A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology , such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses , particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance ; or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or teleportation . Although many people believe in psychic abilities , the scientific consensus is that there is no proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience .
167-637: ABC Warriors is a feature in the UK comic-book series 2000 AD written by Pat Mills . It first appeared in program (issue) 119 in 1979 and continues to run as of 2018. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill , Mike McMahon , Brett Ewins , and Brendan McCarthy , who among them designed the original seven members of the team. Since then, they have been illustrated primarily, though not exclusively, by Bryan Talbot , Simon Bisley , SMS , Kevin Walker , Henry Flint and Clint Langley . The A.B.C. Warriors are
334-402: A mutant bounty hunter created by Wagner and Ezquerra, and Ro-Busters , a robot disaster squad created by Mills. Ro-Busters gave O'Neill the chance to spread his artistic wings and led to the popular spin-off ABC Warriors . Strontium Dog and ABC Warriors continued to feature in 2000 AD for the next 40 years. (A third Starlord series, Timequake , only lasted for four episodes and
501-466: A police state . This would provide plotlines for years to come. In 1986 the comic reached its 500th issue. A new Sláine story, Sláine the King , began, entirely drawn by Fabry. Peter Milligan , a writer who had been contributing Future Shocks , began two series, the bleak future war story Bad Company and a strange, psychedelic series called The Dead . In 1986, 2000 AD was selling 150,000 copies
668-536: A teleport system. This led to a series, Nemesis the Warlock , in which it was revealed that Termight was Earth in the far future. Torquemada was changed from the Chief of Traffic Police to a despotic demagogue leading a campaign of genocide against all aliens, and Nemesis was the leader of the alien resistance. Mills and O'Neill were on a roll and produced a stream of bizarre and imaginative ideas, but ultimately O'Neill
835-551: A "Genetic Infantryman" engineered to be immune to chemical warfare hunting down the traitor general who had betrayed his regiment, who debuted in 1981. He was supported by bio-chips of the personalities of three dead comrades, which, slotted into his equipment, could talk to him. Gibbons left the strip early on and was replaced by Colin Wilson , Brett Ewins and Cam Kennedy . Rogue Trooper replaced Meltdown Man , which had recently ended its run. Another new strip in 1981, inspired by
1002-541: A Judda cloned from the same genetic material as Dredd, was captured by Justice Department, who had plans for him. Chopper also spun off into his own series, written by Wagner and drawn by Colin MacNeil . The ABC Warriors finally had their own series again in 1987 as a spin-off from Nemesis . This was written, as ever, by Pat Mills, and drawn by two artists in rotation, newcomer Simon Bisley and science fiction artist S.M.S. In 1988 Grant and artist Simon Harrison began
1169-642: A Kollege of Khaos on the comet Tiamat. He finally reappeared in the bowels of Terra to assist older versions of his former comrades, sent back from the future Termight by Nemesis the Warlock, to save the planet from destruction – a mission depicted in the story The Black Hole . Although his motives were unclear at first, he assisted the Warriors in their battles with the Monad, a creature from the end of time, only to betray them when they finally reached their goal. It turned out he had been sent by his master Khaos to ensure
1336-821: A Nubian slave in the Roman Empire which took a science-fictional turn in 2000 AD with him becoming a gladiator in an alien world; The Mind of Wolfie Smith , a coming of age/psychic story of a runaway teenager, and Captain Klep , a single-page superhero parody. These stories, unlike Starlord's , did not continue for very long. The last issue titled 2000 AD and Tornado was prog 177, dated 13 September 1980. 2000 AD featured an adaptation of Harry Harrison 's novel The Stainless Steel Rat , written by Gosnell and drawn by Ezquerra, beginning in November 1979. Adaptations of two of Harrison's sequels, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves
1503-441: A belief in paranormal ideas. The percentage was greater among college seniors (31%) and graduate students (34%). The poll showed lower belief in psychic phenomena among science students than social science and education students. Some people also believe that anyone can have psychic abilities which can be activated or enhanced through the study and practice of various disciplines and techniques such as meditation and divination, with
1670-414: A character that took the concept to its logical extreme, imagining an ultra-violent lawman patrolling a future New York with the power to arrest, sentence, and if required execute criminals on the spot. This would allow the new comic to be as violent as Action had been – a comic which had generated much controversy – but without attracting criticism, because the violence would be committed by an officer of
1837-634: A controversial figure. His many enthusiasts, as well as the popular press, credit him with predicting many major world events. Interest in his work is still considerable, especially in the media and in popular culture . By contrast, most academic scholars maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus' quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Englishwoman Mother Shipton demonstrated psychic abilities from her youth and foresaw historical events in
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#17327753440932004-427: A crude, disrespectful and anarchic attitude, gaining him an interest in robot rebellion. (He assisted robot resistance agents but was considered too silly-looking) He was briefly owned by a rich family as a companion for their daughter Annabel; the two became great friends, and it is unknown how that ended. It is known from the first Ro-Busters that he hit his master (unknown if this was Annabel's father), putting him in
2171-523: A fearsome fighting machine. When the Mars mission was complete, George and the Mess remained behind after the Mars mission was completed. Centuries later, continued terraforming awoke Medusa, the planetary consciousness, and caused her to try to wipe out humanity. She destroyed George for the crime of terraforming her and discovered the Mess as a result; finding it shared her hatred of humans, she rebuilt it into
2338-598: A freedom fighter called Nemesis battles the despotic Torquemada , chief of the Tube Police. All that was seen of Nemesis was the outside of his vehicle, the Blitzspear. The story was a reaction to an earlier tube chase sequence Mills and O'Neill had done in Ro-Busters , which management objected to. The only other Comic Rock story was a follow-up called "Killer Watt", in which Nemesis and Torquemada fought on
2505-409: A friend, being his longest-serving comrade. Joe was built as an assassin, is a former member of the elite X-Terminators (he was fired for an unspecified incident involving a human officer's wife), and is a sniper without equal. Joe has rebuilt himself many times to give himself new looks over the years, but one thing that has been consistent is his narcissism – the one thing he truly loves in the universe
2672-471: A future war story inspired by the Vietnam War , drawn by McMahon, Cam Kennedy , Garry Leach and John Richardson . A feature of the early years of 2000 AD was the opportunities it gave to young British comic artists: by the time the title celebrated its 100th issue Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Ian Gibson, Mike McMahon and Kevin O'Neil were all established as regulars. In 1980 Judge Dredd gained
2839-845: A giant killer robot charged with keeping demons from invading earth. Psychic Psychics encompass people in a variety of roles. Some are theatrical performers, such as stage magicians , who use various techniques, e.g. prestidigitation , cold reading , and hot reading , to produce the appearance of such abilities for entertainment purposes. A large industry and network exist whereby people advertised as psychics provide advice and counsel to clients . Some famous psychics include Edgar Cayce , Ingo Swann , Peter Hurkos , Janet Lee , Miss Cleo , John Edward , Sylvia Browne , and Tyler Henry . Psychic powers are asserted by psychic detectives and in practices such as psychic archaeology and even psychic surgery . Critics attribute psychic powers to intentional trickery or to self- delusion . In 1988
3006-478: A hatred of humans ("meatheads") and was eventually put on the black list for pursuing human criminals with too much zeal. Pineapples also began taking up transvestism, apparently jaded from rebuilding himself time and time again and wanting to experience something new. Blackblood was able to obtain photo negatives of this. At the request of Nemesis, the Warlock, Joe left the police to rejoin the ABC Warriors in
3173-703: A less sentimental take on the same basic plot used in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , set in Birmingham and influenced by Alan Bleasdale 's Boys from the Blackstuff . The series was drawn by Jim Baikie . Moore wrote another series, D.R. and Quinch , spun off from a one-off Time Twister . Drawn by Alan Davis , the strip featured a pair of alien juvenile delinquents with a penchant for mindless thermonuclear destruction. He went on to create The Ballad of Halo Jones with artist Ian Gibson . Halo
3340-545: A long-standing feud between the two. After Mars, Pineapples wound up working as a police instructor in London and once had to neutralise a rampaging Hammerstein who thought he was still fighting the Volgan War. Joe's career with various police forces continued in some form for centuries, and by the time Earth had become Termight he was on the free robot planet of Mekka working as an undercover officer. At some point he developed
3507-472: A memory test to ascertain if post-test information would affect it, "failed to produce significant effects" and thus "do not support the existence of psychic ability" of this kind. Psychics are sometimes featured in science fiction and fantasy fiction . Examples of fiction featuring characters with psychic powers include the Star Wars franchise, which features " Force -sensitive" beings who can see into
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#17327753440933674-483: A multi-dimensional organisation that polices reality, whose most memorable story was "Killing Time", a time travel story featuring Jack the Ripper . Garth Ennis and Philip Bond contributed Time Flies , a time-travel comedy, and Hewlett was paired with writer Peter Milligan for the surreal Hewligan's Haircut . Writer John Tomlinson and artist Simon Jacob created Armoured Gideon , an action-comedy series about
3841-416: A new Strontium Dog story, "The Final Solution". It took nearly two years to complete, and ended with the death of Johnny Alpha, who sacrificed his life to save mutants from extermination. Original artist Carlos Ezquerra did not agree with the decision to kill the character off, and refused to draw it. The number of colour pages was increased, allowing for one complete strip per issue to be painted. Initially
4008-577: A new enemy. Writer John Wagner realised that Dredd's habit of shooting just about everybody he came up against meant that it was difficult to create a recurring villain. The solution was Judge Death , an undead judge from another dimension where, since all crime was committed by the living, life itself was outlawed. The law had been thoroughly enforced on his own world, and now he had come to Mega-City One to continue his work. Judge Death first appeared in an atmospheric three-parter drawn by Brian Bolland which also introduced Judge Anderson and Psi Division ,
4175-463: A new incarnation of Steelhorn. He now possessed certain psychic powers allowing him to control Martian wildlife. He became Medusa's voice, organising the attacks on the human settlements and personally leading the slaughter at Viking City, which saw almost the entire population massacred by a Martian born virus. The ABC Warriors fought the new Steelhorn and eventually struck a deal with him and Medusa, agreeing to peaceful coexistence if human President Cobb
4342-401: A nuclear explosion, the return of Strontium Dog and Dash Decent , a Flash Gordon parody . Pat Mills introduced Comic Rock , which was meant to be a format for short stories inspired by popular music. The first story, inspired by The Jam 's Going Underground , was drawn by Kevin O'Neill and featured a complicated underground travel network on a planet called "Termight", in which
4509-437: A number of artists and writers who became renowned in the field internationally, such as Alan Moore , Dave Gibbons , Grant Morrison , Brian Bolland , Mike McMahon , John Wagner , Alan Grant and Garth Ennis . Other series in 2000 AD include Rogue Trooper , Sláine , Strontium Dog , ABC Warriors , Nemesis the Warlock and Nikolai Dante . 2000 AD was initially published by IPC Magazines. IPC then shifted
4676-545: A number of books and websites being dedicated to instruction in these methods. Another popular belief is that psychic ability is hereditary, with a psychic parent passing their abilities on to their children. Psychic abilities are common in science fiction , often under the term " psionics ". They may be depicted as innate and heritable, as in Alfred Bester 's The Demolished Man , A. E. van Vogt 's Slan , Anne McCaffrey 's Talents universe series or setting, and
4843-465: A peace and he stayed on to help the Warriors in the resulting Martian civil war. It was Deadlock who discovered that the Confederacy of Martian Industries was assembling the mercenary Shadow Warriors team to destroy the Warriors, who learned the identities of its members and whose khaos rituals turned the tide in the final battle against them. Joe Pineapples is the closest thing Hammerstein has to
5010-747: A private investigator who specializes in psychic fraud cases. Palmer had previously written articles about Nygaard and the work he was doing. It's apparently difficult to get cases of psychic fraud prosecuted as a crime. Palmer states "when someone reports to law enforcement that they are a victim of this type of fraud, they are often turned away and told it is a civil matter." Palmer goes on to discuss Thomas John and other famous "psychics" who were proven to be frauds. Investigator Ben Radford states that "scammers use various psychological principles to ensnare their prey". Their state of mind, belief in psychic abilities, unhappiness with something happening in their lives and looking for answers. The psychic will instruct
5177-462: A psychic who went by the name of Maha Dev. Marie Jean reported that Dev claimed she was surrounded by "evil spirits" and that "(her) life could be in danger and (her) sons could lose their lives." The initial payment requested was $ 10,000 to remove the spirits, but in subsequent visits Dev indicated that the spirits were "too strong" and more money was needed. In total, the woman paid $ 46,000 before deciding she had been "duped." After Marie Jean reported
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5344-651: A result of his wealth and status, he was forced to join the Warriors when they banded together to take on the Terran supership Hellbringer. He joined the Warriors in returning to Mars to help increase the peace between Medusa, the planetary consciousness , and her human settlers. When civil war broke out in the aftermath and the mercenary Shadow Warriors were sent after them, Joe developed a severe rivalry with mercenary and highwayman Dog-Tag, sparked when Joe foiled one of Dog-Tag's heists, wiped out his gang and caused severe damage to him. Dog-Tag got revenge when he shot Joe through
5511-408: A ritual to spread Khaos throughout the galaxy. After succeeding, the other Warriors defied his command, demonstrating their status as true Khaos warriors. Following this, he returned to his Kollege with Ro-Jaws, who understood the twisting tides of Khaos even better than he did. They worked to indoctrinate students into the ways of Khaos – often via the bar – while also hunting down teachers throughout
5678-474: A sabotage attempt to stop the Warriors from completing their task. It was during this foray into the Time Wastes that Blackblood lost his leg; he killed a road crew and took their road drill as a substitute. Following this, he and the rest of the Warriors briefly helped Deadlock attempt to spread Khaos throughout the galaxy; Blackblood loved this job due to the bloodshed involved, and the influence of Khaos on
5845-424: A score. The repair of the Time Wastes had restored Order to the galaxy and thus Deadlock and Nemesis had both betrayed Khaos. The two of them fought literally to the death, only to be reborn, purged of their guilt. Deadlock then took the Warriors to the planet Hekate, inducting them (both willingly and forcibly) into the ways of Khaos; he led them in collecting the heads of seven symbols of order, which could be used in
6012-410: A second science fiction comic which had been launched by IPC earlier that year. As Gosnell was editor of Starlord and 2000 AD at the same time, 2000 AD sub-editor Nick Landau largely edited the latter comic himself during this time. Starlord was cancelled after only 22 issues and merged into 2000 AD from prog 86. Two Starlord strips strengthened 2000 AD ' s line-up: Strontium Dog ,
6179-447: A small margin on a desultory turnout, and Dredd was satisfied. 2000 AD gained an influx of talent from other comics. Garth Ennis and John Smith had come to prominence writing for Crisis , a 2000 AD spin-off for older readers, while artists Jamie Hewlett and Philip Bond were the stars of Deadline , an independent comics and popular culture magazine founded by Steve Dillon and Brett Ewins . Smith created Indigo Prime ,
6346-538: A squad of judges with psychic powers. Dredd soon began another epic journey in " The Judge Child ". A dying Psi Division Judge had predicted disaster for Mega-City One unless it was ruled by a boy with a birthmark shaped like an eagle, so Dredd set off into the Cursed Earth, to Texas City , and into deep space in search of the boy, Owen Krysler, and his kidnappers, the Angel Gang. All of them were killed during
6513-461: A suggestion for what the character should look like. Ezquerra elaborated on this greatly, adding body-armour, zips and chains, which Wagner originally thought over the top. Wagner's initial script was rewritten by Mills and drawn up by Ezquerra, but when the art came back a rethink was necessary. The hardware and cityscapes Ezquerra had drawn were far more futuristic than the near-future setting originally intended, and Mills decided to run with it and set
6680-524: A super-powered secret agent inspired by The Six Million Dollar Man ; 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 fighter Bill Savage; and Flesh , a strip about time-travelling cowboys farming dinosaurs for their meat. After 16 issues, Mills quit as editor and handed
6847-530: A supporting character in Judge Dredd , Judge Anderson finally appeared in her own series, written by Wagner and Grant and initially drawn by Brett Ewins. New artist Glenn Fabry debuted on Sláine , but, due to his slowness, he was rotated with David Pugh . In the Judge Dredd story "Letter from a Democrat", Wagner and Grant introduced a pro-democracy movement in Mega-City One, which is after all
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7014-415: A team of war robots designed to withstand ' Atomic ', ' Bacterial ' and ' Chemical ' warfare. They were built to take part in the long-running Volgan War , which Mills had described in several previous 2000 AD strips, including Invasion! and Ro-Busters . Each robot has a distinctive personality – often one programmed by its human creators – but each is more or less able to act with free will. One of
7181-673: A time, Deadlock led the team in place of Hammerstein, the only other member ever to do so. When first shown, Deadlock was the Grand Wizard of the Knights Martial, a group of highly intelligent robots who had developed psychic and magical abilities and observed the war from the "Watch Tower" space station. They were given special authority to try and execute Volgan war criminals during the conflict, as well as war criminals from their own side. Deadlock occasionally led his Knights into active combat, such as to take down and reprogram
7348-455: A vaguely humanoid body stolen from a defeated opponent, depending on the requirements of each mission. Despite initially fighting against them, Mek-Quake was recruited to the Warriors by Nemesis, who realised that his insatiable appetite for mayhem and near-indestructibility made him a useful asset – as well as the fact that his limited intelligence and considerable survival instinct meant he had no loyalties except to whichever side would give him
7515-599: A very large bulldozer, as seen throughout the run of Ro-Busters. When he reappeared in Book III of Nemesis the Warlock , fighting for the evil Termight empire, his (tiny) brain was now housed in a colossal siege robot with a head vaguely resembling a cat's. Despite his enormous destructive power, his stupidity ultimately ended up making the situation even worse for the Terminators. In Book IV of Nemesis , he returned to his original body; he later switched between this, and
7682-547: A week. In 1987 IPC's comics division was hived off and sold to publishing magnate Robert Maxwell as Fleetway. 2000 AD was revamped, with a larger page size and full process colour on the covers and centre pages. Richard Burton became editor. Kevin O'Neill returned for a short Nemesis series called "Torquemada the God". Not long after came the debut of Zenith , 2000 AD' s first serious superhero strip, by new writer Grant Morrison and artist Steve Yeowell . The title character
7849-557: Is annoyed about having missed most of a battle because of the time it took to remove all the "human gristle" clogging his caterpillar tracks. In his early stories he openly loathed Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws (as a result of their time in Ro-Busters ), but later this hatred was toned down to a general dislike of everything and everybody except videos of chainsaw torture. Despite this Mek-Quake is eager to show his intelligence and importance, and in Kronicles of Khaos he kept trying to join in at
8016-399: Is asked to find the donkeys of the future king Saul . The role of prophet appeared perennially in ancient cultures. In Egypt , the priests of the sun deity Ra at Memphis acted as seers. In ancient Assyria seers were referred to as nabu , meaning "to call" or "announce". The Delphic Oracle is one of the earliest stories in classical antiquity of prophetic abilities. The Pythia ,
8183-400: Is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Taken together, his written works are known to have contained at least 6,338 quatrains or prophecies, as well as at least eleven annual calendars. Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles – all undated. Nostradamus is
8350-466: Is generally depicted as the largest of the Warriors. What Mek-Quake lacks in intelligence (which is a lot) he makes up for in cruelty and destructive force. However, he is also something of a coward, preferring softer targets that he can inflict more pain upon while chanting his catchphrase: "Big jobs!" He has no compunctions about massacring humans, as evidenced in The Third Element when he
8517-498: Is highly adept. He dislikes Hammerstein intensely, but this is nothing compared to his hatred of Joe Pineapples – the robot responsible for his capture. His constant undermining of Hammerstein's leadership has led to many confrontations between the two, and a healthy disrespect that has spanned the centuries. He is currently a member of the Church of Judas, a religion for robots who have betrayed their masters and pray to Judas to take away
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#17327753440938684-418: Is himself. With an outward image of ice cold professionalism and a habit of seducing women, he has a secret fetish for wearing women's underwear. The first run of ABC Warriors stories showed Joe's talents taking him into Volgograd to assassinate Volgan general Volkhan, and afterwards assigning him to the Mars mission; he forcibly recruited General Blackblood by shooting the butcher through the heart, beginning
8851-473: Is known of Blackblood's activities. He eventually turned up on the free robot planet of Mekka, where he plied a trade as a "business man" under the name Bunyon Snipe, selling addictive software to robots; he married an exotic dancer, Ruby Yum Yum Gluck, and still drank the oil of other robots. He also came into possession of certain negatives about Joe Pineapples at a party and was using them for blackmail purposes. He would eventually be forcibly recruited by Nemesis
9018-551: Is not predicted, and most of what is predicted does not happen.” The Project confirmed that even when considering the margin of error, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion except that people who claim to see into the future cannot do so with a rate of success better than that of educated guesswork, chance, or luck. In an article reported by Pat Foran in CTV News-Toronto , an Ontario woman, known as Marie Jean, depressed after having to sell her home, began seeing
9185-421: The U.S. National Academy of Sciences gave a report on the subject and concluded there is "no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the existence of parapsychological phenomena ". A study attempted to repeat recently reported parapsychological experiments that appeared to support the existence of precognition . Attempts to repeat the results, which involved performance on
9352-522: The 'Night of the Blood Moon' approached. Deadlock took it upon himself to perform an unnecessary operation on Joe, to give him a much more Khaotic outlook on life – and unlock his repressed desires for more exotic crossdressing. After Hekate, the Warriors went their separate ways, and Pineapples, sick of being on the dole for Khaos, signed up with the Terran Empire as a professional hit droid. As
9519-466: The 16th century. In addition to the belief that some historical figures were endowed with a predisposition to psychic experiences, some psychic abilities were thought to be available to everyone on occasion. For example, the belief in prophetic dreams was common and persistent in many ancient cultures. In the mid-nineteenth century, Modern Spiritualism became prominent in the United States and
9686-444: The ABC Warriors failed, but with his true colours now firmly revealed, it's a certainty that they are only biding their time until the next attempt. The immensely strong Mongrol was originally the commander of an ABC paratrooper platoon, and the only survivor (save Zippo) of the disastrous drop into Volgan territory at Vilnius – so disastrous that it was nicknamed Zarnhem after Arnhem . Only his head remained undamaged and remained on
9853-626: The ABC Warriors. He is currently at large, an enemy of the Warriors once more. An elite droid built from indestructible alloys, Steelhorn was proclaimed a hero to the West and seen as one by Volgan civilians whom he liberated, even possessing a secret underground base. Due to his Vortex Hammer weapon, the Volgans viewed him as a war criminal, and so Volkhan and Blackblood infected him with a computer virus that caused him to start massacring civilians and fellow Warriors. Zippo eventually stopped Steelhorn and
10020-578: The Midlands' Zone of Alienation. Decades later, the Volgan scientist Dr Zakaroff sought to create a robot warrior capable of treachery but initially failed to do so with Blackblood. In desperation, Zakaroff turned to the occult, and used a mixture of black magic and science to harness the betrayal of two lovers, whom he forced to torture each other. Blackblood went on to prove his newly discovered treachery by killing Zakaroff, having one of his eyes shot out in
10187-569: The Pythia's state of inspiration. One of the most enduring historical references to what some consider to be psychic ability is the prophecies of Michel de Nostredame (1503–1566), often Latinized to Nostradamus, published during the French Renaissance period. Nostradamus was a French apothecary and seer who wrote collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide and have rarely been out of print since his death. He
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#173277534409310354-532: The Rovers , Battle and the relaunched Eagle in the United Kingdom, and a number of comics in America. With prog 178 all current stories, with the exception of Judge Dredd , were wound up, and a new set of stories was launched simultaneously, consisting of Mean Arena , set around a violent high-tech street football game, Meltdown Man , whose hero was transported to a genetically engineered far future by
10521-474: The Russian city East-Meg One, and led directly to " The Apocalypse War ", another six-month epic and a hard-hitting satire on the concept of mutually assured destruction . East-Meg One, protected by a warp-shield, softened up Mega-City One with nuclear warheads before invading. Dredd spearheaded the resistance, leading a small team to East-Meg territory, hijacking their nuclear bunkers and blowing East-Meg One off
10688-551: The Terran Empire. Mongrol was stripped of his ability to speak, but he was given the quick reactions and speed of a naturally born beast as compensation. After completing their mission on Hekate, Mongrol left for the Temple of the Night Maras with Morrigun, and became nothing more than her mindless (and overly protective) pet. Both he and his "mistress" joined The ABC Warriors again to take on the Terran superweapon Hellbringer. On
10855-444: The Time Wastes of Termight to repair the damage done to it. During their journey, Blackblood broke the news to Mongrol that robots simply go to the smelter rather than heaven, so he would never see Lara again. As a result, Mongrol turned to his 'father' – a screwdriver. After saving Terra from destruction, Mongrol followed the others to the planet Hekate, to collect the seven heads needed for the ritual that would spread Khaos throughout
11022-554: The U.S. government to investigate remote viewing . Critics such as Ed J. Gracely say that this evidence is not sufficient for acceptance, partly because the intrinsic probability of psychic phenomena is very small. Critics such as Ray Hyman and the National Science Foundation suggest that parapsychology has methodological flaws that can explain the experimental results that parapsychologists attribute to paranormal explanations, and various critics have classed
11189-485: The United Kingdom. The movement's distinguishing feature was the belief that the spirits of the dead could be contacted by mediums to lend insight to the living. The movement was fueled in part by anecdotes of psychic powers. One such person believed to have extraordinary abilities was Daniel Dunglas Home , who gained fame during the Victorian period for his reported ability to levitate to various heights and speak to
11356-503: The Volgan robot general Volkhan so he could no longer create robots outside of human control. The Watch Tower was brought to earth by Volgan artillery during the war, just before Hammerstein recruited Deadlock for the Mars mission. On his eventual return, Deadlock discovered that in his absence the Knights – no longer kept chaste and pure by isolation far above the earth's surface – had been tainted and turned to frivolous pursuits, ignoring
11523-501: The Warlock into the newly reformed ABC Warriors, fighting against the Terminators before heading into the Time Wastes. He and the other Warriors went on to repair the damage done to the Time Wastes' Black Hole Control Room and save Terra from destruction. During the mission, Blackblood yet again proved that his treachery knew no bounds as he betrayed the Warriors to the Eternal Soldiers of Agartha, and then assisted Deadlock in
11690-527: The Warriors allowed him to be more murderous and sadistic. Leaving the Warriors again after tiring of Deadlock's command (due to the Khaos influence), Blackblood set up an arms dealership and even took on a pet dog while torturing a trapped Hammerstein for five years (he happily sent photos of it to every other Warrior). When Hammerstein got free and reformed the Warriors again, Blackblood was forced to sign up under threat of death. He returned to Mars to help keep
11857-631: The World and The Stainless Steel Rat for President , would follow later. The appearance of the main character, galactic thief "Slippery" Jim DiGriz, was based on James Coburn , evidently a favourite of Ezquerra's; Coburn was also the inspiration for Major Eazy , which Ezquerra drew in Battle, as well as Cursed Earth Koburn , a Dredd-universe reworking of the Major Eazy character, who first appeared in 2003. Gerry Finley-Day contributed The V.C.s ,
12024-637: The analysis of the predictions found that psychics were correct 11% of the time, wrong 35% of the time, and that some predictions were too vague to characterize (19%) or the predicted outcome was so obvious it was to be expected (15%). Two percent of the predictions were unable to be categorized. The main conclusions of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project were: “Psychics are appallingly bad at predicting future events.” “Most predictions were too vague, expected, or simply wrong.” “Most of what happens
12191-634: The asylum staff. He then joined with Volkhan and Blackblood in an attempt to destroy the rest of the ABC Warriors, as well as Marineris City. When the rebellion failed and he was abandoned to his fate by Volkhan's troops, Mek-Quake managed to escape destruction with Steelhorn's fusion hammer and unwittingly found himself a celebrity in the Union of Martian Free States for the destruction of the Marinus Red House . After promoting his book tour, Mek-Quake has found employment as Howard Quartz's bodyguard, and
12358-592: The attempt. He would also root out internal enemies, such as robot designers Mikhail and Marina Zhigunov; he viciously tortured one of their subordinates to uncover the truth, shot the Zhigunovs dead, and attempted to kill their daughter Lara before being temporarily deactivated by partisans. Later on, assisting Volklhan, he used Zhigunov's virus to infect Steelhorn and cause the Warrior to begin murdering civilians and allies. He also developed an obsession with discovering
12525-429: The audience to be non-responsive. Magicians such as James Randi , Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have demonstrated techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, but they present physical and psychological explanations as opposed to paranormal ones. In January 2008 the results of a study using neuroimaging were published. To provide what are purported to be the most favorable experimental conditions,
12692-480: The battle to defend the Gothic Empire. Following the battle against Termight, the Warriors followed Nemesis into the Time Wastes of Termight to find the Warlock's offspring Thoth and repair the damage Thoth was doing to time itself, and save the galaxy. When Deadlock tried to sabotage the mission, Blackblood and Joe fought each other. For Pineapples it was a chance to get the negatives back, and for Blackblood it
12859-455: The battlefield. A scavenger named Lara, the daughter of executed robot manufacturers, salvaged his head and built him a new body with other robot parts as an act of defiance against the Volgans. She was caught and executed, and Mongrol was tortured by electricity for information – this inadvertently activated his body, and he broke free of his captors. The torture and Lara's death reduced him to near animal-like behaviour ("Mongrol smush!"), and he
13026-419: The brief CB radio craze, was Ace Trucking Co. , a comedy about pointy-headed alien space trucker Ace Garp and his crew by Wagner, Grant and Belardinelli. In the Judge Dredd series, Mega-City One had grown too large and unwieldy: therefore authors Wagner and Grant they planned to cut it down to size. " Block Mania ", in which wars broke out between rival city-blocks, turned out to be a plot orchestrated by
13193-477: The client not to tell their friends or family as they know they may be warned away from the psychic. With curse removal, the psychic may say that the magic will not work or get worse if they do tell anyone about their involvement with the psychic. The con games from psychics, according to Radford, can "play out over the course of weeks, months, or even years." The psychic is playing the long game and looking to extract as much money as possible. Radford claims that when
13360-406: The colour pages were reserved for Judge Dredd , but were later given over to a new Sláine story, "The Horned God", fully painted by Simon Bisley . The series was collected as a series of three graphic novels, then as a single volume, and has remained in print ever since. In 1989 the colour pages were increased again, allowing for three colour stories and two black and white in every issue. One of
13527-526: The colour series was Rogue Trooper: the War Machine , written by Dave Gibbons and painted by Will Simpson . The original Rogue Trooper series had run out of steam after the Traitor General had been dealt with, though continued with Rogue's adventures on Horst and the "Hit" series, so Gibbons revamped the concept, creating a different genetic infantryman, Friday , in a different war, albeit in
13694-430: The comic to last that long. The original logo and overall look of the comic were designed by art assistant Doug Church. Mills' experiences with Battle and Action in particular had taught him that readers responded to his anti-authoritarian attitudes. Wagner, who had written a Dirty Harry -inspired tough cop called One-Eyed Jack for Valiant , saw that readers also responded to authority figures, and developed
13861-437: The company might get on the bandwagon by launching a science fiction comic. IPC publisher John Sanders asked Pat Mills , a freelance writer and editor who had created Battle Picture Weekly and Action , to develop it. Mills brought fellow freelancer John Wagner on board as script adviser and the pair began to develop characters. The then-futuristic name 2000 AD was chosen by John Sanders, as no-one involved expected
14028-438: The concept of programmed robots being able to discover their true identities. Artists who illustrated ABC Warriors include Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins , Brendan McCarthy, Carlos Ezquerra , Dave Gibbons , Simon Bisley , Kev Walker , and Henry Flint . The members of the Warriors have changed over the course of the stories they have been featured in. Here are the longest-serving members: Hammerstein has been
14195-429: The course of 12 years, Saunders and then Saunders and his international team of skeptics - Michelle Bijkersma, Kelly Burke, Susan Gerbic , Adrienne Hill, Louis Hillman, Wendy Hughes, Paula Lauterbach, Dr. Angie Mattke, Rob Palmer, and Leonard Tramiel - searched through Australian published media for individuals making psychic or otherwise paranormal predictions. The goal of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project
14362-486: The course of the story, however the Mean Machine was later resurrected by Krysler during "Destiny's Angels". "The Judge Child" was drawn by Bolland, Ron Smith and Mike McMahon in rotation, and the later episodes marked the beginning of Wagner's long-running writing partnership with Alan Grant . The pair would go on to write Strontium Dog , Robo-Hunter and many other stories for 2000 AD , as well as for Roy of
14529-594: The dead. As the Spiritualist movement grew, other comparable groups arose, including the Theosophical Society , which was co-founded in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891). Theosophy coupled spiritualist elements with Eastern mysticism and was influential in the early 20th century, later influencing the New Age movement during the 1970s. Blavatsky herself claimed numerous psychic powers. By
14696-572: The descendants of the Oracle of Delphi , their visions also contrast their personalities (Cara is a Goth that sees only positive visions, while Sara is always in a good mood despite only seeing negative visions). Parapsychological research has attempted to use random number generators to test for psychokinesis , mild sensory deprivation in the Ganzfeld experiment to test for extrasensory perception , and research trials conducted under contract by
14863-515: The destruction of Termight so Khaos might spread throughout the galaxy. With the assistance of Blackblood and Mek-Quake, Deadlock launched a fearsome attack on his comrades in a bid to stop them from repairing the damage done to the Time Wastes; he was forced to betray his master and save Termight so the Monad would not use the planet's destruction to turn Khaos into an evil force. Escaping the Time Wastes, Deadlock assumed leadership of The Warriors and led them to Nemesis' home planet, Gandarva, to settle
15030-460: The encounter. This could mean only one thing: Judge Death was back. This set up the latest six-month epic, " Necropolis ". After Dredd had left, Justice Department had put Kraken through one final test, and given him Dredd's badge. But the Sisters of Death, spirit beings from Judge Death's dimension, were able to use Kraken's inner conflict to take control of him and use him to bring Judge Death and
15197-481: The end of Deadlock's statements so he could seem like he was already versed in Khaos. He continued to be part of the Warriors in their return to Mars as they tried to keep the peace during a civil war, developing an interest in conspiracy theories and rap music, but it was clear that his increasing mental instability was putting the rest of the team in danger. After the defeat of the Shadow Warriors, Mek-Quake
15364-528: The end of the Volgan War as he recruits six robots to join him for a special mission – to tame Mars , which had become a futuristic Wild West . In further adventures set much later in time, the warriors teamed up with Nemesis the Warlock in his fight against the Termight Empire to prevent a destabilized Black Hole bypass at the Earth's core from destroying the world. Many of these early stories pursue
15531-426: The face of the earth. "The Apocalypse War" was drawn in its entirety by Carlos Ezquerra, making a return to the character he created. A new writer, Alan Moore , had started contributing Future Shocks in 1980. He wrote more than fifty one-off strips over the next three years, while also contributing to various Marvel UK titles and the independent magazine Warrior . In 1982 he gained his first series, Skizz ,
15698-505: The field as pseudoscience . This has largely been due to a lack of replication of results by independent experimenters. The evidence presented for psychic phenomena is not sufficiently verified for scientific acceptance, and there exist many non-paranormal alternative explanations for claimed instances of psychic events. Parapsychologists , who generally believe that there is some evidence for psychic ability, disagree with critics who believe that no psychic ability exists and that many of
15865-505: The first issue. The story chosen was one written by freelancer Peter Harris, extensively rewritten by Mills and including an idea suggested by Kelvin Gosnell, and drawn by newcomer Mike McMahon . The strip debuted in prog 2, dated 5 March 1977. IPC owned the rights to Dan Dare , and Mills decided to revive the character to add immediate public recognition for the title. Paul DeSavery, who owned Dare ' s film rights, offered to buy
16032-475: The former Judda cloned from his bloodline, to replace him. Kraken was now ready for his final assessment, and Dredd himself was chosen to assess him. Although Kraken performed faultlessly, Dredd thought he perceived a hint of his former allegiance to the Judda in him, and failed him. He then resigned as a judge and took the ' Long Walk ' into the Cursed Earth. There he met the Sisters of Death, and only barely survived
16199-416: The free robot planet Mekka. He played the part of The Gawk, a giant metal monster that would be defeated by the heroic Spar-Tekus in every show. He'd been playing that role for so long that he'd forgotten who he was. He was found by Nemesis the Warlock and brought back into the ranks of The ABC Warriors to help save the Gothic Empire from a Terminator invasion. He was then dispatched with the other Warriors into
16366-461: The future and move objects telekinetically, along with Dungeons & Dragons and some of the works of Stephen King , amongst many others. The word "psychic" is derived from the Greek word psychikos ("of the mind" or "mental"), and refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. "psychic turmoil"). The Greek word also means "soul". In Greek mythology , the maiden Psyche was the deification of
16533-535: The future lawman out of the city on a humanitarian trek across the radioactive wasteland between the Mega-Cities. McMahon drew the bulk of the stories, with occasional episodes drawn by Brian Bolland . The story saw Dredd moved to the colour centre pages for the first time while Dan Dare was given the front page. Steve MacManus took over from Gosnell as editor in 1978, starting with prog 86, dated 14 October. In that issue 2000 AD merged with Starlord ,
16700-413: The future. These people were known as seers or prophets , and in later times as clairvoyants (French word meaning "clear sight" or "clear seeing") and psychics. Seers formed a functionary role in early civilization, often serving as advisors, priests, and judges. A number of examples are included in biblical accounts. The book of 1 Samuel (Chapter 9) illustrates one such functionary task when Samuel
16867-519: The galaxy and flying back to the Kollege to be endlessly tortured. Ten years after the Hekate mission, he led the Warriors' reformation to combat the Terran weapon Hellbringer. Subsequently, they returned to Mars under the command of Hammerstein, where Deadlock was instrumental in bringing about an end to the war between the human colonists and the planetary consciousness , Medusa. Deadlock helped broker
17034-598: The guilt. The 2011 Savage story Secret City would retcon that Blackblood was originally a whole series of Volgan robots, a counterpart to the Allied Hammersteins. The Blackblood Mark Ones came online in 2009 and were only crudely sentient; they were programmed to dismember and behead their enemies, to ensure Allied robots would be fully disabled (and without any re programming when they were sent against humans), and with no ability to distinguish friend from foe. Bill Savage discovered their field trials in
17201-403: The head, buried him and removed his trigger finger. Due to techniques learned from Deadlock, Joe survived the attack – having shut down his brain to near-death levels – and was able to kill his rival. Blackblood is a former Volgan war robot who was forcibly recruited into the Warriors. A master tactician and interrogator, his skills also extend to treachery and betrayal, two things at which he
17368-473: The hospital, and that is why he was thrown away. 2000 AD (comics) 2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic magazine. As a comics anthology it serialises stories in each issue (known as "progs") and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. Since 2000 it has been published by Rebellion Developments . 2000 AD is most noted for its Judge Dredd stories, and has been contributed to by
17535-633: The human soul . The word derivation of the Latin psȳchē is from the Greek psȳchḗ , literally "breath", derivative of psȳ́chein , to breathe or to blow (hence, to live). French astronomer and spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, while it was later introduced to the English language by Edward William Cox in the 1870s. Elaborate systems of divination and fortune-telling date back to ancient times. Perhaps
17702-421: The incident to CTV News, CTV News contacted the psychic. While Dev did not admit to knowing the woman, the money was refunded in full the next day. Falling for a psychic scam can result in a loss of one's entire life savings. In an example given in an article by Rob Palmer a woman gave a psychic $ 41,642 over a period of 10 weeks. The woman had contacted Palmer for help, who put her in contact with Bob Nygaard ,
17869-416: The instances of more popular psychic phenomena such as mediumism , can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold reading , hot reading , or even self- delusion . Cold reading techniques would include psychics using flattery, intentionally making descriptions, statements or predictions about a person vague and ambiguous, and surreptitiously moving on to another prediction when the psychic deems
18036-547: The late twentieth century, psychics were commonly associated with New Age culture. Psychic readings and advertising for psychics were common from the 1960s on, as readings were offered for a fee and given in settings such as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs. In a 1990 survey of members of the National Academy of Sciences, only 2% of the respondents thought that extrasensory perception had been scientifically demonstrated, with another 2% thinking that
18203-417: The law. As Sanders put it, "The formula was simple: violence on the side of justice ... Dredd could be as violent as hell, and no one could say a thing." Meanwhile, Mills had developed a horror strip, inspired by the novels of Dennis Wheatley , about a hanging judge , called Judge Dread (after the reggae and ska artist of the same name ). The idea was abandoned as unsuitable for the new comic, but
18370-476: The leader of the Warriors for most of the comic's run, although he has surrendered the position to Deadlock for a number of stories. He was the first successful war robot to be built, and this success was due to his being given both emotions and a conscience, which allowed him to distinguish between combatants and civilians. In the first run of ABC Warriors stories, he was recruited during the Volgan Wars by
18537-553: The main characters, Hammerstein , was already known to 2000 AD readers through the story Ro-Busters (originally started in the magazine Starlord ). The story of the creation of robotic warriors to be used in the Volgan War had been introduced in the Ro-Busters story "Hammerstein's War Memoirs." Hammerstein is the only ABC Warrior to appear on film, making a cameo appearance in the 1995 Judge Dredd movie . The initial run of stories from progs 119–128 follows Hammerstein towards
18704-410: The most opportunity to destroy things. For "Black Hole", Mek-Quake's bulldozer body was redesigned as a heavily armed "killdozer", with a prehensile neck and a "face" with a permanent angry scowl. The killdozer body was blown up in 'The Clone Cowboys', leaving him in humanoid form. This – the current – version of Mek-Quake has ranged in height from five to fifteen feet, depending on the artist, though he
18871-436: The most widely known system of early civilization fortune-telling was astrology , where practitioners believed the relative positions of celestial bodies could lend insight into people's lives and even predict their future circumstances. Some fortune-tellers were said to be able to make predictions without the use of these elaborate systems (or in conjunction with them), through some sort of direct apprehension or vision of
19038-401: The mysterious Colonel Lash to lead the ABC Warriors on Lash's post war project. Overall humanoid in form, his right "hand" is the combat hammer that gives him his name. Depicted as noble, brave, and patriotic, he has always represented the compassionate "heart" of the team while remaining a formidable warrior. Deadlock is a follower of the Khaos religion, and as such is frequently at odds with
19205-406: The name, with a little modification, was adopted by Wagner for his ultimate lawman. The task of visualising the newly named Judge Dredd was given to Carlos Ezquerra , a Spanish artist who had previously worked with Mills on Battle , on a strip called Major Eazy . Wagner gave Ezquerra an advertisement for the film Death Race 2000 , showing the character Frankenstein clad in black leather, as
19372-414: The new comic and give Mills and Wagner more creative control and a greater financial stake. The deal fell through, however. 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
19539-455: The north pole had melted the polar ice-cap and flooded Britain. In 1977 2000 AD launched the annual 48-page Summer Special, including a full-length M.A.C.H. Zero story drawn by O'Neill. The yearly hardcover annual also started in 1977 (cover dated 1978) and would continue till 1990 (dated 1991). Pat Mills took over writing Dredd for a six-month "epic" called " The Cursed Earth ", inspired by Roger Zelazny 's Damnation Alley , which took
19706-646: The old values of meditation, purity, and discipline. A disgusted Deadlock turned his back on the order and went into isolation, meditating and studying ancient manuscripts in an attempt to reach the highest level of the astral plane, and join with his master Khaos. When he was ready, it was Nemesis himself who came for him, and they became one, as shown in Nemesis the Warlock Book Four: The Gothic Empire . Centuries passed with no word of his whereabouts, though at some point he established
19873-419: The order and duty-obsessed Hammerstein, which eventually led him to betray and attempt to kill Hammerstein in the story The Black Hole. Deadlock's powers allow him to astrally project and reform his body if it is damaged or destroyed, and he holds the sword X-Caliber, a weapon that allows him to drain the souls of the living to use as psychic "nourishment". He is able to call demons and the undead to his aid. For
20040-516: The other Dark Judges back from the limbo dimension Dredd had exiled them to. The Sisters possessed all the city's judges and began to enforce Death's twisted law. Out in the Cursed Earth, Dredd had recovered his memory and returned to defeat the Dark Judges. He then tried to lance the democratic boil by holding a referendum on whether the Judges should continue to govern the city. The judges won, by
20207-472: The outback. This ending was apparently the cause of some dispute between Wagner and Grant, and was a contributing factor (it was The Last American , a mini series for Epic Comics which would mark the end) in ending their regular writing partnership. Wagner kept Dredd , while Grant continued Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson . However the pair would still come together for occasional collaborations. The "Oz" storyline had some lasting implications. Kraken ,
20374-463: The peace between the human colonists and the planetary consciousness , Medusa – though he stated he had his own reasons for doing so, which were soon to become apparent. In the battle against the Shadow Warriors (whom he respected for their brutality), Blackblood faced off against the Rev, head of the Church of Judas, and killed him in a vicious battle. Most recently, he permanently alienated Mongrol after it
20541-993: The phenomena happened sometimes. Asked about research in the field, 22% thought that it should be discouraged, 63% that it should be allowed but not encouraged, and 10% that it should be encouraged; neuroscientists were the most hostile to parapsychology of all the specialties. A survey of the beliefs of the general United States population about paranormal topics was conducted by The Gallup Organization in 2005. The survey found that 41 percent of those polled believed in extrasensory perception and 26 percent believed in clairvoyance . 31 percent of those surveyed indicated that they believe in telepathy or psychic communication. A poll of 439 college students conducted in 2006 by researchers Bryan Farha of Oklahoma City University and Gary Steward of University of Central Oklahoma , suggested that college seniors and graduate students were more likely to believe in psychic phenomena than college freshmen. Twenty-three percent of college freshmen expressed
20708-517: The point where Dredd became the most popular character in the comic, a position he has rarely relinquished. Dredd's city, which now covered most of the east coast of North America, became known as Mega-City One . Dredd had also been unmasked in issue 8 in a story drawn by Massimo Belardinelli, but the decision was made to make out that Dredd's face had been scarred and the panel had a "censored" banner slapped on it. After this, there were no further attempts to show Dredd's face again. A new story format
20875-481: The priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi , was believed to be able to deliver prophecies inspired by Apollo during rituals beginning in the 8th century BC. It is often said that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from the ground, and that she spoke gibberish, believed to be the voice of Apollo, which priests reshaped into the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature. Other scholars believe records from
21042-468: The process. He left the socket empty as a reminder of his greatest act of betrayal. During the Volgan War he led the Straw Dogs, experts in jungle warfare and terror tactics, and was rumoured to drink the oil of dead ABC Warriors. He was also responsible for trying to stop Joe Pineapples and Zippo after a failed hit on General Volkhan, causing the remote self-destruction of hundreds of foreign robots in
21209-761: The proper mental discipline , known as kything in the former work. Popular movies include The Initiation of Sarah . Psychic characters are also common in superhero comics , for instance Jean Grey , Professor X and Emma Frost as well as many others from the Marvel Comics' X-Men . More characters include the characters Raven Baxter and Booker Baxter from the Disney Channel Original Series That's So Raven and its spin-off Raven's Home . The Disney Channel Original Series American Dragon: Jake Long features recurring characters Cara and Sara, who are twin psychics claimed to be
21376-520: 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 photostrips that were a feature of the comic in its early years. Wagner returned to write Judge Dredd , starting in prog 9. His " Robot Wars " storyline was drawn by a rotating team of artists, including McMahon, Ezquerra, Turner and Ian Gibson , and marked
21543-520: The return to Mars, Mongrol's body was destroyed, forcing him to relocate his positronic brain into his new body. This reactivated long-dormant circuits, restoring his original intelligence (as well as a taste for cigars). He is still suffering from deep-seated issues over Lara, and when her memory was mocked by the Shadow Warrior Warmonger, Mongrol ripped him to pieces. Following Blackblood's recounting of his Volgan War experiences and
21710-462: The revelation that he tried to kill Lara, Mongrol went berserk and stated that, at the end of that mission, either Blackblood leaves the Warriors, or he will. However, Blackblood had already set things up so Mek-Quake would free Volkhan from Broadband Asylum, and he would go on to abandon the ABC Warriors mid-battle and rejoin Volkhan's army, gleefully slaughtering civilians once more and trying to kill
21877-463: The same formula as Hook Jaw from Action but with less success) the story of a polar bear pursued by the Army because it had swallowed a secret capsule. M.A.C.H. 1 was killed off in 1978 but a spin-off, M.A.C.H. Zero , continued into the 1980s. Flesh had a sequel in 1978, set on the prehistoric oceans, and Bill Savage appeared again in a prequel, Disaster 1990 , in which a nuclear explosion at
22044-400: The same universe. One of the black and white stories, " The Dead Man ", was a low-key beginning for a major event. In the Cursed Earth, villagers come across a man, burnt from head to toe, with no memory of who he is or what happened to him. As he tries to piece his memories back together, he is being hunted by the evil beings who left him in that state. A creepy, atmospheric horror-western, it
22211-405: The secret enemy officer "General Public", due to a misunderstanding. Realising his skills in guerrilla warfare would be a valuable asset, Colonel Lash ordered Hammerstein to hunt down Blackblood and forcibly recruit him; Joe Pineapples took him down by shooting him through the heart, and his worst excesses were then removed by brain surgery. He was then sent on the Mars mission. After Mars, little
22378-522: The series' style from hard-boiled detective to surreal comedy. As the series continued Sam was joined by an idiot kit-built robot assistant, Hoagy, and after a crack-down on smoking in IPC comics, a Cuban robot cigar , Stogie, designed to help him cut down on nicotine . Other ongoing strips included The Visible Man , detailing the misfortunes of Frank Hart, a man whose skin had been made transparent due to exposure to nuclear waste, and Shako , (which followed
22545-418: The strip further into the future. By this stage, however, Wagner and Ezquerra had both quit. Mills was reluctant to lose Judge Dredd , and farmed the strip out to a variety of freelance writers, hoping to develop it further. Their scripts were given to a variety of artists as Mills tried to find a strip which would make a good introduction to the character, all of which meant that Dredd would not be ready for
22712-437: 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 , and the similarly themed film Rollerball had been released the previous year. Wanting to give the new comic a distinctive look, Mills wanted to use European artists, but
22879-406: The strongest evidence yet obtained against the existence of paranormal mental phenomena." James Alcock had cautioned the researchers against the wording of said statement. A detailed study of Sylvia Browne predictions about missing persons and murder cases found that despite her repeated claims to be more than 85% correct, "Browne has not even been mostly correct in a single case". Concerning
23046-508: The study included appropriate emotional stimuli and had participants who are biologically or emotionally related, such as twins. The experiment was designed to produce positive results if telepathy , clairvoyance or precognition occurred, but despite this, no distinguishable neuronal responses were found between psychic stimuli and non-psychic stimuli, while variations in the same stimuli showed anticipated effects on patterns of brain activation. The researchers concluded that "These findings are
23213-445: The television psychics, James Underdown states that testing psychics in a studio setting is difficult as there are too many areas to control: the psychic could be getting help from anyone on the set. The editor controls everything; they can make a psychic look superior or ridiculous depending on direction from the producer. In an Independent Investigations Group exposé of John Edward and James Van Praagh they discovered that what
23380-701: The television series Babylon 5 . Another recurring trope is the conveyance of psychic power through psychoactive drugs , as in the Dune novels and indirectly in the Scanners films, as well as the ghosts in the StarCraft franchise. Somewhat differently, in Madeleine L'Engle 's A Wind in the Door and Robert A. Heinlein 's Stranger in a Strange Land , psychic abilities may be achieved by any human who learns
23547-463: The theme of humans using robots to do jobs that they do not wish to do themselves (following the same theme as Ro-Busters) and the cruel treatment of soldier robots by their human officers. The Warriors often find themselves at odds with humans who are exploiting the land and the beings that live on it – typical storylines see the Warriors identifying such evil and delivering poetic justice to the perpetrators. Later stories also explore ideas of "khaos" and
23714-423: The time indicate that the Pythia spoke intelligibly, and gave prophecies in her own voice. The Pythia was a position served by a succession of women probably selected from amongst a guild of priestesses of the temple. The last recorded response was given in 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I ordered pagan temples to cease operation. Recent geological investigations raise the possibility that ethylene gas caused
23881-488: The title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary, which was sold to Robert Maxwell in 1987 and then to Egmont UK in 1991. Fleetway continued to produce the title until 2000, when it was bought by Rebellion Developments . In December 1975, Kelvin Gosnell , a sub-editor at IPC Magazines , read an article in the London Evening Standard about a wave of forthcoming science fiction films, and suggested that
24048-543: The virus was deleted, and the massacres were covered up by the military – but he was left traumatised and disillusioned by what he'd done. Steelhorn eventually ended the Volgan War by killing the Volgan Marshall. Following the war, he went to a demobilisation camp to be reprogrammed for civilian life, believing he would become a firefighter and save lives, only to find himself falling into a fusion furnace—which
24215-412: The work turned in on Harlem Heroes by Trigo was disappointing. Veteran British artists 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 . The other opening strips were M.A.C.H. 1 ,
24382-409: Was a barbarian fantasy strip based on Celtic mythology . Kincaid was a children's book illustrator who had never worked in comics before, and her opening episode was drawn and redrawn several times before the editors were satisfied. Other stories were written for artists Massimo Belardinelli and Mike McMahon, but these could not see print until Kincaid's episode was ready. In 1985, after appearing as
24549-411: Was a chance to finally discover what Joe had been hiding in his chest locker for the entire journey. As it turned out, the mystery item was a human heart: Joe was carrying it in a desperate bid to feel, so he could enjoy killing again. After escaping to the planet Hekate, Pineapples helped collect the seven heads needed for the ritual that would spread Khaos through the galaxy, but suffered a breakdown as
24716-419: Was a shallow pop singer with superhuman powers, caught up in the intrigues of a 1960s generation of superhumans and the machinations of some Lovecraftian elder gods. Wagner and Grant began a new Dredd Epic, " Oz ", featuring Chopper , a popular supporting character. Chopper was a skysurfer who had been imprisoned for competing in an illegal surfing competition a few years previously. A legal "Supersurf" race
24883-669: Was actually said on the tape day, and what was broadcast to the public were "substantially different in the accuracy. They're getting rid of the wrong guesses... Once you pull back the curtain and see how it's done, it's not impressive at all." Richard Saunders , Chief Investigator for the Australian Skeptics , and producer and presenter of The Skeptic Zone podcast sought to answer the question “Can self-proclaimed psychics predict unlikely future events with any greater accuracy than chance?” To answer that question he launched "The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project". Over
25050-496: Was an everywoman in the far future, born into mass unemployment on a floating housing estate, who escaped the earth and became involved in a terrible galactic war. Three books were published, and more were planned, but Moore's demands for creator's rights and his increasing commitments to American publishers meant they never materialised. A new character, Sláine , debuted in 1983, but had been in development since 1981. Created by Pat Mills and his then wife Angela Kincaid , Sláine
25217-514: Was being held in Oz, the future Australia, and Chopper escaped to compete. Dredd also went to Oz, partly to deal with Chopper, but mostly to investigate the Judda , a clone army created by Mega-City One's former chief genetic engineer. The Judda were defeated, and Chopper narrowly lost the race to Jug McKenzie. Dredd was waiting at the finish line, but McKenzie distracted him and allowed Chopper to escape into
25384-405: Was checked into a robot asylum by the others. While Hammerstein seemed sad to see his former enemy depart, the others appeared more than eager to meet his replacement, Zippo. Mek-Quake was assigned to clean the cell of former Volgan General Volkhan – but when Blackblood called up to gleefully tell him he was going to be replaced, an embittered Mek-Quake freed Volkhan and his associates and helped kill
25551-491: Was drawn by John Ridgway and written by "Keef Ripley", a pseudonym for John Wagner. By the end of the series the Dead Man had discovered his identity: he was Judge Dredd. As "The Dead Man" ended, a new Judge Dredd story, " Tale of the Dead Man ", explained how Dredd had ended up in that position. Dredd was getting older and the democratic movement was causing him to doubt his role, so Justice Department had groomed Kraken ,
25718-487: 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
25885-600: Was introduced in prog 25 – Tharg's Future Shocks , one-off twist-in-the-tale stories devised by writer Steve Moore . 2000 AD still uses this format as filler and to try out new talent. Wagner introduced a new character, Robo-Hunter , in 1978. The hero, Sam Slade, was a private detective -type character specialising in robot -related cases. José Ferrer was the original artist, but the editorial team were not happy with his work and quickly replaced him with Ian Gibson, who redrew parts of Ferrer's episodes before taking over himself. Gibson's imaginative, cartoony art helped drive
26052-545: Was most recently responsible for murdering Tubal Caine's adopted son. Ro-Jaws was involved in a number of the ABCs adventures, acting largely as comic relief. A working-class sewer droid with filthy habits and a love of refuse, he was originally a law-abiding robot until he was thrown in jail for taking a sick homeless man into a Cabinet minister's house (believing the minister to be a friend). The abuses in robot prison, as well as mixing with criminal robots, caused Ro-Jaws to develop
26219-619: Was not renewed.) Dan Dare was suspended while "The Cursed Earth" was finished in time for the merger. Wagner returned to Dredd following the merger to write "The Day the Law Died", another six-month epic in which Mega-City One was taken over by the insane Chief Judge Cal , based on the Roman emperor Caligula . Another cancelled title, Tornado , was merged with 2000 AD a few months later from prog 127, contributing three stories to 2000 AD : Blackhawk , an historical adventure series about
26386-451: Was now being used to kill the ABC Warriors now that victory had been won. With his dying breaths, Steelhorn cursed humans for their treachery. He survived the furnace, but his body was reduced to a bubbling mess. Consumed with hatred, the Mess slaughtered the human responsible before escaping. Hammerstein, realising it was actually Steelhorn, saved the Mess and had him poured into a vacuum flask that would be carried by Mongrol. The metal ape
26553-409: Was originally a member of the Ro-Busters, used for internal discipline within the rescue squad (mainly by destroying troublemakers), and did not join the Warriors until their later phase. In the 2010 Savage Book VI: Crims story, Mek-Quake makes a cameo appearance destroying compromised Hammersteins in 2009 (which makes him both the oldest warrior and the oldest AI robot). His original body was that of
26720-436: Was probably originally intended for Battle . Its hero was a German soldier who discovered that some of his Romanian allies were vampires. Later in the war, when Romania changed sides, he was the only one who knew their secret. A readers' poll revealed that future war was a popular topic, so Gerry Finley-Day was asked to come up with a new war story. He, editor Steve MacManus and artist Dave Gibbons devised Rogue Trooper ,
26887-403: Was reborn in a diamond form and brought about the ABC Warriors' victory. He has two horns, one of which when played incites wildlife to rebel. He has not said what the other will do, but it is to be played in the event of a Confederate victory and the consequences would presumably be devastating. Mek-Quake is a dim-witted and sadistic former demolition droid. Serving mainly as comic relief, he
27054-467: Was regarded as a threat by both sides. He was recruited when Hammerstein earned his respect by beating him in hand-to-hand combat. Mongrol's belief that he would go to heaven and meet his beloved Lara once more became the driving force of the metal ape. After being told by Deadlock that only good robots go to heaven, he became determined to live a hero's life and see his beloved again. After the Mars mission, he found work with P.T. Bar-Num's "Death Circus" on
27221-621: Was revealed that he tried to kill his beloved Lara during the war. Even this paled to nothing when he informed an institutionalised Mek-Quake that the ABCs were permanently replacing him, leading to the embittered bulldozer engineering a jailbreak for the Volgan war criminal Volkhan, incarcerated at the same asylum. Blackblood defected from the team at a crucial point in their attempt to rescue Zippo in Marineris City, joining Volkhan's rebellion as his right-hand man. Volkhan and Blackblood escaped and went into hiding after their attempt to destroy
27388-516: Was the only one who could understand what the Mess was trying to say. The shambles would accompany the Mars mission. On Mars, the Warriors encountered a giant robot called George, one of the original Garganteks – giant robots who had originally helped terraform Mars for human colonisation. Because of his size, each of George's limbs was controlled by a separate brain, with a master brain supposedly in charge. The Mess ended up inside George, using its liquid state to connect George's brains and turn him into
27555-485: Was to collect and then vet the accuracy of every published psychic prediction in Australia since the year 2000. The team analyzed over 3800 predictions made by 207 psychics over the years 2000 to 2020. While a few of the psychic predictions were about events outside of Australia, the predictions primarily focused on celebrities, scandals, natural disasters, weather patterns, sports, and real estate trends. The results of
27722-402: Was transformed into a Martian. Steelhorn re-joined the ranks of The ABC Warriors in place of the deceased Morrigun, in a bid to increase peace on Mars after Cobb's transformation sparked a civil war. While travelling with them to New Sidona to fend off Confederacy soldiers, Steelhorn was taken out by the rival Shadow Warriors, melted to a sludge once more. Due to occult activities by Deadlock, he
27889-476: Was unable to continue the level of work he was putting into it on 2000 AD pay. He left to work for DC Comics in America, and was replaced on Nemesis by first Jesus Redondo and then Bryan Talbot . 2000 AD would occasionally take a gamble on non-science fiction material. For example, Fiends of the Eastern Front was a World War II vampire story by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra which
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