2000AD Summer Sci-Fi Special 1987: Nemesis The Warlock - Forbidden Planet p3, panel 2

Grail alert.

All hail one of the most deranged 2000AD strips of the fag-end of the 1980's: the Nemesis The Warlock photo-romance strip from the 1987 Summer Sci-Fi Special! Photographed at the actual original Forbidden Planet in Denmark St, it featured the utterly demented cos-play of Tony Kuroizumi-Luke, acting out a Pat Mills (full into his anti-racist Khaos-magik period) script to bemusement of absolutely everybody. CREDO, Tony Koroizumi-Luke!

Tony takes up the story (from a 1996 interview with Tony by M.J.Simpson):

“Let me get this sorted out once and for all. It was done as a piss-take of all the photo-love stories that were predominant at the time in girls' comics. We thought, 'We'll have a laugh and do one in 2000AD to annoy the purist fans'.”
That was an editorial decision?
“Oh yes. Done to annoy the purist fans who had popped up by then who were being very precious about the characters. So we thought since 2000AD was supposed to be a subversive comic - certainly at the time it was a fairly subversive publication - we thought we'd do this and annoy everybody.”
Which you succeeded in doing.
“Indeed. What we didn't realise was how many purists were out there! Looking back, it was really, really funny. I look on something being a success as to whether you get a reaction out of somebody, and what I find really funny now is that people say it was great. And I know it was a load of old rubbish at the time.”

He's not wrong...though there is a very thin line between a clearly conscious piss-take, and an out-of-the-blue deep-cut joke that perhaps only you understand...

Tony died tragically young in 2016, after a long battle with cancer. I'm told that this is perhaps the only original photo from Nemesis: Forbidden Planet left, since most were destroyed in a home flood.

Thanks to FBD for the sale!

Original photograph
12" x 8.5"