2000 AD crossovers are crossover stories appearing in British comic 2000 AD, its sister title the Judge Dredd Megazine, and other related output, such as novels, audio plays, films and role-playing games.
Not all of the stories told in 2000 AD and its related publications exist in the same shared universe, unlike in some other comics, for example, the DC and Marvel Universes. Indeed the majority of stories which have appeared in 2000 AD since 1977 have never been connected with each other. However, the series which are so connected are generally the most significant ones in the comic in terms of the number of issues they have appeared in, their popularity with readers, and their significance in the history of the comic.
Stories set in a shared universe Those 2000 AD stories which occupy a shared universe and have crossed over with each other include:
ABC Warriors Durham Red Flesh Harlem Heroes Invasion! Judge Dredd Nemesis the Warlock Ro-Busters Rogue Trooper Mercy Heights Strontium Dog Young Middenface
Connections between stories Series can be linked to each other in either of two ways: crossovers and spin-offs. There are also combinations of both.
Crossovers Firstly, series which were completely independent of each other when they were created – often by different writers, and sometimes even in different comics – were later linked to each other. This could be done either by a crossover story in which two or more characters from the respective series meet each other, or by a caption or piece of dialogue explicitly referring to events which occurred or characters who appeared in an earlier story in another series. Two examples of the former kind are the Judge Dredd stories "Top Dogs" and "Judgement Day", which both featured Johnny Alpha from the series Strontium Dog in a major role. Alpha lived over half a century in Dredd's future, and the crossover was accomplished by having Alpha time-travel back to Dredd's era. An example of the second kind is the Judge Dredd story "The Cursed Earth," which featured a dinosaur called Satanus who was described as the clone of the offspring of the female dinosaur which had appeared in most episodes of the earlier series Flesh. Flesh was a previously unconnected series about humans time travelling back to the Cretaceous era to harvest dinosaurs for their meat.
Sometimes the link between two series can be of paramount importance to the story (such as Alpha's appearance in Judge Dredd); in other stories the reference can be a passing homage to an earlier tale with no effect whatsoever on the plot of the story in which it occurs (such as the reference to Satanus' ancestry in "The Cursed Earth"). In either case, once a connection between two series was established, it was often repeated. For example, "Top Dogs" was followed up by "Judgement Day," and the reference to Flesh in Judge Dredd was reciprocated by the cameo appearance of a Mega-City judge in Nemesis the Warlock Book V, which was itself a crossover with Flesh because it featured Satanus in a major role.
This latter example illustrates how series were not just linked to each other in pairs, but in multitudes. Pat Mills, the first editor of 2000 AD and creator of many enduring series, was responsible for many such connections. He deliberately connected his own series ABC Warriors to Flesh, and then linked Nemesis to both. (All three series were created by him, but they had originally had nothing to do with each other.) For example, ABC Warriors made a passing reference to a dinosaur being the son of Satanus. Satanus himself subsequently played an important part in Nemesis Book V, by which time the entire cast of ABC Warriors had themselves moved to the Nemesis strip. This therefore established that Judge Dredd, Flesh, Nemesis, and ABC Warriors all existed in the same continuity: a list which would be added to many more times.
Spin-offs Secondly, a new series can be created as a deliberate offshoot from a parent series. This can also occur in two ways. One method was to take a supporting character from an existing series and start a new series with that character in the lead (sometimes with the lead character from the original series appearing in a cameo). Two examples are Judge Anderson, first introduced in Judge Dredd, being given her own series, Anderson: Psi Division, five years later; and Durham Red getting her own series after her debut in Strontium Dog. Since Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog occupy the same universe, it follows that Anderson and Red do too (although they have never both appeared in the same story).
Another method was to create a brand new character for a new series, but to state from the outset that the story took place in an existing environment from an established strip. Most of the series in the Judge Dredd Megazine were created in this way. In 2000 AD The 86ers was a series set in the world of Rogue Trooper which did not feature the established cast of its parent strip.
Early issues
In the earliest issues and annuals, connections and crossovers would link up many of the earliest strips. The most prominent examples are Harlem Heroes ending and then the lead character's son turning up as a cadet judge in the next issue; The Cursed Earth linking Dredd's future to Flesh with Satanus, the cloned son of tyrannosaur One-Eye; and ABC Warriors starting as a prequel to Ro-Busters, a sequel to Invasion!, and then introducing a sequel to Flesh and The Cursed Earth with Satanus's son. Minor links included Ro-Jaws watching the Harlem Heroes and a comrade of Hammerstein referring to the under-construction Mega-City One in Ro-Busters flashbacks; a Mega-City Time Tour feature in an annual, where Flesh corporation Trans-Time offered holidays to both 2103 Mega-City One and 1999 Volgan-occupied England.Reprinted in Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files vol. 4
Rogue Trooper The series Rogue Trooper was both a crossover and a spin-off from itself. The original series ran in 2000 AD from issues 228 to 635, when it ended. A completely new series of Rogue Trooper then began in issue 650, by a different writer. This was not intended to be a sequel to the old version, but was a brand new, modernised reinterpretation of the character, with significant differences from the old version. It was not supposed to be set in the same universe or continuity, but was a total replacement (or "reboot") of both. However, years later and in the hands of a new writer, a story was written which established that the new and old Rogue Troopers were two different people inhabiting the same universe, and a convoluted continuity was contrived to explain their co-existence. In an unusually complicated crossover, the two Rogue Troopers actually met each other. This state of affairs did not continue for long, however, and the old version was killed off. Ironically, the new version declined in popularity and the strip was discontinued, only to be replaced with the original version, in stories set before the original's death.
There have been a number of less complicated Rogue Trooper spinoffs largely following the adventures of the other G.I.s, like Venus Bluegenes, Rafaelle Blue and Tor Cyan. The new version of Rogue met Judge Dredd in a special story which took up the whole of issue 900 (the first time this had ever happened in what is usually an anthology comic containing five stories per issue).
Laissez-faire approach While 2000 AD writers and editors have generally ensured that events occurring in spin-offs and their parent series are usually mutually consistent with each other, so that events in one such strip do not contradict events in another, much less care – if any – is taken to ensure a uniform continuity between crossover series. Therefore, while events which occur in the Anderson, Psi Division spin-off may have repercussions in Judge Dredd and vice versa, the continuity of Strontium Dog might be ignored.
This can even occur within the crossover story itself: in "Judgement Day" Johnny Alpha travelled back in time from 2178 to 2114 to arrest a time-travelling criminal so he would not wipe out Earth (and thus, the future). The death of three billion people and destruction of five whole mega-cities then seemed to have no impact on Alpha's era. It was never explained in the story how an event as significant as a world war did not appear to be remembered by history in Alpha's era. On top of that, the future history of Strontium Dog bears little resemblance to Dredd, with no mega-cities and mutants as an underclass in 'norm' cities in 2150. (The Americans in Judge Dredd Megazine no. 283 implied that Strontium Dog's nuclear war will occur in 2150, but this was a MacGuffin to drive the story forward.)
In these cases, the crossover is not a serious attempt at world-building and continuity, simply a means of having two popular characters meet. Writer John Wagner has even stated that he does not view Strontium Dog and Judge Dredd as being in the same continuity.Wagner's Facebook page, statement in reply to a November 6, 2009 comment
Writers have also changed their minds over time. In the 2000s ABC Warriors stories, there is no attempt at fitting the Volgan War into Dredd's timeline or Harlem Heroes (but he does refer to Nemesis The Warlock in Dredd: Blood of Satanus II, in order to declare Satanus Unchained out of canon). Other writers have also made no mention of this, and generally do not link up non-Dredd strips. It is also a habit of writers who created a strip to ignore the work of others if they feel like it. The John Wagner story Origins refers to Pat Mills' Dredd stories but makes no attempt to acknowledge Invasion!, ABC Warriors, and Ro-Busters (or Harlem Heroes); The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha acknowledges and retcons his death under Alan Grant, but deliberately erases Strontium Dogs (with a narrator calling Peter Hogan's strips the work of "notorious fantasist Ho Gan"). In the sequel series Savage, Mills acknowledges the original Invasion! (to the extent that there's a King Charles III in the 2000s, just as prog 1 said) but ignores the prequel strip Disaster 1990!. And while Harlem Heroes was linked to Dredd, the sequel strip Inferno was left separate until Al Ewing's Dredd Year One: Wear Iron novella.
Crossovers As most of the 2000 AD crossovers occur on the same timeline, not in parallel universes, the majority of crossovers take place thanks to the widespread, but temperamental, time travel technology that was invented at the beginning of the 22nd century.
Stories by Pat Mills Pat Mills was responsible for the majority of the crossovers.
Judge Dredd: "The Cursed Earth" introduced the dinosaur Satanus and linked Judge Dredd to Flesh.Mills, Pat (2017) Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! 2000AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History (Millsverse Books), p. 103 ABC Warriors: "Golgotha", in the first series, featured the son of Satanus and linked ABC Warriors to Flesh. Nemesis the Warlock: "Book IV: The Gothic Empire" introduced both the ABC Warriors and the Ro-Jaws character from Ro-Busters to Nemesis. "Book V: The Vengeance of Thoth" featured the return of Satanus in a major role, and a cameo by a judge of Mega-City One, linking Nemesis to Flesh and Judge Dredd. In a later Dredd strip by Mills, Dredd referred to Satanus' return to the Cretaceous in Nemesis (how he knew about it was not explained). Judge Dredd: "Hammerstein" featured ABC Warrior Hammerstein in the Cursed Earth outside Mega-City One, following the Atomic Wars started by President Booth in 2070. This linked ABC Warriors to Judge Dredd, in addition to the existing Satanus connection. (This link was retconned away in other strips.)