Fanzines
2000 AD has an extremely lively and thriving fanbase, which has produced a number of independent fanzines.
Between 1994-96, "Fear The Badge" was an erstwhile but overly ambitious attempt at a 2000 AD fanzine based around the Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Robo-hunter universes. With original artwork, stories and articles, the fanzine would act as a showcase for talent wanting to break into comics. Its editor/creator, Paul Dick, partially disabled himself, wanted to donate some of the zine's profits to a different disability charity each month. However, the fanzine's genesis was plagued by bad luck, not least of all Dick's health worsening. Despite the good intentions and hardwork of its creator (as well as the keen interest and support from both amateur and professional 2000 AD contributors), the fanzine's full potential sadly never was realised. Only a dummy run of 50 copies of issue 1 were ever produced.
In 1998 W.R. Logan, frustrated at the lack of activity from the comic's publishers both in promoting the title and also in making best use of new talents, decided to create an independent title using 2000 AD copyrighted characters and situations. This was titled Class of '79, named after the year of Dredd's graduation from the Academy of Law - 2079. The first couple of issues contained work from now-professional comics creators Rufus Dayglo, Boo Cook, Henry Flint and PJ Holden and won the best Self Published/Independent Comic Award at the 1999 National Comics Awards.
In 2001, Andrew J. Lewis created Zarjaz comic, with strips featuring characters from a variety of 2000 AD stories. There were also interviews with Alan Grant, Frazer Irving and Alan Moore, as well as an extensive article on breaking into comics as a writer.
Another long-running fanzine, dedicated to the world of Johnny Alpha, is Dogbreath, originally run by the pseudonymous Dr Bob it is now being produced by FutureQuake Publishing. In 2003, Arthur Wyatt created FutureQuake, a fanzine devoted to the Future Shocks format. Although Class of '79 now appears to be on hiatus, all three of the other titles are in continuous publication, Zarjaz having started up again with a new issue 1.
In addition, a number of small press comics have emerged from the 2000 AD fanbase, including Solar Wind, Omnivistascope and The End Is Nigh.
Read more about this topic: 2000 AD (comics)