Blog-a-Prog... VIII

A comic can live or die on the strength of its cover.

Some truly great covers graced the pages of 2000AD between the summers of 2009 and 2010. It is a shame that 2000AD still seems to struggle to gain real estate space in newsagents, because with the quality of these covers they would have been leaping off the racks.

Selecting the Top 5 covers from Prog 1650-1699 was much more difficult than I had anticipated, but a geek-worthy task that only a select few would understand. My wife, for example, was sitting across the desk from me, watching as I sipped my tea and began laying out 50 comics across the desk in front of me. My wife could not help but chuckle as I agonized over the comics, arranging them and rearranging them. Eliminating and cross-checking. She might have chuckled, but I was deadly serious.

Take a look at some of the covers that didn't make the cut, such was the competition.

Judge Dredd is featured on so many covers that a Dredd-cover might struggle to impress, especially to the desensitized long-term geek, but not so with Progs 1653 and 1659. They both convey the character effortlessly.

I'm a real fan of Simon Fraser's art and it was difficult indeed, for me not to sneak him into my Top 5 Covers; especially difficult when you consider his trio of Dante covers (Progs 1651, 1679 & 1685.

I've been a slow convert to Dan Abnett's Kingdom, and yet there is no denying that Prog 1652's 'Born to be Wild' cover is a vintage 2000AD. And, speaking of vintage 2000AD, how about Prog 2010! How does a Cliff Robinson classic as great as this one, not make the Top 5? For that matter, how do covers as dramatic as a zombie-Johnny Alpha on Prog 1689 and the devil himself on Prog 1655 not make the cut?

Clint Langley's wrap-around ABC Warrior art on Progs 1670 & 1674, and his "Make Waste. Not War" Ro-Jaws on Prog 1667 are each as arresting as the last; the eyes glare back at you, defying you not to pick up the Prog and start reading.

But they didn't make the Top 5 either. So what did...

Listening to: 'Permanent Vacation' - Aerosmith