Borag Thungg my fellow Earthlets

OK, Tharg, message received and understood... It's time to talk 2000 A.D. - the comic, that is, not the year. This is no mere nostalgia blog! Oh, wait, yes it is. Over the last year my long-running obsession with the galaxy's greatest comic has been reinvigorated, and I need to share it with the internetosphere. 30 years of anti-heroes, violence and black homour to wallow in - what could be more fun? So, armed with a complete set of back progs and a scanning device*, it falls to me to honour (on a semi-regular basis) what millions in Britain but only scant thousands around the world know to be the ultimate in sequential picto-fiction** entertainment. Strap yourselves in, and let's start exploring...


Of course, the best thing about 2000 AD is that it's an anthology. It's had and sadly continues to have it's fair share of frankly laughable strips, but I've never read a prog that was all bad. Of course a prog that's all amazing is equally rare, but it's a special treat when they come around - and they do, often a few times in a single year. That's not to say I won't bring out the mockery when it's called for. Yes, Wolfie Smith, I'm looking at you.



...plenty more where that came from. But let's get straight to the heart of the matter. 2000 AD reaches the parts that other comics didn't know existed. Sure, it's got it's own stable of enduring characters, dependable writers, and an army of hyper-talented artists (none of that penciller-inker whatnot). But plenty of comics have those. There are even many fine purveyors of sardonic one-liners and twsit-endings to astonish and amuse.
But where else can you find stuff like this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?



2000 AD has this kind of mind-expanding craziness going on all the time. Wit, inventiveness, philosophy, body count (oh yes - the bodycount. Legendary enough to fill a theme week at some point, and that's covering the years before Mark Millar became a regular writer) All this, and every seven days!!!

Before I sign off this first rapture, another small and strangely unique joy of serial anthology comics - the 'next' caption. As if a cliffhanger ending wasn't enough, most strips in 2000 AD like to end with a teaser for the next episode. And by 'teaser', I mean a short sentence, often some kind of pun. Yay, puns. Lately these 'next' captions have become a little stale, but I love them, and will post them to my heart's content. No guarantee that what I post next will have any relevance to the 'next' caption, though!



* OK, so you may have noticed that I'm pretty rubbish at scanning, cropping and all that jazz. When I'm asked the question at job interviews "what would you say are your weaknesses", I definitely don't reply "Sometimes I'm too much of a perfectionist". I'll try to make up for it with robust spelling and grammar. He said setting himself up for a fall...
** not to be confused with William Gaines' not-quite-comics experiment of the 1950s