Preview: ‘The Complete 2000 AD By Alan Moore: Future Shocks & Other Stories’ Is Essential Reading

Alan Moore‘s legendary work in comics pretty much started at 2000 AD — now it presents a huge collection of that work. Can you say essential purchase?

This is the first of a new series that collects together everything Moore’s ever done for 2000 AD. And there’s rather a lot. And all of it should be considered essential. Indeed, quite a bit of it is just incredible writing, especially when considering this was some of his earliest professional comics work.

Fittingly, the new series begins here with the Future Shocks and Other Stories. I say fittingly because these are some of the first of Moore’s 2000 AD tales, as, just as with so many other writers, these one-off Future Shocks are where writers at 2000 AD cut their teeth.

Now, I’m doing this assuming you know just who Alan Moore is. And seriously, if you don’t know who Moore is and just why he’s the greatest living comic writer, well, you have a bit of catching up to do. Watchmen, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V For Vendetta, Marvelman, The Bojeffries Saga, Swamp Thing, Captain Britain, Lost Girls, Big Numbers, Batman: The Killing Joke, Promethea, Top 10 — and that’s just a sampling. There’s a hell of a lot else besides, so much of it some of the best comics writing you will ever read. That’s in addition to the rest of his 2000 AD work — Halo Jones, Skizz, and DR & Quinch, all of which, presumably, will be in future volumes of this new series of rather impressive books.

His comics career began in the early 1970s and ran pretty much to 2019. Through it all, he transformed just what comics could be. Simply put, there’s no better comics writer than Moore. And I doubt there will be his like again. Genius gets thrown around far too often, but here it’s a perfect description of the man and his work.

However, back to the period of 1980 to 1984, where Moore’s work at 2000 AD began with Future Shocks, Time Twisters, and a few short tales involving Abelard Snazz, Ro-Jaws, Ro-Busters, Tharg the Mighty, Rogue Trooper, and ABC Warriors, all of it collected here in this impressive 260-page first volume.

These shorts were where Moore’s genius first blazed bright, bringing a sensibility, style, and method that were like nothing comics had seen before. In short order, he wrote some of the greatest shorts you’ll ever read in comics, and, unfortunately for those writers that would come after, set an almost impossibly high bar for anyone starting at 2000 AD and making their own Future Shocks. Frankly, it seems rather unfair on those who came after.

So, collected here for the very first time, every single short Moore wrote for 2000 AD, from the very first tale, “A Holiday in Hell”, never republished in English since its publication in the 1980 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special, all the way through to 1984.

Of course, being comics, it’s certainly not all about Moore. After all, he was aided and abetted by a series of quite wonderful co-creators of these strips, with an artist roll call including Dave Gibbons, Ian Gibson, Bryan Talbot, Steve Dillon, Brett Ewins, and Alan Davis.

Simply put, you’re never going to find a collection of short stories as good as this. This is the early work of a master of comics, a writer who, after reinventing how short comics were done, would go on to reinvent the world of comics. Inside, there’s every possible manner of invention at play, Moore’s imagination given free rein, producing a ridiculously high ratio of hits to misses.

But one thing that I think always comes across with quite a high proportion of these shorts is just how funny a writer Moore was/is. It’s so rarely mentioned when people talk about his comics, but here it is, again and again, these shorts have some level of absolute comedic brilliance, the situations and/or characters made deliberately, outrageously silly, and plentiful comedy coming out of it all. Of course, that’s not all you’ll experience here, and there’s plenty of serious, sombre, reflective stuff. But when I remember his short works, I always remember most the absolute invention and the sheer ridiculous nature of it all. It’s a delight to re-read them here all over again.

Of course, Moore has left comics writing behind, disillusioned with the industry — although absolutely never disillusioned by the medium. And any reprinting of his work always comes with a little trepidation. Would it be approved by Moore? We’ve all seen how he’s fallen out with publishers and artists over the years, leading to a refusal to even have his name on many of his most famous works. The reasons for that are many, are complicated, and not for here. But, given that he always wrote for 2000 AD with the understanding that this was simple work for hire, and given that his name is right there — rather large as well — on the front cover and all the strips, I’d trust that this is one that he doesn’t object too much to.

I hope so, as these 260 pages are a masterpiece of comics. Within a very few pages, you get to see how quickly Moore mastered the incredibly difficult skill of writing a comics short, and how quickly he then went on to produce some of the finest examples of the form there’s ever been.

So, get ready to enjoy, be prepared to be amazed, be prepared to have a damn good laugh. Everything in here is worth a read, much of it is of a level few can match. Yes, essential covers this one.

The Complete 2000 AD By Alan Moore: Future Shocks & Other Stories

Written by Alan Moore.

Art by Dave Harwood, Ian Gibson, Brendan McCarthy, John Higgins, Garry Leach, Mike White, Paul Neary, Ron Tiner, Jose Casanovas, Eric Bradbury, Bryan Talbot, Dave Gibbons, Jesus Redondo, Robin Smith, Alan Langford, Jim Eldridge, Alan Davis, John Richardson, Steve Dillon, John Cooper, Joe Eckers, Rafael Boluda Vidal, Brett Ewins.

Letters by Tom Frame, Tony Jacob, Steve Potter, Tim Skomski, Jack Potter, Peter Knight, Dave Gibbons, Paul Bensberg, S Craddock, John Aldrich, Bill Nuttall.

Published by 2000 AD on 8th April 2026

Originally serialised in Progs 170, 176, 189-190, 203, 209, 214, 217, 219, 234, 237-238, 240, 245-247, 249, 251-254, 257, 265, 267-273, 278, 282, 291, 299, 308-310, 315-316, 318, 320, 322, 323-325, 327, 329, 331-332, 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 1980 & 2000 AD Annuals 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985. Originally published between 1980 and 1984.