Ace Garp is a fictional character who has appeared in the comics in 2000 AD magazine, starring in the long-running action-comedy series Ace Trucking Co (1981-86). He is the alien skipper of the cargo spaceship Speedo Ghost. His crew includes his huge 'biffo' (bodyguard) GBH, who believes himself to be dead, Feek the Freek, a skeletal being who acts 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. They talk in CB radio jargon.

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 2000AD'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. (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, Ace-hating officers Kroxley and Zagger of the Galactic Police and Fatty Arkle, a rotund alien who ended up as the skipper of Ace's second ship (Old Peart The Third).

The main artist for the series' run was Massimo Belardinelli, although Ian Gibson also contributed. The stories were written by Alan Grant and John Wagner, the latter using the pseudonym of TB Grover. As mentioned above, Grant and Wagner became tired of writing the series and made several attempts to end it (one series ended 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 by even his own crew.

Stories

• 'The Kleggs' (5 episodes)
• 'Hell's Pocket' (5 episodes)
• 'Lugjack!' (7 episodes)
• 'The Great Mush Rush' (8 episodes)
• 'The Ughbug Bloos' (1 episode)
• 'Last Lug To Abbo Dabbo' (8 episodes)
• 'Joobaloo' (5 episodes)
• 'Bamfeezled' (2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1982)
• 'Too Many Bams' (6 episodes)
• 'The Kloistar Run' (7 episodes)
• 'Stoop Coop Soup' (6 episodes)
• 'On The Dangle' (9 episodes)
• 'Strike!' (13 episodes)
• 'The Croakside Trip' (6 episodes)
• 'The Doppelgarp' (22 episodes)
• 'The Garpetbaggers' (24 episodes)
• 'Stowaway Lugjacker' (2000AD Annual 1986)
• 'The Homecoming' (2000AD Annual 1989)