2000ADHD – A Prog a Day – Prog 526

Borag Thungg Earthlets! Please be aware that this post contains Amazon affiliate links – any purchases made via these links go towards supporting me and my content at no extra cost to yourself. You can also support me over on Ko-Fi, Patreon or PayPal if you wish and any donations are greatly appreciated and will be put to good use towards web-hosting costs and new content ideas.

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…

Today is my birthday! 41 fucking years old. Oooft. My hip got dislocated just typing this.

Welcome to Prog 526 featuring ‘Anderson Psi Division‘, ‘Mean Team‘, ‘Tales of Mega-City One‘, ‘DR & Quinch’s Agony Page‘, ‘Rogue Trooper‘, ‘Strontium Dog‘ and ‘Judge Dredd‘, published on 13 June 1987.

Cover Art Robot: Massimo Belardinelli

Emerald Eyes takes front and centre on this weeks cover as we get one of the smartest pieces of wordplay yet.

My pick of the Prog is: Judge Dredd

Script Robot: Wagner/Grant

Art Robot: J Ridgway

Lettering Robot: T Frame

After being wounded by The Raggedy Man, Dredd is patched up by some Helltrekkers who also had a run in with the spindly wee bastard. His look reminds me of some of the Outlaws in Atomfall. This episode opens as a sort of flashback to the origin of the cheeky chappy as it turns out he was a Judge sent on the Long Walk due to being a tad over zealous. Chaotic hopping and shooting ensues but Dredd uses smarts to light up the sky with a flare and take out The Raggedy Man with a mounted gun.

I absolutely love the last two panels as they speak right to my humour and I kinda talk like that with the random afterthoughts contradicting what I’ve said just before. I don’t know what you would call it but it’s just classic British humour: “And they all lived happily ever after…”

“Except The Raggedy Man, who was dead.”

Prog 526 goes crazy on The Long Walk! Join me on the next one to see who/what grabs the pick of Prog 527.

Florix Grabundae!

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