The Best Of ‘2000 AD’ In 2025: The Fans Have Spoken

Announcing the fan-voted best covers and best stories from 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine for 2025…

Now, you should know that I’m a huge fan of 2000 AD, and I tell you all about it in the Weekly 2000 AD and the Monthly Megazine. I’ve been a regular weekly reader since 2012, coming relatively late to the party, having previously dipped in and out for Judge Dredd, Zenith, and Nemesis over the years. But once I started reading weekly, I was hooked. It’s genuinely the finest weekly read there is, and I won’t stop proselytising about it until you’re all reading it.

Anyway, every year, 2000 AD puts out a poll for the fans to vote for their best covers from 2000 AD and the Megazine, as well as the best stories from the Prog and the Meg. And here, we have the results. Results, might I say, that I’m very much in agreement with. In fact, I voted for three of the four this year. Seriously, me, on the money or what? I’m off to drop my savings on black down at the local casino.

So, here we go….

Favourite 2000 AD Cover of the Year – Prog 2417 by Mark Harrison
2nd – Prog 2430 by Simon Davis
3rd – Prog 2416 by Dave Taylor

Well, I can’t argue with that at all – Mark Harrison‘s cover for ‘The Out’ is just superb. Stylised, iconic, summarising the whole vibe of what is, according to me, one of the very best 2000 AD stories of all time. As for second and third, I’ve no objections there either. Simon Davis and Dave Taylor did spectacular work on those covers. And damn, seeing that Taylor cover, so perfectly done, all that fabulous detail, it makes the loss of the man, the artist, just hit hard yet again.

Favourite Judge Dredd Megazine Cover of the Year: #485 by Laurence Campbell & Chris Blythe
2nd – #476 by Mike Dowling
3rd – #486 by Keith Burns

Again, no objections to this result at all. Laurence Campbell and Chris Blythe crafted a perfect Dredd cover for the 35th anniversary issue of the Megazine. And in Dowling and Burns, we have another couple of greats right there.

Favourite 2000 AD Story of the Year: Red Dragon – by Rob Williams, Steve Yeowell, Patrick Goddard, Dylan Teague, Simon Bowland (Progs 2451-2460)
2nd – Judge Dredd: And To The Sea Return by Rob Williams, Henry Flint and Annie Parkhouse (Progs 2450-2459)
3rd – The Out: Book 4 by Dan Abnett, Mark Harrison and Simon Bowland (Progs 2414-2417)

Now, here’s where I do disagree. As my love of third place, The Out is all-consuming. Having said that, if I were going to pick two stories that got close to it in my reading year, Red Dragon, the exploration of the Zenith supporting character made so real by Williams, Yeowell, Goddard, Treague, and Bowland would come close. And Dredd’s adventures on the edges of MC-1 in ‘And To The Sea Return’ by Williams, Flint and Parkhouse was the very best Dredd of the year.

Favourite Judge Dredd Megazine Story of the Year: Megatropolis Book 2 – by Ken Niemand, David Taylor & Jim Campbell (Megazine #485-487)
2nd – Lawless: A Town Called Badrock by Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade (Megazine #476-478)
3rd – Judge Dredd: Letter From America by Rob Williams, Colin MacNeil, Dylan Teague, Annie Parkhouse (Megazine #485)

Well, I can’t argue any of those picks. Again, Megatropolis gives us the chance to experience just how great Dave Taylor’s art was – such a huge loss to comics. Megatropolis, still running in the Megazine is his finest work, a perfect retro noir reimagining of all things Mega-City One. And of course, Lawless just continues to impress with all the joys of watching Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson deal with all the troubles to be found in a minor settlement in the arse end of Dreddworld. In third place, we have the celebratory Dredd for the 35th anniversary issue of the Megazine, harking back to the classic America series that brought the Megazine into the world.