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 A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives ''warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicatio ...

eco-terrorist created by

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather o ...

. He first appeared in British fortnightly anthology comic ''

Crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

'' in 1989 in the strip ''

Third World War World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...

'' and later moved to an

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous 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 the reason the character was suspended was due to concerns that he was in danger of duplicating the appeal of Mills's '' Sláine''. 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 Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, 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 Jadis is the main antagonist of '' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (1950) and ''The Magician's Nephew'' (1955) in C. S. Lewis's series, ''The Chronicles of Narnia''. She is commonly referred to as the White Witch in ''The Lion, the Witch an ...

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 ''

''; then in the

ous strip in '' 2000 AD'': *''Finn'': ** "Finn Book 1" (with

Tony Skinner Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

, 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 Liam Roger Sharp (born 2 May 1968) is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc. Early life Liam Sharp was born in Derby. He went to School at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before moving to ...

, 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 YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Finn
at Barney

at the International Catalogue of Superheroes *{{comicbookdb, type=character, id=45252, title=Finn
2000AD Podcast Ep109 – Pat Mills interview pt1
vi
Everything Comes Back to 2000 AD
Comics by Pat Mills 2000 AD comic strips 2000 AD characters Eco-terrorism in fiction