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 Neil Roberts.
I. NOW ARRIVING
Grey Area: Nearer My God To Thee, Part 1
Capt. Bulliet and his ETC team make their return to these pages after an almost 2-month hiatus, with the same creative team in tow. This new storyline starts picking up threads from the previous run, ranging from the human Outreach Movement spreading God’s love to all his creatures, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, to the imagined sexual tension between Bulliet and Lyra from Exo Intel, but is still a good jumping-on point for the series.
The bulk of the art on the last run was done by Patrick Goddard, but shifted over to Harrison on the tail end of those stories. While I think both artists are perfectly capable of handling the type of stories Abnett is putting out in this series, Harrison’s larger hand in the art chores (specifically the colors versus just the linework) lets him push things further in a different direction than Goddard. So we get to see more of that electro-painterly backgrounds and atmosphere combination that he brought to Al Ewing’s “Damnation Station” from the beginning of our Multiver-City One run. Sorta like the shift from Bob McLeod to Bill Sienkiewicz on the early Claremont “New Mutants” run; the first approach being a tightly defined vision, with the second a more loosely expressive take that makes the reader more of a partner in deciding which of the elements presented makes up their take on the scene.
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1884
Judge Dredd: Traumatown, Part 2
So it looks like we can probably throw last week’s speculation out the window. While Dredd is still experiencing some pretty wild hallucinations, signs are beginning to point to an external influence.
This is probably my favorite type of Judge Dredd story. It seems that everyone looks at Mega-City One’s top lawman as an infallible super-human, but is in reality only flesh and blood. And some bionics. And a force of will that teeters on the edge of psychosis. Anyways, all that aside, looking at Dredd in this way and exploring his flaws and weaknesses is always revealing. So much of who he is as a character is defined by his image that slipping behind his veneer is almost uncomfortable. It feels voyeuristic to watch him being vulnerable. Percival’s rendering of Dredd layed out on the examination table is the visual interpretation of this.
Whatever is causing Dredd’s hallucinations, it’s serious. At the end of this we can expect to see that he’s been the victim of either some outside force, or his own damaged psyche. Either way, I’m sure this strip has more than a few surprises in store for us!
Credits: Michael Carroll (script), Nick Percival (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Indigo Prime: Perfect Day, Part 5
These Indigo Prime characters have some nifty tech, let me tell you. Cool cars, polymorph people, defensive blocks, stuff like that. This week they get to use it all against what I’m assuming is the multiversal equivalent of suicide bombers, as mech suits with terminally ill patients have crashed the party looking for Unthur and company. This probably has to do with the old Nazi he’s chauffeuring around.
Credits: John Davis (script), Lee Carter (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Tharg’s 3rillers: In Seconds Flat, Part 2
This week, Scott breaks down exactly what’s been going on and Lily finds a weakness in the future solders who’re trying to kill them. There is a lot happening in these few pages, but mostly flashbacks, future history, and gunfire! It’s a messy situation that an undefined number of Scotts find themselves in, that’s for sure. Next week we see how it all comes together and find out if inching your way back in time can save the future.
Continued belowCredits: Eddie Robson (script), Andrew Currie (art), Abigail Ryder (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Slaine: A Simple Killing, Part 11
White men apparently can jump, much to the dismay of the five Gogs looking to send Slaine to his ancestors. And while Slaine keeps racking up the not-so-simple body count, we get some more insight on what the Sloughs are cooking up on their end. And one doesn’t need to be wearing the Salmon of Wisdom to know that Slaine is gonna have to bring more than fancy footwork to bear if he’s going to survive it and rescue Sinead (if there’s anything left of her to rescue).
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
III. 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 1884 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!”
