2000ADHD – A Prog a Day – Prog 654

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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 654 featuring ‘The Dead Man‘, ‘Sláine‘, ‘Chopper‘, ‘Zenith‘ and ‘Judge Dredd‘, published on 25 November 1989.

Cover Art Robot: Colin MacNeil

Chopper returns in this cosmic looking cover this week!

My pick of the Prog is: The Dead Man

Script Robot: Keef Ripley

Art Robot: John Ridgway

Lettering Robot: Jack Potter

The more I read of The Dead Man the more I’m thinking he is Judge Dredd or some other character we’ve met in Mega-City One. I’m swayed more towards it being Dredd and this spectre that strikes fear into Yassa and his family could be Anderson reaching out or perhaps Judge Death or another Dark Judge.  Possibly even the Judge Child trying to finish Dredd off once and for all. I could be wrong but his proficiency with a weapon and the fact that, despite it all, he’s still managing to survive… He has Dredd-like traits/qualities. After the events in the last episode, The Dead Man leaves the village as he is no longer welcome (not that he was that welcome to begin with). It’s also making me think this was a tester to see if they could kill off Dredd and what the impact would be as previous Dredd tales have talked a lot about him getting old and the eventuality of him being unfit to perform his duties. Perhaps this tale is the aftermath of him having taken The Long Walk?

Prog 654 takes a long walk! Join me on the next one to see who/what grabs the pick of Prog 655.

Florix Grabundae!

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