Tharg the Mighty

Tharg the Mighty — known to devoted readers simply as "The Mighty One" — is the fictional extraterrestrial editor-in-chief of the British science fiction weekly 2000 AD. Neither born nor deceased in any conventional sense, Tharg made his debut on the cover of the comic's very first issue in 1977 and has remained one of its most enduring presences, appearing in nearly every subsequent issue alongside Judge Dredd.

Though Tharg functions primarily as the editorial voice of 2000 AD — introducing stories, addressing readers, and maintaining the comic's distinctive personality — the character has also stepped into actual strips over the decades. Scripts for those appearances have been contributed by some of the medium's most respected writers, including Alan Moore, Alan Grant, and John Wagner, though credits are typically rendered simply as "TMO." In the catalog records, Tharg carries a writing credit across more than 300 issues spanning 1987 to 2025, with his byline appearing across 2000 AD's main weekly, its Free Comic Book Day specials, the 40th Anniversary Special, and the Christmas Annual.

What Tharg represents, ultimately, is the comic's institutional voice and sense of humor — a creative conceit that has given 2000 AD a singular identity for nearly five decades.