Posted on March 12, 2024

2000AD Progs 701-800

Over this stretch of progs, the cover price rose from 45p to 60p (quite a jump from 8p in 1977) and the interior finally made it to full colour [color] as of #723. Supposedly this was motivated by a contemporary color comic title Toxic, created by 2000AD expats. The immediate tradeoff for full color was a lower grade of paper that absorbed a lot of ink and made everything look subdued. But this was gradually corrected as time went on.

The Judge Dredd Megazine launched just as this batch began, starting as a bi-weekly and eventually going monthly. Head Dredd writer John Wagner shifted his attention to that and Garth Ennis became the regular Dredd writer on the weekly progs. The mighty Ron Smith returned to the comic to deliver a gorgeous run of Rogue Trooper, and we got two major crossovers when Nemesis linked to A.B.C. Warriors and the wonders of time travel led to a meeting of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog‘s Johnny Alpha. This was part of a zombie invasion story titled Judgement Day, the first Dredd epic to jump back and forth between 2000AD and the Megazine.

Most importantly, another ownership change took place in 1991 when Egmont UK took over Fleetway, of which 2000AD was a component. According to what’s been said by those on the inside, this was not a positive change. Egmont apparently didn’t know what they had in 2000AD, and didn’t know how to treat talent. That made for a rough ride throughout the 90s, during which it was predicted more than once that the comic wouldn’t make it to the end of the decade. Fortunately, those predictions were incorrect.

For me as a reader, it felt like we were entering a lull. After the astonishing highs of the previous years, things were a bit unmoored. I don’t remember any of the new serials from this period as standouts, and some ugly art was beginning to turn up. This coincided with a sharp downturn in the quality of mainstream American comics, and it felt almost like an infection. But the beauty of an anthology is that something different is always just a few page turns away.