Happy Birthday, 2000AD!

By John Freeman on February 26, 2012

Last month, I mailed out to pretty much every British comic creator in my address book, asking them for their 2000AD memories, for a series of ‘mini interviews’ for the downthetubes blog to mark the weekly comic’s 35th birthday this weekend.

I was blown away by the response. My thanks to everyone, be they 2000AD contributor or 2000AD fan, who took time out to pen a few words in reply, and send an image to boot, in some cases.

The whole series kicked off with Alan Grant at the beginning of February and includes pieces from Mike Perkins, Garth Ennis, Paul Cornell, John Higgins, US fans like Dan Goldman and many, many more.

I posted more than one interview a day on most days.

While the responses varied, it was Judge Dredd who proved the most popular character – perhaps no surprise, given his longevity – with artist Mick McMahon getting the most kudos, while Pat Mills and John Wagner vied for most mentions as most-mentioned writers.

Hopefully you should be able to see all the interviews posted using this tag: http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/search/label/2000AD%20at%2035.

Thanks to everyone who took part!

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.