| Ace Garp | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fleetway Publications |
| First appearance | 2000AD #232 (October 1981) |
| Created by | John Wagner Alan Grant Massimo Belardinelli |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Ace Garp |
| Team affiliations | GBH, Feek the Freek, the Dopplegarp, Chiefy the Pig-Rat, Ghost |
| Notable aliases | Garp the Barp from Parp |
Ace Trucking Co. is acomedyscience fiction series that featured in the British comics magazine2000 AD from 1981 to 1986. Created by writersJohn Wagner andAlan Grant and artistMassimo Belardinelli, it followed the misadventures of a space trucking company headed by Ace Garp, a pointy-headed alien who spoke in a kind of futuristicCB radio slang.
The title was lifted fromAce Trucking Company, a 1970simprovisational comedy group whose membership had includedFred Willard,Patti Deutsch, Michael Mislove,George Memmoli, andBill Saluga.
Ace was the skipper of the cargo spaceshipSpeedo Ghost, for much of the series the Ace Trucking Co.'s only ship. His crew included his huge 'biffo' (both bodyguard and security) GBH, who believed himself to be dead, Feek the Freek, a skeletal being who acted as the ship's engineer, and the sarcastic ship's computer Ghost. Joining the crew later in the run was Chiefy the Pig-Rat, a small rodent-like creature that became Feek's best friend and missed no opportunity to insult Ace.
In later stories, the crew was also joined by a duplicate of Ace himself. The reason for this is that, tired of the series, the creators killed off Ace by having him believe that he was suffering a fatal disease, causing him to commit suicide by flying into a star. However, the popularity of the series with 2000 AD's readers caused it to be revived, the explanation being that Ace passed through a dimensional rift in the star, and ended up being discovered by his counterpart in another universe, but not before a brief detour in the offices ofTharg the Mighty in a drawer filled with other characters that had been killed off over time. Technically, the second Ace is the 'real' one from the earlier stories.
Other recurring characters were Jago Kain, the human boss of Ace's business rival Yellow Line, Cap'n Evil Blood, a space pirate who was always trying to kill Garp, Ace-hating officers Kroxley and Zagger of the Galactic Police and Fatty Arkl, a rotund alien who ended up as the skipper of Ace's second ship (Old Peart The Third).
The character's official final story "The Garpetbagger" ended with his companions GBH and Feek the Freek ordering Ace to sell up and move on, quipping that he "outlived his welcome a long time ago".
In 1988, a one-off mini-story was produced for a2000 AD annual which featured the original Ace returning to his own universe only to find that Feek has taken over the business and GBH has become his second in command. Ace loses his temper and vandalises a bar owned by Feek which lands him in prison, vowing to gain revenge at some point "in the near future". Despite this, Ace Trucking Co would not make a reappearance in2000 AD until 2015, when the eight-page stripStar's Truck, byEddie Robson and Nick Dyer, was published in that year's Sci-Fi Special.
The main artist for the series' run was Massimo Belardinelli, althoughIan Gibson andAlberto Giolitti also contributed.
Grant and Wagner became tired of writing the series and made several attempts to end it, with one series closing with the entire crew in prison, but reader demand kept bringing it back. The later stories show clear signs of the writers' annoyance at having to keep going on a series they had lost interest in - Ace started out as a smart and resourceful character, but ended up a greedy, dim-witted buffoon disliked even by his own crew.