Story: The Stupid Gun
Appears: 2000AD Prog 316-318
Issues: 3
Script: John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art: Ron Smith
Dated: 15 May 1983 to 21 May 1983

This is a brilliant tale and not least in its innovative telling. It begins with a juve and his internal monologue. But you quickly realise he is actually recording a video. This predates the YouTube generation by decades but predicts it wonderfully.

The device of the Stupid Gun, the descent of poor Eck into crime and the way criminals have a knack of perverting anything new to their ends are all fantastic ideas superbly delivered. The Runaway train adds a climactic final act too.

Ron Smith’s art is superb as his exaggerated faces are perfect for the moronic victims of the Stupid Gun. His rendering of the Mega-city combines futurist, gothic and art deco to create a wonderfully characterful landscape.