Christopher OwensFirst published in 1977, 2000AD remains one of the cornerstones of comics. 

 
Featuring the likes of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Halo Jones, Nemesis the Warlock, DR & Quinch, Zenith, Slaine and Sinister Dexter among others, it made a seismic imprint on the collective psyche and remains essential reading to this day.

With such a history of characters and lengthy service, there’s bound to be a backstory just as gripping. And, alongside the entertaining Future Shock documentary, Be Pure… gives us an eye-opening look at the world of comics, how 2000AD came to be, lost its way and then regained momentum.

Being the creator and first editor of 2000AD, Pat Mills has been involved in comics since the late 60’s, working with Scottish publishers D.C Thomson before going freelance with fellow renegade (and 2000AD creator/collaborator) John Wagner. Mills is also known as a bit of a self-aggrandising loudmouth, which means this has the potential to be a highly entertaining read.

Which it is.

Tracing the anti-establishment roots of 2000AD back to Action, a Mills involved boys comic that was exceedingly violent for the time, (and ended up with one issue being banned due to the cover), the book goes through the creation of some of 2000AD’s most iconic characters, discusses the challenges faced by comic creators, readers and publishers in this day and age (such as page rates being frozen for the last thirty years and publishers not being obliged to pay royalties to creators).

The most illuminating segment is the discussion around the creation of Nemesis the Warlock, an alien leading a resistance against the fascistic human race and their leader, Torquemada (whose catchphrase not only acts as the title for this book, but also ended up on the Berlin Wall). Describing the humans as a mix of racists and the Catholic Church, Mills writes about how they were influenced by his days being taught by De La Salle Brothers and how one in particular (who later gained fame as ‘The Swinging Monk’) was a serial sex abuser.

When this is considered, it’s no wonder Torquemada is the sort of villain readers love to hate. And, in one particular segment when he is riling up his soldiers, he describes them as all being white men now. As others have pointed out, with the rise in National Front activity at the time, to make this link with the villains in a science fiction comic book was incredibly subversive.

In the same vein, his work on Crisis (which was explicitly political and featured contributions from Belfast writer Mal Coney) is discussed and placed in the same lineage as the likes of Maus, V for Vendetta and The Dark Knight Returns. Although his efforts are to be admired (and a recent collection of main strip Third World War has led to a reappraisal), I always found it to be more about the ideology than the tale (there are numerous references to certain deadly weapons being tested on the streets of Northern Ireland during the tale) and some of the choice of song lyrics (particularly from the Dead Kennedys) are a little too didactic, rendering the tale not something to be enjoyed lightly.

Mills is a natural and entertaining raconteur, lacing acidic observations of the current comics landscape alongside his recollections. Where this really comes to the forefront is when talking about the mid 90’s, when sales were falling and the publishers (who had only taken on 2000AD as part of a job lot) were determined to tap into the burgeoning lad culture (Loaded, FHM, Britpop) as a way of replacing the old readership.

Although acknowledging the pressures editorial were under considering those circumstances, Mills airs his belief that the newer editors and writers were doing their best to antagonise, alienate and sideline older creators like Mills. His anger at this is palatable when talking about artist John Hicklenton, who lived with MS for ten years before heading to Dignitas. According to Mills, editors seemed to print letters that would directly attack certain people, with Hicklenton being one due to his art style and, as a result, it affected his livelihood as he stopped getting work and it sent him into a spiral of depression.

Whether there is more to this tale, I cannot say. However, if that is how events went down, then that is a shocking indictment of the treatment of creators and artists. But then, considering original artwork that had been in the 2000AD vaults for years was often used to soak up flooding and as doormats, it’s not a surprise that such a mindset exists.

One story about this period that amused me was, around the time of the (brave, but awful) 1995 adaptation of Judge Dredd for the big screen, the publishers decided to set up a company that would effectively pay for 2000AD characters into other media (such as video games, movies and so on). Mills notes the insanity behind such move, leading to the company making a single pound from selling the rights for a Strontium Dog movie, meaning that creators are lucky to get 17.5p in a royalty statement.

Finishing up by discussing the state of comics in the 21st century, Mills bemoans how the time and effort that was needed to create and craft a story and characters no longer exists due to the low pay and the frequent demand for material. As a result, creators need to go elsewhere to make bread and the story they are working on has to stop for a while, then the strip stops running, people forget what has happened etc etc. It’s an almighty vicious circle that is not going to get better any time soon.

Nonetheless, the success of webcomics and crowd funded campaigns on IndieGoGo and Kickstarter shows that there is still a demand for physical comics out there, but our scatterbrained creative types are going to either have to learn more about business, or align themselves with someone on that front. Indeed, Mills has recently started up another comic so there’s still more to come.

Entertaining, eye-opening and enthusing, Mills is to be saluted for his work in bringing us a side of history that Tharg the Mighty might want to be kept secret.

Pat Mills, 2017, Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!: 2000AD & Judge Dredd: The Secret History Millsverse Books. ISBN-13: 978-0995661233

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist. 

Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!

 
Christopher OwensFirst published in 1977, 2000AD remains one of the cornerstones of comics. 

 
Featuring the likes of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Halo Jones, Nemesis the Warlock, DR & Quinch, Zenith, Slaine and Sinister Dexter among others, it made a seismic imprint on the collective psyche and remains essential reading to this day.

With such a history of characters and lengthy service, there’s bound to be a backstory just as gripping. And, alongside the entertaining Future Shock documentary, Be Pure… gives us an eye-opening look at the world of comics, how 2000AD came to be, lost its way and then regained momentum.

Being the creator and first editor of 2000AD, Pat Mills has been involved in comics since the late 60’s, working with Scottish publishers D.C Thomson before going freelance with fellow renegade (and 2000AD creator/collaborator) John Wagner. Mills is also known as a bit of a self-aggrandising loudmouth, which means this has the potential to be a highly entertaining read.

Which it is.

Tracing the anti-establishment roots of 2000AD back to Action, a Mills involved boys comic that was exceedingly violent for the time, (and ended up with one issue being banned due to the cover), the book goes through the creation of some of 2000AD’s most iconic characters, discusses the challenges faced by comic creators, readers and publishers in this day and age (such as page rates being frozen for the last thirty years and publishers not being obliged to pay royalties to creators).

The most illuminating segment is the discussion around the creation of Nemesis the Warlock, an alien leading a resistance against the fascistic human race and their leader, Torquemada (whose catchphrase not only acts as the title for this book, but also ended up on the Berlin Wall). Describing the humans as a mix of racists and the Catholic Church, Mills writes about how they were influenced by his days being taught by De La Salle Brothers and how one in particular (who later gained fame as ‘The Swinging Monk’) was a serial sex abuser.

When this is considered, it’s no wonder Torquemada is the sort of villain readers love to hate. And, in one particular segment when he is riling up his soldiers, he describes them as all being white men now. As others have pointed out, with the rise in National Front activity at the time, to make this link with the villains in a science fiction comic book was incredibly subversive.

In the same vein, his work on Crisis (which was explicitly political and featured contributions from Belfast writer Mal Coney) is discussed and placed in the same lineage as the likes of Maus, V for Vendetta and The Dark Knight Returns. Although his efforts are to be admired (and a recent collection of main strip Third World War has led to a reappraisal), I always found it to be more about the ideology than the tale (there are numerous references to certain deadly weapons being tested on the streets of Northern Ireland during the tale) and some of the choice of song lyrics (particularly from the Dead Kennedys) are a little too didactic, rendering the tale not something to be enjoyed lightly.

Mills is a natural and entertaining raconteur, lacing acidic observations of the current comics landscape alongside his recollections. Where this really comes to the forefront is when talking about the mid 90’s, when sales were falling and the publishers (who had only taken on 2000AD as part of a job lot) were determined to tap into the burgeoning lad culture (Loaded, FHM, Britpop) as a way of replacing the old readership.

Although acknowledging the pressures editorial were under considering those circumstances, Mills airs his belief that the newer editors and writers were doing their best to antagonise, alienate and sideline older creators like Mills. His anger at this is palatable when talking about artist John Hicklenton, who lived with MS for ten years before heading to Dignitas. According to Mills, editors seemed to print letters that would directly attack certain people, with Hicklenton being one due to his art style and, as a result, it affected his livelihood as he stopped getting work and it sent him into a spiral of depression.

Whether there is more to this tale, I cannot say. However, if that is how events went down, then that is a shocking indictment of the treatment of creators and artists. But then, considering original artwork that had been in the 2000AD vaults for years was often used to soak up flooding and as doormats, it’s not a surprise that such a mindset exists.

One story about this period that amused me was, around the time of the (brave, but awful) 1995 adaptation of Judge Dredd for the big screen, the publishers decided to set up a company that would effectively pay for 2000AD characters into other media (such as video games, movies and so on). Mills notes the insanity behind such move, leading to the company making a single pound from selling the rights for a Strontium Dog movie, meaning that creators are lucky to get 17.5p in a royalty statement.

Finishing up by discussing the state of comics in the 21st century, Mills bemoans how the time and effort that was needed to create and craft a story and characters no longer exists due to the low pay and the frequent demand for material. As a result, creators need to go elsewhere to make bread and the story they are working on has to stop for a while, then the strip stops running, people forget what has happened etc etc. It’s an almighty vicious circle that is not going to get better any time soon.

Nonetheless, the success of webcomics and crowd funded campaigns on IndieGoGo and Kickstarter shows that there is still a demand for physical comics out there, but our scatterbrained creative types are going to either have to learn more about business, or align themselves with someone on that front. Indeed, Mills has recently started up another comic so there’s still more to come.

Entertaining, eye-opening and enthusing, Mills is to be saluted for his work in bringing us a side of history that Tharg the Mighty might want to be kept secret.

Pat Mills, 2017, Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!: 2000AD & Judge Dredd: The Secret History Millsverse Books. ISBN-13: 978-0995661233

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist. 

3 comments:

  1. Christopher - you have managed to get through some crazy stuff in your reading odyssey! Things I have never dreamt about, you have suddenly made interesting. Myself and Alfie Gallagher were having a chat about some of the material you read yesterday. Your reviews have been a gateway to new literary areas for him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AM,

      what a humbling comment to read. Thank you for that.

      I remember, after I submitted my first review (Malachi's bio of GA), asking you about what sort of books would you prefer to be reviewed on here and your answer was that you would accept anything. So I've taken that to heart when writing reviews.

      Delete
    2. We have a penchant for literature here, something shared with yourself. We appreciate a discussion of all manner of books. And, not to forget, you opened up our Booker's Dozen slot. The blog has benefited immensely from your presence.

      Delete