2000 AD in Stages

Harlem Heroes

Basketball meets Rollerball (minus motorbikes, plus jetpacks). Despite having no other obvious narrative link, this story does take place in the Dreddverse, as the team captain (John 'Giant' Clay) is the father of Judge Giant (senior): a compatriot of Dredds who was murdered by Orlok during the Block Mania crisis. Before his murder, he had fathered a son, who is the Judge Giant (junior) currently featuring in many Dredd stories. The sequel (Inferno) simply adds back in the motorbikes, realizing its earlier mistake.

The 1990's soft reboot (set slightly in the future from the original but with no shared characters) throws up a gang of easily identifiable (but attractive) misfits (leader, vixen, driver, tough & hacker) that are forced into service as mercenaries by a shadowy government organization, and then betrayed. Also, they have jetpacks (which very rarely get used in a sport setting). Nobody ever changes their clothes, so if this was presented in smell-o-vision, you wouldn't like it.

The stories starting in 2022 feel like a hard reboot designed to appeal to a younger audience (just like Scrappy Doo), but say they're set in a Dredd-contemporary Mega-City One.

Harlem Heroes
(1977-1978)
The Harlem Heroes
(1990-1995)
Harlem Heroes [reboot]
(2022-2023)

Art by Dave Gibbons, then Kevin Walker

Story Title Parts Pages
w indicates a
wraparound cover
Covers
Year(s) Issues Writer Artist Colourist Letterer
The Harlem Heroes 28 159
671: Kevin Walker
675: Steve Dillon
683: Steve Dillon
684: Steve Dillon
694: Steve Dillon
705: Kev Hopgood
6
1990
Reprints:

M357‑M360, M362 (supplements)
671-676,683-699,701-705
Michael Fleisher
Steve Dillon (P: 1‑25)
Kevin Walker (P: 26‑27; I: 1‑16, 18‑26)
Simon Jacob (I: 17, 27)
Kev Hopgood: 28
various
[b&w] Bambos Georgiou
Supertitled "Harlem Heroes featuring Slice".Death-Sport
5 30 0 1991 745-749 Michael Fleisher Geoff Senior <-- Pat Prentice
Supertitled "Harlem Heroes featuring Silver".Grey Ghost Overflight
4 22 0 1992 776-779 Michael Fleisher Ron Smith [b&w] Mary Green
Supertitled "Harlem Heroes".Cyborg Death Trip
12 73
931: Siku
1
1995 928-939 Michael Fleisher
Kev Hopgood (P),
Siku (I)
various
<-- Ellie de Ville
>> Posters / Teasers <<
Rap Sheet: Silver 1 1 0 1990 671 n/a Steve Dillon <-- n/a
Rap Sheet: Slice 1 1 0 1990 672 n/a Steve Dillon <-- n/a
Rap Sheet: Patrice 1 1 0 1990 673 n/a Steve Dillon <-- n/a
Rap Sheet: Trips 1 1 0 1990 674 n/a Steve Dillon <-- n/a
Rap Sheet: Deacon 1 1 0 1990 675 n/a Steve Dillon <-- n/a
Star Scan.Dex Ruger of Harlem Heroes
1 1 0 1995 933 n/a Kev Hopgood <-- n/a
Star Scan.Jasmine Starr of Harlem Heroes
1 1 0 1995 934 n/a Kev Hopgood <-- n/a
yearepisodespages
197738173
197831138.5
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1991530
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Comic strip data (excludes other content):