2000AD Prog 394: Tomorrow’s evil in the City of the Damned! “What the drokk…?” “The Hell Street Blues!”

I'd have been too young to have watched Hill Street Blues, but I would probably have gotten the pun on this cover from Ron Smith. It's only know when I look it up that I find the blue vampire judges shown are named after characters from the show. A brief search suggests the vampires in …

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2000AD Prog 347: Bob & Carol & Ted & Ringo & Judge Dredd “Lishen, judge – you’re not gonna ⁝hic!⁝ believe thish…!”

Ron Smith is back with a second week of Judge Dredd dinosaur covers featuring speech balloons. Tharg's Nerve Centre has an earthlet pining for Ace Garp - he'll be back, but it's going to be some time. Judge Dredd: Bob & Carol & Ted & Ringo Pt 2 by T.B. Grover and Ron Smith continues …

2000ad Prog 317: The Bio-wire… Creeping killer of Nu Earth!

Another of my first batch of comics has a Cam Kennedy cover and the first apperance of bio-wire. A very much reduced Tharg's Nerve Centre - just the Thargnote, in fact, plus a Titan advert for the Judge Death collection and a non-Titan advert for bubble gum. Sam Slade, Robo-Hunter: The Slaying of Slade Part …

2000AD Prog 310: “Kill me… it’s your only hope!” Dredd – victim of the Starborn Thing!

I promised I wouldn't keep going on about how iconic some of these covers are, so I'll just mention that the Mick McMahon cover was parodied a few decades later (though that one will have a wig attacking Joe instead of a squiddy-alien-thing). Tharg's Nerve Centre brings bad news. The galaxy's greatest comic is going …

2000AD Prog 256: “The East-Megs are behind us! Get out while you can!” Readers’ art – your drawings inside

Carlos provides a cover with Dredd and the Mega-City covered in snow, and it's not even the christmas prog! The Nerve Centre has Tharg telling us how he uses reader's art to threaten art droids with replacement if they dn't come up to scratch. Ace Trucking Co. The Great Mush Rush Part 6 by Grant …

2000AD Prog 247: Read by Aliens Across the Galaxy! “It’s buzzin’ beakboys, G-B-H! Pummel gurney or we’re skavy gravy!” Translation: The Ace Trucking Co. are in big trouble this prog!

With a cover line like that you know it's going to be Belardinelli on art duties, as G-B-H takes centre-stage on the cover. The most notable thing about the Nerve Centre is how so many things are contributed that there's a Nerve Centre Extra at the back of the prog. Having said that, none of …

2000AD Prog 241: Avenge our murder most foul!

Iconic covers by Brian Bolland and Kevin O'Neill, this time it's Dave Gibbons' turn with the 'dead biochips' cover - Rogue haunted by the helmetted skulls of his war buddies, who are always with him. Wasn't an early version of Rogue Trooper literally going to be Rogue haunted by Helm, Gunnar and Bagman, either spiritually …

2000AD Annual 1982

Brian Bolland provides a montage cover featuring Dredd, Johnny Alpha and Blackhawk flanking Tharg. Wasn't expecting to see Blackhawk again - I'm guessing it's going to be a text story... The contents page image is provided by Robin Smith and features Johnny Alpha - we'd better get a good Strontium Dog story this annual! Robin …

2000AD Prog 204: King of the Streets!

Mike McMahon turns in a trademark gigantic Dredd sitting on a citiblock in this cover, originally published mid-March, 1981. Mike really seems to like giant Dredds looming over the city. Strontium Dog: Portrait of a Mutant Part by Alan Grant and Ezquerra. The newly-named Johnny Alpha introduced to General Armz (guess what his mutation is?) …

2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1979: Mek-Wars Pull-out colour poster that doesn’t pull its punches!

IPC may be pretending that the weekly 2000AD is actually 2000AD and Starlord, but the same cannot be said of the Sci-Fi Special, and so there is no 'and Starlord' above Brian Bolland's picture of Judge Dredd and the Ape Gang. There's a strip with a few promo pictures from within messing up the bottom …