2000AD

Still going strong after over 43 years and the only comic left from the halcyon days of the 1970's, apart from Dandy and Beano. And even The Dandy has gone on-line only now.

2000AD was a training ground for some of Britain's best artists and writers like Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland, Alan Moore and Pat Mills. Lots printed, lots survive though pure white pages are scarcer. Loads get offered on eBay UK every week and most are actually what I would call VG or respectable, average, 'read a few times quite carefully' condition. Or occasionally Fine (the next notch up above average VG) condition at best even thought some might claim to be Near Mint. Don't you believe it! Even Very Fine means a very nice looking comic indeed with a couple of minor, minor flaws. And the overwhelming majority of issue #1's have some sort of mark on the cover left by the sellotape fixing the free gift Space Spinner. Or if it's still attached, the sellotape is usually dark and stainy.

An eBay UK sale (Dec 2007) of #1 in VG with no free gift £62. With free gift adds about £30-£50 to the value though this gift is very common.

#2 is vastly outstripping #1 now in value with that difficult free gift to find fully intact and it's the 1st appearance of Judge Dredd. And artist Carlos Ezquerra died on Oct 1st 2018 which was very sad. Aged 70. His cigar-smoking finally got to him.

Near Mint means near flawless with white pages, nothing less than that. A much better free gift is in issue #2, the first appearance of Judge Dredd. The free gift is a sheet of Bionic Stickers and these are hard to find unused. Adds maybe £60-£80 to the value. The free gift Red Survival Wallet in #3 is more common and not a very exciting gift! An interesting auction lot came up on eBay UK end of May 2008 where issues #1 to 10 were offered with free gifts, having been framed and mounted on a wall. Presumably all near Mint, the set sold for a healthy £501. A run of #1 through to #850 with all gifts in high grade sold for £646 on eBay UK Mar 2009. A bargain in my opinion.

Feb 2023: a VG looking copy of the comic with intact sheet of stickers but still corner creased/VG looking fetched £1600 on eBay UK