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2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction oriented comic.

The publication, which serialises a number of separate stories each "prog" (short for programme — a term used by the comic in place of "edition") was established by Fleetway Publishing (later IPC) in 1977. Fleetway/IPC continued to produce the title until 1999, when it was bought by Rebellion Developments.

It has been a successful launchpad for getting United Kingdom talent into the larger American comics market, and has also been the source of a number of film licences.

The editor of 2000 AD is Tharg the Mighty, a green alien who terms his readers "Earthlets". Tharg uses other unique alien expressions and even appears in his own comic strips. Readers sometimes play along with this: for example, in Prog 200 a pair of readers wrote to Tharg claiming that they preferred to be called "Terrans"; the resulting controversy ended in Tharg's accepting a challenge for a duel at a galactic location.

A second running theme, or joke, is Tharg's supposed use of robots to draw and write the strips — some of which may bear a marked resemblance to actual writers and artists. A fictional reason for Tharg to use mechanical assistance was given when the robots "went on strike" (reflecting real-life industrial action that occasionally halted IPC's comics production during the 1970s and 1980s). Tharg wrote and drew a whole issue himself, but when he ran it through the quality-control "Thrill-meter", the device melted down on extreme overload. The offending issue had to be taken away, by blindfolded security guards, to a lead-lined vault where there was no danger of anyone seeing it accidentally.

See: British comicsComics United Kingdom General British comics usually differ from the American comic book in a variety of respects. Until the 1990s the British comic was usually partly in black & white with some colour sections (especially the cover). The stories are most

1 Popular Characters

Popular characters from the comic include:

• Judge DreddMike McMahon for the first ever story Judge Joseph "Joe" Dredd is the main character of the longest-running strip in the British comic 2000 AD having been featured there since its second issue in 1977. History Judge Dredd was created by writer John Wagner
• Halo Jones
• Strontium DogJohnny Alpha, drawn by Carlos Ezquerra Strontium Dog is a long-running comic strip story that began in British comic book Starlord before moving over to 2000 AD following the adventures of mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha. Written by John Wagner, it's no
• ABC WarriorsThe stars of a long running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, The ABC Warriors were a team of seven robots designed to fight in the Volgan War and brought together to tame Mars, which had become a sort of science-fictional wild west. Further adven
• Slaine
• Rogue TrooperRogue Trooper was a science fiction strip in British comic book 2000 AD created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. It followed the adventures of Rogue a G. or Genetic Infantryman, a genetically modified, blue-skinned, manufactured elite soldier) and hi
• Dan DareDan Dare Pilot of the Future is a classic British science fiction comic hero, created by Frank Hampson in 1950. It's a sort of Biggles in space. It was distinguished by its long, complex story lines, snappy dialogue and meticulous animation-style artwork
• Caballistics, Inc.
• Sinister Dexter
• Nemesis.