2000 AD: A Personal Retrospective
(aka An Authentic Cover Story)
Like everyone around my age, the ratio of what I've forgotten in relation to what I can remember about my life has a much higher numerical value on the forgotten side of the equation. That's just the nature of aging (and cognitive processes). But I can remember with some clarity the day I first bought an issue of the weekly anthology comic 2000 AD.
It was on a cold October morning, as I walked to school with my cousin and a mutual friend. The journey, somewhere between two-and-a-half and three miles, took me through a part of town that was mostly shops, pubs, hairdressers, and banks.
The town's biggest (and perhaps only) toy shop was also a newsagent, a two-storey building whose first floor stocked, among other things, stationery, candles, shiny glass trinkets, greetings cards, tobacco, and all manner of magazines.
On its shelves were titles about housekeeping, weddings, cars, bikes, knitting, sports, music, current affairs, politics, kids comics, and at the far end, in what was technically the darkest corner of the shop floor, being furthest away from the front window, were the US superhero comics, and next to them was 2000 AD, like the proverbial diamond in a sea of cheap reprint.
It was Prog 700, dated 13th October 1990. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a timely jumping on point, the first issue after the epic twenty-six part Necropolis storyline had ended.
Had I been in the store a week prior, I might have got the issue that was heavy with spoiler. But Prog 700 was like a changeover point for the magazine, with all new stories/storylines and improved paper stock. It came with two free character-themed postcards, one each of Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper, which I still have in a drawer someplace. The new 'thrills' were:
Judge Dredd: Theatre of Death (Pt 01) (John Wagner; Ron Smith)
Time Flies (Pt 01) (Garth Ennis; Philip Bond)
Nemesis + Deadlock: Warlocks and Wizards (Pat Mills; Carl Critchlow)
Hewligan's Haircut (Pt 01) (Peter Milligan; Jamie Hewlett)
Judge Anderson: Shamballa (Pt 01) (Alan Grant; Arthur Ranson)
If you know 2000 AD, then you'll know the spectrum of talent that such a line-up of writers and artists can produce. John Wagner, Pat Mills, and Alan Grant are some of the magazine's most celebrated. And, coincidently, Grant + Ranson is perhaps my favourite writer/artist pairing ever!
The purpose of this post isn't to extol the life-changing aspects of a paper publication, it's to showcase some of my favourite 2000 AD cover art from that era of my life. A sensible cut-off point for the selection would be Prog 1000, but I'm going with Prog 949 instead, because Prog 950 was a relaunch issue with a new logo and a cover promoting the release of the 1995 Judge Dredd movie starring Sylvester Stallone. From that selection, I've picked just four covers. [1]
The first of them is the aforementioned Prog 700 by artist Sean Phillips. It's not the most striking or spectacular cover — one might even argue that its composition is kind of messy — but it's the one that I think of every time I think fondly of 2000 AD, for the reasons given above.
It seems almost like a composite of two individual covers, as if a solo Dredd piece was added to the foreground of an Anderson one. There's no discernible lighting difference, but some things just don't make sense; e.g., is Dredd on his knees or is Anderson standing on a box?
If it did exist as a solo Anderson cover at some point during composition, I'd like to see it because the colours and the Tibetian-esque concentric pattern that serves as a backdrop are alluring. Anderson's facial expression is a little odd, kind of smushy, like she was in a bar fight or is testing out makeup choices for a deep undercover Jimp hooker party, but, hey, it's still better than I could do, and there's dozens of appalling 2000 AD covers that it puts to shame. (Progs 722, 751, 764, 772, 794, 836, 845, 846, 869, 873, 913, and 940 fit the bill, for starters.)
The deft blend of coppery browns and golds suggest a strength that's not without vulnerability, like a polished surface that holds a deeper softness within. Even the 2000 AD logo respects it, with the iconic red colour removed so as not to interfere with the overall composition.
The words STRONG AND PSILENT do interfere, but they're well-chosen, at least. I'd prefer if they were smaller and positioned more elegantly, in the bottom right corner, for example.
Cassandra appears to be in a 'lull before the storm' moment, a period of time-straining tranquility that precedes a more charged event. The raised Lawgiver (gun) supports the notion, held close to the body but at the ready, should the situation turn violent.
As most comic book fans will know, contextually cover art is its own thing, but it's a real joy to see one that manages to be both representative of the artist and embody the writer-defined traits of the character. Austin's Anderson has a seductive poise and grace that's on equal footing with her professionalism. The eyes are turned slightly, directed towards the future, perhaps, presaging the 'Justice' that's to come. But I sense a reflectiveness in them also, a hopeful longing that's indicative of her feelings about the brutality of the system to which she's a part.
If you're as taken with the brushwork as I am, then you might want to check out the covers of Progs 643 and 760. Austin did twenty-two covers for 2000 AD, if I'm not mistaken, but those two are the only other Anderson ones - although neither is as good as Prog 713.
Moving on, Prog 789 is a simple one, and it might not be a wholly original concept, I don't know, but it's the best of the Button Man covers and therefore deserves a place herein. The artwork, featuring ex-soldier turned professional killer Harry Exton, is by Arthur Ranson.
Again, it captures a large part of what the character is, but goes further by giving us hints of what the story itself is about, in a similar manner to how the strip presents its narrative; i.e., storytelling in which the visual element is as important as the words - or, at times, even more so. I've written about the story already on The 7th and Last blog, so won't go over it again now.
The styling is reminiscent of Mike Hodges' Get Carter (1971) movie, which I'm guessing isn't coincidental. It drops hints, without having to read the strip, that Button Man is a British crime thriller, with a hardboiled central character who may have a less than noble moral code. The target isn't just on his chest, it consumes him, like it's becoming a part of his entire persona.
Prog 811 had Pat Mills' eco-terrorist Finn on its cover, painted by Mick Austin. Not large and looming like Dredd would often stand, nor in the throes of combat like Sláine might be, Finn keeps low, quiet, with a tenor of secret purposefulness - albeit a murderous one.
A familiarity with the character means I know that he's clothed in collected shadows (probably from graveyards), and the full moon, which is itself low in the sky, is an important aspect of his nighttime activity. A security camera is situated at the top right of the frame, partially hidden by the magazine info. That means our perspective is inside of the area that Finn 'intrudes' upon. Are we seeing through the eyes of a guard? Is the knife meant for us? Or is it merely to cut the wire that carries the camera feed to HQ? It forces us to ask questions, but mostly in a good way.
If I'd not seen Finn before, I might think him only half-human, due to the narrow eyes and oversized horns of the animalistic headgear that he uses to hide (or announce) his identity. The entire pose screams menace, but always underneath, regardless of the level of familiarity, one can feel the crucial sense of purpose that drives him. That, above all, is why I like the image.
That's my four choices. I'm not suggesting they're the best examples from the era in question, just that they're the ones that appeal most to me. Your choices may be very different, but I hope they generate a similarly warming and/or nostalgic feeling within you as mine do for me. [2]
[1] If Dermot Powers' cover for Prog 899 had been in B+W, like the Brigand Doom strip that it references, then I'd likely have chosen it as a fifth. The canted angle is a fitting perspective for the themes explored in the strip, in general, as is having the mysterious brigand tower over the cityscape that he wants to shake-up, even if such placement is a major cliché in poster art, but the colouring ruins it, I feel. Even so, it's still arguably the best of the five covers that Doom got over the years; search for the others, Progs 717, 764, 769, and 932, for comparison.
I'm actually a big fan of Dermot Power's art — I love his work in all mediums, pencil, inks, acrylic, watercolour, etc — but colouring Brigand Doom's world seems wrong to me. (It may not have been Powers' idea to make it so. It may simply have been a stipulation of the commission. I don't know.) Apologies to Mr Power for messing with his artwork, and to everyone for the generic greyscale filter used, but I wanted to know how it might've looked if it hadn't been colour:
If you want to see other examples of Powers' work, then check out his official page (opens in new tab). The Lady of the Lake sketch in the Original Art For Sale page is magnificent! (No, I'm not an affiliate. I don't write for profit. I just thought it might be of interest to others.)
[2] It's a coincidence that all but one of my choices have characters with guns. I don't want to get political, but I'm not a gun-lover, so please don't infer anything to the contrary.
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