2000ADHD – A Prog a Day – Prog 277

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Welcome to my personal Prog slog through 2000AD. Here, I post daily about my favourite story from each Prog. I started doing this as a means of focusing my attention on something. A hobby, if you will. Something that will bring joy and fond memories for fans as well as draw attention to and hopefully bring in new readers to The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic. I have never read these Progs before. I recall reading some of Flesh at some point in my childhood, knew of Judge Dredd from a PlayStation One game and then the 1995 Movie, Rogue Trooper from the PlayStation 2 Game and had heard of other stories and seen other characters from seeing posts online. So I’m pretty much experiencing most of these stories as an intergalactic virgin. Or something. So if you are an established reader whose loyalty to Tharg has been unwavering, or if you’ve dropped off reading 2000AD, lie somewhere in between or if you are a newcomer to The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic then please let me know via the comments or hit me up on my socials!

Without further ado…

Welcome to Prog 277 featuring ‘Ace Trucking‘, ‘The Mean Arena‘, ‘Rogue Trooper‘, ‘Robo-Hunter‘ and ‘Judge Dredd‘, published on 14 August 1982.

Cover Art Robot: Carlos Ezquerra

Fungus grows on this weeks cover!

My pick of the Prog is: Ace Trucking

Script Robot: Grant Grover

Art Robot: Belardinelli

Lettering Robot: Steve Potter

I’ve gone from disliking Ace Trucking when I first encountered it back in Prog 232. Actually, “disliking” is a tad harsh. I just struggled with it. The lingo and setting didn’t gel with me but after a series of incredibly strong Progs, I have grown to adore Ace and co. I’ve been wanting to pick this particular story-line for a while as I LOVE these ‘Bampots‘ and it is as funny as it is wacky but it’s always just been pipped by Dredd or Rogue. But, here we are with part 5 of ‘Too Many Bams‘. Being Scottish, I love the word bam but rarely get to use it down here in Wales. Elsewhere, it means something else (typically a loud noise) but for me it means “someone who is foolish, annoying, obnoxious, belligerent or disruptive”. And what a fitting term for this bizarre race of multiplying bobble-head people. They kinda remind me of Weebles too.

2000 AD created bobble-heads well ahead of their time! I’d love to know if these Bampots have real life counterparts – perhaps if I had read this at the time of publishing I’d recognise them as faces on TV or in the news etc. If you know of any, let me know in the comments!

To catch us up to where we are seeing as this made my pick several episodes into the story, Ace has been tasked with delivering some Bampots to a planet called Gordon to colonise as their home planet is suffering from overpopulation and you can see why… a dance and a spin and they double in numbers! What a bonkers and fun story and well worth checking out if you haven’t already! And just look at those cute wee big faces!

Prog 277 dances the dance of the Bampots and…disappears! Join me on the next one to see who/what grabs the pick of Prog 278.

Florix Grabundae!

Have you read this Prog? If so, what was your favourite strip? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!