Finn is a fictional
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
warlock eco-terrorist created by
Pat Mills. He first appeared in British fortnightly anthology comic ''
Crisis'' in 1989 in the strip ''
Third World War'' and later moved to an
eponymous series in ''
2000 AD'' after ''Crisis'' was cancelled in 1991.
Publication history
The character was popular but the series ended in 1996. According to
David Bishop David Bishop may refer to:
*David Bishop (writer) (born 1966), New Zealand novelist, playwright and comics writer
*David Bishop (runner) (born 1987), British Scottish international middle-distance athlete
*David Bishop (gymnast) (born 1990), New Ze ...
the reason the character was suspended was due to concerns that he was in danger of duplicating the appeal of Mills's ''
Sláine
Sláine (sometimes anglicized as Slaine) is an Irish given name.
People
Notable people with this name include:
* Slaine (rapper), hiphop MC from Boston
* Sláine ingen Briain (fl. 1014), daughter of Brian Boru and wife of Sigtrygg, king of Dubl ...
''. Mills has speculated that part of the reason was because some readers were complaining in the
letters page
A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns (or lettercols), letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), o ...
about Finn "being a sinister witch and saying his authentic pagan practices were a bad example to readers".
Plot summary
Finn is the alias of Paul Phillips. In ''Third World War'' it is established that Paul was once a soldier in the British Army stationed in
Northern Ireland, but he deserted to become Finn, an eco-terrorist fighting to save the planet from multi-national corporations. ''Third World War'' began as a relatively realistic story set in 2000, with very little in the way of fantasy or science fiction elements, but that changed as Finn became more prominent.
In the eponymous strip in ''2000 AD'' it emerged that the leaders of the corporations were in fact a secret society of powerful aliens called Newts. In this strip Finn was a
mini-cab
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...
driver in Plymouth by day, and a
white witch fighting the aliens by night. He used military equipment alongside magical items such as the
Hand of Glory.
Bibliography
He first appeared as a supporting character in the series ''Third World War'' in the comics magazine ''
Crisis''; then in the
eponymous strip in ''
2000 AD'':
*''Finn'':
** "Finn Book 1" (with
Pat Mills/
Tony Skinner, with art by Jim Elston (1-10) and Kevin Wicks (5-10), in ''2000 AD'' #770-779, 1992)
** "Finn Book 2" (with Pat Mills/Tony Skinner and Jim Elston/Kevin Wicks, in ''2000 AD'' #807-816, 1992-1993)
** "Origins of Finn" (with Pat Mills and
Liam Sharp, in ''2000 AD'' #924-927, 1995)
** "Interventions" (with Pat Mills and Paul Staples, in ''2000 AD'' #928-949, 1995)
** "Season of the Witch" (with Pat Mills and Paul Staples, in ''2000 AD'' #991-999, 1996)
Reprints
* "Finn Book 1" (in ''Classic 2000 AD'' #13-14, 1996, ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' #329, 2012)
References
External links
*
The 2000 AD ABC #40: Finn' at
YouTube Finnat Barney
at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
*{{comicbookdb, type=character, id=45252, title=Finn
2000AD Podcast Ep109 – Pat Mills interview pt1vi
Everything Comes Back to 2000 AD
Comics by Pat Mills
2000 AD comic strips
2000 AD characters
Eco-terrorism in fiction