Preview: The Mean Arena Volume 1 – All To Slay For!
17th February 2021
We’re super excited to unveil a preview of The Mean Arena Volume 1: All To Slay For ahead of its release in a couple of weeks, the latest title in our brand new series of digital-only 2000 AD collections for 2021!
Created by Tom Tully and John Richardson, and debuting in 2000 AD Prog 178, in this Rollerball-meets-Roy of the Rovers game, the highly gifted striker of Slater’s Slayers, Matt Tallon, isn’t just after championship glory – he wants to avenge his brother’s death!
Each team playing this dystopian, brutal sport combining rugby, football and all out street brawls, have their own unique names and gimmicky costumes – with fans of the strip having the chance to write in with their suggestions for team names, which were then written in. Richardson was later replaced by Steve Dillon, who gave the series a cool dynamism straight out of The Running Man; Johnny Johnstone also contributed art to the strip.
You can check out the first four pages of The Mean Arena Volume 1 below, and it’s out on March 3rd – available from the 2000 AD app, as DRM-free download from the 2000 AD webshop, and on Amazon Kindle devices.
The new digital releases will be available from the 2000 AD app for Apple, Android, and Windows 10 devices, as DRM-free PDF/CBZ downloads from the 2000 AD webshop, and on Amazon Kindle devices.
We have more brilliant digital releases coming in this series of collections, the full list includes:
7 April Flesh: Midnight Cowboys – Pat Mills (w) James McKay (a)
5 May Time Flies – Garth Ennis (w) Philip Bond, John Beeston, Roger Langridge (a)
2 June Slaughter Bowl – John Smith (w) Paul Peart (a)
7 July Aquila Volume II: The Burning Fields – Gordon Rennie (w) Paul Davidson, Patrick Goddard (a)
4 August Bad City Blue – Alan Grant (w) Robin Smith (a)
1 September Firekind – John Smith (w) Paul Marshall (a)
6 October – Dark Justice: Torture Garden – David Hine (w) Nick Percival (a)
3 November – Tales from the Black Museum: Volume One – including John Wagner, Al Ewing, Dan Abnett, Simon Spurrier, John Smith, Alan Grant (w) Shaun Thomas, John Ridgway, Dylan Teague, Rufus Dayglo, Dean Ormston (a)
1 December Durham Red: Born Bad – Alec Worley (w) Ben Willsher, Lee Carter (a)