Ranking done right?

So it might appear that I weighted my ranking system purely to allow the original Prog 2000 to come out as the best. Honestly, that was a surprise to me. I admire that specific Prog loads, but I also remembered it not having the best line-up of individual stories. So, with that in mind, let's compare my original ranking with a different set , one judging PURELY on the quality of the stories inside. Where Progs have the same 'average thrill score', I've ranked the Prog with the better cover higher. You simply can't claim any one Prog is 'Best ever' if it doesn't have a seriously scrotnig cover!

Anyway, here's a side-by-side look at how the rankings shake out if you're JUST looking at the quality of thrills inside. And have the same taste in 'quality thrills' as me, of course.😆

So, by this metric, Prog 2000 (either version) is no longer on top, but falls really quite far down the Xmas Prog ranks. Prog 2011 (the one that could. have been called Prog 2017) is notable for being in the top 5 in both versionsm, along with one other... Overall, I feel there's a minor general trend to suggest that Tharg has been getting routinely better at delivering top thrills for Christmas. And, by thrill-concentration alone, The Best Prog of All Time, is...

Prog 2062, the latest and for now greatest bumper thrill concentration known to man!

Looking forward, not back, you see. That's the whole point.
Art by Toby Willsmer

That's right, Tharg's most recent, mid-pandemic effort is, somehow, the single best bumper-sized Thrill-packet of ALL TIME. And his second-best was only the one before that. Crazy.

OK, time for some stats. Everyone love stats, right? Across 23 Bumper-size Xmas Progs (not counting the second Prog 2000 here), here's the Top 20 most-recurring people...

1. Judge Dredd, obviously. With mutiple stories in several Xmas Progs, and many prominent appearances on the cover, he scores 37/23

 

2. Dan Abnett. No creator has had a strip in EVERY Xmas Prog, but with multiple stories in several years, Abnett has amassed a score of 27/23

3. Gordon Rennie. At only 4 Progs missed, he's the most consistent writer in Tharg's Xmas stable. Also worth noting that he has debuted 5 (or 6, if you count Rafaella's debut in the pages of RiguebTrooper) all-new strips in Xmas Progs past, all good ones, too. Total score: 26/23

Gordon Rennie's Xmas gifts to you...

4. John Wagner. Much missed since Prog 1961 (aka Prog 2016), and only absent one Prog before that, he keeps the quality level up on everything he touches. Total score: 25/23.

5. Tharg, the only character other than Dredd to appear in every Xmas Prog, he's on the cover 19 times, appears in strip 3 times, but I'm giving him the full 23/23 because he hosts each Prog.

6= Pat Mills: 19/23, and it looks as if it'll stay that way, with no new 2000AD stories to come from him, for the forseeable future.

6= Cat Sullivan and Droid Life: regular features since Prog 2005, and always pun-tastic. 19/23

 

About time we had a new collection, don'tcha think?

8= Henry Flint, 17/23 - fittingly the top art droid, being as his style is the distilled essence of 2000AD. And let's not forget he wrote AND drew those Alien Invasions strips.

8= Robbie Morrison, 17/23, which includes the longest unbroken run of any creator, from Prog 2000-Prog 2012, and much missed since then, frankly.

10. Simon Davis, 16/23, including some pin-ups and trailers

11= Ian Edginton, 15/23, who's never far from any Prog, let alone the Xmas Prog.

11= Sinister Dexter, 15/23 - although this does include TWO text stories. Never again, Tharg.

13= Clint Langley, 14/23, on Slaine and ABC duty, but also muscling his way into several Xmas Progs through a nifty poster or trailer image evne when he didnt have a strip.

 

13= John Burns, 14/23, who drew the vast majority of the Dante outings before turning to the Order.

15= Nikolai Dante, 13/23

15= Strontium Dog, 13/23

17. Carlos Ezquerra, 12/23. It still hurts that we won't see new work from him.

 

18= Greg Staples, 11/23, and so far most-featured cover artist, with 4 under his belt.

18= Kek-W, 11/23, who has jumped from the clean-cut hi-jinks of Second City Blues to the ultra-sombre lo-jinks of Deadworld.

18= The Caballi-verse, 11/23 if you combine 6 outings for Caballistics, Inc and 5 for Absalom...

 

And there you have it, a celebration of 2000AD's BIGGEST and BEST Progs. But are they really the best? Come back for one final BUMPER XMAS SIZED blogpost to consider what other Progs are real contenders for the crown...