Posted on January 9, 2024

2000AD Progs 501-600

As the cover price drifted upward from 26p to 35p, “The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic” did everything in its power to live up to that slogan. All the favorite characters continued to break new ground. Strontium Dog added the femme fatale Durham Red to its roster, a character who would prove popular enough to earn her own “solo career.” Rogue Trooper embarked on a series of assassinations (called “Hits”) that would theoretically end his never-ending war. New character Zenith (by Grant Morrison & Steve Yeowell) explored the impact of superheroics on the real world, a conversation begun by 2000AD alum Alan Moore in Watchmen. Bad Company and Tyranny Rex would later be counted among new strips that spiked in popularity at the beginning but faded to make way for others.

Flagship series Judge Dredd stayed vital by introducing several new developments. Increasingly conscious of Dredd’s dual hero/villain nature, writer John Wagner made no bones about his fascist overtones when a fledgling democracy movement tried and failed to gain traction in Mega-City One. Dredd teamed up with favorite criminal Chopper for the 6-month epic OZ (set in Australia), in which seeds were planted for the next mega-event to come when we met the first of Dredd’s next generation of clones. (Unlike most American comics, Dredd unfolds in real time. Every year for us is a year for him, and his advancing age is a continuing factor in the storytelling. He himself is a clone of the original judge, Fargo.)

Many of the first-generation artists had moved on by now (Carlos Ezquerra, Massimo Belardinelli, and Ian Gibson being the major exceptions), but the second generation (Glenn Fabry, Cam Kennedy, Steve Dillon, etc.) was holding their own and new artists continually brought new flavors. If punk rock fueled the comic’s inception, heavy metal was now having its say, especially with the eye-popping style of newcomer Steve Bisley on the long-awaited return of A.B.C. Warriors. He would shortly change his name to Simon “Biz” Bizley and later make his mark on American comics like DC’s Lobo. Other new arrivals included Colin MacNeil and Brendan McCarthy.

The comic also hit its 10th anniversary in this round (prog 520), celebrating with a format change that traded half an inch of width for half an inch of height, and noticeably improved the paper and printing quality. This coincided with a management shift when IPC sold off its subsidiary company Fleetway and 2000AD went with it. Another jump was taken with a logo change in prog 555 and a double upgrade came in 589 with glossy cover stock and more colour (color) pages. Whereas only the centrespread had been in colour up to this point, now four additional pages were added as the long march toward full colour began.

Finally, the tenth anniversary became an occasion for the first 2000AD documentary film; watch it on Youtube here.