Posted on June 17, 2024

2000AD Progs 1001-1100

Ever since I started this series, I sort of dreaded getting to this batch, since I have nothing positive to say about it. Other than the classic characters serving their terms as the muscle and bone of the comic, very little about this stretch was memorable. None of the new stories hatched between 1001-1100 caught my eye as something I should read. Moreover, some of the very worst creative decisions in the comic’s entire history happened here. The most charitable word I can use to sum it up is “uneven.”

It wasn’t until I watched the extraordinary 2000AD documentary Future Shock that I understood why this was. Some of it lies at the feet of David Bishop, the editor in chief from 1996-2000, who fully owns up to the misfires that happened under his watch (B.L.A.I.R. 1 and The Space Girls in particular), but there were bigger issues at play. Overbearing policies by publishing company Fleetway and parent company Egmont UK made talent relations increasingly difficult, driving many longtime writers and artists into the hands of friendlier US publishers.

Despite editorial malpractice, ill-advised gimmicks (like an R-rated “sex” issue), and questionable tie-ins (like an 8-issue adaptation of the movie A Life Less Ordinary), core writers Pat Mills, John Wagner, and Alan Grant kept the train on the tracks and the Judge Dredd Megazine remained a strong companion. As the price rose from 1 pound to 1.20 and the 20th anniversary passed with only a minor format shift, a rising number of voices looked at declining sales and became convinced that the comic wouldn’t make it to the year 2000.

Fortunately, they were wrong. (More next time.)