2000 AD #40
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 40 opens 'The Mega-City 5000,' the two-part Judge Dredd story that introduces Spikes Harvey Rotten — a punk biker whose debut here seeds one of the strip's most emotionally resonant arcs. Spikes begins as a street criminal and ends up a tragic anti-hero in Pat Mills's subsequent 'Cursed Earth' epic, making prog 40 the narrative origin point for that transformation. The issue also features Judge Giant — himself already established as a key supporting character since prog 27 — in a prominent co-starring role that reinforces how deliberately 2000 AD was building a cohesive supporting cast around Dredd barely nine months into the comic's life. Together, the characters introduced and showcased here demonstrate the strip's early ambition to push beyond single-issue action yarns toward serialised, character-driven storytelling.
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Prog 40 was published by IPC Magazines on 26 November 1977, under the editorship of Kelvin Gosnell, with a cover by Kevin O'Neill. The Judge Dredd instalment — Part 1 of 'The Mega-City 5000' — was scripted by John Wagner and drawn by Bill Ward, with lettering by Tony Jacob; it was the only 2000 AD work Bill Ward ever produced, as he was far better known for his 'Good Girl Art' illustration work elsewhere. The issue sits within 2000 AD's first full year of publication, a period when Wagner was actively expanding Dredd's world with recurring characters and longer story frameworks, laying the groundwork for the six-part 'Cursed Earth' epic that Pat Mills would launch in the following year.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Spikes Harvey Rotten, punk biker and leader of the Muties gang, in 'Judge Dredd: The Mega-City 5000 Part 1 of 2' (script: John Wagner; art: Bill Ward; letters: Tony Jacob).
- Published by IPC Magazines, dated 26 November 1977; edited by Kelvin Gosnell; cover art by Kevin O'Neill.
- Judge Giant — created by John Wagner and Ian Gibson, debuting in prog 27 (1977) — co-stars alongside Dredd in the story, chasing Spikes and rival biker Zoot Smiley through the city.
- The name 'Spikes Harvey Rotten' is an unmistakable punk-era reference, echoing Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, reflecting 2000 AD's sharp cultural awareness in 1977; the race plot draws on the film Death Race 2000 (1975).
- Spikes would return roughly 20 issues later as a key companion on Dredd's 'Cursed Earth' mission to deliver a vaccine to the infected citizens of Mega-City Two — making his prog 40 debut the narrative seed of that entire arc.
- Spikes meets a heroic death in 'The Cursed Earth'; Dredd dresses his body in a Judge's uniform for a final charge into the enemy — one of the strip's earliest genuinely affecting character deaths.
- The story from prog 40 was reprinted by Rebellion in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 01, which collects progs 2–60 and has been in print since 2005.
- Bill Ward's art on Part 1 was his sole contribution to 2000 AD; Part 2 in prog 41 was handled by a different artist.
Cast · 3 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Super Force #7 (1981), Sunny Sun #34 (1981), Judge Dredd: The Early Cases #3 (1986), 2000 AD Presents #10 (1987), Janus Stark Special #3 (1987), 2000 A. D. Showcase #31 (1988), Judge Dredd #4/1991 (1991), Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #1 (2005), Invasion! #[nn] (2007), Dan Dare The 2000 AD Years #1 (2015), The Complete Future Shocks #1 (2018)
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