2000AD Prog 1526 – 30th Anniversary Special

A few years ago, US comics regularly liked to celebrate every 25 issues with double-sized issues to reflect an arbitrary special number being reached (75, 150, whatever). This practise is on the decline lately it seems, except now 2000AD is celebrating with a double(ish) sized issue; and with typical British quirkiness it’s that famous milestone issue number 1526. We’re here for thirty years of 2000AD, and whilst back in February 1977 it revolutionised teenage boys’ comics, nowadays it has much more of an adult audience – is it still a revolution thirty years on, or has time knocked off its rough edges? Let’s take a look.

Judge Dredd: Judgement (Part Four) – by Gordon Rennie and Ian Gibson
An Origins Interlude, harking back to Rico, Dredd’s clone brother from the very early days. The first judge Rico killed is back as a spirit of vengeance, known as “Judgement”. Judgement has been gradually executing guilty people (a Judge too), can push Dredd through a wall and yet be intangible to being shot, and is being guided by…? This is not an anniversary story by any means, not even part of the whole JD Origins storyline really, presumably this interlude was forced upon the story by an unavoidable blip in the Origins schedule? It’s a neat little Dredd tale regardless, ending in a dual race against time: can Dredd reach Judgement before he hits his real targets; can Anderson reach Judgement’s controller likewise?

Flesh: Hand of Glory – by Pat Mills and Ramon Sola
A ten-page one-off visit to 65 million years in the past, crossed with a Firefly-esque futuristic Wild West theme; where dinosaurs, spaceships and cowboys mix and have fun. Carver is on his way to hang for murder, a herd of dinosaurs and a couple of herders are caught in a time loop, and a Bonnie & Clyde equivalent are brought together in this entertaining – if a little short – tale. Yes, even though it’s a ten-pager, a couple of sequences feel a little rushes, as if another few pages would’ve made all the difference.

Nikolai Dante: Hellfire (Part One) – by Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser
Really this is a prologue chapter to the main event, and the most interesting Dante has been for a long time, as he finally seems to have some serious competition, for all aspects of his character, including the salacious. The perfect introduction to the character, and this new series.

Savage: Double Yellow (Part One) – by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard
Man, I’ve been looking forward to the return of this for ages. The first two books of this modern incarnation of Savage haven’t been collected by Rebellion, which is a crime, because this is one superb series, with Mills’ writing on the best form of his career, and Adlard’s art matching those heights. Bill Savage’s brother was killed at the end of the last series…but not by the occupying Volgan force. Bill wants to know who did it…at the same time, he’s continuing his part in the resistance battle against the Volgans. Brilliant.

Bonus Features:
A number of full-page pin-ups celebrating the past by current day 2000AD artists, three pages of questions to Tharg from the readership (including one we all really want to know which is frustratingly given an off-hand answer), a five-page history of 2000AD in strip form by Robin Smith, written in verse, and quite entertaining (although it does outstay its welcome), five pages on how to break-in to 2000AD with plenty of case studies (very interesting and entertaining).

Overall:
Not so much a celebration issue as a restatement of the qualities 2000AD has consistently shown over the last thirty years – entertainment, interest, intrigue, depth. 2000AD’s audience have grown up over the past 30 years, but so have mainstream comics too – so this is less of a revolution than a gradual evolution. It would’ve been too easy for 2000AD to stagnate over this time (and arguably there were long periods in its past when it did just that), but today, seven years past its own title, it has never looked in better shape to make it through the next 30 years.