2000ADHD – A Prog a Day – Prog 343

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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 343 featuring ‘Nemesis the Warlock‘, ‘Strontium Dog‘, ‘Sláine‘, ‘Rogue Trooper‘ and ‘Judge Dredd‘, published on 19 November 1983.

Cover Art Robot: Kevin O’Neill

Mek-Quake and Torque-Armada duke it out on this weeks cover!

My pick of the Prog is: Strontium Dog

Script Robot: Alan Grant

Art Robot: Carlos Ezquerra

Lettering Robot: Jack Potter

Reunited with her zombified son, Mrs Quest weeps as she puts him out of his misery. Meanwhile, Johnny and Wulf are strung up ready to drop at the gallows… This storyline gets darker every step of the way and part of me wonders how what happened with Action and the Kids Rule O.K. got that comic cancelled when that pales in comparison… Not that I’m saying this deserves cancellation either, it just doesn’t compute with me. Saying that, maybe there was a furore over this as 2000 AD has had its troubles over the decades. As a parent myself, I don’t believe in having my kids think the world is all sweetness and light. They need to know about the dark stuff and I think stories like these help with that as they’re fiction but with enough relatability and reality to them to make the necessary points.

Prog 343 is taken to the gallows! Join me on the next one to see who/what grabs the pick of Prog 344.

Florix Grabundae!

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