Story: The Falucci Tape
Appears: 2000AD Progs 461-463
Issues: 3
Writers: John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art: Cam Kennedy
Dated: 15 March 1986 to 29 March 1986
For a kid’s comic this is a very sophisticated thriller. The three issues give it plenty of time to twist and turn and establish a plethora of layers and nuances. There is an emotional story at its core and whilst nothing in the mega-city has a happy ending this does have a certain warmth to it.
Story: Letter From a Democrat
Appears: 2000AD Prog 460
Issues: 1
Writers: John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art: John Higgins
Dated: 8 March 1986
Contrast this story with the previous one. Plot wise they are virtually identical. But narratively this is so much more sophisticated and emotional. Previously you would have been on the side of the Judges and now you have real empathy for the protestors. Maybe the two stories were deliberately juxtaposed to illustrate the “one man’s freedom fighter…” adage.
This tiny tale is the birth of a significant storyline that will appear in the future.
Story: Last Voyage of the Flying Dutchman
Appears: 2000AD Prog 459
Issues: 1
Writers: John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art: Bryan Talbot
Dated: 1 March 1986
It’s great to see art from Bryan Talbot who does a magnificent job on such a brief canvas.
A suicide group wants to crash a flying ship into a tall building. That’s quite prophetic. With a single issue we don’t get anything other than action however. Unlike the next Prog.
Story: The Secret Diary of Adrian Cockroach
Appears: 2000AD Prog 458
Issues: 1
Writers: John Wagner and Alan Grant
Art: Cam Kennedy
Dated: 22 February 1986
This is simply a call out, although a reasonably well constructed one, to the popular books and TV series Adrian Mole that would have been around at the time. It is filler but it quirky enough not to be boring.
My Dreddful Year 