Welcome, citizens, to this week’s installment of Multiver-City One! Each and every Wednesday we will be examining the latest Prog from Tharg and the droids over at 2000 AD, and giving you all the pertinent information you’ll need headed into this week’s Thrill-Zine! We’ve got a lot to talk about today, so let’s get right to it!
This week’s cover is by Glenn Fabry.
I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1881
Judge Dredd: Shooter’s Night, Part 3
Pop quiz: you’ve got thirty-one suspected shooters and three hours until they’re going to start pulling triggers. What do you do?
If you’re Judge Dredd, you call for back-up and start cracking skulls. Or shooting. That works too.
Wagner and McCrea vary things up a bit in this Prog as we see The Meg’s finest whittle down the shooter list. Some go peaceful, some go quietly, some have already gone by the time the Judges find them. So give a bit of lip, and others decide to let their guns do the talking, for all the good it does them. Special nod goes out to Harold H. Harold (the H stands for Harold), or as he likes to be called: Triple H. Hope he likes the irony of doing a triple term in the iso-cubes for his part in all this. At least he fared better than his namesake. Bonus points to anyone who can tell us what Marvel comic also had a character with the same name.
As you can see in the image above, these seem to go pretty smoothly for Dredd & Co. (including a nice little twist on the “What the hell is that?!”-diversion-followed-by-face-punch by Dredd himself). But the last two aren’t going to be that easy to find or stop…
Credits: John Wagner (script), John McCrea (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Indigo Prime: Perfect Day, Part 2
So, as it turns out, there are a number of alternate realities where Nazis control the world. And in one of these realities in particular, there is an old Nazi that has worked with Indigo Prime in the past, and now he’s dying. He’s got a mountain of gold that he wants to give Indigo Prime. You see, Indigo Prime isn’t necessarily seeking financial gain. Instead, the inter-dimensional machines they use in their operation require gold because of its conductive properties. And since departmental cutbacks have curtailed their ability to buy it straight up, they’ll take it from where they can get it. But what kind of dying old Nazi hands over so much wealth? One that’s decided how he wants to die, and requires an escort…
Credits: John Davis (script), Lee Carter (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Tharg’s 3rillers: Colony, Part 2
How do you imagine an alien invasion would happen? Lasers and explosions? Flying saucers and massive extraterrestrial armies? Well, this story is showing us all that it wouldn’t necessarily be a big event. It could actually be quite… small. Deceptively so. And it could also not do us the favor of showing up over New York City or Los Angeles, where we’d be sure to notice them eventually. It could turn up where nobody in their right mind would look. Like Siberia. When the only thing between us and the invaders is a bunch of Soviet malcontents and political prisoners? Time to start typing in this phrase into the universal translator: “I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords…”
Credits: Kek-W (script), Vince Locke (art), Adam Brown (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Outlier, Part 8
So Caul is in the lion’s den at this point. Surely with the sentient architecture and guards and all that trained against him, he can’t get too far inside before something pops him off? Right? Let’s just say that even knowing he’s an incredibly dangerous killing machine is selling his powers (or the power of his Hurde-designed biosuit) way short. At this point I think it’s safe to say nothing can stop him. He might as well be vengeance personified. And this in Prog, we see what set this killing spree in motion.
Continued belowYes, we know Caul was left behind with his lover and another on the Hurde ship, but we didn’t know why. And that little bit of information makes me think everyone that Caul’s killed up until this point has gotten off easy compared to the hammer (as opposed to the axe, which is Slaine’s department) he’s going to bring down on the target of his rage. I’d say there’s a pretty decent chance Carcer will make it out of this intact, which is saying more than what happened the last time he was this close to Hurde technology. But beyond that, not a chance. And I’m sure we’ll find out how high the body count goes next Prog!
Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Karl Richardson (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Slaine: A Simple Killing, Part 8
Is it too much of a broken record to say how much I’m loving Simon Davis every week in this strip? Seriously. I’m sorry if it gets a little old (my talking about it, not the art itself because MY GOD MAN LOOK AT IT) but I keep seeing new things each week that force me to call him out. Slaine is over the causeway by now and making his way to mete out some axe-tinged righteous fury (seems to be a lot of that going around these parts).
One would think that it would be a good idea to show Slaine in a landscape that was dark, forboding, and grim. Davis takes things the other way and goes lush and green with his palette. The war paint on Slaine and his mount, and the eyes of the almost-but-not-quite-hidden Drunes, pops out even more from all that green and earth tone. And just in case you’re wondering how things could stay so green, Mills throws in a little something to give you an idea about that. I guarantee you you’ll not see the last page coming. Guarantee.
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
II. OF INTEREST
In our most recent conversation with Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two scribe Douglas Wolk, the topic of the various Mega-Cities of the world came up. It was at that point that Douglas mentioned that someone out there had actually put together a map of Dredd’s world, complete with obscure cities and irradiated wastelands. This sounded like a vital bit of information to present to you, our loyal readers.
Now, we’re no slouches when it comes to keeping up on our Dredd lore, but we’ve honestly never heard of a lot of these places! Does Friendly City live up to its name? What exactly is The Great Southern Sink? There was an undersea penal facility called Aquatraz? Each of the places on this map represent years of stories and history that we’re incredibly excited to investigate. Maybe we can put together some sort of Mega-City Travel Guide? That’d be neat, huh?
UPDATE– 2000 AD PR-Droid Molch-R let us know that the map actually appeared in Judge Anderson: Shamballa. He also informed us that the ominously named Aquatraz can be found in Devlin Waugh.
III. 2000 AD FOR DUMMIES
Over in the IDW Judge Dredd series, we’re right in the middle of a re-imagining of Judge Dredd’s best known enemy: Judge Death! Whenever Death rears his head, you know that his fellow Dark Judges are never far behind. Judges Fear, Fire, and Mortis are just as terrifying as their decaying leader, each having his own unique power set. As iconic and well-known as The Dark Judges are, there haven’t been a huge number of stories where they’ve appeared. I mean, there are probably more Angel Gang stories than Judge Death stories at this point. I think that this just goes to show how iconic Death and his rigor mortis-ridden cohorts are.
So where should you go if you want to read up on some classic Dark Judges stories? Well, a few weeks back we talked about the Dredd digest editions that 2000 AD released a couple of years ago. The Dark Judges volume of that series is a pretty solid introduction to the characters, for sure. But since we’ve already covered that, let’s focus elsewhere today and talk about The Life and Death of Judge Death!
Continued below
Written by John Wagner with art from Frazer Irving, Andy Clarke, Alex Ronald, and Peter Doherty, The Life and Death of Judge Death is exactly what the title suggests. What’s his life like? How exactly did he come to rent from sweet old Mrs. Gunderson? How did he even become Death? There’s a lot to explore in this volume. It’s a whirlwind of story straight from the writer who created these characters, with generous helpings of humor and horror. And the art! The artists who contribute to this collection are as varied as they can be, ranging from Doherty’s beautifully painted pages to Irving’s stark, inky black-and-white art. We whole-heartedly recommend this title to anyone who’s curious about this Judge Death fellow.
IV. FUTURE PERP FILES
ATTN: ALL CITIZENS OF THE MEG! Be aware that there is always a Judge watching you. Each sector is equipped with millions of HD-CCTV and bioID units. They are there for your protection. If your intent is upright citizenry, then you have no qualm with our surveillance. And remember: if you see something, you are now an accessory to a crime. That’s six months in an Iso-Cube, creep! Random CPU algorithms has selected this citizen for immediate surveillance and assessment…
That’s gonna do it for us this week! Prog 1881 is on sale today and available from finer comic shops everywhere, from 2000ADonline.com, and via the 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone. So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
