Diceman (comics)

Diceman was a short-lived British comic which ran for five issues in 1986. It was a spin-off from 2000 AD and was devised by Pat Mills, who also wrote almost all of the stories. It was edited by Simon Geller, but purported to be edited by a monster called Mervyn. The stories were designed to be played like gamebooks. Each issue contained two or three such stories and was published every two months.

Diceman
The cover is titled "2000 AD's Diceman." In the corner a caption reads "You are Ronald Reagan" and at the bottom a caption reads "Can you stop the BIG BANG?" In the foreground is a caricature of President Ronald Reagan, carrying a large gun shaped like a tank, and wearing shoulder-pads with the stars and stripes on. Beside him a monkey sits on a globe which has a red button on the North Pole; the monkey is pressing the button. In the background a nuclear explosion destroys a city. The picture is signed by Hunt Emerson. The issue is priced at £1.45.
Cover of Diceman no. 5 (painted by Hunt Emerson)
Publication information
PublisherFleetway
ScheduleEvery 2 months
FormatComics anthology
Publication dateFeb. 1986 – Oct. 1986
No. of issues5
Editor(s)Simon Geller

Stories

The comic mostly contained stories based on characters who already appeared regularly in 2000 AD. Its eponymous character Diceman, also known as Rick Fortune, was created specially for the comic (by Pat Mills and Graham Manley), but did not appear until the second issue. Fortune was a "psychic investigator", a 1930s American private detective with psionic powers. He also had a pair of stone dice, recovered from the ruins of Atlantis, which he could use to summon various powers including a three-headed lizard demon called Astragal to assist him. The Diceman strip was different from the others in that the reader not only had to avoid being killed, he also ran the risk of being driven insane (if his "sanity score" dropped to zero).

The only other story in the comic which was not derived from 2000 AD was "You are Ronald Reagan in: Twilight's Last Gleaming", a satirical spoof in which the reader, playing the part of the American president, must prevent nuclear war breaking out. In contrast to the strip Diceman, this strip also had a sanity score, but if it got too high, then the Secret Service assume that the president must have been replaced with an imposter (a comment on Reagan's perceived intellectual limitations). This game was exceptionally difficult compared with the others in the comic, as the player must make irrational decisions to avoid arrest and execution, while trying to make the right decisions to prevent a nuclear launch by either side. In fact the player transpires to have very little control over the outcome, and almost every option inevitably results in World War III, suggesting that nuclear diplomacy is very difficult to control once Cold War tensions have begun.

The other strips which appeared in Dice Man were Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Sláine, Rogue Trooper, Torquemada and ABC Warriors.

Creators

Writers
  • Pat Mills: Diceman, Nemesis, Sláine, Rogue Trooper, ABC Warriors, Judge Dredd (with John Wagner), You Are Ronald Reagan!
  • Simon Gellar: Rogue Trooper
  • John Wagner: Judge Dredd (with Pat Mills)

Artists

List of stories

References
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