Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD
Dir: Paul Goodwin
2014
*****
My Wife has been quite stressed out at work recently so I thought I'd surprise her by telling her that I had two ticket to an exciting film Premiere at London's BFI cinema. Her excitement lasted until I told her that it was a documentary about my favourite comic growing up, 2000AD. She trusts me though and luckily for me, she wasn't disappointed and nor was I for that matter. Far from it in fact. I've known 2000AD has had a huge effect on me since my first encounter with it back in 1987 (or there about) but I didn't know quite how far it has been in my conscious until now. I'm not alone it seems. 2000AD isn't just a comic, it is a cultural phenomenon, and that's no exaggeration. Green, 4 foot mohicans aren't punk, 2000AD is. People think Johnny Rotten was at the forefront of punk attitude but 2000AD said so much more in the guise of a simple sci-fi comic book for kids. The Sex Pistols had one album, 2000AD was weekly. Writers, artists, musicians...so many examples of influence can be traced back to 2000AD and one or other of its characters. Judge Dredd is probably the most famous character from the magazine but most people wont realise that he was actually based on Margaret Thatcher. Seriously. Every character and every story (up until the early 90s - an era that we don't like to talk about) was representative of a social situation, with shock and anger the catalyst for creativity. Pretty much every popular comic or graphic novel today has been influenced by its initial tenacity and no other comic (including DC and Marvel) has had quite the revolutionary impact that it has had, in fact, without 2000AD DC and Marvel would be the success they are today as they successfully headhunted all the main writers and artists back in the 80s. The documentary is as thorough as it can be for a 90 minute film and is worthy of the comic's history. My wife knew nothing about the comic but thoroughly enjoyed the film and added that she now feels she knows me (or understands me) just that little bit more because of it. The Q&A session afterwards was an added bonus, it was clear that everyone in the audience was impressed and the high expectations were met. A great little documentary worth seeking out, it's so much more than you might think it is (plus the music and animated sequences are brilliant too).