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2000 AD => General => Topic started by: Smith on 27 January, 2017, 07:29:45 AM

Title: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Smith on 27 January, 2017, 07:29:45 AM
First,I apologize if there is already a similar topic.
Okay,so my first exposure was the prog #1236.I admit its not gonna win The best prog ever award,but it had its good sides.
(http://static1.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/9116/366578-19752-128440-1-2000-a-d.jpg)
I got to the end of Bodies of evidence(after that we had Relentless and Satanist),Carver Hale started,Nikolai Dante fought vampires,ABC warriors were around.But I cant really remember Tales of Telguuth.
So that was my humble introduction.  :)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Bolt-01 on 27 January, 2017, 09:04:24 AM
Yeah, we've done this before- but it's a good topic to cover :)

My first prog was:

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/mediumres/120.jpg)

I was 09 yeas old and the 'hook' for me was the ABC Warriors. I can honestly say this comic changed my life.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Eme on 27 January, 2017, 09:27:01 PM
cant remember the first i read, as a mate was bringing his round, he didn't come one week and I really needed to know what happened in Dredd, so I bought prog 423, still remember reading it on the way home
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Colin YNWA on 27 January, 2017, 10:16:21 PM
As a lot of people round these part Prog 1 was my first BUT I always kinda think of this one as my first proper Prog as 431

http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=431&Comic=2000ad (http://www.2000ad.org/functions/cover.php?choice=431&Comic=2000ad)

This is the first issue of my longest continuous run on the Prog of my own. Its also the run when I absolute fell in love with the Prog.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Richard on 27 January, 2017, 11:04:45 PM
My first was 808, although I started buying regularly from 819, which included the Dredd story Snowstorm, some panels of which appeared on TV in a documentary a year or two later.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 27 January, 2017, 11:52:55 PM
I was given a batch of seven or eight progs by my next-door neighbour, the earliest of which was 308 and the latest of which was 326 or so.  That last couldn't have been out for long as the first one I actually bought was 330 (last episode of Skizz and the Slaying of Slade, and the first of Slaine).

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/308.jpg)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: JaHawkDroid on 27 January, 2017, 11:59:55 PM
Embarrassingly; Prog 1990. But I've jumped into the deluge of Thrill Power that has cascaded over the earth these last 40 years and made myself at home.

My excuse for being so late to the 2000AD party? Pure ignorance. I was blinded by superheroes until I discovered Vertigo. Then I suddenly wondered where all these Vertigo creators had come from. And hey presto, I found myself at 2000AD.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 28 January, 2017, 12:33:20 AM
Quote from: JaHawkDroid on 27 January, 2017, 11:59:55 PM
Embarrassingly; Prog 1990. But I've jumped into the deluge of Thrill Power that has cascaded over the earth these last 40 years and made myself at home.

My excuse for being so late to the 2000AD party? Pure ignorance. I was blinded by superheroes until I discovered Vertigo. Then I suddenly wondered where all these Vertigo creators had come from. And hey presto, I found myself at 2000AD.

Better late than never!
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: dweezil2 on 28 January, 2017, 01:35:28 AM
The first Prog I would of flicked through was my mate Joe's (aptly) Prog 1.

The first one I purchased with my own groats was Prog 75.

Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: dweezil2 on 28 January, 2017, 01:36:27 AM
Quote from: JaHawkDroid on 27 January, 2017, 11:59:55 PM
Embarrassingly; Prog 1990. But I've jumped into the deluge of Thrill Power that has cascaded over the earth these last 40 years and made myself at home.

My excuse for being so late to the 2000AD party? Pure ignorance. I was blinded by superheroes until I discovered Vertigo. Then I suddenly wondered where all these Vertigo creators had come from. And hey presto, I found myself at 2000AD.

You've found your way here and that's the main thing!  :)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Colin YNWA on 28 January, 2017, 06:45:51 AM
For me arriving late is all the better. Fresh perspective and all that fun you'll have catching up!
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: JaHawkDroid on 28 January, 2017, 08:02:05 AM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 28 January, 2017, 06:45:51 AM
For me arriving late is all the better. Fresh perspective and all that fun you'll have catching up!

I do admit that having 39.5 years worth of Prog to catch up does mean I'm never stuck for something to read.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Espoc on 30 January, 2017, 01:23:18 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 27 January, 2017, 09:04:24 AM
Yeah, we've done this before- but it's a good topic to cover :)

My first prog was:

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/mediumres/120.jpg)

I was 09 yeas old and the 'hook' for me was the ABC Warriors. I can honestly say this comic changed my life.


Ditto, 120 was mine too, and it changed my life too. I was 12 instead of 9 though. I'm still hooked. I've read thousands of comics in my life, on hundreds of titles, but Dredd is the only comic I'm reading as of today
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: WhizzBang on 30 January, 2017, 08:27:35 PM
For me it was prog 300. I was 9 and only bought it for the free gift but after reading it I went straight back to the shop and bought progs 298 and 299 which were also on the shelf.
(http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/britishcomics/images/f/f2/2000_AD_prog_300_cover.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151230190229)
Sam Slade was my favourite and was what hooked me in.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: The Enigmatic Dr X on 30 January, 2017, 08:37:13 PM
I've read every week since Prog 224.

My first prog was whatever one came with the free Buck Rodgers sticker album.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Magnetica on 30 January, 2017, 11:12:12 PM
First Prog I ever read was 86. But I didn't start collecting every week til 127.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 31 January, 2017, 12:16:32 AM
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 30 January, 2017, 08:37:13 PM
I've read every week since Prog 224.

My first prog was whatever one came with the free Buck Rodgers sticker album.

Barney (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=212) to the rescue!

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/212.jpg)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: SuperSurfer on 31 January, 2017, 12:47:52 AM
We've done this before. Nevertheless:

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/1.jpg)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: norton canes on 31 January, 2017, 12:22:44 PM
Prog one, right the way through to 670 when my parents cancelled the newsagents order. Which was fair enough, I had been away at university for six months by that stage.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 31 January, 2017, 01:08:50 PM
Pretty sure it was this one:

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/16.jpg)

Bought to keep me quiet on the long journey to visit family in Scotland. Intermittent progs followed for the same purpose. Finally pestered my parents into letting me have a regular order at the newsagents with this one:

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/104.jpg)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: CalHab on 31 January, 2017, 01:20:39 PM
I think it was this one (though I seem to remember reading some of the stories Barney lists in earlier issues). Still one of my favourite covers:
(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/682.jpg)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: The Legendary Shark on 31 January, 2017, 01:52:58 PM
Prog One.

(https://s14-eu5.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=https:%2F%2Fdumasaphobicdiatribes.files.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F06%2Fsmug2.jpeg&sp=428c2476b93479c22fa69ed3345938a4)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Arkwright99 on 31 January, 2017, 01:58:38 PM
Okay, let's see how well my memory holds up after 40 years... First read Progs 1 through to 4,[1] then Prog 9 thru to Prog 25 when my mother banned me from buying 2000AD and threw out my collection.[2] Then only sporadic progs (68, 89) were allowed (when I was on holiday) until the Tornado merger in Prog 127; missed 128 somehow but 129 through to 161 was an uninterrupted run.[3] Next Prog I know I picked up was 178 (with free badge) and I stayed the course until at least 282. As far as I remember my big run to the present day almost certainly commenced with Prog 300.[5]

[1] Not sure how/why I missed 5, 6, 7 & 8 but I did.
[2] Not "threw out" literally; she donated them to the children's ward at the local hospital. Apparently 2000AD was too sick for her little boy but not for the sick children in hospital.
[3] I know I read the conclusion to 'Fiends of the Eastern Front' so that's a milestone.
[4] Don't recall the Robo-Hunter World Cup poster that began in Prog 283 so I assume I missed it.
[5] I think I may read 'Harry 20' from the start (Prog 287) or very soon after so I may well have been a sporadic reader before Prog 300.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Old Tankie on 31 January, 2017, 02:14:45 PM
Picked up copies left in the crash out room back in the day and also read the lad's copy (bought with his pocket money), but the first one I brought for myself was 1600.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: NapalmKev on 31 January, 2017, 04:35:54 PM
First became aware of the Prog through my elder brother who was a massive Strontium Dog fan. Aptly he's named 'John' but was known as 'Johnny'.

The first Prog I bought was 6**, it was during Necropolis, [spoiler]I remember Dredd jumping onto a Lawmaster from an oversked.[/spoiler]

I started buying regularly at 7**, It was the beginning of Killing Time and I was drawn in by the fantastic cover. Stopped buying around the 1100 mark, there was some story about toy miniatures (Havok?). Returned at Prog 2011 (Christmas issue) and have collected ever since.

Cheers
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 31 January, 2017, 07:48:39 PM
My first was Prog 706 which has Dredd polishing his helmet on the cover .. fnarr ..

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/706.jpg)

Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Greg M. on 31 January, 2017, 08:31:55 PM
The first 2000AD publication I ever got wasn't a prog - it was the 1984 annual (a few years after it came out.) But my first actual prog was:

(http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad84/ronniecraven/506_zps9gdatwxt.jpg)

I didn't get the Malcolm X reference at the time.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: james newell on 31 January, 2017, 10:15:05 PM
mine was, prog 580, picked it up because of the cover by Ian Gibson just blue me away!

I was reading The Star news paper Dredd at the time and was really in to Ian Gibson's art from that, however it was a few more months before I became a regular reader after that.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/RP_cs6ZgibgTyVqsI9rhGbP2paSfbct1eZ2MN5vg-iZJVgjizJdFtW2NsKsonasLHiQgXMpZ8cVurfbWWKfKd2uKyTWIm7AI5VgSTglCtZcI-wf79FSZmfe7xOKrgTpZZz2haULTWZC-ozxqjqoo9rqCFXl8zKkWgDo1dTGySDWNhhwlQZFBAjafXMurvJndumcEn5aMaTfD1bSUiY3FxXsAfbg1eDBiBTevEwCslPjdt-dBbBanxjueFjPpWUtFG6z848B-YXZ114Y-mByjsAlzwajB6eQlmVJpDLXS0VK4FYngmpAIiJFzyJbRgcicDtdunqIk0-shEeandrKlLJlU_mP8_gJjANcyminGia12isJDXROPMUsIr2hNlsAOVw2aGRbFf7ego7n1GYa4HS9UGgj3cpazKvmd5zzYxt1sAFeSaZT-0onmjVztn2K-Snsn07Ioweva8QyGdESWaHCCP2RzHPuGagVBxzAbMLchUnTSYlrlu43RS3MyifpCb29C6v9qM99QnFW1hiXZ7SSEL6_wQCA5FTaozMIJMNd57A11DiNcr4sLyEEixZFFVqrd8851iRk3ojKi7Zt-0W-uFPwnr_xR-vYwKmQfvOKE3_8=w613-h802-no)

The Stars Dredds at the time.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VQbq5LSMhz0yqhccV0B9vKd4SfWmNb8Ct1P7fjrmcghQhJe0RVeGRC8JUAbI5Dh02QbG5g5JC4FKVsq_BCLusHD23rXd4FrWRwX25UiKffg3wVLlHNSO3Rh4tjdNEy_Kz67Yy9hr3ogFLPVKvTDE_mcp72H9wEYlEi2x9oZCAYL2DCok5QPbqHchcNrQZO7HN9R9zYv8H9vaXFbGdjfBGI7hN5Vx9Y3AhGSAgs5pDGUI4eJRGB3TkHQf6HrHUP4PqO_ccgcyJ9H04kwqAE1OxVJfs6z2hYg0S91X_lLwBYR_Fok6LIulR3dG24LFunDGDF3dZ0wShFsqUwUN8bVO9KrMRJF8TsswD_VKxQzD8LoHokhmRce4ips4UthtASkI7gIu4NyisIFM93oqnG8OzLfIb2v0vXZslwB8Lm3MLlfYMAUid0f6gAuWPKVIAkbb2MN0iSK256Fknk4B8WLUJ9O7a-vCHqEgjdTCMAgJd8a8h3lpTgR-Y7h5zQ0sLCT6P8vuQ1XfLqUMMdAl8T3-XrD04oYOPOLV9sjbVlgMMxEDxLZ65vLwFfAeE1zOgZZQi_HBKtJJyy0PH8RaON8Lu6iazQ6xbjL0zY4RGlPI_k8=w684-h229-no)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 01 February, 2017, 12:50:11 AM
Quote from: Old Tankie on 31 January, 2017, 02:14:45 PM
Picked up copies left in the crash out room back in the day and also read the lad's copy (bought with his pocket money), but the first one I brought for myself was 1600.
What's a crash out room?  Not heard that phrase before.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: The Adventurer on 01 February, 2017, 02:03:29 AM
1406 Cover Date Oct 8 2004
(http://imageshack.com/a/img923/672/1foZ7t.jpg)

I didn't actually get in in 2004, but early 2005. I was coming down hard after the death of Crossgen, and desperately was looking for a new source of sci-fi and fantasy comics. Fortunately DC had just struct a deal with Rebellion and Humanoids, and was pumping out 'Euro Comic' collections of The Techno Priest, Incal, Nikolia Dante, and Robo-Hunter. Once I figured out how 2000 AD worked (British Weekly Anthology? WTF?) I got lucky and my local shop had a pile of 2000 AD they had ordered when the DC deal was fresh (though they had stopped ordering them by the time I found them). Prog 1406, 1407, and 1408 where my first Progs, along with Extreme Edition 8 (now Firekind, that was brainbuster of a read). I started ordering the book soon after, and my first regular issue was...

1426 cover date February 18 2005
(http://imageshack.com/a/img922/9487/TGl78N.jpg)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Trent on 01 February, 2017, 06:36:11 AM
Prog 85, so with the conclusions of The Cursed Earth , Dan Dare and Ant Wars in generally typically downbeat British fashion followed by the soon fulfilled promise of Strontium Dog, Cal, Flesh and RoBusters with Carlos, Bolland, Massimo and Gibbons respectively I never stood a chance.
Totally blown away.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 07:58:06 AM
This x 10.

>>Extreme Edition 8 (now Firekind, that was brainbuster of a read)

I re-read all my old comics recently and I loved this so much I bought the complete version.
It was originally published in the wrong order, one part was accidentally skipped and was published at the end, so it was such a pleasure to sit down and read it in one go.

I also got a few more, the one with the complete Revere and Issue 23 which has the complete Slaughterbowl (a hoot from start to finish). Was there ever a follow up to this?

I have so many what happened questions .. my first ...what happened to Armoured Gideon? Is he still annihilating demons somewhere or has he retired from the dimensional protection business?
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Old Tankie on 01 February, 2017, 08:03:06 AM
Hi Sheridan, crash out room relates back to emergency tours to Northern Ireland back in the 70's a section of guys would always be on standby to go immediately when the shit hit the fan, the room we had to wait in when we were on standby was called the crash out room.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 01 February, 2017, 09:14:47 AM
Prog 1 for me.
Dumped Dracula Lives and Planet of the Apes for it.
Read it until around prog 400 and then discovered girls and booze and the Prog was left by the wayside.
Had a job interview in 1993 and was very early so whilst perusing a newsagents for something to keep me occupied I spied that latest issue of the prog and bought it.
Been with it ever since and had it on order at my local newsie but when I moved away from North London in 2006 I decided to subscribe and have been ever since.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Arkwright99 on 01 February, 2017, 10:04:53 AM
Here's a supplementary question to throw out there for consideration: do readers who started buying 2000AD at a much later date than launch, whether it be the 600s, the 1000s, 1400s or even the 2000s, feel the need to fill in the back issues they missed or do you just accept that you're never going to accumulate forty years of back progs and just go with the flow from the point you picked up 2000AD for the first time?

I had a smattering of Progs with gaps of varying lengths in the first three hundred issues and spent, idk, ten years (once I had disposable income) seriously filling in those gaps until I finally got a 'complete' collection. If I'd discovered 2000AD around, let's say, the Prog 1345 mark I don't know if I'd have been as driven to own every back issue (any more than I feel any need to own every issue of Action Comics[1]) and I imagine that's a fairly common sense approach but let it never be said that Earthlets are blessed with common sense where Thrill-Power is concerned.  :D

What's the biggest gap (not necessarily of consecutive progs) anyone's ever plugged in their 2000AD collection?

[1]That's the Superman Action Comics not the "most violent comic in history" Action comic.  ;)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: CalHab on 01 February, 2017, 10:21:59 AM
I started reading in 1990 and have never had much interest in a prog collection (particularly during my long gap as a reader). As a kid I could always read "Best of" and Titan books (available in the local library) for the stories I'd missed.

I read the prog weekly these days but often give it away to friends afterwards. My "collection" is a haphazard stack that would horrify some of you guys. Apart from anything else, I don't have the space for a full prog collection. If there's a story I particularly enjoy then I'll buy the book if and when it comes out.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Greg M. on 01 February, 2017, 10:36:49 AM
I started in the early 500s, and bought back issues into the 400s. I stopped reading in the early 1400s, and have held onto that run of progs, as that feels like 'my' era. I eventually came back at Prog 1689 to read 'The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha' but have no interest in going back and plugging the gap, or indeed in holding onto individual modern progs in the long term. Any contemporary stuff I enjoy or stuff from those 'lost' years (predominantly Strontium Dog, Dredd, Nikolai Dante or Absalom) I get in TPB format.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 01 February, 2017, 11:19:39 AM
I got lucky in that the 400 or so issues I had bought and kept from Prog 1 I gave to a friend. 10 years later when I took the Prog up again I spoke to him about it and he still had them plus another 200 issues of so and gave them all back to me. I then filled in the game of the remaining 200 or so in quick time, usually paying 25p a copy from my nearest comic shop.
However, if that had not been the case I would have gone back and filled in the gaps.
In regards to you mentioning the Superman Action Comics...
I collect all the Superman and Batman titles and have nearly a complete collection thanks to the Omnibus editions and the DC Showcase Presents graphic novels but if I did not have these I would certainly have collected as many issues as I could and could afford.
As well as a comics fan I'm also a bit of an anal retentive completist. Not only on comics either as I have Spurs football programmes going back to the 1950's and would get more if they weren't so damned expensive and difficult to find.
My house is filled with shit. It's a disease.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Smith on 01 February, 2017, 12:00:34 PM
I do have some back issues from 1100's and 1000's,but getting everything from #1 would be a huge investment for me.And its easier to just get the collections of things I'm interested in.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: The Adventurer on 01 February, 2017, 04:17:23 PM
Quote from: Arkwright99 on 01 February, 2017, 10:04:53 AM
Here's a supplementary question to throw out there for consideration: do readers who started buying 2000AD at a much later date than launch, whether it be the 600s, the 1000s, 1400s or even the 2000s, feel the need to fill in the back issues they missed or do you just accept that you're never going to accumulate forty years of back progs and just go with the flow from the point you picked up 2000AD for the first time?

I had a smattering of Progs with gaps of varying lengths in the first three hundred issues and spent, idk, ten years (once I had disposable income) seriously filling in those gaps until I finally got a 'complete' collection. If I'd discovered 2000AD around, let's say, the Prog 1345 mark I don't know if I'd have been as driven to own every back issue (any more than I feel any need to own every issue of Action Comics[1]) and I imagine that's a fairly common sense approach but let it never be said that Earthlets are blessed with common sense where Thrill-Power is concerned.  :D

What's the biggest gap (not necessarily of consecutive progs) anyone's ever plugged in their 2000AD collection?

[1]That's the Superman Action Comics not the "most violent comic in history" Action comic.  ;)

I got lucky, at exactly the same time I was coming in, Rebellion was ramping up thier reprint material. First via DC and the Extream Edition, latter themselves and the Meg reprint.

I did make an effort to fill in everything going back to Prog 2004, when the Prog switched from American Comic shape back to magazine shape (which I concider my offical 'start'). And I bought several lots of back progs from around the 500s off of eBay. But ultimately because of things like the Case Files, it wasn't to try and buy all the back progs.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Colin YNWA on 01 February, 2017, 04:45:13 PM
All of the early issues collections by brother had feel victim to the mum monster and got eaten by the Lords of Trash. When I first got back into the Prog I did have resources to get back issues on that scale.

When I returned from my comic wilderness years (30th anniversary) I rapidly got back issues down from 415 to 40 and replaced many tatty issues. I then filled the other major gap I had 1000 - 1505.

So yeah much prefer owning the comics,  however good the trade programme is. Find them so much more evocative of time and place, especially those early issues we used to have.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: moly on 01 February, 2017, 07:47:40 PM
First issue I read was prog 167 terror tube it was definitely the cover that attracted my money
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Mute77 on 01 February, 2017, 08:48:17 PM
My first prog was 589 the one with the cool Dredd Bisley cover. Loved all the stories in it from twister Dredd to nemesis the warlock and zenith phase 2..I'd never read anything like it. Totally kick-started my comics obsession. I've been on and off buying the progs in the years since. The only time I filled a gap was to catch up with button man 2 and 3 before they were released as tpbs. 
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 08:57:44 PM
I jumped on at 709 and left around 950. I came back in somewhere in the 1970s and then read online that 1950 was a good place to jump back in and I bought all those back issues. If I could I would try and assemble a complete collection but that's just not possible at the moment. I have missed out on a lot and I have lots of questions but I have also been buying the graphic novels so that should help plug the gap. I think that's one of the best things about the comics - that you can jump in at various points and of course that it hasn't been rebooted with new back stories and shifting timelines which I understand has happened in other universes.

Am I correct in thinking that Johnny Alpha is still technically dead and the Johnny that appears occasionally is back from the future?
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Greg M. on 01 February, 2017, 09:22:14 PM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 08:57:44 PM
Am I correct in thinking that Johnny Alpha is still technically dead and the Johnny that appears occasionally is back from the future?

No. It's the same Johnny Alpha that got killed in 'Final Solution'. John Wagner did a bit of retconning to suggest that previous accounts of Johnny's death weren't wholly accurate, and Middenface got some alien wizards to bring Johnny back to life.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 09:37:52 PM
Ah ok, I was sure The Gronk had killed Johnny but no matter. A little death never hurt anyone, right?
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Greg M. on 01 February, 2017, 09:47:13 PM
For good or for ill, the entirety of 'Strontium Dogs' (gun-toting Gronk, Feral's exploits) were pretty much retconned out of existence and dismissed.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 09:55:03 PM
I read somewhere here that Feral met an undignified end - what happened?

The story with Johnny that ran recently, with the Galantians (?) was this not an SD story? Do we live in a post Strontium Dogs world now?

Red Durham's still ok though right?
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Greg M. on 01 February, 2017, 10:11:55 PM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 09:55:03 PM
I read somewhere here that Feral met an undignified end - what happened?

Force-fed and fattened up by aliens, nose chopped off, set fire to. Ouch.

When I say 'Strontium Dogs' no longer happened, I mean the series that ran after Alpha's death, and largely featured Feral and the Gronk. 'Strontium Dog' (singular) continues on.

As for Durham Red - that's a bit complicated. She went into cryogenic suspension, ended up in a distant future where she was worshipped as a saint, and took part in a massive interstellar mutant / human war. But that's probably best regarded as an alternate timeline now. Red hasn't yet appeared in post-Alpha's-resurrection continuity (though we have had a flashback series to her younger days.)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 01 February, 2017, 10:25:18 PM
Oh dear ... has his story arc concluded now? Is he presumed dead?

What about the Gronk, surely he's ok? Could we hope for a Alpha / Gronk reunion at some point?

'Atta Girl! What a trouper! Is this covered in any of the graphic novels? The last I heard of her she was either teaming up with Feral / Gronk and going after someone or she had just escaped from some Goth Lord, he put her on an island somewhere ...
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 02 February, 2017, 12:43:06 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 01 February, 2017, 09:14:47 AM
Read it until around prog 400 and then discovered girls and booze and the Prog was left by the wayside.
Had a job interview in 1993 and was very early so whilst perusing a newsagents for something to keep me occupied I spied that latest issue of the prog and bought it.
Been with it ever since and had it on order at my local newsie but when I moved away from North London in 2006 I decided to subscribe and have been ever since.


Did you get the job?  And I assume you were living around Tottenham before you moved away...
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 02 February, 2017, 12:46:46 PM
Quote from: Arkwright99 on 01 February, 2017, 10:04:53 AM
Here's a supplementary question to throw out there for consideration: do readers who started buying 2000AD at a much later date than launch, whether it be the 600s, the 1000s, 1400s or even the 2000s, feel the need to fill in the back issues they missed or do you just accept that you're never going to accumulate forty years of back progs and just go with the flow from the point you picked up 2000AD for the first time?


I feel lucky that I got in to 2000AD in the early 300s.  I was eight years old and decided to fill in the gaps from 300 to 330 (which is the first one I bought, after having been given a bundle by the neighbour).  I didn't manage to do that before getting my first pre-300 prog.  I think the last one I bought was prog 3, which took me until I was in my very late teens, so about an average of 30 back progs a year.  At the time I was also buying reprints and collections, but particularly after I started moving around it became impractical to lug quite so many comics around, particularly when they had (roughly) the same content.


Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: dweezil2 on 02 February, 2017, 01:38:47 PM
Quote from: Arkwright99 on 01 February, 2017, 10:04:53 AM
Here's a supplementary question to throw out there for consideration: do readers who started buying 2000AD at a much later date than launch, whether it be the 600s, the 1000s, 1400s or even the 2000s, feel the need to fill in the back issues they missed or do you just accept that you're never going to accumulate forty years of back progs and just go with the flow from the point you picked up 2000AD for the first time?

I had a smattering of Progs with gaps of varying lengths in the first three hundred issues and spent, idk, ten years (once I had disposable income) seriously filling in those gaps until I finally got a 'complete' collection. If I'd discovered 2000AD around, let's say, the Prog 1345 mark I don't know if I'd have been as driven to own every back issue (any more than I feel any need to own every issue of Action Comics[1]) and I imagine that's a fairly common sense approach but let it never be said that Earthlets are blessed with common sense where Thrill-Power is concerned.  :D

What's the biggest gap (not necessarily of consecutive progs) anyone's ever plugged in their 2000AD collection?

[1]That's the Superman Action Comics not the "most violent comic in history" Action comic.  ;)


Although I started reading 2000AD with earnest from Prog 75, sadly those early issues were binned!

There followed a pattern of reading the Prog off and on from Prog 300 until I started reading regularly from Prog 716 until the present day.

I managed to plug the gaps as I went, from visiting comic shops, mail order and the old London Mart in Westminster until Ebay came about and I managed to plug the sought after first 300 Progs from a seller in Reading for £150 about 15 years ago.
All told it probably took me a good 20 years to complete my collection, but it sure was fun doing so!  :)
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Mattofthespurs on 02 February, 2017, 01:39:31 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 02 February, 2017, 12:43:06 PM
Quote from: Mattofthespurs on 01 February, 2017, 09:14:47 AM
Read it until around prog 400 and then discovered girls and booze and the Prog was left by the wayside.
Had a job interview in 1993 and was very early so whilst perusing a newsagents for something to keep me occupied I spied that latest issue of the prog and bought it.
Been with it ever since and had it on order at my local newsie but when I moved away from North London in 2006 I decided to subscribe and have been ever since.


Did you get the job?  And I assume you were living around Tottenham before you moved away...

I did get the job. I was living in Lower Edmonton at the time, just off Nightingale Road if you know the area. Job was the warehouse man at the Cash Converters but due to some knowledge of video players and computers I was promoted to head buyer in a short space of time. Not the greatest job in the world but it was owned by Frank McLintock (ex Arsenal Captain) and run by his two Sons. They were very generous and decent enough. I believe they have sold it on now. I stayed there for 4 years before going off to work for Barclays Bank.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Lobo Baggins on 02 February, 2017, 02:59:43 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 01 February, 2017, 10:11:55 PM
As for Durham Red - that's a bit complicated. She went into cryogenic suspension, ended up in a distant future where she was worshipped as a saint, and took part in a massive interstellar mutant / human war. But that's probably best regarded as an alternate timeline now. Red hasn't yet appeared in post-Alpha's-resurrection continuity (though we have had a flashback series to her younger days.)

Red is trying to track down the Goth Lord when she makes her cameo in The Final Solution, this is followed up in her first solo story, 'Isle of the Damned' by Alan Grant.  Then Peter Hogan takes over and she teams up with Frinton Fuzz from Outlaw!, her real name is revealed and she gets a whole load of backstory.  This is where the Doghouse II is introduced, as well as the Stix clan so it seems that Hogan's Run is canonical...
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2017, 03:34:17 PM
iirc the Stix clan were introduced in Outlaw weren't they?

At the moment we've no knowledge at all of what happened to Red after Island of the Damned as far as current strontinuity is concerned.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Timothy on 02 February, 2017, 03:59:01 PM
The Stix brothers were introduced in Outlaw. They have since expanded, with no real explanation, into a whole town full of identical hornery critters.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Lobo Baggins on 02 February, 2017, 04:00:10 PM
Quote from: Bolt-01 on 02 February, 2017, 03:34:17 PM
iirc the Stix clan were introduced in Outlaw weren't they?

The original Stix's obituary in the 'In the Doghouse' feature in the 1983 2000AD Annual notes that he has two brothers, who turn up in Outlaw.  Their father, Silas Stix, turns up in Stone Killers (he has a picture of three Stixes on his wall).  Another pair of Stixes (both of whom have first names, but I can't remember them off hand) appear in Durham Red: Deals and Night of the Hunter.  There's also a Gronk text story in one of the yearbooks, where it's revealed that there's actually a whole clan of them.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Link Prime on 02 February, 2017, 04:14:04 PM
The bottom line is this; all contemporary Strontium Dog / Strontium Dogs and affiliated stories set since the end of The Final Solution are now non-canon.
Some would argue whether Durham Red (by Dan Abnett) should be included in that bracket or not, although it is absolutely the case too in my view.

Just jump from Prog 687 to Prog 1689 and forget all (non-flashback) stories in between.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 02 February, 2017, 06:10:48 PM
That's quite a chunk to disregard but in a way is a relief because it kind of ended where I did and I'm not too behind the loop.

First they giveth, then they taketh away...

So Johnny died, is brought back to life magically and now continues to work as a Search/Destroy agent with some of his old crew but not as the Strontium Dogs I knew in the past?
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Smith on 02 February, 2017, 06:13:05 PM
Yes and now.Lets say it was rebooted and leave it at that.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Rara Avis on 02 February, 2017, 06:19:25 PM
I have just seen another thread entirely devoted to this issue, I'll be sure to catch up over there.
Thanks everyone.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Steamrunner on 03 February, 2017, 09:11:30 PM
My first prog was actually Prog 2, but I managed to rewind to Prog 1, and I've been here ever since.

Like many early readers, I've survived the rite of passage known as "mum threw them out"; it was about 140 progs. In fact, I replaced many of those 140 with the actual same copies — mum gave them to a school fete and I bought back as many as I could afford at the time. It took me until somewhere in the 1990s to get the vast majority of them all replaced, but getting a replacement Prog 1 took until 2014. I am finally whole again.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: MetroidHatchling on 01 March, 2017, 08:56:00 AM
I always wanted to read Dredd when I was younger (my brother and dad really loved the Stallone film which is what sparked my interest) but as a kid in the 90s in the US I couldn't really find much Dredd around, so finally about 2 years ago I heard about the case files and ordered the first one of those and have been working my way through from there. So that's my first. The only unfortunate thing about it is I suppose I miss out on all the other series that were released alongside it like Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog and ABC Warriors (all things I want to read eventually as well) but as there is soooo much Dredd to catch up on, it's probably best I stay focused.

Loving it all. Ordered my next batch of books and I can't wait to read some more.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Richard on 01 March, 2017, 01:49:46 PM
Glad you like them. FYI, "The Dead Man" comes between case files 13 and 14.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: The Corinthian on 01 March, 2017, 03:39:57 PM
Prog 207, with 'Tharg and the Creep Who Stole Croydon'. My dad bought me a copy (I was 7), presumably because we were in Croydon at the time. A couple of months later he bought me Prog 214 as well, which was my first exposure to Alan Moore.

I remember finding Judge Dredd freakishly weird and didn't get what the "Judge" part of it entailed at all. It was only with my next Prog - the 1982 Sci-Fi Special - that it finally clicked.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Richard on 01 March, 2017, 05:49:27 PM
Freakishly weird is a good thing.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: The Corinthian on 01 March, 2017, 07:31:16 PM
True, but I had no idea what it was about. When I became a regular reader, during the final act of 'The Apocalypse War', it took me ages to work out that Mega-City One and East-Meg One were different places.

Which was pretty confusing.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Dash Decent on 02 March, 2017, 03:10:07 AM
Quote from: Lobo Baggins on 02 February, 2017, 04:00:10 PM
The original Stix's obituary in the 'In the Doghouse' feature in the 1983 2000AD Annual notes that he has two brothers, who turn up in Outlaw.  Their father, Silas Stix, turns up in Stone Killers (he has a picture of three Stixes on his wall).  Another pair of Stixes (both of whom have first names, but I can't remember them off hand) appear in Durham Red: Deals and Night of the Hunter.  There's also a Gronk text story in one of the yearbooks, where it's revealed that there's actually a whole clan of them.

Well, stix Stixes are stixty-stix.

Do we know what the Stix brothers mutation is? (Big lips and an ability to clone themselves?)  The SD novel "Ruthless" says they have super strength.  Is that mentioned anywhere else?

Back on topic, it was my brother's responsibility to collect the prog (we has divvied up the available comics between the two of us, as far as our pocket money would allow).  His first prog was the one with a Ron Smith Dredd toting a Lawgiver in each hand (double mags, naturally) superimposed over a drawing of a galaxy.  It was 139 or 167 or something like that. The first prog I bought myself would have been one of the more recent Christmas progs.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 02 March, 2017, 07:30:43 AM
Quote from: Dash Decent on 02 March, 2017, 03:10:07 AM
Do we know what the Stix brothers mutation is? (Big lips and an ability to clone themselves?)  The SD novel "Ruthless" says they have super strength.  Is that mentioned anywhere else?

Doesn't one of the original Stix-es climb up a building by driving his hands into the wall?
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: Steve Green on 02 March, 2017, 09:10:46 AM
Yep, when they travel to the future before the arrival of Custer's Comet in the Schicklgruber grab.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: I, Cosh on 02 March, 2017, 09:14:07 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 02 March, 2017, 07:30:43 AM
Quote from: Dash Decent on 02 March, 2017, 03:10:07 AM
Do we know what the Stix brothers mutation is? (Big lips and an ability to clone themselves?)  The SD novel "Ruthless" says they have super strength.  Is that mentioned anywhere else?

Doesn't one of the original Stix-es climb up a building by driving his hands into the wall?
I have a vague recollection of "tough skin" being their mutation but have no idea if that's from the comic ro a previous thread on here.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: BMCCOLL on 04 March, 2018, 08:07:41 PM
My first prog was #1, with the spacespinner stuck to the front with a strip of sellotap nearly tearing the cover in half! I got every other one up to around year 1983 with the exception of prog 3. I hunted high and low for this at the time but it was sold out everywhere... that Red Alert Survival Wallet must have been mightily sought after!
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 23 April, 2018, 12:54:01 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 27 January, 2017, 11:52:55 PM
I was given a batch of seven or eight progs by my next-door neighbour, the earliest of which was 308 and the latest of which was 326 or so.  That last couldn't have been out for long as the first one I actually bought was 330 (last episode of Skizz and the Slaying of Slade, and the first of Slaine).

(http://www.2000ad.org/covers/2000ad/hires/308.jpg)

Just to revive this a bit - partially because Space Spinner 2000 is catching up to the era when I started reading...

As above, the first one I bought was 330, though for some reason I think I only got one prog after that until 335.  It was a bit patchy up to 350 (took me years to find out what happened in the last episode of Nemesis Book III, which appeared behind 349's Torque-lishous cover), and I've been on-board every week since then.
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: sheridan on 23 April, 2018, 12:55:07 PM
Quote from: BMCCOLL on 04 March, 2018, 08:07:41 PM
My first prog was #1, with the spacespinner stuck to the front with a strip of sellotap nearly tearing the cover in half! I got every other one up to around year 1983 with the exception of prog 3. I hunted high and low for this at the time but it was sold out everywhere... that Red Alert Survival Wallet must have been mightily sought after!

Every other one?  You bought on alternate weeks, or you bought every week up to 1983?  If you paused reading in 1983 then you picked the worst time to stop!
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: BMCCOLL on 23 April, 2018, 03:42:59 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 23 April, 2018, 12:55:07 PM
Quote from: BMCCOLL on 04 March, 2018, 08:07:41 PM
My first prog was #1, with the spacespinner stuck to the front with a strip of sellotap nearly tearing the cover in half! I got every other one up to around year 1983 with the exception of prog 3. I hunted high and low for this at the time but it was sold out everywhere... that Red Alert Survival Wallet must have been mightily sought after!

Every other one?  You bought on alternate weeks, or you bought every week up to 1983?  If you paused reading in 1983 then you picked the worst time to stop!

Each subsequent prog published, a bit silly to miss every second week! Then again it was very silly of me to totally stop reading in the mid 1980s. I'm at prog 436 in my "re-read" so have progressed far beyond where I originally stopped... now into uncharted territory for me!
Title: Re: First prog you ever read?
Post by: norton canes on 24 April, 2018, 02:58:28 PM
Have I already replied to this thread? Can't remember.

Anyway, since prog 1. I'd been getting Krazy comic for a few months and though I'm not sure where I saw 2000 AD's inaugural issue (it might have been the TV commercial actually) I was an immediate convert.