Of Gaiman’s four Tharg’s Future Shocks stories, “What’s in a Name?” seems the most personal. Departing from the technological and existential anxieties explored in the other stories, Gaiman uses the comic to comment on the craft of writing, specifically exploring the creative restrictions of genre fiction.

Published in issue 538, the story’s protagonist, Alvin Puddle, is a prolific writer who imagines distinctive personalities for the pseudonymous pen-names he uses to write various genres — for example, “Lucinda Cartthrob” writes romance novels, “Harrison Cortex” writes “serious work”, etc. Puddle seeks medical help when these personalities take on a life of their own, and to the author’s horror start influencing each other’s work — Puddle’s pulp adventure novels are now romantic, his romance novels end violently, and so on.

Drawn by Steve Yeowell, whose artwork imbues the various personalities with distinctive features and neatly conveys the narrative’s intended humor, the comic is a thought-provoking statement on the restrictive narrative expectations imposed upon genre stories. Puddle takes action to correct the errant fiction of his genre personalities, sadly not appreciating that their unconventional stories may be more interesting than the proper genre fiction he expects them to produce.

Gaiman went on to create more popular comics such as The Sandman and The Books of Magic, but his debut comics work in 2000 AD displays Gaiman’s early writing talent. In four short comic strips, Gaiman crafts entertaining science fiction stories tinged with dread and humor that explore anxieties and concerns that remain relevant today.