Diceman (comics)
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
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{{Infobox comic book title
|title=Diceman
|image= Diceman5.jpg
|imagesize= 240
|caption=Cover of Diceman no. 5 (painted by Hunt Emerson)
|alt=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.
|schedule=Every 2 months
|format=Comics anthology
|publisher=Fleetway
|date=Feb. 1986 – Oct. 1986
|issues=5
|main_char_team=
|writers=
|artists=
|pencillers=
|inkers=
|letterers=
|colorists=
|editors=Simon Geller
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|subcat=Fleetway and IPC Comics
|sort=Dice Man (comics)
|nonUS=y
}}
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.
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=
- Steve Dillon: Diceman, ABC Warriors, Rogue Trooper
- Bryan Talbot: Judge Dredd, Nemesis
- Kevin O'Neill: Nemesis
- David Lloyd: Sláine
- Nik Williams: Sláine
- Mark Farmer: Sláine
- Graham Manley: Diceman
- John Ridgway: Diceman
- Mike Collins: Rogue Trooper
- Hunt Emerson: You Are Ronald Reagan!
List of stories
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-1-of-2}}
Judge Dredd
House of Death
Issue: 1
Pages: 20
Story: John Wagner
Game: Pat Mills
Art: Bryan Talbot
Dated: February 1986
Nemesis The Warlock
The Torture Tube
Issue: 1
Pages: 19
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Kevin O’Neill
Dated: February 1986
You Are Torquemada: The Garden of Alien Delights
Issue: 3
Pages: 20
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Bryan Talbot
Dated: June 1986
Sláine
Cauldron of Blood
Issue: 1
Pages: 19
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: David Lloyd
Dated: February 1986
Dragoncorpse
Issue: 2
Pages: 19
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Nik Williams
Dated: April 1986
The Ring of Danu
Issue: 4
Pages: 28
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Mike Collins / Mark Farmer
Dated: August 1986
Diceman
In The Bronx, No-one Can Hear You Scream!
Issue: 2
Pages: 24
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Graham Manley
Dated: April 1986
{{Col-2-of-2}}
Dark Powers
Issue: 3
Pages: 19
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: John Ridgway
Dated: June 1986
Bitter Streets
Issue: 4
Pages: 29
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Steve Dillon
Dated: August 1986
Murder One
Issue: 5
Pages: 28
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Steve Dillon
Dated: October 1986
ABC Warrior
Volgo The Ultimate Death Machine
Issue: 2
Pages: 11
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Steve Dillon
Dated: April 1986
Rogue Trooper
Killothon
Issue: 3
Pages: 19
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Steve Dillon
Dated: June 1986
Space Zombies!
Issue: 5
Pages: 15
Story/Game: Simon Gellar
Art: Mike Collins
Dated: October 1986
You Are Ronald Reagan!
Twilight’s Last Gleaming!
Issue: 5
Pages: 17
Story/Game: Pat Mills
Art: Hunt Emerson
Dated: October 1986
{{Col-end}}
References
- [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=specials&choice=diceman1 Diceman profile at 2000 AD]
- [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&Comic=Specials&choice=DICEMAN Diceman profile at 2000 AD]
{{Judge Dredd}}
{{Buster}}
Category:Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Category:British comics characters
Category:Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom
Category:Comics based on real people
Category:Cultural depictions of Ronald Reagan
Category:Defunct British comics
Category:Fictional private investigators
Category:Fleetway and IPC Comics titles
Category:Magazines established in 1986
Category:Magazines disestablished in 1986
Category:Comics about politics