2000 AD #1383
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 1383 is a solid mid-run instalment from the Rebellion era that showcases the anthology breadth 2000 AD was famous for — Judge Dredd continuity deepened by the presence of Judge Rico (the Fargo-bloodline clone who self-consciously defines himself against the shadow of his predecessors), the long-building threat of Anatoli Kazan (crippled clone son of the Apocalypse War's War Marshal), and supporting Judges Giant, Guthrie, and Psi Judge Karyn, all of whom feed into the major arcs culminating in 'Blood Trails' (progs 1440–1449). Alongside Dredd, the prog bundles three other running strips — Sinister Dexter, Durham Red, and Bec & Kawl — representing the post-Fleetway Rebellion house style of weaving dark British satire, action comedy, and horror-comedy into a single weekly package. Its historical weight lies less in a single landmark debut and more in being a representative cross-section of 2004's 2000 AD at full creative throttle under editor Matt Smith.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By 2004, 2000 AD was in its fourth year under Rebellion Developments, which had purchased the title from Fleetway in 2000 and installed Matt Smith as editor in 2002. Smith's tenure emphasised tighter serial plotting and a broader anthology mix, and progs in the 1380s run reflect that editorial philosophy: the Judge Dredd strip was sustaining long-form character threads around the Fargo clone sub-dynasty (Dredd, Rico, Dolman) while genre-varied strips like Sinister Dexter and Bec & Kawl kept the weekly format lively for readers who didn't follow every strip.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Prog 1383 (2004) is a weekly anthology issue published by Rebellion Developments, edited by Matt Smith, who had been at the helm since 2002.
- The Judge Dredd strand in this prog features Judge Rico — a Fargo-bloodline clone of Dredd, first introduced in John Wagner's 'Blood Cadets' (2000) — grappling with his identity as a Judge distinct from his genetic heritage.
- Anatoli Kazan, the crippled clone son of Apocalypse War villain War Marshal Kazan, appears in this era of Dredd continuity as an antagonist targeting Dredd through personal connections; his arc was primarily written by Gordon Rennie.
- Judge Giant (the second of that name, grandson of Harlem Heroes athlete John 'Giant' Clay), Judge Guthrie, and Psi Judge Karyn are among the supporting Judges present in this period's Dredd stories.
- The Sinister Dexter strip — featuring Downlode hitmen Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter — runs in this issue, set in a future-European city that became one of the Rebellion era's signature non-Dredd franchises.
- Bec & Kawl, starring art-school flatmates Beccy Miller and Jarrod Kawl (a goth-artist and a self-declared undead film student), also appears — a horror-comedy strip that typified the anthology's genre range.
- Durham Red, the vampiric Strontium Dog spin-off character, likewise appears in the same prog, underscoring the issue's role as a representative weekly anthology rather than a single-strip showcase.
- 2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction anthology, first published in 1977, that serialises stories across multiple ongoing strips in each numbered prog (issue).
Cast · 12 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Bec & Kawl: Bloody Students #[nn] (2006), Rogue Trooper: Realpolitik #[nn] (2006), Durham Red #2 (2007), Sinister Dexter #7 (2014), Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #56 (2016), Sinister Dexter: Slow Train to Kal Cutter #[nn] (2016), 2000 AD The Ultimate Collection #59 (2020), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #38 (2021)
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