2000 AD #374

Jun 1984 · IPC · 0.22 GBP

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“Outlaw! Part 12”

About this Issue

Prog 374 (23 June 1984) occupies a charged moment in 2000 AD history: it appeared on UK newsstands just two issues before the debut of The Ballad of Halo Jones in prog 376, one of the most celebrated strips in British comics history, and carried continuing installments of both Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper at a high-water mark for each strip. As an anthology prog from mid-1984, it represents the weekly that sustained the creative ferment — Alan Moore was already writing for 2000 AD, Cam Kennedy's Rogue Trooper art was in full stride, and the magazine's editorial identity as a genuinely adult British SF comic was firmly established. Chief Judge McGruder, the first female Chief Judge of Mega-City One, had by this point become a recurring Dredd supporting character of real political weight, her Thatcher-referencing name and stern demeanour giving the Dredd strip an additional satirical edge.

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writer Alan Grant · artist, inker Carlos Ezquerra · letterer Jack Potter · cover Robin Smith

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History

By the time of prog 374, 2000 AD was published weekly by IPC Magazines and edited under the fictional persona of 'Tharg the Mighty.' The Rogue Trooper strip, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons in 1981, was in the middle of the 'Message From Milli-Com' story arc (progs 369–377), drawn by Cam Kennedy. The Strontium Dog strip — starring mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha and his partner Wulf Sternhammer, created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra for Starlord in 1978 before transferring to 2000 AD — was also running in this period. Within just weeks of this issue, the editorial team would publish prog 376, which launched Alan Moore and Ian Gibson's The Ballad of Halo Jones, a strip Moore deliberately designed to break from 2000 AD's 'guns, guys and gore' formula.

Trivia · 7 facts

Prog 374 was released on 23 June 1984 by IPC Magazines, two issues before the debut of The Ballad of Halo Jones in prog 376 (7 July 1984).
The Rogue Trooper installment in this prog was part of the 'Message From Milli-Com' story arc (progs 369–377), illustrated by Cam Kennedy; Rogue Trooper was created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons in 1981.
Strontium Dog — featuring Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer — was created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra in 1978 for Starlord before transferring to 2000 AD; the strip was an ongoing feature of the weekly through 1984.
Chief Judge McGruder, the first female Chief Judge of Mega-City One, first appeared in prog 182 (not this issue); she was created by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Brian Bolland and introduced in 'The Judge Child' storyline. Her first names — Hilda Margaret — deliberately reverse those of then-Prime Minister Margaret Hilda Thatcher.
The Ballad of Halo Jones — written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Ian Gibson — was specifically designed to introduce an ordinary female protagonist to 2000 AD, with Moore explicitly avoiding what he called the formula of 'guns, guys and gore.' Book I ran in progs 376–385.
Middenface McNulty is described in 2000 AD sources as a character who joined the Strontium Dog cast in 'later stories' — his presence in this specific issue is unverified by story-index sources.
The Quality Comics US reprints of 2000 AD characters including Strontium Dog and Rogue Trooper began approximately a year after their original publication runs, offering American readers access to these strips.