Picking up the pieces
Picking up the pieces |
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Page 13 of 38  Twilight World (1883), an Alien influenced tale. Art: Jim Baikie. Script: Steve Moore. The second problem was that American comics were continuing to steal a march on their British counterparts. As we shall see in Chapter 7, in the 1970s and 1980s a fan-scene based on superhero titles emerged, and this grew at a rate proportional to the decline of the newsstand market. So, in order to compete, 2000AD took on more of the look and feel of an American product. Its first overtly superhero strip appeared in 1986, in the form of the very popular 'Zenith' (by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell), while in terms of presentation, the comic now became more of a magazine, with glossy paper and fully painted artwork. At the same time, the pop and rock references were beefed up to appeal to an audience that also read NME (New Musical Express) and The Face. This kind of quotation had always been an element in 2000AD (arguably a hangover from the underground), but in the late 1980s namedropping by pop stars of the comic, and vice versa, reached epidemic proportions: Anthrax advertised their 'I am the Law!' single with a Judge Dredd poster; two ex-members of Madness recorded under the name of the 'Fink Brothers' - a direct 2000AD steal; and Run DMC, Ian Astbury, the Beastie Boys, Motorhead, the Ramones, Zodiac Mindwarp, Transvision Vamp and Gaye Bikers on Acid all claimed to be fanatical devotees. In 1987, the NME was able to comment: '2000AD in the 1980s is to rock what Brylcreem was in the '50s, what drugs were in the '60s, what hair gel was in the '70s.  Warrior |