2000 AD #1506
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 1506 (August 2006) sits at the opening of one of Judge Dredd's most consequential story arcs: 'Origins,' which writer John Wagner used to lay down the definitive backstory for both Dredd himself and the post-apocalyptic world he polices, timed deliberately to the strip's approaching 30th anniversary. The issue also closes out the final chapter of the Banzai Battalion comedy strip and carries an episode of Nikolai Dante's pirate arc at a pivotal creative juncture — just as original series artist Simon Fraser was preparing to return to the strip for the first time since 2000. As an anthology prog, it captures 2000 AD's characteristically eclectic editorial voice, running darkly mythological Dredd world-building alongside satirical sci-fi comedy and swashbuckling alternate-history adventure in the same 32-page package.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Prog 1506 was published by Rebellion Developments, the British game studio and multimedia company that acquired 2000 AD in 2000 and had since been expanding its collected-editions programme. The issue appeared during the progs 1500–1519 window, a run later gathered in the Judge Dredd Complete Case Files series. The Banzai Battalion strip, a John Wagner-scripted comic military satire, concluded its second run with this prog (spanning progs 1501–1506). For Nikolai Dante, this issue fell during the stretch where painter John Burns was the dominant series artist; creator Simon Fraser would not formally return to alternate with Burns until October 2006, making these progs among the last of the Burns-primary era of the strip.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Prog 1506 (August 2006) is one of the opening installments of Judge Dredd: 'Origins,' the landmark Wagner-written story arc that established the definitive in-continuity origin for Judge Dredd and the post-apocalyptic Mega-City world, released to coincide with the strip's 30th anniversary.
- The Banzai Battalion comedy strip — featuring characters Captain Bug Stomper, Charlie 'Sarge,' and Flambo — concludes its run with this prog, the strip having serialized across progs 1501–1506.
- Nikolai Dante appears in an episode of his ongoing pirate-era storyline, created by writer Robbie Morrison and artist Simon Fraser (first appearance: prog 1035, 1997); John Burns was the primary series painter at this point in the strip's history.
- Simon Fraser was set to return to Nikolai Dante as co-artist in October 2006, meaning prog 1506 falls in the final weeks of the Burns-dominant artistic period on the strip.
- The 'Malone' story featured in this prog is a Sinister Dexter universe tie-in, part of a string of connected narratives that contemporaneous readers identified as injecting fresh momentum into the Sinister Dexter corner of the 2000 AD universe.
- Supporting Judge characters indexed for this issue — including Judges Curzon, Logan, Ozman, Renga, Sanchez, and Waters — are associated with the sprawling cast of the Origins arc, which required Wagner to populate Dredd's past with a range of historical Justice Department figures.
- Stories from the progs 1500–1519 block (of which #1506 is part) were later reprinted by Rebellion in the Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files series, making their contents accessible to new readers in collected form.
- 2000 AD is a weekly British anthology published as individual 'progs'; prog 1506 would have carried five serialized strips in its standard 32-page format, following the magazine's longstanding anthology structure established since 1977.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Judge Dredd: Origins #[nn] (2008), Banzai Battalion: Just Another Bug Hunt #[nn] (2014), Sinister Dexter: Places To Go, People To Do #[nn] (2016), Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #23 (2017), Judge Dredd - De geschiedenis van de gerechtigheid #[nn] (2018), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #43 (2024)
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