2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serializes a number of separate stories each "prog" and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated February 26. IPC, later Fleetway, continued to produce the title until 2000, when it was bought by Rebellion Developments. Due in part to its weekly publication schedule, it is one of only a few comics to surpass 1,600 issues.



It is most noted for its Judge Dredd stories, and has been contributed to by a number of artists and writers who became renowned in the field internationally, such as Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Bryan Talbot, Brian Bolland and Mike McMahon.

As I grew up I stopped reading comics. I was into loads like Spider-man and I had some old Conan comics which were very detailed with great artwork but they were in black and white. Then lately I remembered my 2000 AD comics and wanted to read them again and I forgot how cool they were.
I first got into 2000 AD comics in 1995. My grandad took me too a news agents shop and bought two comics, one for him and one for me. He ended up giving me the other one but they were something very different from what I've ever seen before with lots of weird characters and amazing artwork and stories. The comics were enough to show me how cool they were and why they were so popular even if the ones I had weren't the best issues but I thought they were amazing anyway.

One was Judge Dredd mega special and the other was Judge Dredd sc-fi Special which had the Judge Dredd film review in it.



I wasn't able to find an image of the sc-fi special one but I managed to find the mega special issue cover. My fav out of the two would be the mega special issue. There were some great stories in it and introduced me to Judge Dredd and other characters for the fist time.
Since I was a big fan of fighting and sc-fi, I was blown away by some of the stuff I saw in it and the other issue I had.
Some of the stories were a bit short and random but they were still great visually.
Some of the characters included in both issues were:-



Finn who is a very cool character. He 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 he 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' Slaine strip, despite many fans' requests for a cross-over story. It has not been revived since.



Slaine is a comic book hero from the pages of 2000 AD - one of Britain's most popular comic books.

Slaine is a barbarian fantasy adventure series based on Celtic myths and stories which first appeared in 1983, written by Pat Mills and initially drawn by his then wife, Angela Kincaid. Most of the early stories were drawn by Mike McMahon and Massimo Belardinelli. Other notable artists to have worked on the character include Glenn Fabry and Simon Bisley. The current artist is Clint Langley, whose artwork combines painting, photography and digital art.

Slaine's favourite weapon is an axe called "Brainbiter". He has the power of the "warp spasm", based on the ríastrad or body-distorting battle frenzy of the Irish hero Cú Chulainn, in which earth power "warps" through his body, turning him into a terrifying, monstrous figure who knows neither friend nor foe. He is a devotee of the earth goddess Danu.
He has a sidekick goblin as well who's quite funny. I have the graphic novel which is really good (Warrior Beyond Time). The artwork is done by Dermot Power and Glenn Farby and its written by Pat Mills.




Durham Red was originally created in 1987 as a female sidekick and lover for Johnny Alpha in the long-running British comic book series Strontium Dog. She was a sexy bounty hunter with a mutation that gave her a vampiric lust for blood.

Durham Red proved popular from her first appearance, and following the death of Johnny Alpha she was given a leading role in the spin-off series Strontium Dogs. Following the sacking of writer Peter Hogan, the series was handed to Dan Abnett. Abnett's first action was to place Red in suspended animation and have her awake a thousand years after Strontium Dog continuity, in a universe where she was worshipped as a mythical saint of mutants.

Aided by some strong art from Mark Harrison, the series enjoyed a long run. However, in 2004, the final story of the arc was printed, envisioning Durham Red surviving another thousand years, watching over the end of the human race and the beginning of a mutant universe.



Rogue Trooper is a science fiction strip in the British comic 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. It follows the adventures of Rogue, a G.I. (or Genetic Infantryman, a genetically modified, blue-skinned, manufactured elite soldier) and his three comrades' search for the Traitor General. His comrades are in the form of "biochips" (onto which a G.I.'s entire personality is downloaded at the time of death for later retrieval) and are named Gunnar (mounted on Rogue's rifle), Bagman (on his backpack) and Helm (on his helmet). He is immune to every poison gas known of in the storyline, excepting one series, in which Rogue discovers there is a plant with an entirely new poison. He can submerge in strong acid unaffected.

Story

The story is set on a planet, Nu-Earth, where a perpetual war between the Norts and Southers is being fought. During the war all forms of chemical and biological weapons have been used poisoning the planet and the troops of both sides must live in enclosed cities and fight in protective gear. The Southers have, through genetic engineering, developed a race of warriors who are immune to the deadly atmosphere and will therefore be superior troops. The Souther High Command deploy their secret weapon, the Genetic Infantry, in an airborne assault but a traitor has betrayed the secret of the G.I. to the Norts and they are massacred during the drop.

With Rogue, the only surviving G.I., he goes AWOL in order to track down the Traitor General responsible. Along the way he thwarts numerous Nort schemes, discovers and inadvertently destroys the only portion of Nu-Earth not contaminated by chemical weapons, and is betrayed by every female character he encounters.



Ace trucking co is a comedy science fiction series that featured in the comic 2000 AD from 1981 to 1986. Created by writers John Wagner and Alan Grant and artist Massimo Belardinelli, it followed the misadventures of a space trucking company headed by Ace Garp, a pointy-headed alien who spoke in a kind of futuristic CB radio slang.

Ace was the skipper of the cargo spaceship Speedo Ghost, for much of the series the Ace Trucking Co.'s only ship. His crew included his huge 'biffo' (bodyguard) GBH, who believed himself to be dead, Feek the Freek, a skeletal being who acted as the ship's engineer, and the sarcastic ship's computer Ghost. Joining the crew later in the run was Chiefy the Pig-Rat, a small rodent-like creature that became Feek's best friend and missed no opportunity to insult Ace.

In later stories, the crew was also joined by a duplicate of Ace himself. The reason for this is that, tired of the series, the creators killed off Ace by having him believe that he was suffering a fatal disease, causing him to commit suicide by flying into a star. However, the popularity of the series with 2000AD's readers caused it to be revived, the explanation being that Ace passed through a dimensional rift in the star, and ended up being discovered by his counterpart in another universe, but not before a brief detour in the offices of Tharg the Mighty in a drawer filled with other characters that had been killed off over time. Technically, the second Ace is the 'real' one from the earlier stories.

Other recurring characters were Jago Kain, the human boss of Ace's business rival Yellow Line, Cap'n Evil Blood, who was always trying to kill Garp, Ace-hating officers Kroxley and Zagger of the Galactic Police and Fatty Arkl, a rotund alien who ended up as the skipper of Ace's second ship (Old Peart The Third).

The main artist for the series' run was Massimo Belardinelli, although Ian Gibson also contributed one multi-episode story. As mentioned above, Grant and Wagner became tired of writing the series and made several attempts to end it (one series ended with the entire crew in prison), but reader demand kept bringing it back. The later stories show clear signs of the writers' annoyance at having to keep going on a series they had lost interest in - Ace started out as a smart and resourceful character, but ended up a greedy, dim-witted buffoon disliked even by his own crew.



Judge Joe Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running (having been featured there since its second issue in 1977). Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner. Dredd and his fellow Judges are empowered to arrest, sentence and even execute criminals on the spot. He was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, although editor Pat Mills also deserves some credit for his early development.

Judge Dredd is amongst Britain's best known home-grown comic book characters. So great is the character's reputation that his name is sometimes invoked over similar issues to those explored by the comic series, such as the police state, authoritarianism and the rule of law.

There's so many more stories to mention which I don't know about but these are the ones I enjoyed the most.

With the popularity of Judge Dredd they finally made it into a live action film in 1995.

Directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the Judge Dredd strip in the British comic 2000 AD.

Certain elements of the film were altered from the comic series, but it still did not find wide mainstream appeal. From the beginning the film was intended to receive a PG-13 rating. Due to excessive violence the MPAA refused to downgrade the initial R rating despite repeated appeals by the studio and Stallone. Mostly because of schedule constraints the film could not be re-cut and was released with an R rating.



When I saw this as a kid I thought it was ok but nothing special. There were cool things in it and visually good to look at with its futuristic look. When I saw it again recently I liked it a bit more I found it quite entertaining and had a decent cast but I can understand why it wasn't as good as it could have been if it would have been more closer to the comics.

Thirteen years after the release of Judge Dredd, Sylvster Stallone discussed his feelings about the movie in an issue of Uncut magazine:

"I loved that property when I read it, because it took a genre that I love, what you could term the 'action morality film' and made it a bit more sophisticated. It had political overtones. It showed how if we don't curb the way we run our judicial system, the police may end up running our lives. It dealt with archaic governments; it dealt with cloning and all kinds of things that could happen in the future. It was also bigger than any film I've done in its physical stature and the way it was designed. All the people were dwarfed by the system and the architecture; it shows how insignificant human beings could be in the future. There's a lot of action in the movie and some great acting, too. It just wasn't balls to the wall.

But I do look back on Judge Dredd as a real missed opportunity. It seemed that lots of fans had a problem with Dredd removing his helmet, because he never does in the comic books. But for me it is more about wasting such great potential there was in that idea; just think of all the opportunities there were to do interesting stuff with the Cursed Earth scenes. It didn't live up to what it could have been. It probably should have been much more comic, really humorous, and fun. What I learned out of that experience was that we shouldn't have tried to make it Hamlet; it's more Hamlet and Eggs..."

I'm not sure if there ever make another Judge Dredd film or if it needs a reboot and make it closer to the comics. Although there are allot more stories they could make into films which were mainly the ones I read in the comcis I had.
Also I think it showed in the Judge Dredd film that you cant really make it into a simple action film but instead make it closer to its original material like Sin City and 300. Both those films captured the style and characters which they would need to do to a 2000 AD story.

Finn being one of my fav stories I would love to see made into a film but ONLY if they make true to the comics.



Slain would be great being made like 300.



Space Truck and co would be cool. It would have been better if it were made into an animated film like Heavy Metal because I'm not sure a CG film could capture the charm and humour but I'm sure kids would like it because of the characters.



Rouge Trooper would be amazing as well with all the battles and the different stories they had in it.



I think Durham Red could work great and although I'm not a big fan of the Underworld films they were successful and Durham Red could be made like them. Kate Beckinsale could even play Durham Red



There's probably a few more stories and maybe some that you know of and want made as a film but these are my main choices which I'm sure would find an audience.

I hope you found my article interesting and enjoyed it. If your into comics and Sc-fi you should defiantly check them out and there still making them which shows how popular they are still