Issued in time for Christmas 1980, the annual cover dated the year ahead as was the practice of British comics publishers this was the fourth 2000AD book to hit the stores. Despite it's futuristic promise this was still a bit on the old fashioned side with lower quality paper than the Judge Dredd Book I picked up recently.
Nevertheless there is some good stuff in this book in between the text stories and reprints which take up far too much space in this edition if you ask me. Never mind. Tharg's Future Shocks featuring The Mumps from Beyond the Moon shows exactly how careful one must be when taking your progs back in time! Robusters appear in an untitled story of Droids, bravery and an Aunt who should be obeyed.
Aliens get their comeuppance in The Man From 2000 and playing games are not always as they seem as Duel in the Dunes displays.
The reprints are shrunk too much to fit the format and whilst I have no idea where Smokeman comes from, it was rendered virtually unreadable due to the size of the print. Showing my age? Perhaps! Same problem with Guinea Pig which wasn't worth the effort.
Better off with Judge Dredd in the sad story The Case of the Urban Gorillas. Yeah apes gone terrorist.
Ok so a mixed bag this one. I will try out a couple more. There are 14 hardback annuals to choose from published between 1978 and 1991.
Have to admit I have all the hardback annuals! Although they did get increasingly expensive and thinner as the years went by!
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