2000AD Prog 393: Move over, Ron – Slippery Jim di Griz is back! The Stainless Steel Rat… …for President!

A wraparound cover from King Carlos - it seems like ages since the last one - Umm, Synthi Sausage, I'd guess? We won't have to wait too long for the next one! This heralds the start of the return of the Stainless Steel Rat (though not The Stainless Steel Rat's Return, which never got adapted). …

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2000AD Prog 245: "Let the apocalypse begin!" Target Mega-City One! Tharg's 1982 calendar – part 1 this prog!

The big news this prog is that King Carlos is back on Dredd, and it starts with the cover! Also, the Apocalypse War. In the Nerve Centre, Tharg plugs the next series of Robo-Hunter - returning 'soon' for a third series. Ace Trucking Co. by Grant Grover and Belardinelli. The pirates have boarded Speedo Ghost …

2000AD Prog 226: In the Mean Arena, the name of the game is… get Tallon!

Steve Dillon is back on the cover, and so is Tallon, flanked by a few of the Slayers we met before the Jensen Clan confrontation. This prog cost 16p and would have gone on sale on Monday 17th August 1981, two days after the signing of the annuals at Forbidden Planet on Denmark Street. The …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 166: New this prog! The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World! / Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back – 15 electronic battle command games and 20 action figures to be won!

Brian Bolland draws an Empire Strikes Back tie-in competition featuring R2-D2, C-3PO, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca. They're looking slightly more like Palitoy toys than film characters... Tharg's Nerve Centre. It looks like Bonjo and Klep have truly been consigned to the scrap heap as Tharg announces Flush Gordon, coming to 2000AD. It asks …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 165: “Wuuurgh!” A nightmare comes to life! See MACH Zero

MACH Zero takes to the cover in an image by Mike Dorey which has nothing to do with the episode of the story inside (despite what the blurb says). Up to this point, Squaxx dek Thargo was a title which was seemingly awarded to art competition winners who hadn't quite made the grade to be …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 150: “Nerve poison on his blade – one nick and I’m dead!” The Stainless Steel Rat Gets a Slice of the Action Inside!

A top-down Dutch angle cover from Ezquerra as Jim fights it out with the assassin outside Angelina's bedroom. Surprisingly considering the number of vertigo-inducingly tall buildings in 2000AD (and Judge Dredd in particularly) it's perhaps surprising we haven't seen this kind of angle on a cover before... Tharg's Nerve Centre brings news of a four-part …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 149: Inside… Sword and Sorcery! See Blackhawk – warrior in search of a soul!

Before I start - this is another of those progs I bought quite early on, so the episodes within are more familiar to me than those preceding and following them. Belardinelli provides the cover, though the eyeless green unicorn that Blackhawk is sitting on will confuse readers, as it hasn't appeared yet. Tharg's Nerve Centre …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 148: You’re next, PUNK!

Not a classic Bolland cover this time - it's Mike McMahon's turn. Available on a T-shirt near you just about every decade since this prog came out (as far as I know - I don't have access to a database of which Tshirts were available when). Tharg's Nerve Centre contains a teaser for the next …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 147: “Angelina pointed the .75 recoilless at my chest and four slugs ripped into me. Then she put a fifth one in my head for good measure.” The Stainless Steel Rat winds up in the mortuary, inside!

King Carlos provides the cover which is an almost exact creation of a scene in the story inside, though from a different angle, showing Angelina shooting Jim five times, including one in the head. Oh, and Angelina must be cold as her shoulder in the halter-neck top is blue on the cover and pink in …

2000AD and Tornado Prog 146: New Year is Cancelled! By order Judge Dredd

Another great Brian Bolland cover, this one a soggy Dredd in rain. Tharg's Nerve Centre has Tharg back from his holidays to find the droids have been at the North Sea Oil (courtesy of the Scottish robot, AALN-1). Judge Dredd: New year is Cancelled from John Howard and Brendan McCarthy. This one is about Albert …