Thursday, 12 January 2012

2000AD memories

John Freeman of Down The Tubes is compiling a 2000AD birthday celebration piece, so has asked former contributors some questions. Here are my answers:

First memory of 2000AD?

I bought issue 2 then read it on my paper round. As a result it bears the ink smudges of a few dozen Leicester Mercurys as it slid in & out of my bag so is probably worth less than some copies. I was addicted to the weekly Marvel reprints at the time so took a while to start getting 2000AD regularly, only becoming a subscriber when it merged with StarLord.


The 2000AD book that credits me for work I had nothing to do with. Can't hurt

If you worked on 2000AD, do you have an anecdote you'd like to share about your experience of Tharg and his minions?

• My first cheque from 2000AD, for either a Captain Klep script or an illustration in an annual (circa 1980) was made out to the Rev F Sutherland.
• I wrote a Ro-Jaws Robo Tale in the 1981 Sci Fi Special whose credit-box fell off en route to the printers, so no-one ever knew I wrote it. It was the robot with the knife out the bottom story drawn by (equally uncredited) Steve Kyte.
* In recompense, a recent reprint volume of ABC Warriors and Ro-Busters credits me as the author of a story from an early annual which I had nothing to do with.

Favourite Character or Story (if you can't pick one then feel free to mention several)

For a long time it was Dredd, and I'm the reader who still thinks Gerry Finley-Day's Rogue Trooper remains the best version of the character, but once Alan Moore's strips started, nothing else compared. DR & Quinch, Halo Jones and Skizz are pretty unbeatable.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

In its heyday it quite simply led the world in the quality and originally of its creators and creations. I was privileged to be the right age to live through 2000AD's golden age as a schoolkid and student. At the age of 18, in 1980, I got to visit the 2000AD offices in Kings Reach Tower when Alan Grant and Steve McManus were in charge there. To that date it was probably the most exciting day of my life.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

Sadly I have lost touch with 2000AD, drifting from it in the early 2000s, but I hear good things. I look forward to hearing more.

Kev F Sutherland

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