This weekly British science fiction-oriented comic was first published by IPC Magazines in February 1977, with editor Tharg the Mighty (aka Pat Mills) offering readers a free space spinner (otherwise known as a Frisbee) and thrill-powered tales including M.A.C.H-1, Invasion, Harlem Heroes, Flesh, and an all-new Dan Dare.
IPC owned the rights to Dan Dare and decided to revive the character – formerly the cover star of Eaglecomic – to add immediate public recognition for the new comic. This strip bore little resemblance to Frank Hampson’s original creation and was quickly replaced by fascist future cop Judge Dredd as the comic’s most popular and famous strip.
Dan underwent a visual downgrade, complete with a quasi-superhero costume and a power glove, before bowing out completely.
2000 AD merged with Starlord, another IPC science fiction comic, in 1978. Another cancelled title, Tornado, was merged with 2000 AD a few months later, contributing three stories.
In 1987, IPC’s comics division was sold to publishing magnate Robert Maxwell as Fleetway. 2000 AD was revamped, with a larger page size and full process colour on the covers and centre pages. In 1989, the colour pages were increased again, allowing for three colour stories and two black and white in every issue.
The publisher has been owned by Rebellion Developments since 2000.
Other strips have included:
ABC Warriors
Ace Trucking Co
Armoured Gideon
Bad Company
The Ballad of Halo Jones
Big Dave
Blackhawk – a historical adventure series about a Nubian slave in the Roman Empire who became a gladiator in an alien world
B.L.A.I.R 1
Button Man
Captain Klep – a single-page superhero parody
Dan Dare
Dash Decent – a Flash Gordon parody
The Dead Man
Disaster 1990 – a prequel to ‘Flesh’ in which a nuclear explosion at the north pole had melted the polar ice-cap and flooded Britain
D.R. and Quinch
Fiends of the Eastern Front – a World War II vampire story
Flesh – time-travelling cowboys farming dinosaurs for their meat
Friday
Harlem Heroes – the future sport of aeroball – a violent, futuristic version of basketball played with jet-packs
Hewligan’s Haircut
Invasion! – about a “Volgan” invasion of the United Kingdom, opposed by tough London lorry driver turned guerrilla fighter, Bill Savage
Judge Anderson
Judge Dredd
Kelly’s Eye
M.A.C.H 1 – a super-powered secret agent inspired by The Six Million Dollar Man (“His incredible hyper-power will amaze you!”)
M.A.C.H Zero – a sequel to M.A.C.H 1
Maniac 5
Mean Arena – a violent high-tech street football game
Meltdown Man – whose hero was transported to a genetically engineered far future by a nuclear explosion
The Mind of Wolfie Smith – a coming of age/psychic story of a runaway teenager
Nemesis the Warlock
Nikolai Dante
Really & Truly
Robo-Hunter – private detective Sam Slade specialised in robot-related cases
Ro-Busters – a robot disaster squad (transferred from Starlord)
Rogue Trooper
Shako – the story of a polar bear pursued by the Army because it had swallowed a secret capsule
Sinister Dexter
Skizz
Sláine – a barbarian fantasy strip based on Celtic mythology
Slaughterbowl
Strontium Dog – a mutant bounty hunter (transferred from Starlord)
The VCs – a future war story inspired by the Vietnam War
The Visible Man – detailing the misfortunes of Frank Hart, a man whose skin had been made transparent due to exposure to nuclear waste
