2000 AD: A Visual History Celebrates 50 Years of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic

Crusaders, fifty years of 2000 AD is a ridiculous amount of comics history to fit between two covers, but Rebellion is giving it a shot with 2000 AD: A Visual History 1977-2027. The oversized hardcover lands January 27, 2027 as part of the comic’s 50th anniversary celebration, and this one is digging past the finished pages to show how the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic actually evolved over five decades.

Written by Scott Montgomery, author of The 2000 AD Encyclopedia, the book moves year by year through the anthology’s history with rare sketches, test pages, character designs and newly rescanned artwork from original boards. The creator list alone tells you the kind of archive Rebellion is opening up here, with work connected to Brian Bolland, Kevin O’Neill, Simon Bisley, Dave Gibbons, Carlos Ezquerra and a whole lot more.

That matters because 2000 AD did not just give British comics readers Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, Sláine and Nemesis the Warlock. It became a launchpad and proving ground for creators whose work would reshape comics on both sides of the Atlantic. The design language, satire, violence, politics and sheer “we do not give a damn if this makes you comfortable” attitude became part of the book’s identity almost immediately after its 1977 debut.

The standard edition will arrive as an oversized hardcover, while the 2000 AD webshop will carry an exclusive slipcase edition featuring new Pris Bampoh artwork of Tharg the Mighty at work in the Nerve Centre. For collectors, the original-art scans and behind-the-scenes production material are probably the real hook because that is the stuff you usually only see scattered across exhibitions, creator archives and old interviews.

2000 AD: A Visual History 1977-2027 publishes January 27, 2027. You can find more information through 2000 AD, and if you give a damn about how modern comics learned to get louder, stranger and meaner, this is one history book worth keeping on the radar.