Panel Borders on Aces Weekly and 2000AD

Panel Borders: Aces Weekly

Continuing our month of shows about anthologies, Alex Fitch talks to the creator and co-editor - David Lloyd - of a new weekly digital comics anthology, Aces Weekly.
Alex also talks to three of the other contributors - David Leach, John McCrea and Kev Hopgood - about their new strips which will feature in the title and how the creators hope this will open up a new market for British comics in a brand new format.
The first issue of Aces Weekly goes online at www.acesweekly.co.uk on 30th September 2012

8pm, Sunday 23rd September 2012, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast after broadcast at panelborders.wordpress.com

Last week's show about The Phoenix comic, featuring a panel discussion with Daniel Hartwell, Neill Cameron, Adam Murphy, Robin Etherington and Patrice Aggs is available now as a 'feature length' podcast.

Clear Spot: 35 years of 2000AD 

In an hour long programme to compliment this month's series of Panel Borders on comic book anthologies, Alex Fitch looks at "The Galaxy's Greatest Comic", 2000AD in its 35th anniversary year, alongside the release of a new Dredd movie, featuring the comic's longest running character.

Alex discusses the recently released 1800th issue of the comic with editor Matt Smith; the process of writing Future Shocks with small press creator David Baillie; the drawing of memorable strips such as Harlem Heroes and Nemesis the Warlock with artists Kev Hopgood and Henry Flint; and the art of putting words in the mouth of indestructible lawman Judge Dredd with letterer Annie Parkhouse.

8pm, Wednesday 26th September 2012, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From Scripting and Art Droid David Baillie

Name: David Baillie

Currently working on:

I've actually just this second finished a new script for 2000AD, which was as much fun as it always is. (I still occasionally pinch myself to check that the last few years haven't just been a hyper-realistic dream that my fifteen year-old self is having!)

Next up I have a five-page fantasy comic that needs to be drawn and a TV script to polish for the second round of the prestigious (so they tell me) Red Planet Prize. No rest for the wicked. Or freelancers.

First memory of 2000AD?

I was always a wee bit aware of 2000AD, I think. I remember seeing it in the corner shop when I was picking up my very first Marvel reprints at the age of four. It was very obviously for older boys and scared me a bit. Then there were 2000AD annuals in the school library that were officially only for Year 5 kids, but my teacher could see that I was bursting with curiosity and made an exception for me.

The first copy I actually owned was when I came down with a nasty case of the mumps and my mum brought me a comic to read in my sick bed (or my death bed, as I was sure it was at the time). It was the first issue of The Best of 2000AD – which reprinted the Bolland classic 'Blood of Satanus', my first ever Strontium Dog story and a Future Shock by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It blew my mumpy mind.

After that I spent the vast majority of my pocket money on the monthly Best Ofs and acquiring huge wads of 2000AD back issues, which I could sniff out like a bloodhound at carboot sales and flea markets.

Favourite Character or Story?

There are honestly too many to mention... I love the classic Strontium Dog stories, Dredd at his best (I can't tell you how exciting it was piecing together episodes of 'Necropolis' years after it had been published), Hewligan's Haircut, the first series of Time Flies, the Chronicles of Chaos ABC Warriors stories, Hap Hazzard, Abelard Snazz, Halo Jones, Tyranny Rex...

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

When it's at its best it is like no other comic.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

I have a major problem with this question. You see, 2000AD and I are almost the same age and I'm not even thinking about my forties yet. (In fact I'm acting like 35 isn't even on the horizon...)

So instead I'll tell you that as 2000AD eases into the second half of its thirties, I would love to see more quirky, adventurous, innovative and clever stories – basically what drew me to the comic seventeen years ago and has kept me coming back every week since.

Oh and more stuff by that handsome, bald Scottish fella... What's his name?
David Baillie - that's it!

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

Last year at I was honoured to be sat at the same table as Tharg at The Eagle Awards. (Lucky too – as Tharg only had eyes for the polystyrene cups and plates and so I got to drink his allocation of free beer.)

During a rare lull in the proceedings His Mightiness leaned across and told me that he had convinced 2000AD legend Jesus Redondo to come out of retirement to draw a recent Terror Tale I'd written.
Between that and the free beer it was probably the highlight of my 2011.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From comic creator and fan Malcolm Kirk

Name: Malcolm Kirk

Blog or web site: http://malcolmkirk.blogspot.com

Currently working on:
I've just finished putting together issue ten of the Temple APA pdf, a free downloadable showcase of the work of amateur and professional creators who are active in the UK comics scene (http://templeapa.blogspot.com/), and a pdf of Blackfriars for Back from the Depths, a Vikings versus Vampires story by Michael Crouch, drawn in the style of a serial from the classic UK Scream! comic.

First memory of 2000AD?
I was always aware of it being there, but the first time I realised it might be of interest to me was when I received a second hand Judge Dredd annual from someone as a present for my seventh birthday, (Dec1982).

Bought a few issues after that, but it'd be five more years before I started buying it regularly, mainly because I was already spending my pocket money on way too many other titles. One of those was the Eagle, which had actually reprinted the 2000AD stories Ant Wars, M.A.C.H. 1 and M.A.C.H. 0 within its pages. I didn't know they were reprints at the time.

Favourite Character or Story?

Ooh... that's a difficult one... Too many to choose from. Always had a soft spot for Armoured Gideon though. Zombo's definitely one of my favourites out of the newer characters, (can't imagine him fitting in anywhere else quite as well as in 2000AD), and Dirty Frank from Lowlife deserves a mention.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

There's nowt else out there quite like it.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

A free space spinner. I was too young to read when 2000AD first appeared and so missed out on this plastic trinket of legend. I want a cosmic frisbee, dammit!

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD!

Last month, I mailed out to pretty much every British comic creator in my address book, asking them for their 2000AD memories, for a series of 'mini interviews' for the downthetubes blog to mark the weekly comic's 35th birthday this weekend.

I was blown away by the response. My thanks to everyone, be they 2000AD contributor or 2000AD fan, who took time out to pen a few words in reply, and send an image to boot, in some cases.

The whole series kicked off with Alan Grant at the beginning of February and includes pieces from Mike Perkins, Garth Ennis, Paul Cornell, John Higgins, US fans like Dan Goldman and many, many more.

I posted more than one interview a day on most days.

While the responses varied, it was Judge Dredd who proved the most popular character - perhaps no surprise, given his longevity - with artist Mick McMahon getting the most kudos, while Pat Mills and John Wagner vied for most mentions as most-mentioned writers.

Hopefully you should be able to see all the interviews posted using this tag: http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/search/label/2000AD%20at%2035.

Thanks to everyone who took part!

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From artist and fan Simon Wyatt

Name: Simon Wyatt

Blog or web site:

Strangely Drawn: http://simonwyatt.blogspot.com

Currently working on:

Alpha Gods with Ian Sharman for Orang Utan Comics, Phantom Lung & The Garden of Dead Liars with Cy Dethan and Volume 2 of my graphic novel series, Unbelievable: The Man Who Ate Daffodils for Markosia.

First memory of 2000AD?

Early Dredd, McMahon, Ezquerra and Bolland art blowing me away.

Favourite Character or Story?

Too many really, I loved Flesh, Dan Dare with the Eternicus gauntlet, Skizz, Tyrrany Rex, Harry Twenty, Dredd versus Death but I guess my all time favourite story was 1979's Ro Busters classic featuring Charlie, the giant pilot robot defending Northpool from the Terra Meks, led by Mek-Quake, just an absolute stand out story!

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

The variety and ingenuity of its long storytelling history, the eclectic characters, the best of British comic art and the fact that the anarchic humour is still intact and still translates well to this day.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

More of the same!

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

Never worked for 2000AD, submitted a few times previously (who knows, maybe one day in the far flung future).

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From art droid Mike Perkins

Name: Mike Perkins

Blog or web site:

www.mikeperkinsart.com and http://perkyposts.blogspot.com/

Currently working on:

I've recently finished up illustrating Marvel's 31-issue adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand and am now wonderfully embroiled in an open-ended run on Astonishing X-Men, collaborating with Marjorie Liu.

First memory of 2000AD?

I remember the first issue but the space spinner didn't grab me. Now the subsequent issues gifts of spy decoder and boi-tronic man stickers hooked me completely!

Favourite Character or Story?

Gah! Too many to mention. Dredd, obviously - I just love the way he's grown and developed through the years...no perpetual youngster in these stories. Strontium Dog - one of the coolest characters in comics with easily one of the best costumes.The early Robo Hunter stories - up until the all singing all dancing extravaganza I was the hugest Sam Slade fan....illustrating pages and pages of my own comics featuring the same character.

The V.C.'s. Skizz. Fabry's Slaine. Zenith. Devlin Waugh. Bad Company. I have a weird soft spot for Bad City Blue! Durham Red. Winwood and Cord. Harry 20. Tyranny Rex. Early Nemesis. My very own Carver Hale. Bison. Firekind and all the way up to Defoe, Zombo and Nikolai Dante.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

The constant experimentation of fitting a 22-page story ( or sometimes and entire story arc) into five pages.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

More of the same in the respect of constant innovation - if that makes any sense.

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

I just loved the complete thrill of getting to work on the comic I had loved since it first hit the stands. I recall the pants-wetting moment of receiving a Judge Dredd script for my second piece of published work (a character I feel I need to go back and draw again just to make up for it - preferably in a long form epic tale!) and the pleasure and honour in developing, with Mike Carey, our very own addition to its roster of characters in the form of Carver Hale.

Mike Perkins is an illustrator for Marvel Comics having previously worked on Captain America, X-Men and Thor he is currently depicting the adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. He has been nominated numerous times for Eisner and Harvey Awards and, as well as winning the Eagle Award, counts being on the New York Times Bestseller list amongst his career achievements.


• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! from artist and fan Neill Cameron

Name: Neill Cameron

Web site: www.neillcameron.com

Blog: neillcameron.blogspot.com

Currently working on:

Currently drawing The Pirates of Pangaea and writing and drawing How To Make (Awesome) Comics for fantastic new weekly kids' comic The Phoenix! (www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk)

First memory of 2000AD?

My strongest memory of my first prog is of John Hickleton's artwork on Nemesis The Warlock - utterly strange, vivid, sexy brutal and feeling very 'grown up'. It was a bit of a swerve from Whizzer and Chips, let me tell you.

Favourite Character or Story?

I was lucky enough to fall in love with 2000AD during what must surely have been one of it's all-time hot streaks: you had 'The Dead Man', you had 'Slaine: The Horned God' kicking off, you had the never-read-anything-more-epic-before-or-since Phase 3 of Zenith. It was all rather extraordinary.

As to personal favourite strips: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Medivac 318 was the bomb.

I loved Zippy Couriers, too.

I know, I know. I'll get me coat.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

Back when I was a regular Squakk Dok Thargle (sic) one of the things I loved most about the comic was it's sheer variety; there was a great vibrant, chaotic feel to it, so you got things like Hewligan's Haircut and Time Flies slotting right in there alongside Dredd and the rest. And when it was on one of those great hot streaks, you had that variety of style and subject matter but the quality level stayed uniformly high. Of course, from time to time you'd get a run where the quality went a bit variable, too, but that seems to me an acceptable price to pay for a willingness to experiment.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

I wouldn't presume to offer any advice, as whatever they're doing now it seems to be working, evidenced by the simple and extraordinarily wonderful fact that it still exists.

Although, that said: a Zippy Couriers revival would be pretty sweet.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Alski's baby celebrates 35 years of 2000AD

Journalist, musician and 2000AD forum member Alski - who has created many a 2000AD inspired song or video in the past - wrote this song to celebrate the 35th anniversary of 2000AD this week, "the best anthology comic in the world".

 The original covers compilation vid is by AeroVidTube.

• Watch the 2000AD Tribute on YouTube


• View Alan's YouTube Channel

• Check out Alski's "Flatscreen Flatline" - a Blog about TV and Film: http://flatscreenflatline.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From script droid Al Ewing

Al Ewing

Blog or web site:

I'm on Twitter! @Al_Ewing

Currently working on:

Currently writing The Zaucer Of Zilk for 2000AD and Jennifer Blood and Ninjettes for Dynamite Entertainment. More 2000AD work is on the way, some of which I can talk about, some of which remains a secret. But 2012 is going to be yea big.

First memory of 2000AD?

I have a vague memory of seeing the 1985 Sci-Fi Special - 'I, Beast' sticks in my mind as the first thing I ever read of 2000AD, and that Cam Kennedy art freaked me out good and proper.

The first prog was 423 - 'Dark Judges In Crash Dorm 2!' - and it had one of the best introductions to the Dreddverse a growing boy could have, which was the story where the Judge goes mad. And the week after that you're into the Midnight Surfer.

Meanwhile, in those first few weeks... you've got Strontium Dog and the Slavers Of Drule. You've got Jose Ortiz on Rogue Trooper and he's rescuing a horse from some moths. Nemesis the Warlock gets a done-in-one with some perfect Kevin O'Neill art. You've got Ace Garp dying - the first 'death-and-rebirth' I ever experienced in comics. You've got Slaine getting cliffhangers like 'The Type 2 Battle Orgot killed ten guards getting it back in its cage - and you're fighting the TYPE 3!'

After a cliffhanger like that, there's no going back, is there? And it just got better and better. It's impossible to describe the energy radiating out of those times, when you're a kid and you're listening for the letterbox on a Saturday morning, waiting for your turn to read the prog. These days it's all Aquaman getting upset about internet memes from 1998.

Favourite Character or Story?

So hard to pick just one! Favourite character - Judge Dredd. Obviously. Because he's not quite a total bastard - there's a sliver of actual justice and fairness in there - but he's never, never the hero.

Douglas Wolk described him memorably in one of his blog entries as a 'useful monster'. I was lucky to get into writing him at a point where he was being put through the mill a bit in terms of the larger plot John Wagner was doing, so I got to write the continuing adventures of a tired old man who was keeping himself going through sheer bloody-mindedness.

Dredd's got an incredibly complex personality - if you don't get the nuances exactly right, you're buggered - but 'bloody-minded' is a good starting adjective. Another good tip is to never have him show an emotion when he can imply one. Or imply implying one. Even the omniscient narrator represses his emotions in Judge Dredd!

Favourite story though... it's a tough one, but I have a special fondness for the Strontium Dog story Mutie's Luck. It was a done-in-one in six pages, and is just... perfect in so many ways. The moment when Alpha tips the table over is one of my favourite moments in comics. It's available to read on BARNEY, the 2000AD database.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

This is a hard one, because... it's the same as asking what I like most about comics. The two things are inextricably linked for me. 2000AD is the heart of comics, or the soul of them - it's everything comics can be. And at the heart of that is the concept of thrill-power, which people are still trying to define thirty-five years later. My brother's written articles on how it relates to pop music, and I mostly agree with his version - the additional kick, the buzz, the rocket-fuel infused into the comic, the way of looking at what a comic is, what it can do. Jack Kirby was thrill-powered. Kevin O'Neill was so thrill-powered the Comics Code had to ban him in case he made children explode. Irony is the enemy of thrill-power - that's why the word awesome doesn't quite mean the same thing. Brevity and density are thrill-power's friends. Thrill-power!

So I guess that's what I like most. The thrill-power. And the freedom.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

I'd like to see it continue. I have no doubt it will - if anything it feels like it's in a healthier position than a lot of Marvel and DC, at least to me. I guess I'd also like more people to come on board, both lapsed readers and brand new ones, but I think any comic is wishing for that at the moment.

Do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

A lot of people think Tharg isn't real, but I remember having a chat with him recently which ended with Mek-Quake crashing through a wall, grabbing me with his metal tentacles and tearing great chunks of pseudo-flesh away from my metallic endo-skeleton while shouting about "BIG JOBS".

Which would have been fine - it's all part of the work-for-hire process - except Tharg had actually been loudly asking for a milkshake and didn't want Mek-Quake at all. Also, it happened in the middle of the New York Comic Con, and several convention-goers were mercilessly crushed to death beneath Mek-Quake's vicious treads.

You'd have probably heard all about it except Marvel happened to be releasing a special Wolverine pog that day which obviously dominated the news cycle.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! from artist and fan Paul Harrison-Davies

Name: Paul Harrison-Davies

Blog: paulhd.blogspot.com

Tumblr: http://pmhd.tumblr.com/

Currently working on:

A book cover. A pitch for a children's comic. Short strip in Ink+Paper and any other odds and ends that take's my fancy.

First memory of 2000AD?

A friend bringing a big bag of 2000ADs into school, he'd found them in a skip. Not sure what date they'd be, but there was Ro-Busters, Robo-Hunter in 'Verdus' and 'Day of the Droids', so it was a random sampling of prime early progs. They felt.... wrong, and brilliant. We actually sneaked to a hiding place to read them.

It was a couple of years later that I started buying it regularly - I was surprised to finally see it in a newsagents, as I thought it was quite an illicit item.

Favourite Character or Story?

It's tricky, there's so many. I've always loved the escalating farce of Robo-Hunter. Ro-Busters is one of Pat Mill's finest. John Wagner has done so much incredible work on Dredd, and many others. But I'd have to go with Halo Jones, there's just so much humanity to it. Amazing art from Ian Gibson doesn't hurt either!

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

Probably the same things everyone else does, wit and black humour. As a kid it felt like it had been made to help me understand and have a healthy distrust for the adult world.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

Finding new ways to exploit the internet to reach a wider audience. As that happens, content wise, I'd like to see 2000AD looking to appeal to a younger audience again.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From art droid Jonathan Edwards

Name: Jonathan Edwards

Blog or web site: www.jonathan-e.com and http://jonathan-e.blogspot.com/

Currently working on:

My vinyl figure Inspector Cumulus is being released in its second colour way over the summer and I'm currently working on ideas for a graphic novel featuring him. I've got a few ideas for a alternative 1950s London where a cloud-headed detective would fit in.

I've also redrawn my strip from the 1996 anthology "It's Dark in London" (being reprinted by Self Made Hero this March).

Apart from comics I'll be working with my partner, Louise (AKA Felt Mistress) on more character design work. Hopefully, we've got some exciting projects and exhibitions coming up this year which we'll be able to reveal soon.

First memory of 2000AD?

I was given a copy of issue 2 of 2000AD just before I went to see my future primary school when I was five. I remember wearing the "Biotronic Man" stickers on my arm. Perhaps I thought I'd get away without going to school if they assumed I was a robot!

I never saw another copy until I was about eight or nine. It was a rainy day and we had to stay in during break time. There was a pile of comics donated to the school. Amongst them was a copy of 2000AD with a Mick McMahon episode of the Judge Child saga. It was an issue featuring the Angel Gang. I was immediately obsessed with McMahon's work and have been ever since. A constant artistic influence throughout my life. I think I saw Brian Bolland's work for the first time that same day! Thank God for rain.

Favourite Character or Story?

It's definitely the strips I read as child just because they had such a huge impact on me. Dredd stories such as "Judge Death Lives", "The Cursed Earth", "The Judge Child", "Block Mania". Such clever funny, exciting strips. I also really loved Strontium Dog, Nemesis the Warlock, Halo Jones, Future Shocks, Sooner or Later, Rogue Trooper, D.R & Quinch. Aaargh! Too many to mention.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

The sheer inventiveness of those first 10 years. So many great writers and artists.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

I'd like to see it become more eclectic and embrace more unusual styles. Well, what I'm really saying is I'd like to draw a Dredd strip! I'd even settle for a poster. Y'know, just for the 10-year-old me!

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at http://www.2000adonline.com/

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! from art droid Ade Salmon

Name: Ade Salmon

Blog or web site:

http://adriansalmonart.blogspot.com

Currently working on:

A Baron Frankenstein back up strip for Monsterverse' Flesh @ Blood book 2, 3 and 4, plus monthly Time Team art for Doctor Who Magazine. Open to offers.

First memory of 2000AD?

I remember vividly cycling down on a saturday to Guffogs newsagent with my mate to get Prog 1. I'd recently been turned onto American colour comics and so to find a British sci-fi comic to match the imports changed my world. I was most impressed by Bellardinelli's Dan Dare (and that knockout colour centrespread). M.A.C.H. 1 reminded me of The Six Million Dollar Man so that shot right up my must reads. Judge Dredd in prog 2 really kicked things off though!

Favourite Character or Story:

The Cursed Earth - the first Dredd mega epic. It's where I properly fell in love with the art of Mick McMahon after initially being a Bolland only man! I love, love the Last president of the United States vampire story and still rate that segment as my favourite 2000AD strip.

Naturally, Spikes Harvey Rotten gets my vote for fave character. A couple of issues previous (prog 58) I got my first drawing in the Nerve Centre - a punk biker called Hyper Punk . I can't say for sure it sowed any seeds though one of the creators of Cursed Earth recalls my drawing...

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

It's punky, contemporous stance. It felt like a comic made for Brit kids who liked cop shows , future sport , robots, monsters - all that cool stuff. The fact it had the best artists around knocking out the thrillpower helped. I hated when my fave artists weren't in it each week, but it opened my eyes to many styles which I eventually appreciated/ tolerated.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

As long as it continues to reflect contemporary kids interests I think it will stay on track. To lose its sense of humour would be disaster and maybe more regular work from some of the old hands who dug the trenches wouldn't go amiss. Old dogs can teach new kids.

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

Although most of my strips for Rebellion have appeared in the Meg, I drew one cover for the Andy Diggle Tharg. Wished I'd done him a better job - maybe I'd of contributed more? Ah performance nerves...

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com 

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From writer and fan Stephen Walsh

Name: Stephen Walsh

Currently working on:

WarWorldz for Strip Magazine with John Freeman and the artist Giancarlo Caracuzzo. Also working on scripts for Commando ("The Flaming Dagger" is out now) and further adventures of Charlotte Corday with Keith Page ("The Iron Moon" is available from Print Media; "London Calling" is available from TimeBomb Comics).

First memory of 2000AD?

I saw the "Tharg Arrrives on Earth" animated TV ad in February 1977. So I rushed down to the newsagent, only to find that a pal of mine had snagged the last copy. He proceeded to drive me mad for the next week with hints about the great stuff in the comic. Dinsosaurs! Politicians hung from lampposts! He completed my frustration by refusing to let me even glance through the issue. However, as sometimes used to happen in those days, extra copies of number one arrived the next week. So I had progs 1 and 2 in one go. Thrill power overload! Massimo Belardinelli's Dan Dare centre-spreads melted my brain. Organic spaceships! Yottleberry sun-shakes!

Favourite Character or Story?

Pat Mills' Dredd story "The Man Who Drank The Blood Of Satanus", drawn by the great Ron Smith; The early chapters of The ABC Warriors, with one-of-a-kind artists like Mike McMahon, Kevin O'Neill and Brendan McCarthy taking turns on episodes; Halo Jones; Frank Hart, the Visible Man...a very long list. We should resume this chat in the nearest pub.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

What I remember most is the great sense of anticipation that each issue generated; the feeling that anything could happen; that whole universes of weird wonder were being opened and their howling, mad-eyed denizens unleashed on the readership.

Looking back, it's also clear that John Wagner's work on Judge Dredd is one of the greatest sustained feats of the imagination in comics. His influence is everywhere now; as a maker of stories and ideas that came to pervade the culture, he's right up there with Jack Kirby.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

Unfortunately 2000AD stopped jumping off the shelf into my hand quite some time ago. I'd love it to jump out at me again; to be essential.

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

I remember bombarding the Nerve Centre with a different Future Shocks script every day for six weeks one summer. Later, when I chanced to meet the then-current Tharg, he told me where I could stick them. Golden days.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From writer and fan Paul H. Birch

Name: Paul H Birch

Blog: http://blogs.birminghammail.net/speechballoon/

Currently working on:

Hardware. Once upon a time there was a little stripzine that caused quite a stir and that will be coming back, bigger and way badder than ever before. How so? Well, if you saw the video at 2011 B.C. that gave some clues. Robotic mayhem & heroic disasters, vampiric victories & forbidden lusts, sci-fi double-dealings & eclectic slice-of-life twists in the tale... And oh so very much more guaranteed, all to be revealed in due course.

First memory of 2000AD?: 

My brother bought an early issue from the newsagents over the road from where we lived. He’d been into Action and I could see that it was similar but with a sci-fi slant.

Favourite Character or Story?  

I started picking it up myself in the late 1980s-early 90s, the new UK comic art superstars were moving on heading for DC and elsewhere, and while some might declare it became a less anarchic beast the contents throughout felt more editorially well-balanced and if anything the tone had matured to just the right pitch where, if not being subversive its writers were certainly trying to create debate in their predominantly young readers at the same time as doing a bang-up job of entertaining them. So, to me, it was more about the comic as an entity itself rather than the individual strips.

Ron Smith gave a balanced, more homogenised look to Judge Dredd, and as John Wagner and Alan Grant got ever more inventive, politically active and downright outraged by the burgeoning society they saw around them, Smith’s visual take had Dredd playing the straight man to perfection. And that stood out.

Whereas, about the same time something like Mike McMahon’s art on Pat Mills’s Slaine had the potential to revolutionise comic strip storytelling in ways that appeared not to fully be appreciated at the time and abandoned thereafter: as if derived from the fundamentals of DC Thomson superstar Dudley Watkins having been spiked with acid and shown far too many European comics than could be soaked up in one trip; the resultant work was dense, dynamic, intense and seemed to be heading towards the direction of a Liberatore for kids. Beyond brilliant.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

That it is weekly, and so remains traditionally British.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

I guess I’d just like to see it. My local newsagent used to sell a few copies, but its visible presence on the shelves tends to be lacking in my neighbourhood.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at http://www.2000adonline.com/

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! from artist Rob Davis

Name: Rob Davis

Blog: http://dinlos.blogspot.com

Currently working on:

Writing and drawing second Volume of Don Quixote and working on strips for The Phoenix.

First memory of 2000AD?

I bought prog 1 of 2000AD from the newsagents on Ashley Road in Parkstone, lost the spinner down the back of Chris Morrel's fridge. I couldn't read very well as an eight year old, but I loved Belardnelli's Dan Dare art. Space Hyper Hero!

I probably read most of the first 100 issues more by the pictures than the words. Within a year or so I was doing my own 2000AD style comic called "Space". I still have issue 3.

Favourite character or story?

Favourite character as a child was Robo Hunter. Halo Jones stands out to me as a writer because it spun everything around, made writing about anything seem possible. Dredd is the great icon of the comic and contains all the cleverest and most witty writing, it's what 2000AD is all about.

Artwise Mick (then Mike) McMahon's work surpassed, and surpasses, anything else in British comics and waking up one Saturday and rushing to the newsagent to get my hands on Prog 335 to see the first pages of McMahon's Slaine work on 'Warrior's Dawn' is the No. 1 art experience of my life. Not sure I'll ever recover from the moment I saw that opening page.

Having said all that, my personal favourite read ever was the first book of Nemesis. Genuinely alien and familiar, futuristic and historical, mythical and satirical. Top stuff!

What you like about 2000AD?

2000AD tricked me into thinking this is how thinks are; there's a 12p newsprint rag I could pick up every in the same shop that sells my dad his fags and it contains more invention, creativity, peerless art than I'd ever encounter in one place again. I thought that is what we should expect, it's what I intended to do with my life - keep that illusion going, make the world seem that impossibly giving to kids so they'd grow up as bursting full of imagination as I was.

Sadly the comic wanted to grow up with me, but it grew up to be a retarded, heavy metal fan who thought women smelt of magazine paper. I didn't want to be its friend anymore.

What would you like to see in 2000AD as it heads for its Forties?

We don't keep in touch, but I'm assured it did grow up and sort itself out. It keeps the best of company now, so it must have turned out ok, I've seen D'Israeli's marvelous Stickleback for example! We probably just grew apart and we've gone our separate ways. 

 

Part of me harbours an ambition to do something for the comic, but it would have to be an homage to one of the great inspirations of my life and therefore would have to be startling original and staggeringly good.

If you worked for 2000AD, do you have an anecdote to share about Tharg and his minions?

And here's the rub. I did draw Judge Dredd for a while in the 1990s, in Lawman of the Future, and I found the experience draining and soul destroying. I had nothing to add to Dredd that could improve upon what Mick McMahon had done. I could do something different, for the sake of it, but nothing better. This didn't appeal to me. I had no kids or mortgage in those days so I just walked. I didn't like the scripts or the ideology or the lack of ambition. Sadly the very thing that had made me want to make comics ultimately made me give them up as a career.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com
2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From script droid Paul Cornell

IGN describes this scene from Flesh (one of Paul's favourite strips) as one of 2000AD's "Top Shocks". Read their list

Name: Paul Cornell

Blog or web site:
www.paulcornell.com

Currently working on: 
 
Cops and Monsters, my urban fantasy novel, out from Tor in October.

First memory of 2000AD?

I'd avoided it, until Mark from up the lane lent me a whole pile, from the first prog on.

Favourite Character or Story?

I loved Dan Dare, Flesh and Harlem Heroes.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

It was the way it all felt of one mind, that it seemed to portray a unified way of looking at the future, that it was kind of a genre in itself, that really attracted me.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

New strips, attempts at new iconic characters.

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

I am one of only two British creators working in US comics who's never worked for 2000AD.  (The other is Paul Jenkins, I think.) I've only ever worked for the Megazine, where I pestered editor David Bishop until he agreed to the strip he'd turned down a year before.


• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From author and fan James Swallow

Name: James Swallow

Blog or web site:

I blog about writing and stuff over at http://jmswallow.livejournal.com/ and http://twitter.com/jmswallow.

Currently working on:

A whole bunch of stuff! I’ve got a new novel called Fear To Tread out later this year as part of the Horus Heresy series, and Stargate SG-1 and Blake’s 7 audio dramas, plus some top secret videogames work.

First memory of 2000AD?:

Prog 2. I remember me and my schoolyard pal George Sawyer going nuts for the Biotronic Man stickers that came with that issue – and then peeling off all the hair on my arms when my mum wouldn’t let me keep them on at the dinner table. I managed to find a copy of Prog 1 soon after, although the Space Spinner went missing pretty quick.

I remember my dad – a reader of The Eagle in his youth – taking it off me to read the new Dan Dare strip... But I still recall the first Judge Dredd story with keen clarity – “Looking for me, lawbreakers?”

Favourite Character or Story?

Dredd, natch. The enduring legacy of this character says it all – a uniquely British take on an American archetype, the unbreakable rock in a sea of crazy. If I had to pick a favourite Dredd story, it’s between “Judge Cal” and “Block War”.

But 2000AD had also always had a good line in military SF stories, something I’m a big fan of, and while Rogue Trooper holds the top spot there, I have a lot of love for The VCs.

I always had fondness for 2000AD’s “future sport” stories, too – stuff like the Harlem Heroes, Inferno and Mean Arena.

What do you like most about 2000AD?

The turn-over of strips always means that there is new and interesting stuff in every issue; you never get bored reading a Prog, and that format means you can have stories that might never have made it to the page in a single-title format. Abelard Snazz or DR & Quinch, Joe Black from PEST and Harry 20? Ant Wars and Ro-Busters...?

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

On the one hand, as an aging nerd I’d love to see some classic old-skool strips return, but I think what 2000AD needs to keep doing is what it has always done best – create cool and engaging SF & fantasy stories with grit and edge. I’m always interested to see a new story, wondering if the next one will be something with the staying power of Dredd, Strontium Dog or Slaine.

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

It’s a point of geek pride for me that I got to write for Joe Dredd and the Rogue Trooper, albeit in audio drama and novel formats, but I’ve never worked directly for the comic (although I’d love to – Tharg? Call me.)

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! From art droid Nigel Dobbyn

Name: Nigel Dobbyn

Blog or web site: www.nigeldobbyn.com

Currently working on:

The Power of Five: Nightrise graphic novel for Walker Books, The Chili for Markosia (www.the-chili.com), due to be published in February and available at the London Super Comicon.

First memory of 2000AD?      

Issue 1 with its free Space Spinner. I particularly loved Belardinelli's art on Dan Dare. He's still a big influence.

Favourite Character or Story?

The Gronk, Ro-Jaws, Dirty Frank (I guess I like underdogs!)

What do you like most about the 2000AD?       

Its unpredictability and wide embracing of different styles of artwork.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?     

I'd like to see them employ me again!

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?      

Very excited and eager, I turned up at the 2000AD offices for the first time to discuss my doing my first full series, only to find out that The Mighty One was off work ill with Space Flu. No-one had thought to tell me. I turned around and headed home again! Thankfully, I managed to meet up with him and Hilary Robinson the next week and it was the start of many happy years of work.


• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at http://www.2000adonline.com/

2000AD © Rebellion

2000AD Celebrates 35 Years of Thrillpower!

In 1977, something amazing happened. All across the land the first issue of 2000AD, dated 26th February, arrived in British newsagents. And your world has never been the same since.

35 years on and The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic is still going strong, still packed with top-notch Thrills by some of the world’s greatest comic book artists and writers, and still bringing intense weekly bursts of Thrill-power to the starving masses.

To celebrate this milestone, this Wednesday sees the anniversary edition, Prog 1771, hit newsstands in the UK (7th March in North America) with the choice of two amazing variant covers - one by Chris Weston (The Filth, The Twelve), riffing on a classic image by Brian Bolland and showing some of the classic characters of the past 15 years.

The second cover by 2000AD legend Mick McMahon shows the alien editor, Tharg the Mighty, surrounded by his loyal editorial droids!

This week will also see 2000adonline.com give away some exclusive prizes to Squaxx Dek Thargo everywhere, including:

• Copies of Kingdom: The Promised Land signed by New York Times bestselling writer Dan Abnett
• Copies of dinosaurs-farmed-by-cowboys-from-the-future classic Flesh: The Dino Files signed by 2000AD’s creator and first editor, Pat Mills
• Copies of the hilarious mobster comedy Al’s Baby signed by Judge Dredd creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra

Thanks to Planet Replicas, they’ll also be giving one lucky Earthlet the chance to get a custom made Judge badge – featuring their own surname! These high-quality fully licensed badges are a must for budding agents of the law, and the winner will get one embossed with their own name.

And as we head toward 2000AD’s official birthday, 2000ADonline have the pièce de résistance – an exclusive Mongrol figure from Ashley Woods’ threeA Toys. Yes – one of the most hotly desired piece of 2000AD merchandise in recent years. Standing over 11-inches high and over 13-inches wide, this fully articulated 1:6 scale figure has been drooled over by fans since its release last year and you’ll get the chance to try and win this stunning figure.

Keep your glues glued to 2000adonline.com, as well as the comic's official Twitter and Facebook feeds, as we gear up to mark 35 years of Thrill-powered awesomeness!

Happy birthday, 2000AD – it’s going to be a zarjaz week!

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! from art droid Graeme Neil Reid

Name: Graeme Neil Reid

Web site: www.gnreid.co.uk/

Blog: http://www.gnreid.blogspot.com

Group Blog: http://scotchcorner.blogspot.com/

Currently working on:

Illustrations for a museum, some fantasy role playing stuff and a few other projects which I can't mention (no major secrets just client confidentiality).

First memory of 2000AD?

Finding the 1981 2000AD annual at a car boot sale and having read every page going to a newsagents to pick up Prog 427.

Favourite Character or Story?

Impossible to answer, which is your favourite child? Judge Dredd has to be high on the list but close behind would be Johnny Alpha and Wulf.

Bad Company, Zenith, The Dead, The V.C.s, ABC Warriors, Defoe, Rogue Trooper, Metalzoic, Halo Jones... and the list goes on and on.

One of the most consistent draws for me has been the artist Colin MacNeil and his work on 'Song of the Surfer' was amazing. And, of course, the opening Dredd story of the Megazine 'America' probably stands as one of the greatest.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

Two things stand out for me now. The fact that I read it as soon as its delivered, just the same as I did when I was 14. The second is the quality of work in 2000AD's pages is on an all time high I feel. We can all look back to those 'classic' years and stories but as a fan you can't beat the work that has been in the comic for the last five years or so. Zarjaz is a popular word for the level of greatness!

The passion and dedication put into the scripts, art and lettering is on show. Yes, you get hired to create these pages but I don't think there is a single 2000AD creator that is just doing it for the money, the love for the comic is on display with every page.

Look at the 35th anniversary cover beautifully drawn by Chris Weston. He produced the rough for this awesome cover on spec, he wasn't asked to by the editorial staff he took it on himself to come up with that, that's the love of the comic if nothing else.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

That's tricky really. Whatever they are doing to make 2000AD at the moment works so pretty much more of the same as far as the weekly goes.

I'd like Rebellion to look into a weekly, 2000AD digital junior title that is super cheap to read. I'm thinking you have two original stories featuring Dredd, Alpha etc. and use three 'classic' strips as reprint material but keep it aimed at 10 year olds and make it cheap for your PC, iPad etc.

I was a big fan of the 1980s Eagle and it was crammed with three page strips and it kept to the younger age group well, it had brilliant art and exciting stories and was an excellent junior title to 2000AD. I'd love to see something like that appear for kids now.

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

Apart from Mek-Quake they're all very nice, nothing beats the sharp bolt of thrill power that hits you when an email arrives from Tharg!


• The bumper 2000AD 48-page Prog 1771 with the Chris Weston cover (left) mentioned by Graeme goes on sale 22nd February 2012 with a choice of two variant covers, a free bagged special gift and a truly galaxy-spinning line-up!

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion