Home Comics & Toys 2000AD just turned 40, so here’s a list of 40 must-read stories

2000AD just turned 40, so here’s a list of 40 must-read stories

2 min read
6

2000-AD13

BORAG THUNG EARTHLETS! For four decades, some of the wildest comic book stories ever told have sprung out of the hundreds of “progs” published by 2000AD. If you’re familiar with the name, then you’re more than likely familiar with its star series that stars a certain lawman of the future by the name of Judge Dredd.

But 2000AD is more than just a vehicle for stories set in Mega City One. Over the years, comic book artists and writers have cut their teeth working on the British magazine every week, resulting in tales that are wild, unpredictable and quite often way ahead of the curve in the comic book landscape right now. So where does one start reading? Ideally, by hitting eBay and ordering a crate of more than 2000 issues published so far.

But that would take up an absurd amount of space, so Plan B: Graphic novels. You can find pretty much any of these tales up for sale online, whether it be digital or physical collections. Except for Chronocops, which was only a single five page story to begin with, but holy crap it was brilliant. Anyway, in no particular order except alphabetical, here’s a list of 2000AD progs that your eyeballs deserve:

  • ABC Warriors
  • Age of the Wolf
  • Anderson: Psi Division
  • Al’s Baby
  • Armitage
  • Armoured Gideon
  • Bad Company
  • The Ballad of Halo Jones
  • The Bendatti Vendetta
  • Big Dave
  • Chiaroscuro
  • Chopper
  • DeFoe
  • D.R and Quinch
  • Devlin Waugh
  • Durham Red
  • Flesh
  • Future Shocks
  • Harlem Heroes
  • Hewligan’s Haircut
  • Indigo Prime
  • Judge Dredd
  • Judge Hershey
  • Kingdom
  • Leviathan
  • London Falling
  • Missionary Man
  • Nemesis the Warlock
  • Nikolai Dante
  • The Red Seas
  • Rogue Trooper
  • Sinister Dexter
  • Slaine
  • Strontium Dog
  • The Ten Seconders
  • Time Twisters: Chronocops
  • Tyranny Rex
  • Young Middenface
  • Zenith
  • Zombo

Top picks from me personally? Devlin Waugh, Slaine and Zenith are well worth a read. But for a solid swashbuckling adventure that has a definitive beginning, middle and end I’d say go for too cool to kill Nikolai Dante. Here’s to forty years of some of the best damn comic book stories ever printed, and to another four decades of Thragg’s almighty rule within 2000AD!

Last Updated: February 27, 2017

6 Comments

  1. The very first comic book I ever got was a 2000AD annual when I was a wee lad. Rogue Trooper, Slaine, Judge Dredd, Strontonium Dog, couple of others. Bestest.

    Reply

    • HvR

      February 27, 2017 at 14:26

      LOL, came here to make old Trevor joke.

      Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      February 27, 2017 at 15:11

      Rogue Trooper was the freaking best!

      Reply

  2. Original Heretic

    February 27, 2017 at 14:13

    What was that 2000AD story where the old bounty hunter gets sent to that distant world to find out why the settlers there have never made contact, then he goes through the wormhole and it turns him young again, but the pilot who was a young guy end up becoming a baby (who still talks like an adult), and when they get there they find out that humans have become fodder and are being ruled by robots?

    Anyone?

    Reply

  3. Dutch Matrix

    February 27, 2017 at 15:00

    I still think the Stallone Judge Dredd story is the best ever told.

    Reply

  4. Bruce MacLachlan

    February 28, 2017 at 06:11

    Big Dave!?! You are an utter idiot. That era is what killed 2000ad for me and I had read it from Prog 1. Mark Millers god aweful Robo Hunter, a crap Judge Dredd by him, Babe Race 2000, Canon Fodder and Grudge Father by him – it was as though they just wanted to use 2000ad as bog roll. I have no idea how many times he blew the editor to ensure every single story every prog was by him but I’m assuming it was a lot. The only thing that give me solace is that watching the special features for Dredd, he admitted he had no business writing for 2000ad back then and was just filling the gap created when all the greats fled to the States.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Best comic book covers of the week – 03 May 2021

From the streets of Gotham to the far reaches of the Multiverse, these are the best comic …