CBR: CCI: 2000AD Introduces "Anarchy in the USA"

[CBR News]

At CCI, Pat Mills, creator of "2000AD," superstar artist Jock and editor Keith Richardson discussed "2000AD," breaking in to the American market and what it is that sets US and UK comic fans apart.


Full article here.

[HardcoreBunni]

"At that, the panel concluded and the creators were applauded off stage. As everyone filed out of the room, Keith Richardson ran off the stage and down to the front row. He went up to the 10-year-old boy who had raised his hand at the beginning of the panel, handed him a copy of "ABC Warriors: The Meknificent Seven" and told him to take it for free. The boy grabbed it, smiling, and began flipping through it immediately."

:')

[RandomFactor]

I love introducing American friends to 2000ad when they come over. The list of truly top drawer stories over the years is unbelievable for a title that has frequently been underfunded and teetered on the brink of ruin on more than one occasion.

[fredmanson]

"2000AD" is the Greatest Mag in the Universe, and it's not me who say this, Tharg says so!!!!!

The first time I saw that, as a French, I could subscribe to THE UK magazine of the World best stories ever, I was crying like a kid.

The first day I receive MY 2000AD and MY Judge Dredd Megazine was the best day in my shity life!!!!!

Since, each week, as all Tharg's Loyalists, I receive and pry to the new issue of 2000AD. If I can be filmed at this time, you could see a very large smilling on my ugly face!!!! By Drokk!!!!

Also, since this subscription to the best comic book stories ever, my monthly US titles reading list dropped nearly to a near absolute zero!!!

These UK magazines have all packaged in a two awesome magazines!!!!! Why looking everywhere else???

You want supes ?? There are some "supes"... Crashing direct on the ground, which is strictly forbidden, Citizen!!!!! Call a meatwagon !!!

If you don't want to read them, I can manage to schedule a public execution. The Law is the Law. And I am the Law.

[minder125]

I was 12 when I first came to 2000AD. It was Judge Dredd that drew me in. But it was Nemesis (which gave me nightmaress), Stainless Steel Rat, and Strontium Dog that hooked me.

I've now have the complete run of Strontium Dog books sitting on my shelf. So worth ordering from the UK a few years ago. I just wish they would have stuck with the UK covers for the Dredd books that are finally being published in the US.

[Vampes]

Not to nit pick with the panel's answer but I'm pretty sure John Byrne didn't draw any Dredd stories until the 1983 Sci Fi Special ie hardly one of the earliest Dredd stories - 2000 AD was a well established, award winning cult comic by then, hence they were able to attract a big name US artist across to do a story for (probably) crappy page rates.

But yes, whilst I was a big Marvel fan back then, there was still something awesome about Sundays as that's when my Dad would pick up the latest copy of 2000 AD for me. 2000 AD was different to all the other comics I read (and that ranged from the Beano though to The Fantastic Four and DC's horror comics). The best 2000 AD stories were works of art with epic, unpredictable and challenging story lines.. of course, there always seemed to be at least one story every issue that was a piece of crap :-).

Having now read through the history of the comic ('Thrill Power Overload' is a great coffee table book, well worth reading) I was amazed to find out how close it came to being cancelled before it even reached issue 100 - it was actually selling pretty poorly, even being outsold by its own spin off comic, Starlord! There were plans afoot to fold it into Starlord (a great British comic tradition)* but for once the editorial team fought to do the opposite and Starlord folded into 2000 AD instead, launching 2000 AD's true golden age . At this point the first merged issue (prog 86), Judge Dredd was just hitting his stride (the previous year had seen the first Bolland drawn Dredd's, the 'Cursed Earth' Epic and The 'Day the Law Died' (ie Judge Cal taking over the Judges) was just starting) plus they took in the only good stories from Starlord in Strontium Dog and Robusters (the precursor to the ABC Warriors mentioned in the article). Oh.. and there was Flesh book 2.. which wasn't in the same league but at least had aquatic 'dinosaurs' in it. That's a creator line up that included John Wagner, Pat Mills, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons and Carlos Ezquerra all in one issue! Truly Zarjaz!

Scott

*For those across the pond, - in the British publishing industry of the 1970s and 1980s, comics were launched to a distinct business plan... launch a new comic as a weekly with multiple stories, heavy but short lived advertising for the launch, give away cheap free gifts for the first 3 or so issues (paper masks, badges, stickers, sweets etc were stuck to the cover), follow that up with cheaper gimmicks ('prize competitions' or 'cut / pull out' posters ie the centre pages which were typically in newspaper print colour as opposed to the black and white interior) and then let it stand on its own two feet for a month or so and see if the paid circulation held up. At that point, if it wasn't selling once the free gifts and gimmicks stopped, merge it into a more popular title, call it 'Popular Title, now including Failed Comic', salvage what you could of the more popular strips and unprinted inventory stories would often get dumped into a Hardback Christmas Annual (another British comic tradition - Sometimes, these Christmas Books would live for years after the actual comics was cancelled). Finally, after a couple of months, the subtitle on the merged comic would get dropped and then go back to its old name, ready for the next merger :-). Oh, and tradition had it that the final issue of the failed comic would have a message on the front cover along the lines of 'Exciting News Inside' or 'Great News Chums!'. If you were a fan of the failing comic, seeing that on the cover always make your heart sink.. this was the publishers way of telling you that your new favourite comics was a failure and this was the last 'real' issue. I remember an editorial by Warren Ellis on this very subject in an issue of Hellstorm.. that the editorial ended with the words Next issue - 'Great News Chums' did not bode well :-)

[The Batman]

Probably some of my favourite news out of San Diego. A lot of really strong stories come out of 2000AD but they can be hard to get a hold of on this side of the Atlantic. I'm all for anything that makes them easier to find and more affordable.

[Gryphon]

Im looking forward to all these upcoming collections of 2000AD meterial here is north america

Can't wait for nemesis the warlock