2000 AD #1281
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 1281 marks the debut of Atavar, the complete eight-part first story arc by writer Dan Abnett and artist Richard Elson that launched one of 2000 AD's more ambitious stand-alone science-fiction series of the early 2000s — the tale of the last cloned human caught between warring alien civilisations. The issue also carries a chapter of the ongoing Judge Dredd storyline threading through the 'Brothers of the Blood' saga, which deepened the clone-family mythology around Joe Dredd in ways that would ripple through the strip for the next decade. As one of the first progs published fully under Rebellion Developments' stewardship, it represents the new ownership's editorial commitment to launching wholly original intellectual properties alongside the magazine's established strips.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Rebellion Developments acquired 2000 AD from Fleetway in 2000, and by 2002 — the year of prog 1281 — editor David Bishop was overseeing a weekly line-up that balanced long-running stalwarts with new creator-owned series. Atavar was commissioned as an eight-episode self-contained story, with Dan Abnett — already a prolific 2000 AD contributor through Sinister Dexter — teaming with artist Richard Elson; the complete first arc ran consecutively from prog 1281 through 1288 and was later collected by Rebellion in a 2005 hardcover graphic novel. The Sinister Dexter instalment 'Narked for Death', also debuting in this prog, featured artist Adrian Bamforth on a strip that Abnett had co-created with David Millgate back in 1995.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First episode of Atavar (progs 1281–1288), an eight-part science-fiction series created by writer Dan Abnett and artist Richard Elson, lettered by Ellie De Ville.
- Atavar centres on the last surviving human, cloned from extinct genetic material and resurrected by the alien Kalen species to combat the UOS (Universal Operating System), a rogue machine intelligence originally built by humanity.
- The Sinister Dexter story 'Narked for Death' — featuring gun-sharks Finnigan Sinister and Ramone 'Ray' Dexter — begins in this prog, with art by Adrian Bamforth; the series was created by Dan Abnett and David Millgate.
- A Judge Dredd episode continuing the clone-family arc later collected in the trade paperback Brothers of the Blood (covering progs including 1280 and 1281) also appears in this issue.
- Judge Rico (the younger Dredd clone, not Rico Dredd) first appeared earlier, in 'Blood Cadets' (progs 1186–1188, 2000), written by John Wagner with art by Simon Fraser; prog 1281 continues rather than debuts this character.
- Nikolai Dante, created by Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser and debuting in prog 1035 (1997), is an ongoing strip present in the prog's line-up at this time.
- The complete Atavar series (all three arcs: progs 1281–1288, 1329–1335, and 1443–1449) was later collected in the 2000 AD Ultimate Collection hardback series as volume 158.
- Prog 1281 was published under Rebellion Developments, which had acquired 2000 AD in 2000, with David Bishop serving as editor in 2002.
Cast · 7 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Atavar #[nn] (2004), Judge Dredd: Brothers of the Blood #[nn] (2006), Nikolai Dante: Hell and High Water #[nn] (2008), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #35 (2020), 2000 AD The Ultimate Collection #173 (2023)
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