Sneak Preview – 2000AD’s The VCs: Hell in the Heavens

By Antony Esmond on May 12, 2015 • ( 1 )

Written by Gerry Finley-Day & Steve McManus
Art by Cam Kennedy, Mick McMahon, Garry Leach
Lettered By Tom Frame, Steve Potter and John Aldrich
Released: 18th June 2015 – Black and White art. £6.99
Web: www.2000adonline.com

The Story: By 2531, humanity has colonized the solar system. Warfare and barbarity had all but been forgotten. Then the Geeks arrived, a deadly alien species with only one thing on their dark unfathomable minds – the extinction of the human race! And so, humanity was forced to battle once more, this time among the stars, in space patrol ships crewed by the VCs (aka Vacuum Cleaners). New recruit Steve Smith is ready for action, but first he must face a fight closer to home and gain acceptance of his new combat-hardened crew mates…

The Preview -The VCs story scratches a certain itch. After I re-read this original run, it’s no coincidence that I watched some old episodes of Blake’s 7. Whilst created in a period just after the release of Star Wars on the world, it’s stories like The VCs and those of Blake and his crew that kept that brooding, nastily otherworldly element of science fiction going.

Always an anti-hero and never a fully manicured, hair blow dried hero, the VCs, like much of 2000AD‘s output, had that dangerous edge to its stories. As a reader, you never knew who would live or die. These were the cannon fodder, the grunts, the infantrymen of a space war. Arguing and full of sarcasm and gritty boasting. Even the so-called heroes of this story were a little disturbing. And for these reasons I loved it then as I do now.

<br /> This initial storyline ran from 1979-1980 in progs 140 – 175. It has that singular early 2000AD weirdness to its words and pictures and a rotating art team that is all killer and no filler. It is gorgeously iconic in its style and design. This is in a smaller format and at a really affordable price. Nostalgic gold.

On sale in June, it will be available from all good newsagents, comic shops, through www.shop.2000adonline or through the 2000AD tablet app. To wet your appetite, here’s the first ever episode of the story

Many thanks for reading.