The 2000AD Encyclopedia

Scott Montgomery Rebellion Publishing, 2022 Hb, pp336, £39.99, ISBN: 9781786185617

When I started reviewing comics for Fortean Times I made a couple of little personal rules – like not reviewing books about

comics – but rules are meant to be broken, right? And if you’re going to break a rule, it’s worth doing for something as extensive and detailed as the 2000AD Encyclopedia.

To research a book like this is a mammoth task. 2000AD has been running weekly for 45 years, with many short-lived strips alongside long-running stories such as the ubiquitous ‘Judge Dredd’. The Encyclopedia also features work from the Judge Dredd Megazine,

making the job even more daunting.

Scott Montgomery has done a fantastic job of surveying the title’s long history and distilling the details into a series of extensive ‘situation reports’, with summaries of characters, stories, and the best jumping-in points. As well as major players like Dredd, Sláine, and Nemesis the Warlock, you will also find features on much loved characters such as Chopper and Zenith, as well as more recent strips like ‘Counterfeit Girl’. There are also many, many judges.

While you would need an encyclopædic knowledge to even begin to fact check a volume such as this, I find it’s useful to look up personal favourites. I was pleased to see well written entries on Peter Milligan and Jamie Hewlett’s ‘Hewligan’s Haircut’ (sorry, I’m a Nineties kid), the more recent Brit-Cit story ‘Storm Warning’ by Moore, Reppion and Foster, and ‘London Calling’ (an excellent story by Si Spurrier and Lee Garbett featuring Black Shuck amongst other folkloric treats).

The design is excellent and the Encyclopedia is extensively illustrated throughout. Of course, there are spoilers galore, but as a way of discovering half-remembered gems as well as diving back into the back catalogue of 2000AD this is a must for any fan of this stalwart of British comics.