Posted in: Comics, Rebellion / 2000AD | Tagged: 2000ad, comicspro, mcm, Starlord

More Big Books From 2000 AD Shown Off At MCM And ComicsPRO

More big books from 2000 AD and Rebellion Publishing shown off at MCM London Comic Con and the ComicsPRO retailer event

At MCM London Comic Con, at the ComicsPRO presentation, Rebellion/2000 AD was giddy about next year's fiftieth anniversary of 2000 AD and Judge Dredd, and had lots to show off. Bleeding Cool previously reported confirmation and details about the Dave Gibbons 2000 AD Apex Edition, details of Rogue Trooper collections relations to the movie, Judge Dredd in DC Comics' Compact format, the upcoming 2000 AD #2500, Judge Dredd #500, the 2000 AD 2027 Annual and Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's Zenith as a Full Colour Omnibus. But that's not all, they also showed off the Treasury Of British Comics 2027 Annual,  Starlord: The Archival Collection and for the first time, confirmation of the Action Before The Ban Vol 2 for April 2017. Take a look…

• Treasury Of British Comics 2027 Annual, 112 pages, hardback, £25, 25th of November 2026.
  Reprinting an assortment of astounding comics from the pages of Action, Misty, 2000 AD, Tiger, Boy's World, Buster, Monster Fun, Valiant, Hurricane, Whizzer & Chips and more! New stories include Helmet Head & Janus Stark by Stephen Brotherstone, David Lawrence and Laurent Lefeuvre, Robot Archie Vs Vanessa From Venus by David Roach and Emily Roach, Black Beth by Alec Worley and Aly Fell, Death Wish by Rich Pinn and Shane Connery Volk and a new cover by Mike Perkins.

• Starlord: The Archival Collection Vol 1, 448 pages, hardback, £54.99, 19th of Novcember, 2026
  In 1978, 2000 AD launched a weekly sister comic aimed at an older audience and boasting higher production values – its name was Starlord.A plethora of the best comics writers and artists in the UK ensured the new series was a success. These included 2000 AD's creator, Pat Mills; co-creators of Judge Dredd, John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra; future Watchmen artist, Dave Gibbons; legendary 2000 AD and Batman writer, Alan Grant; and The Ballad of Halo Jones co-creator, Ian Gibson. Despite outselling 2000 AD, it was merged into the galaxy's greatest comic after just 22 issues. Against the policy of the time, 2000 AD was the title that was kept. But the legacy of Starlord lives on with its standout strips Strontium Dog and Ro-Busters (a fore-runner of A.B.C Warriors) occupying a place in the hearts of many comic readers to this day. This book collects Starlord starzines 1-12 and the Starlord Summer Special.

• Action: Before The Ban Vol 2 384 pages, hardback, £44.99, April 2027
  FAST! FIERCE! FANTASTIC!The celebration of Britain's most anarchic comic continues in this second explosive volume of Action, which collects issues 13 through to 24. From the skull-cracking secret agent, Dredger, to the mankind-hating Hook Jaw, its easy to see why Action captivated a whole generation of kids. This volume includes the dramatic conclusion of The Running Man, and the start of two new thrilling strips; Hell's Highway and the brutal, future sport tale, Death Game 1999.

Action was originally published by IPC Magazines from early 1976 to late 1977, devised Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp. An anthology weekly comic, it was aimed at older boys, was deliberately edgy and reflective of 1970s Britain amid economic turmoil, punk, football hooliganism, and films like Jaws. It featured gritty, violent, anti-authoritarian stories that broke from the more traditional, heroic tone of contemporaries like Valiant or Battle Picture Weekly, and strips included Hook Jaw, Dredger, Hellman of Hammer Force, Look Out for Lefty and Kids Rule O.K,. in which teens take over the country after a plague kills adults, leading to gang warfare and anarchy. It became IPC's top-selling comic with sales of around 180,000+ copies a week. However, its graphic violence sparked a moral panic, condemned by the press with pressure from parent groups, newsagents and parliamentary debate. IPC withdrew the comic from sale in mid-October 1976, pulping the already-printed issue of 23rd October, 1976. It returned in December 1976 heavily sanitised, with toned-down violence and more traditional heroes, but lost readers fast. It ran until late 1977, then merged into Battle (forming Battle Action briefly). It directly inspired the launch of 2000 AD in 1977, also by Pat Mills, using science fiction to present hard-hitting stories that wouldn't scare the tabloid horses.

In 1978, in the light of the success of 2000 AD and a rise in sci-fi films and TV shows, IPC Magazine launched a sister weekly comic to 2000 AD called Starlord. Itt promised higher production values, more colour, better paper stock, and stories aimed at a slightly older audience – and cost slightly more. The result? It lasted for 22 issues and merged with 2000 AD, giving us the comic 2000 AD And Starlord for a few months. Created by Kelvin Gosnell, who was also editing 2000 AD at the time, Starlord writers and artists included  Pat Mills, John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, Dave Gibbons, Alan Grant, and Ian Gibson.  Strontium Dog, created by John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra, is about the adventures of Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter with the ability to see through walls and read minds, navigating a prejudiced future Earth and the galaxy beyond. Johnny's tragic backstory, sharp wit, and moral code joined 2000 AD after Starloird was cancelled. As did Ro-Busters, created by Pat Mills, about a disaster-response team of misfit robots led by the crude but lovable sewage droid Ro-Jaws and the militaristic Hammerstein. What started as action-adventure evolved into dark satire and later fed directly into A.B.C. Warriors. Other notable strips included Mind Wars, Planet of the Damned, Timequake, and Holocaust. At MCM/ComicsPRO, Rebellion/2000AD announced they are to collect the entire run of Starlord, all 22 issues in a a series of hardcover volumes, beginning in November.

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