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 Cliff Robinson & Dylan Teague.
I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1885
Judge Dredd: Traumatown, Part 3
So ol’ Joe Dredd ain’t crazy after all. Well, I mean, he probably is an insane person, just not in the way we thought at the beginning of the strip.
This week’s chapter sees things escalate rather quickly, as the morbid visions jump from something experienced by only two Judges to what could be a full-on epidemic. This strip leaves the Justice Department questioning literally everything they see, which is a definite hindrance to them.
Credits: Michael Carroll (script), Nick Percival (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Grey Area: Nearer My God To Thee, Part 2
Traditionally, waiting for God is like waiting for Godot: you’re going to be waiting a long time. But in the case of Grey Area, God had the courtesy to call ahead and let his children know he’s coming. The fallout of the visions being felt by psychics and believers of all faith around the globe is that lots of people (and creatures, because this strip is chocked full of the extra-terrestrials) are anxious to be at the gate waiting for God to step off the plane, so to speak. So whether it’s actually the Supreme Being or just your average telepathic/emopathic mass event, the end result for Bulliet and his team is the same. If something shows up, they handle first contact.
Three guesses what happens at 10:22 PST?
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Slaine: A Simple Killing, Part 12
I think, in retrospect, this strip should have been called “A Ton of Beheadings”. Although I guess that would also apply to most of the Slaine back catalog. But seriously; I don’t think there’s been a Prog where someone hasn’t lost their noggin thanks to a swing or two of Brainbiter. But this Prog sees some others cutting in on Slaine’s action, as the Drunes (or psychopomp, in what has become my favorite new word this week) look to engage in the Sacrament of Division with a row of disciples that include the object of Slaine’s quest: the now-pacified Sinead. Slaine is infiltrating the Tower of Undoing, but will he be in time?
All I know is, heads are gonna roll next Prog.
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Tharg’s 3rillers: In Seconds Flat, Part 3
The 3riller comes to a close this week, as Robinson and Currie flip the story on its head. There’s a fair amount of fancy footwork going on, which is to be expected in wrapping up a time-travel tale.
As is usual, this 3riller was a treat. Although it’s sort of a given there will be some type of twist ending, the journey towards that Oh Henry is always worth it. Storytelling becomes interesting when the reader expects certain things to happen narratively; a hyper-awareness can cloud their perception and judgement, leaving them open to falling for red herrings and other distractions. Couple all this with the limited page count these creative teams are given, and the end result is usually a tightly woven, dense reading experience. Pretty much what 2000 AD became famous for, right?
Credits: Eddie Robson (script), Andrew Currie (art), Abigail Ryder (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Indigo Prime: Perfect Day, Part 5
So going to this big, alternate-dimension party was a bust. Unthur and Danny nearly got their client killed, so they decide to take him exactly wherever it is he actually wants to go. Because, you know, he’s got lots of Nazi gold.
Continued belowAlso this week: an inter-dimensional car chase, a shark swimming in liquid methane, cool visuals, and bad decisions.
Credits: John Davis (script), Lee Carter (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
II. OF INTEREST
If you’ve browsed the latest issue of Previews, you may have picked up on something interesting: there’s a LOT of Judge Dredd happening!
Readers can always expect a weekly dose of thrills from UK publisher Rebellion in the form of 2000 AD Progs (and monthly by way of the Judge Dredd Megazine). And American licenser IDW seems to have connected with a Dredd-hungry audience, seeing as how they’ll be launching a new Psi-Division series this month. But there’s a third publisher that’ll be putting out Judge Dredd material soon: Dark Horse Comics!
Back in the heady days of the 90’s, in the wake of 20th Century Fox’s Aliens and Predator franchises going up against the likes of Batman, Superman, Tarzan, and Magnus Robot Fighter, someone wondered what it’d be like if the Predators and Judge Dredd were to cross paths. I know, it’s a great question; Wizard must’ve posited it in one of their ‘Who Would Win’ articles at some point. What separates this match-up from, say, Goku vs. Superman is that Predator vs. Judge Dredd really happened in 1998.
Dark Horse and 2000 AD simultaneously published the story in 1998, written by John Wagner with art by Enrique Alcatena, as a three-issue mini-series here in The States and a strip in the Megazine over in the UK. Dredd teams up with Psi-Judge Schaefer (a direct descendant of both Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch Schaefer from the original film, and Alan Schaefer from the first Dark Horse mini-series) to track down the hunters from outer space.
Both publishers would once again team up in 2003 to bring the world Aliens vs. Judge Dredd, co-written by Wagner and Andy Diggle with art by Henry Flint. While the US readers saw a four-issue mini-series, the UK version was serialized in 2000 AD proper. So imagine all the unsuspecting humes opening their latest copy of Tharg’s mag to suddenly be greeted by this blast of thrillpower:
And unlike the usual policy for crossovers between companies, these stories are all considered part of the Dredd canon. So the Dredd you see here is the same one who beat up Batman, sent the fist of Dredd straight through the helmet of Judge Fear, and is currently dealing with the aftermath of Chaos Day and Titan. Both of these crossovers have been separately collected in (now out-of-print) paperback, but this October Dark Horse will be releasing both, and more, in a single hardcover collection.
As suckers for inter-company crossovers, we cannot wait to see these stories together in one volume. It’ll go nicely on the shelf next to DC’s Batman/Judge Dredd collection that was reprinted last year.
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 1885 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!”
