2000ADHD – A Prog a Day – Prog 250
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Welcome to Prog 250 featuring ‘Ace Trucking‘, ‘Tharg’s Future-Shocks‘, ‘Nemesis the Warlock‘, ‘Rogue Trooper‘, ‘The Mean Arena‘, and ‘Judge Dredd‘, published on 6 February 1982.
Cover Art Robot: Carlos Ezquerra
The Sovs go full invasion mode on this weeks cover!
Before I get into my pick of this Prog I felt I should do a bit of a ‘reset’ for any new readers as my readership has seen quite a bump in recent weeks (perhaps I’ll keep a blurb here as a permanent context setter thingy). Until January of this year (2024) I hadn’t really read any 2000AD. I think I may have seen the odd strip or two but never an entire Prog. After struggling to find things to enjoy in life – a mix of anxiety and depression as well as a more recent realisation of ADHD (undiagnosed currently but I’m on the path) and potentially Autism (which became a reality in July 2024 when I received my diagnosis) – I decided to get back into comics and finally reading stuff I had been amassing over years but never actually did the reading part.
I collect things. Often, once collected, they just sit there or get stored in the attic or wherever and I don’t get to actually enjoy them. My ever increasing list of video games is testament to that, let alone the board games I bought (particularly ones with miniatures that I won’t play because I haven’t painted them and I haven’t painted them because I can’t just immediately be good at that and therefore don’t want to spoil them because I’m a perfectionist).
But, finding myself floundering with my mental health and having lost interest in streaming on Twitch – something I really enjoyed and worked hard with and was consistent with for almost three years – I burnt out and the more I wanted to get back into it, the harder it was and then I realised it’s not something I enjoy any more. The fun was gone. The dopamine depleted. But I have nothing to replace it.
I love the idea of being a part of a community but I just can’t be part of a community. Because I’m not normal. My challenges are too much of an obstacle for me and yes, I guess I wallow in the depths unable to see my qualities. No zest. Everything is an inconvenience or a chore. There are so many things I’d love to do I just never do them. If I can’t be good immediately I don’t see the point and if I’m not good immediately then I’m a failure and the ouroboros of self loathing and contempt continues to eat away at me.
So anyway, I wanted to make 2000AD a focus. Something I said I would get around to and never did and I figured I could add some accountability to it. If I publish a blog post each and every day (hence A Prog a Day) then I have to keep reading. And, me being me, I can’t start somewhere other than the very beginning. And so that’s what I did and here I am, 250 Progs deep. 250 consecutive days of posts. An unbroken streak thus far. And, as of this post, I am 2149 Progs behind the current issue.
It has been hard to maintain and where I normally would have several posts banked and my reading would be a good few Progs ahead of the post numbers (at the time of writing this I have just started Prog 255) but I found myself sometimes posting on the day the posts were due and sometimes having to force myself to read in order to get that days post out there. It’s weird as I can read some comics that have the same or greater number of pages but for some reason anthologies cause a bit of a problem for me and you’d think it’d be the opposite given there are several bite-sized stories…
For the most part, it has helped me. It allows me something to focus on and discover great stories – my only regret is I’m forty years old and life has tarnished, bruised and battered me. My sense of awe and wonder is gone and the stories don’t hit the way they should. I see references to modern things that didn’t exist when these stories were created which I suppose is a cool prism in which to look through but it means that the actual real-time references are either lost on me or are so diluted it spoils the effect.
It has also helped me interact with people – since I stopped streaming on Twitch the extent of my social life became Twitter which has now become a cesspit but thanks to Threads and Facebook Groups (namely The77-2000AD) I’ve gotten to speak to and interact with a chonky number of people. I’ve discovered new content and projects (Kickstarters – my bank balance isn’t happy but it’s dopamine for me) and it’s given me a bit of an anchor. It hasn’t fixed me (nothing will) but it has given me something to focus on and try to enjoy.
Anyway. That’s enough rambling, what’s my favourite story from this Prog???
My pick of the Prog is: Judge Dredd
Script Robot: TB Grover
Art Robot: C Ezquerra
Lettering Robot: T Frame
Part six of The Apocalypse War opens with a hilarious yet dark sequence as the Sovs have redirected the nukes frm Mega-City One to this alternative dimension where Earth has been at peace for thousands of years, the inhabitants spot the missiles and exclaim how pretty they look… What would have made this even more brilliant would have been if the alternative dimension was that of Meltdown Man thrusting Nick Stone into yet another nuclear fuelled caper.
The Sovs are unrelenting and War Marshal Kazan calls for the invasion to begin after a brief… chat(?) with Dredd.
Prog 250 obliterated by tactical nukes! Join me on the next one to see who/what grabs the pick of Prog 251.
Florix Grabundae!
Have you read this Prog? If so, what was your favourite strip? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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