2000 AD [Christmas Annual] #2007
2000 AD Prog 2007 (the Christmas Special for 2006, slotted between regular progs 1517 and 1518) stands as a significant bookend to one of the most creatively fertile periods in the comic's history. Most notably, it served as the debut vehicle for Kingdom, Dan Abnett and Richard Elson's post-apocalyptic series starring Gene the Hackman — a genetically engineered dog-soldier protecting sleeping humanity from giant insect invaders — marking the first appearance of a strip that would run across multiple acclaimed series throughout the following decade. The issue also sat squarely within the window of John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's landmark 23-episode Origins epic, which was running in the regular progs at precisely this time to celebrate thirty years of Judge Dredd, finally filling in the long-unresolved backstory of Mega-City One's founding, President Booth's atomic war, and the cadet years of Joe and Rico Dredd. Across its pages, Prog 2007 united some of 2000 AD's most enduring strips — ABC Warriors, Sinister Dexter, and Nikolai Dante — in a single oversized seasonal package at a moment when Rebellion-era 2000 AD was arguably at its most confident.
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Like all of 2000 AD's year-numbered Christmas Specials, Prog 2007 was published in late 2006 and inserted into the weekly sequence between regular Prog 1517 and Prog 1518, continuing the tradition of oversized holiday issues that the comic had maintained since its earliest years under IPC and Fleetway. The issue appeared under the editorship of Matt Smith, who had been steering the comic since 2002 under Rebellion Developments — the company that had acquired 2000 AD from Egmont/Fleetway in 2000. The Christmas Special format gave strips room to breathe outside the weekly serialisation pace, and Prog 2007 used that space to premiere Kingdom while also delivering standalone or bridging chapters of ongoing titles, a formula that had been standard practice for these numbered holiday issues throughout the Rebellion era.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Prog 2007 is a Christmas Special issue inserted between regular weekly progs 1517 and 1518, published in late 2006 by Rebellion under editor Matt Smith.
- The issue contains the debut installment of Kingdom, written by Dan Abnett and drawn by Richard Elson — the first appearance of Gene the Hackman, a genetically engineered dog-soldier (an 'aux') who fights giant insect creatures called 'Them' while humanity hibernates in suspended animation.
- The Kingdom series' entire subsequent run — spanning multiple multi-part stories through 2011 and beyond — traces its origin to this Christmas Special debut.
- Sinister Dexter, Dan Abnett's future-crime strip starring gun sharks Finnigan Sinister and Ray Dexter, contributed a standalone Christmas episode ('Christmas Time') to the issue, illustrated by Simon Davis.
- The issue falls squarely within the publication window of John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's Origins (2006–2007), a 23-episode Judge Dredd epic written to mark thirty years of the strip, which explored the cadet years of Joe and Rico Dredd, Chief Judge Goodman's overthrow of President Robert Booth, and the founding of the Judge system — characters that are indexed in this issue.
- ABC Warriors characters Hammerstein, Blackblood, Deadlock, Joe Pineapples, Mongrol, Mek-Quake, and Steelhorn all appear, representing the Pat Mills-created robot-soldier series that had run in 2000 AD since prog 119 (1979).
- Stories from 2000 AD Christmas Specials such as this one were later collected in the Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files trade paperback series, a four-volume set published by Rebellion between 2010 and 2012.
- Tharg the Mighty — 2000 AD's fictional alien editor and long-running in-universe mascot — is also indexed as a character, consistent with his ongoing appearances in his own strips within the comic's holiday and special issues.