My Nerdy Life in 100 Geeky Objects #3 - 2000AD Summer Special

#3 - 2000AD Summer Special Supercomic 1977

We’ve already established that I’ve always been a nerd. My mother had me watching James Bond movies on TV, and introduced me to Doctor Who because she liked Jon Pertwee, and my dad had been buying me a weekly comic, which (up until this point) had been either Look-In - due to my obsession with cool stuff on TV - or the aforementioned Super Spider-man and the Titans (see previous post).

I was watching all of the genre TV I could, The New Avengers, Fantastic Journey, Space 1999, I, and The Six-Million Dollar Man. Heck, that series… there was a time we were all running around the school playground pretending to be in slow motion making that ‘dunnunnunnunnunn’ noise. When word went around the school of a new comic in the newsagents that had these stickers that made it look like you had bionic implants, it became the ‘in thing’ and I had to check it out. 

Front cover of 2000AD Issue 2, March 1977

I had a little pocket money every week (I think it was something like 10p or 50p, which was plenty in those days) as long as I did some chores like washing up, so I headed to the big newsagents in town and managed to get a copy of 2000AD, issue 2. It was cool! Of course, the stickers went on my arm, and pulled a load of armhair out when pulled off, and the weird eye sticker that was supposed to go on your forehead like a ‘third eye’ obviously looked better if you stuck it over your own eye… (sticky… and not a great idea, kid). 

Inside were stories of dinosaur hunters, cool air-sport teams of the future, and my favourite - a powered secret agent in the form of MACH-1. It was all great, and it introduced 2000AD’s most iconic character, Judge Dredd. I asked my dad if we could put 2000AD on a standing order at the newsagents (which, of course meant that I had to drop my subscription to Super Spider-man and the Titans). Every Saturday morning, with the morning paper, 2000AD would drop through the letterbox.

We’re all going on a Summer Special holiday

In a clever bit of planning, 2000AD launched their ‘summer specials’ - perfectly designed to give kids something to read over the summer break from school, or to shut them up when they’re on a long journey. I don’t remember which holiday it was we were going on in 1977 - my parents loved going to Scotland and my grandmother usually came with us, so it was probably a trip there. I have a strange memory of my dad gesturing to the comics in the newsagents telling me to pick out something to read for the holiday, and seeing the familiar 2000AD logo, I leapt at the first ever 2000AD Summer Special. Or, ‘Summer Special Supercomic’ as it was called. 

Front cover of the 2000AD Summer Special Supercomic - 1977

I mean, look at that cover. Amazing, and weird! Kinda mesmerising and engaging. It was great, full of new strips of my favourite stories, but there was a double-page spread that really stood out and stuck in my mind. A spread for a little known new movie that would be hitting our shores in the UK soon called Star Wars…

Spread from the 2000AD Summer Special and my first introduction to Star Wars

Droids! Stormtroopers! A mis-credited Han Solo! It was amazing, and I was instantly intrigued. It was just the start of a fandom that would dominate my thoughts for years. But it wouldn’t be until a little later that my obsession really kicked off. That’s for next time…