2000 AD #20
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 20 is the debut issue of Max Normal — 'the Pinstripe Freak' — one of Judge Dredd's most enduring supporting characters, whose anachronistic 20th-century businessman wardrobe served as a pointed satirical inversion of Mega-City One's punk-inflected citizenry. The self-contained Dredd story 'The Comic Pusher' also marks the first time the comic 2000 AD appeared as an in-universe artefact within its own pages, a playful meta-fictional gesture that set a template for the title's irreverent house style. The issue is simultaneously a structural landmark: it debuted Shako — the first brand-new strip to replace one of the anthology's original launch serials — signalling that 2000 AD was already willing to refresh its lineup rather than coast on its founding line-up.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The Dredd strip 'The Comic Pusher' was scripted by John Wagner, writing under his well-documented house pseudonym T.B. Grover, and drawn by Mike McMahon, the artist who had handled the bulk of Dredd's earliest adventures from Prog 2 onward. The issue was published in July 1977, just five months into the comic's run, at a cover price of 8p — the last prog to sell at that price before a one-penny rise the following week. Kelvin Gosnell was serving as editor at the time (he held the role from Prog 17 through Prog 85), and the prog's front cover was a Brian Bolland Supercover painting, the second in that recurring series.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Max Normal, Judge Dredd's streetwise informant known as 'the Pinstripe Freak', who dressed in an archaic mid-20th-century pinstripe suit, bowler hat, and furled umbrella as an act of cultural eccentricity in Mega-City One.
- The Dredd story 'The Comic Pusher' was written by John Wagner (credited as T.B. Grover, one of his established pseudonyms) with art by Mike McMahon.
- Chief Judge Goodman appears in the story — though not directly named — marking an early appearance of the character in the Dredd continuity.
- The issue contains the first in-universe appearance of 2000 AD itself as a fictional artefact: Dredd investigates an illegal comic-slug ring, and the most prized item seized turns out to be an issue of 2000 AD from the 20th century.
- Prog 20 launched Shako — the story of a killer polar bear hunted by the CIA — replacing Flesh, the first of the original Prog 1 strips to conclude, demonstrating the anthology's willingness to rotate its line-up from an early stage.
- The front cover was a Brian Bolland Supercover painting, the second entry in that ongoing cover feature.
- The Dredd story also marks the first recorded use of 'crumb' as a Mega-City One insult within the strip's internal slang.
- 'The Comic Pusher' has been reprinted multiple times, including in the Judge Dredd Annual 1983, Judge Dredd Vol. 2 #23, Judge Dredd: The Early Cases #3, and Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01.
Cast · 3 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Super Force #4 (1980), Super Force #13 (1981), Judge Dredd Annual #1983 (1982), Judge Dredd: The Early Cases #3 (1986), Sam Slade, RoboHunter #15 [US] (1988), Judge Dredd #21/22 [US] (1988), Judge Dredd #2/1991 (1991), M.A.C.H. 1 #4 (1991), The Complete Judge Dredd #2 (1992), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #1 (2005), Invasion! #[nn] (2007), Shako #[nn] (2012), Dan Dare The 2000 AD Years #1 (2015)
Key issues in 2000 AD
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.