I was 8 when I saw my first issue of 2000ad – Prog 61 to be exact, the start of the Cursed Earth saga, what a point of entry. Since then I’ve collected the missing 60 before it and read every issue including annuals, specials, the Megazine and even acquired about hundred pages of original art.
I’ve seen pretenders come and go (Starlord, Tornado, Crisis, Blast, Revolver, Toxic) and endured a mid to late 80’s slump as the graphic novel boom led writers and artists to other pastures. I’ve been lucky enough to work with artists like Henry Flint and Jason Brashill on record sleeves and meet others like Ian Gibson, Rufus Dayglo, Steve Cook and Rian Hughes.
The Judge Dredd film featuring Stallone might have been a turkey but the new one starring Karl Urban lined up for the autumn shows good signs. I love it, I read it ever week and it’s like a soap opera to me. Happy Birthday 2000ad!
There’s a month-long feature on downthetubes.net from contributors past and present answering questions on their time with the galaxy’s greatest and the birthday issue arrives in 2 weeks with one of two covers (one is featured above).
That Chris Weston cover is fantastic; I’m actually glad he didn’t persuade Bolland to update his old Eagle reprint cover. Prog 74 is the first one I have a clear memory of picking off the shelf (Dredd chained to a post with Satanus drooling alongside); took a while before I got it every week, but have stuck with it ever since. Hard to articulate what a big part 2000AD has played in my life, really – it’d certainly leave a big void if it ever stopped.