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When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:33 am
by MattG
Any other 2000AD/Judge Dredd fans? I used to get the 2000AD comics weekly, starting even before Star Wars achieved full traction locally. Occasionally, they had some pretty unique Star Wars content, including adverts for Star Wars action figures, vehicles and playsets. In some instances, these were actually illustrated by 2000AD artists (e.g., Brian Bolland), and didn't appear elsewhere (outside of related comic titles).

I'm just in the process of working up an SWNZ article looking at the issues of 2000AD that Kenner/Palitoy action figure advertisements are in, and thought I'd start sharing here as I go along. Here's a really cool one as a starter... an advert for Boba Fett in 3.75" scale, published before the movie came out in 1980 (Prog 160, 12 Apr 1980).

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:29 am
by MattG
This Palitoy advert in Prog 132 (29 Sep 1979) features Brian Bolland art. I love how it captures the simplicity of the actual vintage figures, particularly R2-D2.

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 1:28 am
by MattG
Prog 109, 21 Apr 1979.

Win a day at the filming of the new Star Wars, "The Empire Strikes Back".

Yeah, that would have been okay.

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 3:02 am
by MattG
Prog 125, 11 Aug 1979.

This Palitoy advert was a little smaller on the page, but still very cool. On the back of the comic was a Green Cross Man public service announcement... the Star Wars connection, of course, is that David Prowse played the Green Cross Man through the history of that safety campaign.

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:41 am
by Blaxmyth
Hey Matt

Yes, definitely a fan, although my son is very heavily into it. He's working on a Dredd costume for Wellington Armageddon at the moment. Being a leatherworker he's done it all in leather. His collection of 2000AD trade paperbacks is staggering.

Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:08 am
by MattG
Blaxmyth wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:41 am Yes, definitely a fan, although my son is very heavily into it. He's working on a Dredd costume for Wellington Armageddon at the moment. Being a leatherworker he's done it all in leather. His collection of 2000AD trade paperbacks is staggering.
Nice!

Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:10 am
by MattG
Occasionally, particularly it would seem when associated with a competition, we'd see Star Wars material featured fully on the comic covers.

Such as in Prog 320, 11 Jun 1983, for competition where you could win Return of the Jedi action figures, a Rebel Transport, or a copy of the Star Wars: Jedi Arena video game.

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:14 am
by MattG
And in Prog 166, 21-28 Jun 1980, where the prizes included electronic Battle Command games and large-sized action figures.

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:20 am
by MattG
Every now and then we'd see colour printing used for non-front cover pages.

Prog 268, 12 Jun 1982.

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Re: When 2000AD met Star Wars

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:24 am
by MattG
...and Prog 361, 24 Mar 1984 (which also included a super cool cut-out Rogue Trooper "action figure").

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