2000 AD #288

Oct 1982 · IPC · 0.18 GBP

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★ 1st appearance — E. T.

About this Issue

Prog 288 delivers the thunderous conclusion to 'Destiny's Angels' (progs 281–288), one of the key early Judge Dredd epics: it permanently closes the book on Owen Krysler — the Judge Child — via missile strike, resolving a thread that had run through the strip since 1980, while simultaneously completing Mean Machine Angel's first post-resurrection arc and setting him on a path that would make him one of the strip's most durable recurring villains for the next 25 years. The issue also wraps up the 'Football Crazy' Sam Slade Robo-Hunter story, a topical satire sparked by the 1982 World Cup, showcasing the anthology format 2000 AD used to run tonal extremes — operatic Dredd tragedy alongside absurdist robot comedy — in a single prog. Together, these closing chapters mark a decisive generational shift in the Dredd universe: supporting cast stalwarts Maria Cosgrove and Walter the Wobot depart from Dredd's life here, stripping the strip of its domestic comedy undertow and pushing it toward the bleaker, more uncompromising tone of the mid-1980s.

Contains 5 stories

Football Crazy, Part 6

5 pp · Science Fiction

Harry Twenty on the High Rock, Part 2

5 pp · Adventure, Science Fiction

Destiny's Angels, Part 8

7 pp · Detective-Mystery, Science Fiction

The Marauders, Part 7

4 pp · Science Fiction

Stoop Coop Soup, Part 1

5 pp · Humor, Science Fiction

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History

The 'Destiny's Angels' strip was scripted by John Wagner and Alan Grant under their shared pseudonym 'T.B. Grover' and drawn by Carlos Ezquerra, who had been the definitive Dredd artist since the character's earliest appearances. Wagner has acknowledged that reader enthusiasm for Mean Machine Angel — killed during 'The Judge Child' quest of 1980 — made the character's resurrection in this storyline feel narratively necessary rather than opportunistic. The 'Football Crazy' conclusion, by Wagner, Grant, and regular Robo-Hunter artist Ian Gibson, was written directly in the wake of the 1982 World Cup, giving it a very specific satirical topicality. Both strips ran in the weekly IPC anthology format that defined British boys' comics of the era, with each story occupying only a handful of pages per prog.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published 30 October 1982 by IPC Magazines as part of the long-running weekly British sci-fi anthology 2000 AD (Prog 288).
Contains the eighth and final episode of 'Destiny's Angels' (progs 281–288), scripted by John Wagner and Alan Grant (as 'T.B. Grover'), with art by Carlos Ezquerra — concluding with the executed death of the Judge Child (Owen Krysler) and the arrest of Mean Machine Angel.
Mean Machine Angel — resurrected by the Judge Child specifically to kill Dredd — is established in this story as a recurring antagonist; he would go on to appear continuously in 2000 AD until prog 1536 (2007).
Maria Cosgrove and Walter the Wobot part company with Judge Dredd at the close of 'Destiny's Angels,' marking the end of a domestic supporting-cast dynamic that had run through the strip for years.
The Grunwalder, the robot ruler of Xanadu first introduced in 'The Judge Child,' figures into the 'Destiny's Angels' resolution; by prog 288 his planet has grown under Owen Krysler's psychic influence.
Contains the sixth and concluding episode of the Sam Slade Robo-Hunter story 'Football Crazy' (progs 283–288), written by Wagner and Grant with art by Ian Gibson — a satirical sci-fi take on the 1982 World Cup, set in Brit-Cit.
Also features Rogue Trooper in 'The Marauders' part 7, scripted by Gerry Finley-Day with art by Cam Kennedy; Harry Twenty on the High Rock part 2 (Finley-Day/Alan Davis); and the opening installment of Ace Trucking Co.'s 'Stoop Coop Soup' (Grant Grover/Massimo Belardinelli).
'Destiny's Angels' has been reprinted in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 06 and in a dedicated Destiny's Angels trade paperback, as well as in Judge Dredd and the Angel Gang.