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This was tricky to do since I haven't just re-read the whole of 1984 like you guys have (I am keeping pace wth the podcast). I have browsed through the future issues and it is very hard to choose as there was a lot of quality this year.

Best story I would like to give to Judge Dredd: A Case For Treatment. (runners up SD: Outlaw or JD: Dredd Angel). I know it is a one off but it has quite an impact.

Best writer goes to Wagner/Grant for a great year of Stronium Dog and Dredd.

Best art goes to Alan Davis for DR & Quinch.

I can't really pick a best month having not read the whole year again properly yet.

I haven't read this weeks prog yet (being a digital it has only been released today) but I would like to see Ampney Crucis return to the prog. I wasn't a reader when he was in it but I picked up the collection duringa visit to London and thought it was superb.

A great months prog this week - I ended up having to read on and am now a bit ahead of the podcast. There are some great times ahead for the next 2 or 3 shows at least.

This is the first time I have read those early Slaine strips properly and they are indeed great. As an 10 year old I struggled with the art being less clean than I was used to and I didn't really get into Slaine until the later Time Killer stuff.

The Osmonds were really a 70's pop act and so would have been unknown to many readers (including myself) when the Osmongs appeared in The Killing. I know who they are now and the likeness is pretty funny.

Also, veganism was definately well known in the 1980's. I thought it may have first been popularised in the 1960's but according to Wikipedia the term has been around since 1944.

Thanks Conrad and Fox, great stuff as usual. Sad to see Dredd at the bottom of the pile this week but I suppose it is a testament to the quality at that point.

There was a computer game of 'Strontium Dog - The Killing' about the same time the strip was running. It wasn't very good but it was the first 2000ad game. Could there have been some collusion between Wagner/Grant and the software company to come up with a plot that was so suited to being a game?

Strontium Dog, Dredd, Nemesis, Slaine and Rogue Trooper all got games in the 8 bit era. Rogue Trooper seems to be the strip that transfers best to gaming since it is fairly humourless and about a lone soldier in a war. The Rogue Trooper game that came out in the PS2 era and was recently re-done for the Switch is, I think, regarded as the best of all the 2000ad games.

Am I too late for the 1983 year end comments?

1983 was my first 2000AD year and the highs were great and the lows were not very low. I knew Dredd and Slade before I started so I was sad to see Slade go in a way that seemed unnecessary.
Nemesis and Strontium Dog were new to me and I had no trouble getting into them without reading any previous storties which I am sure was a deliberate and well executed part of these strips. I was 9 when the year began and I struggled with Skizz and Slaine which perhaps weren't space/future enough for me back then.

Pat Mills has said that Slaine development involved a huge amount of research into ancient (particularly Celtic) legends and mythology. The upshot is that the more ridiculous or bizarre the thing is that happens, the more likely it has its roots in ancient legend, myth or truth. The bit in this weeks podcast about the way prisons worked is true. You can visit Clink Prison in London to find out what prison was like up to the 16th Century and prisoners did stay until they had begged or borrowed enough money to pay their way out. It is really grim and not far from the prison described in the early Slaine story.

Thanks Conrad and Fox!

I was one of the runners up in the Robo Machines competition and it was a huge thrill to get a letter from Therg on 2000AD headed notepaper. My memory of the toy thing is that Robo Machines were on the market first but didn't have a big impact and were then pretty much forgotten once Transformers came out.

Good work lads! This is a really special podcast.

I think it is right that the Robo Hunter chair thing is having a laugh at British apathy, unfriendliness, and inertia while also managing to squeeze in a distaste for seeing people enjoying themselves in public. These character traits are probably more pronounced in the south of England than in the North or Scotland.

Sherbert came up during this episode and Conrad described it as being something like toothpaste. It is actually a powder - indistinguishable from icing sugar to look at or touch but it tastes sweeter, sharper and fizzier than sugar. You eat it by dipping either liquorice (yuck), a lolly pop, or your finger into it.

Thanks for the heads up about Where Eagles Dare. Listening to them discuss Doomlord made me realise I need a Doomlord collection but have found none exists which is a shame.

Thanks - that strip ties in so it must be the same Gant.

I finished it this morning and enjoyed it very much.

There are 2 characters that do not directly appear in the strory but only in the memory flashback parts and these are Fargo and Gant. Has Gant been mentioned in Dredd before or is the mention here his debut? I am expecting that we will hear more about him in other books of this series.

Just a heads-up... 

Thanks Michael! I have just bought my copy from Amazon.co.uk

I honestly like this batch of progs.

The first time I read this Sam Slade story I had not yet read Verdus or Day of The Driods so this stepping back through Sam's history was not a problem for me. It may not be the greatest of the Robo Hunter cases but it is still Sam Slade and I enjoy him while I can.

I liked the Time Twisters too and with DR and Quinch being the obvious highlight.

The Stupid Gun was fun and could Condo be seen as an early attempt at a more Procedural Drama Dredd story? It is not a particularly memorable one but it works fine for me and has Ezquerra's art.

Rogue's memories give insight into the formative years of the GIs and that's a nice break from the usual Nu-Earth based stuff.

No need to say anything about Skizz since the praise is fairly unanimous on this one.

I consider this to be the last proper Sam Slade story and it was a shame to see the character written off like this. Has any background into what happened ever come out? Were Wagner and Grant just bored of him?

So who are these judges? I can't make out the name badges.
Rico, ? , Dredd, Gibson (Mutie The Pig), ?, ?.

What a treat - thanks Conrad and Steve! I don't have any recollection of this one so it may be one I missed. No crazy Britsh 80's references to clear up on this since Steve was on hand.

In the Krong story, Heston performed a citzens arrest. It has been practically an ongoing joke the Dredd always arrests people who do this but it didn't happen here. Did I miss something?