2000 AD #1387
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 1387 — on sale 28 April 2004 — was 2000 AD's self-declared 'Spring Attack,' launching five simultaneous new thrills in a single issue, making it one of the densest debut packages the weekly had mounted in the Rebellion era. Its most enduring contribution is the debut of Low Life, the undercover-judges strip created by Rob Williams and Henry Flint, which introduced Judge Aimee Nixon — a character who would evolve from lead protagonist to full-blown Judge Dredd antagonist across the next decade and a half. The same prog fired the starting gun on Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard's Savage — a political reimagining of the classic Invasion strip in which Bill Savage fights an occupation that now deliberately evokes the face of western-style authoritarianism rather than Cold War Soviet menace — as well as Nigel Kitching and Richard Elson's A.H.A.B. and the return of skysurfer Chopper in 'The Big Meg.' Together, these launches signalled Rebellion's commitment to refreshing the anthology with new concept strips while simultaneously honouring the Dredd universe's deep continuity.
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Editor Matt Smith commissioned Low Life after approaching writer Rob Williams about crafting a Wally Squad (undercover judge) strip; Williams shaped the lead around a 'hard-edged female whose superpower was being a great liar,' and Henry Flint — who won Diamond's Best Comics Artist award that same year — visualised Nixon with a distinctive broken nose. The cover for prog 1387 was provided by Dave Gibbons, making it his final appearance in the Barney database as a 2000 AD cover artist (prog 1387 is logged as his last cover credit), a notable full-circle moment given that Gibbons was one of the founding artistic pillars of the comic from prog 1. Pat Mills's Savage strip, collected in the Rebellion trade Invasion: Savage — Taking Liberties, used black-and-white artwork by Charlie Adlard — an intentional aesthetic counterpoint to the digitally coloured mainstream — to reinforce the strip's gritty political tone.
Trivia · 8 facts
- On-sale date: 28 April 2004; billed internally as the 'Spring Attack,' launching five brand-new stories simultaneously.
- FIRST APPEARANCE of Judge Aimee Nixon and the Low Life strip — created by writer Rob Williams and artist Henry Flint — making this the debut of one of the most consequential new characters in the post-2000 Rebellion era of 2000 AD.
- Low Life ('Paranoia,' progs 1387–1396) is set in the Judge Dredd universe and follows undercover 'Wally Squad' judges; Nixon is depicted as a corrupt, consummate liar whose design was based, per the creators, on 'Courtney Love with a broken nose.'
- FIRST APPEARANCE of the Savage strip (Book One: Taking Liberties, progs 1387–1396) — written by Pat Mills with art by Charlie Adlard — a reinvention of the 1977 Invasion strip featuring Bill Savage, now reframed as an anti-authoritarian resistance narrative. Later reprinted in the Rebellion trade Invasion: Savage — Taking Liberties.
- FIRST APPEARANCE of A.H.A.B. (progs 1387–1395) — written by Nigel Kitching, art by Richard Elson; later reprinted in Judge Dredd Megazine #333.
- Chopper — the skysurfer who debuted back in prog 206 and famously beat rival Jug McKenzie to escape Dredd in the 'Oz' arc — returns in a new solo serial, 'The Big Meg' (progs 1387–1394), one of the character's first solo outings since the late 1980s/early 1990s Megazine run.
- The cover was produced by Dave Gibbons — co-creator of Rogue Trooper and Watchmen, and one of 2000 AD's foundational artists — depicting Joe Dredd and Bill Savage; it is documented as the final cover credit Gibbons carried in the Barney 2000 AD database.
- Low Life was later collected in the Rebellion graphic novel Low Life: Mega-City Undercover (January 2008), anchored by the 'Paranoia' arc that begins in this prog; the strip went on to have, in 2000 AD's own words, 'profound implications for Mega-City One and the world of Judge Dredd.'
Cast · 7 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Judge Dredd: The Art of Kenny Who? #[nn] (2006), Droid Life #[nn] (2007), Savage: Taking Liberties #[nn] (2007), Mega-City Undercover #1 (2008), Chopper: Surf's Up #[nn] (2010), A.H.A.B. #[nn] (2013), Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #19 (2016), Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #70 (2017), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #38 (2021)
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