2000 AD in North America – Why You Should be Buying it, Where You Can Buy it, and How You Can Help make it a Household Name
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For those amongst you who do no know of 2000 AD, and I know there are a few, 2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic magazine. 2000 AD has been in publication since 1977, and is now up to issue, or prog (short for programme) #1640. The progs currently contain about 28 large format pages of story, with about 5 or 6 separate serialised stories of about 5 – 10+ pages each.
I am originally from the UK, and 2000 AD has been one of my favourite comics since I was a young boy, and I have been buying the magazine pretty much continuously for about 22 years now! 2000 AD is a rather popular publication in the UK, and it is one of the only regularly published British comics still in circulation.
Almost five years ago I moved to Canada. When I got here I was dismayed that 2000 AD was not to be found on the shelves in any newsagents, bookstores, or even at any of the four comic shops in downtown Victoria! How was I to get my thrill-power fix???? (See lingo below). I eventually found a comic store that I enjoyed going to on a regular basis (Curious Comics) and after talking with the manager of the store he let me know that he would be able to get 2000 AD for me through Diamond Distribution. There was a catch to this though, as the store did not order it on a regular basis he would have to order it in from the latest issue of Previews magazine, and it would therefore take two months to start coming in. Also, because it is ordered two months in advance, if I ever wanted to stop buying it, I would have to let him know to cancel his order two months before I wanted to stop the issues arriving. I was OK with this, because I plan keep buying the book until they stop publishing it, or I die, whichever comes first 
I hadn’t really thought about it before I left the UK, but this ordeal really highlighted for me the fact that 2000 AD is not at all widely read in North America. Very few fellow comic fans I know in The US or Canada (I don’t know any comic peeps in Mexico) have ever read 2000 AD. A couple of exceptions to this include: my friend Glen from Curious Comics 2, who has British relatives who used to bring him copies over; Steve Saunders, who got into reading it whilst living in Germany; and Ross Richie of Boom Studios, who I met at Emerald City ComiCon, and who was really enthusiastic about the comic!
I can easily understand people’s ignorance (not a bad word) about the awesomeness of 2000 AD, because the magazine is not heavily marketed in North America, and it is not readily available off the shelf at many stores. I have to tell you though, if you are not reading 2000 AD you are missing out on some of the finest comic stories being published today. 2000 AD has had a massive influence on US comic books of the last few decades, and some of today’s greatest creators got their start working for the magazine and its spin-off publications. This includes creators such as Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Brian Bolland, Kevin O’Neill, Garth Ennis, Bryan Talbot, Mark Millar, John Wagner, Alan Grant, Carlos Ezquerra, Steve Dillon, Frank Quitely, Douglas Braithwaite, Peter Milligan, Simon Bisley, David Hine… The list goes on and on…
Throughout it’s many years the magazine has been home to some of the greatest, and most enduring characters and strips in comic book history, such as Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Nemesis the Warlock, The ABC Warriors, Slaine, and Rogue Trooper. Many of which are still in publication to this day!
Today the magazine continues to innovate and reinvent itself, constantly looking for new talented individuals to bring in fresh ideas and mind blowing artwork. Many of these individuals eventually get mined off to the U.S. comic scene because outside of 2000 AD the UK comic scene is almost non-existent except for the small press scene and kids comics. Upcoming and talented people who are working on the title right now, or recently, and are also working in the U.S. industry include: Dan Abnett, Andy Diggle, Sean Phillips, Charlie Adlard, Jock, Simon Spurrier, Frazer Irving, Henry Flint, PJ Holden, Tony Lee, Simon Coleby, Carl Critchlow, Ian Edington, Gary Erskine, Glenn Fabry… again, the list is endless, and is constantly being added to.
So, why am I preaching all of this at you? It’s simple really, I want you to help me spread the word and make 2000 AD popular in North America! It’s a big task, but there are many ways in which you can help the cause:
1. Go to http://www.clickwheel.net/ and download some issues of 2000 AD in .pdf format. Clickwheel is selling select back issues, and the all the recent issues for £1.49 / $2.50 U.S. / $2.80 CAN.
- If you would like a taster you can check out the free 2000 AD Origin stories they have up there, which are damn cool!
2. Having read these and enjoyed them, and I promise you that you wil, you should tell all of your friends about it, and urge them to try out the comic.
3. If you REALLY like it, why not order the printed version of the comic, this can easily be done by looking through the latest issue of Previews magazine and giving the Diamond order code to you comic shop retailer, if you can’t find it ask him to look it up for you. With how Previews is currently set up, ordering this code should get you 4 issues of the weekly progs which will begin arriving in the month of the current order cycle, which is generally a two month period. If you are lucky your local store might even have it on the shelf!!!! The cost of a printed copy is £1.90 / $4.50 U.S. / $5.25 CAN
4. Convince all of your friends that they NEED 2000 AD in their lives, then gang up on your local comicshoppist and make him start ordering it in on a regular basis. This is no more difficult for him to do that ordering in his monthly issues of Superman, you just have to let him know that there is a market for it, and make sure that he understands that when he has it on the shelves it will shift like hotcakes!!!
5. You and all of your friends are now thoroughly addicted to 2000 AD and want more and more and more thrill-power, Why not sample the delights of 2000 AD’s monthly sister magazine, the massively over-sized Judge Dredd Megazine, which contains tons of great stories articles, interviews, and even more. You know you want it, no, you neeeeeed it!
For my part I have decided that I am going to do a weekly 2000 AD spotlight where I will pick a random story out of the week’s prog and do and highlight/review, or something along those lines. We’ll see how it shapes out. I really want to help all my North American friends know the true joys of what 2000 AD’s editor, Tharg the Mighty, calls “the galaxies greatest comic”. Join me, won’t you?
If there are any 2000 AD peeps out there reading this, please contact me about promotional material, I would be glad to stick a banner up on the site to help promote the cause. I would also really appreciate getting hooked up with review pdfs etc so that I can get reviews/features up on the site more quickly1 That would be Zarjaz!
For the Nonscots amongst you, here is some 2000 AD Lingo that I have used in this post, and will most likely use in futures Prog Posts:
- Prog – Short for Programme, a weekly issue of 2000 AD
- Megazine – as in the Judge Dredd monthly megazine
- “Borag Thungg, Earthlet” – greetings, human.
- “Zarjaz” – excellent!
- “Grexnix” – a churlish person, or an ignoramus.
- “Nonscrot” – someone who doesn’t read 2000 AD.
- “Quaequam Blag!” – an expression of surprise or outrage
- “Rigellian Hotshot” – a form of punishment (as in “I sent him a Rigellian Hotshot for suggesting this week’s Dredd strip was less than zarjaz.”
- “Scrotnig” – good or exciting.
- “Squaxx dek Thargo” – Friends of Tharg. Often used in reference to loyal readers.
- “Splundig Vur Thrigg” – so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu.
- Thrill-Power – The thrilling quality of a well told and action packed story
Related posts:
- What I’m Buying – Week of Wed 23-July-2008
- What I’m Buying – Week of Wed 10-September-2008
- What I’m Buying – Week of Wed 13-August-2008
- What I’m Buying – Week of Wed 20-August-2008
- What I’m Buying – Week of Wed 24-September-2008
