1995:

Going to the NEC in Birmingham for a comic convention with my dad,I got given £10 and told that I could spend it on anything I want.Looking round,I spotted amongst the comic sellers two huge robots that you could have a photo taken with.Getting on the stage,I was a bit surprised when someone dressed as a futuristic cop joined for the photo.

2016:

Since learning the futuristic cop is Judge Dredd,I have read the occasional issue of 2000AD, and have also been a big fan of the 2012 Dredd movie (although I've still not seen the 1995 film that was getting hyped up at the NEC!) After reading an excellent review from a fellow IMDber about a doc on 2000AD a while ago,I was happy to find out from another IMDber that the doc was on Channel 4's 4OD service,which led to me getting ready to go back to the year 2000AD.

The outline of the doc:

Frustrated over the twee nature of boys British comics, Kelvin Gosnell and Pat Mills decided to create a comic inspired by Punk Rock called Action,which would feature explosive action and hard- edge satirical shots.After gaining a little too much controversy,Action comic was closed down.Wanting to find a way to continue the themes that were started in Action,Gosnell & Mills work with John Wagner to plan a Sci-Fi comic. Believing the comic would be short-lived,Gosnell,Mills and Wagner decide to name the comic:2000AD.

View on the film:

Revealing the foundation from which 200AD came from with news footage and Punk Rock songs,director Paul Goodwin separates the sections of the doc with 3D,slightly animated versions of 200AD artwork,which gives the film a wonderfully pulpy vibe.Whilst the shifts in viewing the history of 2000AD are slightly jarring,Goodwin smooths things over by offering eyefuls of prime cut artwork from 2000AD history.For the interviews,Goodwin covers an impressively wide ground which goes from the creators to those who the comic has inspired (such as film maker Alex Garland,who used 2000AD artist "Jock" to design the main robot in Ex_Machina.) Offering each of the interviewees plenty of breathing space,Goodwin taps into the Punk spirit of the comic,by letting everyone be as blunt as they want on the rise,fall and rise of a comic which has been handing out "justice" for decades.

September 1980: I bought my first Prog of 2000A.D. I was twelve and was immediately blown away by the comic's anarchic mix of sci-fi and ultra violence, a far cry from the childish humour of Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee (my previous reading matter of choice). I ordered every 2000A.D. after that, and purchased back issues wherever I could find them, gradually building a complete collection. I eventually stopped reading when I hit my twenties, but I still own every prog I bought (bagged up and stored away for future reading).

This documentary about the galaxy's greatest comic is aimed at people like me -- those who grew up marvelling at the complex world of Judge Dredd, laughing at the antics of D.R. & Quinch, following the drama and action of Strontium Dog, and loving the twisty tales of Tharg's Future Shocks -- but avid fans familiar with the comic will probably find the potted history and discussion on the publication's social impact rather tedious and not particularly enlightening. That said, for those who worship the likes of Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Carlos Ezquerra and John Wagner, it's interesting to see the comic's creators talk candidly about their work and the conditions under which they slaved to bring us weekly doses of thrill power.

Funnily, the one thing that really struck me about this documentary was the teeth: this isn't a great advert for the British dental industry. Brilliant creative talent we have in spades, but perfect gnashers we don't.

Fun documentary talks to nearly all of the key folks who were part of 2000AD since the beginning, but I'm not sure if this documentary will be of all that much interest to anyone who's not already a fan of the seminal British sci-fi comic. For those unfamiliar, 2000AD was a punk rock comic book at time when comics were mostly routine superheroes and villains, inserting social commentary and controversial topics into a shockingly violent sci-fi stories. Judge Dreddd is the most famous character to come out of the comic, providing an interesting commentary on freedom, justice, democracy, and innumerable other contemporary issues, all set within a future United States that's been devastated by nuclear war and is now comprised of two "Mega Cities" on each coast and a wasteland between the two. In those cities the justice system has been streamlined where the Judges serve as the police, judge, jury, and executioner, issuing out instant justice on the streets. Dredd is less of a character and is more of a vehicle by which a variety of stories can be told around through the rich tapestry that comprises Mega City One. This film is less about Dredd or the major characters and series to come out of the book, but is more about the ups and downs of the comics' 50-plus year history, starting back in the late 1970s. I actually still collect the comic and it's awesome that a number of the original creators of the comic are still regularly creating content for the publication (John Wagner, who co-created Dredd, is still writing stories on a regular basis and is controlling the series main story arc). But on top of that, many of the new generation of popular creators who all grew up reading the original comics and are now the ones making their own cleaver, edgy, original content. It's a lot of fun to put a face and voice to these creators who I've read their names all these years and hear them tell their story of the comic (the most interesting moment in their history is hearing from Neil Gaiman and other how he, Alan Moore, and others left for DC and Marvel in the US, helping rejuvenate dull US comics the same way they did British comics). It's also fun to hear the original creators of the comic and the new generation of writers and artists talk about how the comic is still going strong now because they have embraced being a niche comic and are no longer worried about trying to appeal to a mass audience, as was a tried during a corporate takeover in the 90s that that when horribly wrong. On the downside to this documentary, I was already pretty familiar with the history of 2000AD from a lengthy series of articles included in the Judge Dredd Magazine several years ago, which meant that this documentary didn't provide any new information or new insights. Still, seeing the many creators in person talking about their history with the comic, many of whom have gone on to be icons in the industry, was enough to keep my interest and make this worth watching.