First Issue:	26th February 1977
					Last Issue:
					Copyright:	Rebellion Developments
					Genre:	Sci-Fi
Where To Now? Home Welcome Checkpoint Area Current Undertakings Comics Annuals/Books Specials Page-By-Page (N/A) Gallery Forum Guestbook Family Tree Full Strip Interviews & Overviews History Of Comics The Characters Quiz This Man Needs Help About Me - Contact Me Links					Incorporated Titles:	Starlord (14/10/78) Tornado (25/8/79)
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From the ashes of Action comic, rose 2000AD! If Action didn't happen, comic content limits would not have been known. When Action returned from its ban in December 1976, Pat Mills, the Action editor, was given a new project to work on, 2000AD. Many of the artists and writers who cut their teeth on Action moved over to 2000AD. As well as Pat Mills himself, there was Kelvin Gosnall, John Wagner, Massimo Belardinelli, Steve 'Action Man' MacManus, Gerry Finlay-Day and Tom Tully. Action had set the comic boundaries and 2000AD had learnt from it. Programme 1 of 2000AD was released on 26th February 1977. The main story was the new Dan Dare, who had returned from suspended animation into the year 2177. There was Flesh, a time-travel saga where 23rd century man's want for real meat instead of synthetic meat, forced them to use time-travel to visit the dinosaurs, and kill them for food. Other stories were MACH 1, Harlem Heroes and Invasion. Judge Dredd made his first appearance in programme 2 and has been seen in every issue since then except for progs 109, 155 and 1100.

2000AD was the first comic to credit its artists, writers and letterers, which it still does to this day. Before that, you would have to hunt each frame to see if the artist had signed it and as for the writers, forget it. You just did not know who wrote these stories that gripped you week after week. Let's face it, without a good story, what good is excellent artwork? If you're buying a paperback, do you judge a book by it's cover, or do you look at who wrote its contents? 2000AD called it the 'Credit Card', and it replaced the stories 'Thrill Sign'. The 'Credit Card' made its first appearance in prog 36 (29/10/77).

Another comic tradition which was not adhered too, was the changing of the average number of pages of each story. It was 'nearly' always the way for comic stories to not exceed 4 pages. More often then not, they were just 3 pages long. There were notable exceptions like, Codename Warlord from Warlord, and Rat Pack from Battle Picture Weekly. The length of 2000AD stories was always around 5 or 6 pages. This was great for your favourite stories, but unfortunate when you came to your least favoured. Another unusual concept was the alien editor Tharg, who hailed from the planet Quaxxann in the Betelgeuse system. He created a new language which readers quickly adopted. He used words like Borag Thungg for Galatic Greetings and Splundig Vur Thrigg for Farewell. He also seemed to detail current and future happenings within the publication and events around it. He was, and still is, involved in one of my favourite stories, "Thargs Future Shocks", which all have a little twist-in-the-tail conclusion. Every now and again he used to have a one-off story like, "The Creep That Stole Croydon" and "The Day They Banned 2000AD". He calls himself Tharg The Mighty, which was first coined in issue #107 (7/4/1979). All very amusing. The late 1970's was like the second coming for new comic titles. Amongst these were Starlord and Tornado, both excellent publications. Starlord with its different format introduced us to Strontium Dog, Robusters and Timequake. While Tornado gave us Victor Drago and Wolfie Smith. Unfortunately, their existences were very short. They both lasted for just 22 issues each before they amalgamated with 2000AD. Starlord was first. The 14th October 1978 issue (prog #86) being the first combined one. Strontium Dog and Robusters were the stories which made the transition. Although the Timequake story was held over until prog 148, over a year later! Tornado joined forces with 2000AD 10 months later. 25th August 1979 (prog #127) was the first combined issue, and Tornado brought with it Wolfie Smith, Black Hawk and Big E, the Tornado editor. Big E was actually Dave Gibbons the artist.

Many characters and stories have passed through the pages of 2000AD since 1977, and here are a few notable debut dates. Judge Dredd started in prog 2 (Mar 1977). Robo Hunter started in prog 76 (Aug 1978). Strontium Dog started in prog 86 (Oct 1978). First reference to Tharg The Mighty. Prog #107 (Apr 1979) ABC Warriors started in prog 119 (Jun 1979). Nemesis The Warlock started in prog 167 (Jul 1980). Rogue Trooper started in prog 228 (Sep 1981). Chronocops started in prog 310 (Apr 1983). Slaine started in prog 330 (Aug 1983). Halo Jones started in prog 376 (Jul 1984). Bad Company started in prog 500 (Dec 1986). Zenith started in prog 535 (Aug 1987) First all-colour issue. Prog #723 (Mar 1991) Button Man started in prog 780 (Apr 1992) Sinister Dexter started in prog 981 (Mar 1996) Nikolai Dante started in prog 1035 (Mar 1997) 2000AD seems to be experiencing a resurgence in popularity at the moment. Maybe it's because the kids that bought the comic back in 1977 are now trying to rekindle their youth, or maybe it's because the stories are now more adult in their content and are finally gaining the recognition and credibility that they deserve. Long may it continue!

There are many websites dedicated to 2000AD and it's characters. Below I have listed a few web links which I think will be of interest to you. SPLUNDIG VUR THRIGG
The 2000AD Web ring	Great character and story profiles. Still in progress but good.	Official 2000AD website