An Unexpected Treat!

This dropped through our letterbox today, apparently an unheralded addition to our 2000 AD subscription. It's a facsimile of the original dummy copy of the comic created in 1976 to be presented to the board at IPC for approval. A fascinating piece of history, there are no words in it, just the art for the first installments of the stories that were proposed as the original lineup, which underwent a few changes before the actual first issue came out (Shako and The Visible Man would be held back until later in the first year, while several other strips were redrawn and, in the case of ''Invasion 1988'', actually retitled as just ''Invasion!'' Two other strips listed on the cover, Mission of Murder and The Red Planet, don't actually appear at all inside, or anywhere else).

For comparison, here's the finished cover for 2000 AD 1, published in 1977.

tony ingram wrote:This dropped through our letterbox today, apparently an unheralded addition to our 2000 AD subscription. It's a facsimile of the original dummy copy of the comic created in 1976 to be presented to the board at IPC for approval. A fascinating piece of history, there are no words in it

You mean that this came as a simple printed sheet with your current copy of 2000 AD with no explaination at all, Tony? Nice gift from Rebellion, btw!

Barry_Allen wrote:

tony ingram wrote:This dropped through our letterbox today, apparently an unheralded addition to our 2000 AD subscription. It's a facsimile of the original dummy copy of the comic created in 1976 to be presented to the board at IPC for approval. A fascinating piece of history, there are no words in it

You mean that this came as a simple printed sheet with your current copy of 2000 AD with no explaination at all, Tony? Nice gift from Rebellion, btw!

Not a printed sheet! That's just the cover! They literally sent me the entire dummy comic; several pages of art, just with no captions or speech bubbles.

Sure it is an interesting gift! I'm curious about these two series announced on its cover: Mission of Murder and The Red Planet. Really did they never materialise anywhere?
And this "dummy" comic was sent you bagged with this week 2000 AD?

No, it turned up on its own with no explanation, but in the usual 2000 AD polythene bag. And no, neither of those stories ever materialised. The editorial says they only ever existed in the mind of Tharg.

Interesting that the original title seems to have been AD 2000. Do you know which artist did the cover?

Philip K Ditko wrote:Interesting that the original title seems to have been AD 2000. Do you know which artist did the cover?

No, there's no credit. That information, as well as who did the original Dan Dare centrespread (which also never saw print until now) seems to be a matter for debate, unless Pat Mills can clarify it (and he seems to have severed all ties with 2000 AD).

Can you post a photo of this original Dan Dare centerfold, Tony?