Finn

A different kind of hero
By dg
On
April 27, 2009


When I was younger I used to read all sorts of cool comics from old Conan comics to Spider-man and many others. I was then introduced to 2000ad comics by my Grandad and my older cousin that knew allot about the stories and characters. There's many great characters from 2000ad but I'm going to be talking about one called Finn. Hopefully this article will create some awareness for him again because I think hes such an underrated character.

To be totally honest with you before I carry on I started getting into these comics in 95 when Finn was just about suspended but I managed to get a glimpse of him in an issue called Judge Dredd 948. So I don't know all the stories but enough to talk about him. From what I noticed his appearance did change in the later issues. In the earlier ones, I think the artist drew him so that you didn't take it too seriously so there was always an element of humor. In the later issues the artwork looked much better and his helmet looked allot cooler and more intense which you can see in the very first image.

Finn was the hero of a comic strip written by Pat Mills. He first appeared in British fortnightly anthology comic Crisis in 1989, and later moved to 2000AD when Crisis was cancelled in 1991. In Crisis he was a supporting character called Paul in the strip Third World War, but in 2000 AD he starred in his own eponymous series.





In Third World War it was established that Paul was once a soldier in the British Army stationed in Northern Ireland, but he deserted to become an eco-terrorist fighting to save the planet from multi-national corporations, using the alias "Finn." Third World War was a relatively down-to-earth story set in 2000, with very little in the way of fantasy or science fiction. However in his own strip in 2000 AD it emerged that the leaders of the corporations were in fact powerful aliens, called "Newts." In this strip Finn was a Cornish mini-cab driver by day, and a white witch fighting the aliens by night. He used military equipment alongside magical items such as the Hand of Glory.After three full-length series, the character was suspended due to concerns that he was too similar to Mills' Sláine strip, despite many fans' requests for a cross-over story. It has not been revived since.





Ive been trying to find graphic novels for a while but had no luck. I have tried looking on ebay but there is very little on there. Its shame because if they released graphic novels he would become really popular again.
"Finn Book 1" (with Pat Mills/Tony Skinner, with art by Jim Elston (1-10) and Kevin Wicks (5-10), in 2000 AD #770-779, 1992)

"Finn Book 2" (with Pat Mills/Tony Skinner and Jim Elston/Kevin Wicks, in 2000 AD #807-557, 1992-1993)
"Origins of Finn" (with Pat Mills and Liam McCormack-Sharp, in 2000 AD #924-927, 1995)
"Interventions" (with Pat Mills and Paul Staples, in 2000 AD #928-949, 1995)
"Season of the Witch" (with Pat Mills and Paul Staples, in 2000 AD #991-999, 1996)

I managed to stumble across this promotional image for a possible Finn Film by Mark Harrison. This artwork just shows you how epic and kick ass Finn was and what a film could have been like. Not quite sure about Kurt Russell playing Finn since he was in the British army and became a Cornish taxi driver but it sounded great anyway.



If you cannot read the writing it says.

By day he is Paul,Plymouth cab driver...
By night he is Finn...
Eco-terrorist and occult vigilante!

Mandy High priestess of the covern instructs Finn to wage war on the alien newts alien entities and their human allies the shining ones.

The newts have returned to our world to civilize it. Those humans like Finn who believe modern society to be unnatural are to be eliminated.

Like allot of 2000ad stories, I think a film could be successful because he's such a great character. I think there's allot they could do with a film from the stories that were told. Obviously introduce the character starting from the beginning and then go from there.
Maybe Danny Boyle could direct it since hes British and make Cillian Murphy as Finn who hes worked with before. Or maybe even Christian Bale or Colin Farrell as Finn.
Be nice to hear any other ideas.

Anyway I hope you liked this insight into Finn one of my fav comic characters and I hope from doing this article he gets noticed again.
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