“Mind Wars” by Alan Hebden, with art largely by Jesus Redondo, was a major reason I bought 2000AD’s short-lived stablemate, Starlord – but did you know a sequel was in the offing, before the two comics merged?
With an uncompromising script from Alan (whose credits also include stories for Commando, “Crazy Keller” and “Fighting Mann” for Battle, “Angry Planet” for 2000AD, to name but few), with art by Jesus Redondo (“Future Shocks”, “Time Twisters”) and Ian Gibson (“Robo-Hunter”, “The Ballad of Halo Jones”), this SF story remains one of my all-time British comic favourites – and I’m not alone in that assessment.
This powerful space adventure, whose contributors also included Mike White, began its run in the second issue of Starlord back in 1978 and ran in every issue of the short-lived title, best known for “Strontium Dog”, which was merged with 2000AD.
“Mind Wars” tells the story of twins Ardeni Lakam and twin brother Arlen, teenagers from a human colony world in the far future, who develop awesome and slightly sinister psychic powers. They become unwilling pawns in a deadly chess game between the human-led Stellar Federation and the alien Jugla… and the consequences are bad for all concerned.
Alan himself describes it as “one of my enduring favourites, as leading lady Ardeni Lakam cuts a destructive mind-powered swathe across the cosmos to extract revenge from those who wronged her. Fabulous artwork by Spanish great, Jesús Redondo Román, with later input by sadly missed Ian Gibson.”
The strip has been represented in Judge Dredd Megazine, across two issues back in 2019, but I’m still bemused as to why it hasn’t been collected properly, especially given the re-release of other great stories by Alan Rebellion own, including Clash of the Guards and the upcoming Fighting Mann.
Even more importantly, surely a decent collection might spur Rebellion to look again at publishing its sequel, “Daughter of the Green Star”, a series Alan had begun to work on, writing two episodes before Starlord was cancelled.
“Alan kindly let me have a peep at his synopsis for the second series,” former 2000AD editor Steve MacManus has enthused previously. “It’s a belter.
“All I can say is that Mind Wars would make a great TV series for Netflix or Amazon or Apple, etc… It would be fun to start some virtual casting therein)
If Rebellion’s New Adventures from the Trigan Empire proves successful, launched earlier this year, might Mind Wars be the kind of SF adventure deserving similar treatment? Thought transfer your answers to Tharg…
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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