Finn is a fictional

pagan Paganism (, 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 Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

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". The term came to apply special ...

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 godfath ...

. He first appeared in British fortnightly anthology comic ''

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

'' in 1989 in the strip ''

Third World War World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely predicted that such a war would involve all of the great powers, l ...

'' and later moved to an

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

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 Sláine (sometimes anglicized as Slaine) is an Irish language, 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 Sigtryg ...

''. Mills has speculated that part of the reason was because some readers were complaining in the letters page 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 ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, 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 a fictional character and 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 Witc ...

fighting the aliens by night. He used military equipment alongside magical items such as the

Hand of Glory A Hand of Glory is the dried and Pickling, pickled hand of a hanging, hanged man, often specified as being the left () hand, or, if the person was hanged for murder, the hand that "did the deed." Old European beliefs attribute great powers to a ...

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'': * "Third World War" (''Crisis'') ** Issues #1-27, 29-38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46-53 *''Finn'': ** "Finn Book 1" (by

Tony Skinner Tony Skinner is a British comic book writer who collaborated with Pat Mills in the 1990s. Together they worked on scripts for ABC Warriors, Finn and Flesh for '' 2000AD'' and Sex Warrior, The Fear Teachers, Psycho Killer and Accident Man for '' ...

, with art by Jim Elston (1-10) and Kevin Wicks (5-10), in ''2000 AD'' #770-779, 1992) ** "Finn Book 2" (by Pat Mills/Tony Skinner and Jim Elston/Kevin Wicks, in ''2000 AD'' #807-816, 1992-1993) ** "Origins of Finn" (by 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" (by Pat Mills and Paul Staples, in ''2000 AD'' #928-937, #940-949, 1995) ** "Season of the Witch" (by 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 ''Judge Dredd: The Megazine'' is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in September 1990. It is a sister publication to '' 2000 AD''. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Judge Dredd's locale Mega-City One. Content L ...

'' #329, 2012) * ''Third World War Book One'' (Rebellion Developments, January 7, 2020) * ''Third World War Book Two: Back to Babylon'' (Rebellion Developments, January 5, 2021)

Notes

References

Sources

* * *

External links

*
The 2000 AD ABC #40: Finn
' at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Finn
at Barney

at the International Catalogue of Superheroes * * *
2000AD Podcast Ep109 – Pat Mills interview pt1
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011190927/https://2000ad.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/2000ad-podcast-ep109-pat-mills-interview-pt1/ , date=2016-10-11 vi
Everything Comes Back to 2000 AD
Comics by Pat Mills 2000 AD comic strips 2000 AD characters Eco-terrorism in fiction Fictional eco-terrorists Fictional pagans