Getting laughs where you can find them

2000 AD is famous for its humour, and its dark humour in particular. I like to think it should also be famous for delivering on that promise most of the time. Inevitably, of course, sometimes the laughs go awry, and one is left wincing at a joke gone wrong, or laughing out loud when really one should be terrified, or amazed...

These scenes from consecutive pages of Mind Wars.

"Must withdraw and contemplate!" It's work like this that make me propose that Alan Hebden was the old Dan Abnett.

Also from Star Lord, but Pat Mills this time:
Believe it or not, this is meant to be showing a rather fearsome demon manifesting from a tornado. And not, as it appears here, a rather dusty man using a tornado to wash out his armpits. I think we can blame the artist for that one...

Moving back to 2000 AD, here's MACH Zero, who's always good for a laugh. His stories managed to be poignant most of the time, but just the fact that he looks and talks exactly like the Incredible Hulk makes me smirk all too often.


And don't think that John Wagner and Judge Dredd are immune from this problem. Here's what you might call an action sequence, with perhaps the best sound effect noises of all time. Is that Neil Googe on art duties? I think so. Won't pull one over on Dredd, no sir.

It's been a while, so for collective poor efforts all around, here's a 2000 AD 'the Pain' award, sponsored by Elfric:

I leave you with some contorted histrionics from Hebden (again), and Belardinelli - along with Kev O'Neill the kings of intentional background humour (not here, though...)