as highly as “rake at the Gates of Hell”, then hot damn! I’m off to eBay now! Thank you!

I guess he must be one of those writers, like John Wagner, who just didn’t click with the Big Two and/or the characters or stories they were offered…

Ah well, their loss is 2000AD’s gain I guess

Don’t know why we didn’t get 2000AD in Lesotho… Maybe it was too topical/satirical for the South Africans (who controlled all shipments into the country)… Mind you they also banned “Black Beauty” (the book about the horse) as they thought it was anti-apartheid propaganda!!

Not the “Comicbookreader format” but the PDFs…

I’m not saying the print quality is amazing, but for onscreen reading, it’s really not a bad way to get your fix!

Ha! Looks like I was born in the same year as you, Blackjak, and I also grew up in Africa (Nigeria, to be precise).

In addition to the Marvel/DC/Harvey/Archie, etc., we got pretty much the whole Fleetway/IPC line–Beano, Whoopee!, Cor!!, Whizzer & Chips, Eagle, Roy of the Rovers, Tiger & Speed, Battle, and all that… 2000 AD was certainly the crown jewel of comics, though. While it was so different from what I thought a comic should be (monthly, American, in color) it was so undeniably brill.

It was a total trip to see so many of the writers and artists I knew from 2000 AD start showing up working for DC, and I think that was one of the things that caused me to start slanting away from Marvel in the 80s and more towards DC.

Colin is right: 2000 AD played a pivotal role in the direction American comics would take from the 1980s onwards.

Incidentally, Blackjak, John Smith actually had a little-remembered Vertigo series from the early days called Scarab, and as many wonderful John Constantine stories there have been, by so many wonderful writers and artists, I contend that # 51, by him and Sean Phillips, is the best issue of Hellblazer ever. Well, that or the penultimate issue of “Rake at the Gates of Hell.”

If you’re interested in 2000 AD’s history and some ongoing commentary, you should check out Paul’s Prog Slog Blog – linked up in the second comment – and my own Thrillpowered Thursday, which look at the background, the past and occasionally the present and future of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic. Splundig vur Thrigg and all that!

2000ad can get away with having John Smith confuse the heck out of you cos the strip right after it was Rogue Trooper just blowing someone away. The editors had the ability to allow much more experimentation.

John Smith is another writer I think would be a brilliant fit somewhere like Vertigo or Dark Horse… I really loved some of his ideas on things like Devlin Waugh…

Actually… what am I saying??? If we keep going on about how good 2000AD is, we’ll run out of content for it!!

so…

NO! 2000AD is crap! None of the current writers and artists are any good! Don’t even look at it! Nothing to see here! Move along!

Judge Dredd as you point out was a foundation that helped this. Some readers I’m sure at times have got the comics just for JD. I know there have been periods were its been almost the only readable thing in there but it keeps you coming back. It means a reader will hang on longer. Also the point you make about the real time aging and development of JD as a character is spot on.

Add to all this ‘Future Shocks’ and all its imitators. As someone pointed out in a thread a while ago these single 2-6 page short stories have been a veritable test bed for UK talent. The way almost all the writers mentioned so far have cut their teeth. Such a great exercise in economical storytelling. You could speculate (and this really is wild speculation) that Grant Morrison is able to tell a story like Final Crisis in his ‘channel hooping’ style because he learnt to write short stories that had to select the moments to tell a tale in the numerous ‘Future Shocks’ he wrote.

Here’s one I’m downloading right away: Canon Fodder – Mark Millar and Chris Weston – I’ve been looking for the trade for ages – I ADORED it when it first came out, mostly for Weston’s art…

Go on! Try it! It’s free for £%$£’s sake!

http://clickwheel.net/features/229?episode_id=2872

Join the Thrill-side!

2000AD is STILL producing DC and Marvel’s new talent… In the last decade, America lured Frank Quitely, Jock, Si Spurrier, Fraser Irving, Andy Diggle, Boo Cook, Andy Clarke (coming to you soon on R.E.B.E.L.S.), Colin Wilson, Kev Walker, Chris Weston, Clint Langley, – these are all of fthe top of my head, so dates may be out a bit and I’m also probably missing tonnes…

I’m different to Colin, in that although I’m only a year younger, I grew up in Africa, where we had American comics like Batman, Superman, Captain America, Ritchie Rich, Casper and Archie. The only British comics we got were the Beano, the re-launched Eagle, Battle and Action comics (and the War Picture Libraries)…

I only discovered “Thrill-Power” in 1988/89, when I came back to the UK to do my ‘A’ Levels in preparation for Uni. I’d been put off the comic because I didn’t like this idea I had of a fascist thug headlining a comic (Dredd), but a mate of mine told me to read Zenith (he had a huge cardboard box, packed to the gills with 2000AD), and as I flicked through those Progs, I read on into other stories like Necropolis, the Dead Man, Chopper, Strontium Dog, and all sorts of other goodness – and I’ve never looked back (even through some of the real lows in the 90s…)

The beauty of 2000AD is the anthology format. Each week you get up to five stories, up to eight pages each. I can pretty much guarantee (these days at least) that you’ll find ONE story that you like.

AND it’s weekly, so you can get your fix more regularly

Dredd in particular is brilliant, in the sense that as he is getting older and older, he’s developing as a character in tiny subtle ways that still fit with the past continuity (and it’s ALL pretty much in continuity, including the crossovers with Batman for example!).

My current favourite is the Red Seas. To me Ian Edgington can do no wrong. I’m amazed he hasn’t done more work in the US (all I can really think of is Scarlet Traces)…

If you can’t afford a subscription, look at the digital download service available via Clickwheel (though I’d suggest doing it on a desktop – the interface is just too clunky on an iPhone)…

GO! NOW!

http://www.2000adonline.com
http://www.clickwheel.net