Editing 2000 AD (comics) (section)

==== The opening line-up ====

''[[Dan Dare]]'' was extensively revamped to make it more futuristic. In the new stories he had been put into suspended animation and revived in the year 2177. Several artists were tried out before Mills settled on Italian artist [[Massimo Belardinelli]], whose imaginative, hallucinatory work was fantastic at visualising aliens, although perhaps less satisfying on the hero himself. The scripts were endlessly rewritten in an attempt to make the series work, but few ''Dan Dare'' fans remember this version of the character fondly. Belardinelli and Gibbons later switched strips, with Gibbons drawing ''Dan Dare'' and Belardinelli drawing the ''Harlem Heroes'' sequel ''Inferno''. When Gibbons took over ''Dan Dare'' in prog 28 the strip was refashioned as a ''Star Trek''-style space opera.

Mills had also created ''[[Harlem Heroes]]'', about the future sport of aeroball, a futuristic, violent version of basketball with jet-packs. Similar future sport series had been a fixture of ''[[Action (comic)|Action]]'', and the similarly themed film [[Rollerball (1975 film)|''Rollerball'']] had been released the previous year. Wanting to give the new comic a distinctive look, Mills wanted to use European artists, but the work turned in on ''Harlem Heroes'' by [[Trigo (comics)|Trigo]] was disappointing. Veteran British artists [[Ron Turner (artist)|Ron Turner]] and [[Barrie Mitchell]] were tried out, but the newcomer [[Dave Gibbons]] won the editor over with his dynamic, American-influenced drawings and got the job. Mills wrote the first five episodes before handing the strip to ''[[Roy of the Rovers]]'' writer [[Tom Tully (comic writer)|Tom Tully]].

The other opening strips were ''[[M.A.C.H. 1]]'', a super-powered secret agent inspired by ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]''; ''[[Invasion! (2000 AD)|Invasion!]]'', about a "Volgan" (thinly disguised and originally billed as Soviet, but changed before printing to a "neutral" antagonist) invasion of the United Kingdom opposed by tough London lorry driver turned [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] fighter Bill Savage; and ''[[Flesh (comics)|Flesh]]'', a strip about [[Time travel|time-travelling]] cowboys farming [[dinosaur]]s for their meat.

After 16 issues, Mills quit as editor and handed the reins to [[Kelvin Gosnell]], whose idea the comic had been in the first place. Gosnell also appeared as the fall guy in the ''[[Tharg the Mighty]]'' comedy [[Fumetti|photostrips]] that were a feature of the comic in its early years.