[1] Mondo 2000 originated as High Frontiers in 1984, edited by R. U. Sirius (pseudonym for Ken Goffman) with co-editor and publisher Morgan Russell.

St. Jude) as editor and the magazine was renamed Reality Hackers in 1988 to better reflect its drugs and computers theme.

Art director and photographer Bart Nagel, a pioneer in Photoshop collage, created the publication's elegantly surrealist aesthetic.

Along with the print version of Boing Boing — with which Mondo 2000 shared several writers, including Mark Frauenfelder, Richard Kadrey, Gareth Branwyn, and Jon Lebkowsky — Mondo 2000 helped develop what was to become the cyberpunk subculture.

Writers included William Gibson, Nan C. Druid (pseudonym for Maerian Morris), Paco Nathan, Rudy Rucker, Bruce Sterling, Tiffany Lee Brown, Andrew Hultkrans, Mark Dery, Douglas Rushkoff, Mark Pesce, and Robert Anton Wilson.