wilde wood

It's been a while since I published and what better day than the first of the year? Coincidentally the next prog was also seasonal.

2000AD logo Alan Davis’ wraparound christmas cover celebrates all things DR & Quinch, including visual references to some of the stories that have gone before, including beer cans (from Have Fun on Earth), oranges (from Hollywood), Quinch’s mum and Pulger (from Get Drafted) and Chryssie’s dad (from the love story). Those christmas carols Tharg mentioned the previous prog? The Nerve Centre tells…

Mega-City Book Club: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright

Podcast time again! It’s been two years – today the latest Mega-City Book Club went live with Eamonn and I marking the release of the third book of (one of) Bryan Talbot’s magnus opuses (opii?) by discussing the first book, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. Eamonn’s thread on the 2000AD Online Forum. Feedback Survey (anonymous unless you leave your name).

Light dawns on Alpha's voyage, the barbarians enter the tomb, the lurker gets more than they bargained for and Rogue gets back in to the war.

2000AD logo Prog 449 cover, art by Robin Smith Robin Smith’s cover introduces the element missing from the roleplay adventure within – the race against time! In the form of a shadowy figure shattering a decidedly un-Celtic looking timepiece. Tharg’s Nerve Centre is pretty busy this week as Tharg tells us that the next prog will be the christmas prog, containing a DR & Quinch wraparound cover…

Lamal's story ends, Blood-Prow is named, today's teacher is... Dredd! Alpha and Sternhammer meet.

2000AD logo 2000AD Prog 448 cover, art by Glenn Fabry Glenn Fabry brings a full-face Sláine cover – we’ve not had many covers showing such an extreme close-up – the only other one that springs to mind is a Robin Smith Tharg cover which I’m not sure we’ve had yet. Had to go and check on Barney’s Cover Story, largest faces I could find in a quick perusal was Cal on the cover of prog 94, the Mekon…

2000AD salmon leaps on to the 1980s fantasy gaming craze with Sláine, technology fails on Earth, but only when relevant to the plot, ugly lives in Mega-City One, home life with Wulf and goodbye to Azure.

2000AD Prog 447 cover, art by Glenn Fabry 2000AD logo Sitting atop a pile of diluvial corpses, Glenn Fabry depicts Sláine and, just to highlight how it’s going to be a fantasy game, a chest full of treasure on this cover. Tharg’s Nerve Centre just about has time for Tharg to hype the Tomb of Terror and offer the usual voting coupon (oh, and also to advertise the latest Strontium Dog Titan…

Young Alpha accepts the missino to save the Earth, even if it means saving everybody's lives, Bad Jack is determined to go to Earth, even if they have to kill to get there. The second world war ends - in the twenty second century! What to do with a robo

2000AD logo 2000AD Prog 446 cover, art by Ian Kennedy Ian Kennedy provides the cover, from what I can remember one of only two, and both of them will be wraparound covers. Famous for illustrating (real world) aircraft, Kennedy doesn’t disappoint, by depicting a squadron of second world war fighter planes, above the Mega-City. Tharg’s Nerve Centre Nemesis the Warlock dominates the letters,…

2000AD Prog 445: Johnny and Wulf Get Nailed! “Scratch two dogs!”

2000AD logo 2000AD Prog 445 cover, art by Carlos Ezquerra Three new characters are introduced in this cover, and one old character is dispatched. Carlos Ezquerra begins one of the most memorable chapters in 2000AD history with this cover. Tharg’s Nerve Centre is truncated, just having space to plug the end of the current book of Nemesis and the beginning of that Strontium Dog story, which…

Purity's flashback, Candida's flashback, now it's the turn of Thoth and Satanus! Mystery hands are going to make Rogue work. Judge Dredd: I am the... love? The Mean Team go on the run and being psychic isn't all it's cracked up to be.

José Ortiz provides the cover for the return of Rogue, though it doesn’t look like the genetic infantryman will be back for long… Tharg’s Nerve Centre finally gives credit to John Higgins for the uncredited Dredd story that finished the Judge Dredd annual. Now, who was responsible for the similarly uncredited text story? In the Thargnote at the top, the mighty one warned us of impending thrill…

The origin story of the Goonie Bird, the end of the original run of Slade, Von Richmann loses his head over Bad Jack leaving the arena, Robin 'Psmith' Smith also leaves, though not for long.

Psmith is on cover duties – I wonder why Robin Smith gave up the art editor job? The background of this cover re-uses one of Psmith’s most popular images, that of Dredd’s badge from Prog 262 (and still one of the most popular pages on this blog). Tharg’s Nerve Centre contains the promise that, though Robo-Hunter finishes this prog, it will return. There’s going to be a change of editor (sorry,…

Slade takes to the water, Rogue warns of fireworks, Satanus produces fireworks (oh, and we get to see the face of the character voted best villain at the Eagle Awards), a Mega-vigilante for Mega-City One, the ultimate weapon and Bad Jack has a flashback.

Ian Gibson brings forth another Robo-Hunter cover, featuring Slade diving for refuge from an army of Hoagy’s who are being egged on by Robostogie. Tharg’s Nerve Centre which beseeches Squaxx dek Thargo not to mess around with fireworks, which is funny for reasons I’ll go in to later… Meanwhile a reader points out that Betelgeuse is the armpit of the cosmos (because the star appears in that…

A deal with the devil, Slade discharges from hospital, Tubbs makes it big, crime is a thing of the past and so is the Mean Team.

The new character of Tony Tubbs and art droid Cam Kennedy gets their second appearance on the cover in two weeks. Bit of a give-away to how the story is going to go as the scales show Tony’s weight (then again he was introduced as 2-Ton Tony Tubbs on last prog’s cover, so there wasn’t exactly a lot of mystery there from the start). What’s inside? After last prog’s Nerve Centre announcement of…

Purity's flashback? Now it's Candida's turn! Slade goes to hospital, ratoining ends in Mega-City One, a prisoner escapes and has to make a choice and Bad Jack and Henry Moon take on the enemy team, alone!

The fatties are back, and this time Cam Kennedy joins Mick McMahon, Ron Smith and Carlos Ezquerra in showing us the latest misadventures as Two Ton Tony Tubbs takes to the cover. Though maybe they’re not two tons yet? I’ll find out in the story inside. Tharg’s Nerve Centre is dominated by news of the impending returns of Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog and The Ballad of Halo Jones Book Three. Tharg…

Necropolis cityscape, Purity flashback, Slade catches up with Hoagy and Stogie, and Hoagy and Stogie, and Hoagy and Stogie, The Man forgets too much, Eric forgets nothing, Moon grows in to their feline body.

It’s been a while since Ian Gibson provided a wraparound cover – in fact, the only one I can remember is from about four or five years earlier, when the lesser spotted thrill-suckers attacked somebody eating some chips. This one is a bit more notable, showing Sam in Las Vegas (or something looking a lot like it) though still seemingly hassled by the one-armed bandit from Harlem Grits. There’s…

The return of Pandora and Barbarossa, bathtime with Slade, Justice Department has a secret, Moon gets catty with Bad Jack and somebody's making mutants!

Bryan Talbot’s first cover for the current series of Nemesis (having said that, I’m not sure there’s going to be any more?) sees the warlock facing off against the traffic police in a busy tube tunnel. Why is this not a film? Bonus points for the road-sign warning of a hazard (the warlock head in a red triangle). Tharg’s Nerve Centre has news of an imposter claiming to be the editor of 2000AD…

The return of Elmer and Mabeline, the Mean Team appear on the scene, Norman does a Kryten (or Kryten will do a Norman), when Slobbs attack and Sam Slade returns to New York

Belardinelli’s back – it’s been too long (other than that starscan from two progs ago)! This cover heralds the debut of new thrill The Mean Team, starting inside! Tharg’s Nerve Centre has a letter from an earthlet who has been reading the progs since 276 and has only just noticed that the J in the Judge Dredd logo contains a silhouette of Dredd. I’m pretty sure I’d noticed by this point –…

In the post jumping-on prog week, Torque gets a roasting, Nem gets married, Thoth reveals their pet, Slade takes Manhattan, Otto Sump gets smart, the President of the Earth deals with a comet and IPC's nursery title meets the Beast.

Ian Gibson provides the cover, showing an aged but lean Sam Slade putting P-A-I-D to two robots. Tharg’s Nerve Centre and the mighty one plugs this prog, plus a slew of reprints (though we already got told about one of those last prog). There’s also a Judge Dredd laser scan, but it isn’t on the back page, as… well, we’ll get to all that. In answer to a reader’s letter, Tharg confirms that Ian…

2000AD Prog 435: Dredd Dispenses Justice “I am the LAW!” …and the sentence is Thrill-Power! Walkie Talkie Freebie – 20 to give away! Robohunter – New Thrill! Nemesis – New Thrill!

Robin Smith provides the central image for a messy cover featuring a couple of panels dredged from the stories starting this prog, plus about seven different typecases (in addition to the usual logo, prog-and-date, ‘in orbit’ and price boxes). You can probably tell this wouldn’t make my ‘top covers of 1985’ list. Tharg’s Nerve Centre – you know the drill – it’s a jumping-on prog so Tharg…