2000ADHD – A Prog a Day – Prog 458

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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!

I’ve recently started working on a Letterboxd list, compiling movies that have/may have influenced strips within 2000 AD and adjacent titles such as Misty and Scream! Feel free to check it out here, drop me a follow and let me know of any other titles I should add.

Without further ado…

Welcome to Prog 458 featuring ‘Ace Trucking‘, ‘The Ballad of Halo Jones‘, ‘Strontium Dog‘, ‘Sláine‘ and ‘Judge Dredd‘, published on 22 February 1986.

Cover Art Robot: Robin Smith

Dredd examines a filthy cock-a-roach (Tony Montana impersonation) on this weeks cover.

My pick of the Prog is: The Ballad of Halo Jones

Script Robot: Alan Moore

Art Robot: Ian Gibson

Lettering Robot: Starkings

Clearly suffering from PTSD, Halo is tormented by dreams where Toy and her other friends are still alive and they’re together only to wake up and find reality hitting too hard. Even sedation doesn’t really help. She leaves the military, and struggles with the lack of employment and things to take her mind off it all. The bottom left panel was a bit surprising for a kids comic where Halo sights an old woman on the street with her rifle and then gets a kid right in the crosshairs and says how easy it would be just to squeeze the trigger. I thought this was a brilliant depiction of her spiralling and realising the futility of leaving the military only to find herself right back there after, what I think is merely, one day of having left it. I think most kids wouldn’t have appreciated the torment she faces in this strip. And perhaps most of those kids now they’re grown up may still not fully appreciate it. But the trauma and despair leaps from these pages and this has probably got to be one of the hardest hitting things I’ve read so far in 2000 AD.

Prog 458 takes an incredibly short leave of absence! Join me on the next one to see who/what grabs the pick of Prog 459.

Florix Grabundae!

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