2000 A.D. ANNUAL,1979.

UK,slim Qrto HB,no dw/dj,as issued,1st edn.[Annuals were published for the year's (e,g, 1978) Christmas market and dated with the forthcoming year date,i.e. published 1978 and given Annual date of 1979.] FINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip (£1.10) to ffe.Pictorial colour artwork by O'Neill,illustrated laminated boards; with negligible shelf-wear and no bumping,no splits or tears and no nicks present. Head+foot of spine/backstrip minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing and some scoring to front board.Top+fore-edges toned/aged but contents bright,tight and clean,solid and sound - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - appears unread, apart from my own collation.UK,slim Qrto HB,1st edn,4-127pp includes colour pictorial artwork illustrated front pastedown and free endpaper, b/w artwork illustrated rear free endpaper and rear pastedown,b/w+ colour comic strips,b/w photographs,stories+articles,and a crossword (undone and not attempted).First story/strip: "The Biggest Game of All!",last story/strip: "Guinea Pig". The 2nd Annual in the ongoing series,the first being published a year earlier and fairly uncommon in as good a grade as this is. In the early 1970's,with the traditional British boys comics dying on their feet,Pat Mills and John Wagner were part of a renaissance that began in I.P.C's girl's titles, 'Tammy' and 'Sandie'.'Ella on Easy Street' and 'Back Stab Ballerina' ushered in a new realism in comics,the "soap opera element," as Pat Mills called it.Out of that was to come the new, realistic war comic Battle Picture Weekly,created by both Mills and Wagner,and launched in 1975.Also,in 1976, I.P.C. Magazines launched a wild-child on the news-stands called Action.The winning formula was to take themes that were popular in films and television as a meter for kid's tastes and turn them into colourful,kinetic comic strips. 'Action',originally seen as anti-authoritarian,vicious and dangerous,but it was lifeblood to its audience: against all odds,the circulation began to rise as word spread about the comic with attitude.Once the shape of 'Action' had been moulded and an editor appointed,Pat Mills was invited to create another new title,and was given unprecedented licence and freedom by I.P.C.'s management.The idea for a science fiction comic came from Kelvin Gosnell,fresh out of the company's Competitions department but destined to be 2000A.D's first editor. Gosnell had read an article about SF movies being made in Hollywood. Films such as Rollerball and Logan's Run mixed futuristic adventure with violence in the style of Pat Mill's new vision for comics,and with Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind on the horizon,a science fiction comic was a potential winner.The idea evolved into the seminal 2000AD,a distillation of film and television hits and potential hits, processed by Pat Mills and further distorted with a futuristic twist.If 'Action' was the punk of I.P.C.'s comics,2000AD was Death Race 2000, filled with gutsy,bloody stories that struck a nerve.See also rja1954-rja1963 inclusive. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!
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