2000 AD #38

Prog 38 of 2000 AD hits newsstands in November 1977 with a genuinely unsettling cover by Trevor Goring — a massive, serpentine alien creature rears its fanged head against a full moon backdrop, while a lone astronaut figure and a spherical spacecraft occupy the rocky, desolate surface below, dwarfed by the beast's coiling, clawed body. The bold "KILLER ROCK!" cover tease promises something wild lurking in this issue's sci-fi anthology lineup, which includes "Inferno, Part 3," brought to life by writer John Wagner and artist Ian Gibson. At just 9p Earth money, this weekly slice of British comics imagination was already delivering the kind of raw, inventive energy that made 2000 AD a cornerstone of the genre.