Classic Cult Comic ‘2000AD’
Classic Cult Comic ‘2000AD’
In the 80s, when I really was a rebel, I squatted a basement apartment in North London. Unbeknown to me at the time, the former occupant had been a letterer for a British comic book, the cult classic ‘2000 AD’. When I moved in I found two huge piles of the comic, all consecutively numbered and going back for years. This was my introduction to ‘2000 AD’ and it was heavenly.
To have all these complete stories – richly inventive and extraordinarily imaginative tales like Slaine, Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Ace Trucking, Strontium Dog. Characters from the pens of writers that became leaders of the genre – Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Pat Mills, and artists like Carlos Ezquerra and Simon Bisley.
No having to wait for the next issue to come out, I could continue the storyline immediately… time and time again. Instantly, I was hooked, and for some years I tried to never miss an issue. I always meant to buy two copies of each edition, to keep one and to read one, but I never managed to do it every time. If I was a bit skint, superfluous comics tended to get the chop.
My collection is now extremely dog-eared and nowhere near the desirable ‘mint condition’ demanded by fastidious collectors and dealers. (So that’s my fortune in comic books down the pan.) But you know, I think the comic’s creators would prefer it to be read and enjoyed! Not carefully slipped inside a plastic sleeve, never to see the light of day again until traded or sold to a new collector a few years down the line.
In the future, I’ll try to procure the occasional issue presently missing from my collection — to fill in the gaps and complete the tale. The complex stories and stunning artwork are precious, and timeless, I’d love to be able to keep them alive and accessible, so they can be enjoyed by others.
Perhaps they could have their own blog adventure? (Dang… copyright!)
Reward Rebel
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Filed under Blogging, Comics |
Ahh… 2000 AD! That was the good shit!
Great entry, thanks for pointing it out to me!
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Wow, finding that must have been incredible, but why would the letterer leave it behind? I too remember 2000AD, though I was mostly into U.S. comics. I remember thinking as an adolescent how Codename Anderson must be the sexiest character ever in comics.
Wan Kong Yew’s last blog post..“Three Little Pigs” Offensive
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Crackerbob -
You’re not wrong! Thanks for stopping by;-D
Wan Kong Yew (u crack me up!)
Yep, it was abso-bloody-lutely amazing an’ I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I can only guess that, to the letterer, the comic books were just left over from past work projects that were now history. Remember, this is the early 80s and comics were barely on the radar of being collectible. Luckily for me;-D
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Argghhhhh What a find, comic heaven. I remember the first issue of 2000AD and always looked forward to the next issue.
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RewardRebel Reply:
September 27th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I totally know what you mean. I still have my boxes of 2000ADs and occasionally sort out a bunch to read complete stories. I used to love… well, so many of the characters, like Ace Trucking, Slaine, DR & Quinch, Halo Jones, Strontium Dog, oh god they were all brilliant - the intelligent stories and the fabulous artwork. Yep, I was an incredibly lucky lil squatter!
Ya know, I’m gonna go place a regular order for it again. Thanks for the inadvertent nudge!
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