Starlord Annual 1982

Oh no! It turns out I missed out an annual last year - I'd thought we reduced down to 2000AD and Judge Dredd for the 1982 round of annuals, but there was a lurking Starlord annual which I missed on my bookshelf! After the previous year's Brian Bolland ensemble cover we're back to artwork irrelevant …

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2000AD Prog 242: Subject: Orlock Status: assassin Mission: destroy Mega-City One! Block Mania

On the front cover, Brian Bolland introduces us to Orlock the Assassin. The Nerve Centre has a letter from 'Wakefied' - I wonder if that's Wakefield Carter, who was behind the 2000AD Meeples a few years back? A different Earthlet tells Squaxx about Orkney Ba' - a game not dissimilar to Street Football played on …

2000AD Prog 210: “FREEZE!” The body-snatchers catch a cold – inside!

Drafting in the artist responsible for The Forever Crimes, Brian Bolland is back with a spoilerific Dredd cover - featuring Citizen Heinz and his wife Hilda in a suspended animation drawer. Johnny's back! And we're going to meet a few of his new friends... Strontium Dog: Portrait of a Mutant Part 8 by Alan Grant …

Robots! You’re not really ALIVE unless you’re reading 2000AD and Starlord Prog 125: Guerilla Warfare – robot style! General Blackblood faces the A.B.C. Warriors!

McMahon provides the cover, featuring Blackblood and (in the background) the Straw Dogs. Inset are heads of the ABC Warriors already recruited, taken from previous progs (except for 'Deadlock' who is shown as a Volg war robot - wish I could claim credit for having noticed this, but in a later prog Tharg will be …

2000AD and Starlord Prog 124: Flee in terror, Earthlets! I am Kil-Gorr – the intergalactic hitman! Tharg foils assassination attempt!

King Carlos contributes a non-story related cover. Nope, spoke too soon - there's some smaller text saying "Tharg foils assassination attempt! See NERVE CENTRE inside" - close. The Nerve Centre contains a mercifully short piece of editorialising regarding the 'cover story'. I'm not saying that every story related to a cover (other than, y'know, actualy …

Tornado No 17: The Money Shop

The It's Your Turn cover depicts a supermarket, though instead of food on the shelves, they're filled with coins and banknotes. I've a feeling I've seen the art style in some of the other comics I was reading when I first started reading 2000AD (Tiger, Eagle, etc) but wouldn't swear to it. As the Big …

2000AD and Starlord Prog 98: Onward, my beauties – sing while you slaughter! Slicey-slicey, oncey-twicey claw and fang’ll kill Dredd nicely!

Brian Bolland puts Kleggs on the cover, and they're singing a song "Slicey-slicey, oncey-twicey Claw and fang'll kill Dredd nicely!" (I didn't need to type that out - just realised I'd already put it in the title of this blog post). Tharg announces the hiring of AALN-1 in the Nerve Centre, produced by MACMIDROIDS. A …

2000AD and Starlord Prog 97: We take… a giant step for comic-kind every week!

A generic picture of a giant robot striding through a ruined cityscape, a couple cowering behind a pile of rubble. With a bit of luck there won't be a hastily-subbed story to explain what's going on. Over the page... For a moment I thought there was, but it's alright, it's the first of the reader-submitted …

2000AD and Starlord Prog 96: We’re gonna hit him! That guy’s dead… unless he’s – Superman! Eject into hell with – Angel!

Aircraft on the cover means that Ian Kennedy is drafted in to bring an Angel illustration. The Nerve Centre has a warning of a 'special shock issue' - no idea what this is a reference to. The Day the Law Died! sees Grampus, leader of the Kleggs, appointed Deputy Chief Judge, replacing Fish, and a …

Star Lord No 14: Doomsday is just around the corner for Carl Hunter in Holocaust!

This is another mystery air-brush style cover - almost certainly by the same artist as the Issue 11 Mind Wars cover. It shows a besuited man pointing a revolve, helicopters and a formation of traditional flying saucer UFOs. The new series is called Holocaust and the concept looks pretty straight-forward. First story - Mind Wars. …