Meltdown Man

Created by writer Alan Hebden and artist Massimo Belardinelli, Meltdown Man ran in 2000AD from #178-227 (50 episodes in total). It told the tale of Nick Stone, a former S.A.S officer apparently blasted into a possible future by a nuclear explosion; a future in which, in a neat reversal of the classic Planet of the Apes scenario, sadistic humans oppress downtrodden genetically altered animals (called 'Yujees') who they keep as slaves! Pitting himself against the corrupt humans and their regime, in particular the vile overseer Leeshar and his Yujee henchmen the Tiger Commander and the psychic, hypnotic powered cobra King Seth, Stone leads a band of Yujee rebels including cat girl Liana, wolfman Gruff and bullman T-Bone in an attempted revolution which ends with Leeshar's empire brought down, ironically partly due to the final heroic sacrifice of his own Tiger Commander. Stone meets various weird and wonderful characters along the way, including the crazed polar bear Pole Axe and the psychic eagle Kinita, but when he is returned to his own time as suddenly and without warning as he came, he is left to wonder whether any of it was real...