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Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1927

By and | April 22nd, 2015
Posted in Columns | % Comments

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Welcome, citizens, to this week’s installment of Multiver-City One! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at 2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment! Between the weekly “2000 AD” itself, the monthly “Judge Dredd Megazine”, an extensive library of graphic novel collections, and new US-format one-shots and mini-series, they have decades of zarjaz comics for you to enjoy.

We’ve got a brand-new Prog this week, so we’ll jump right in after a quick public service announcement!

I. AN EARTHLET’S GUIDE TO 2000 AD

We understand that having such a large selection of comics to choose from can make knowing where to start with 2000 AD seem daunting. What do they publish? Where can I get it? What’s up with Judge Dredd? Can I still read “2000 AD” if I don’t like Judge Dredd?

So to help new & potential readers, we’ve put together An Earthlet’s Guide to 2000 AD. A regularly updated FAQ, The Guide will collect everything you need to make your initial foray into the 2000 AD Thrill-verse as simple as possible.

II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1927

Cover by Greg Staples

 

Judge Dredd: Enceladus – New Life, Part 4

Stuck between a Klegg and an uninhabitable ice planet.

This week’s strip features some familiar-yet-still-surprising appearances, kicking off with Sinfield and Nixon in mid-negotiation with a Klegg ambassador. This is not the type of Klegg we’ve last seen from Rob Williams; this is the more common “let’s eat some humans” sort of fella instead. Williams is a master of scripting comics with single-digit page counts, so there’s a lot we can learn from this brief (read: eight panel) interaction.

It’d be easy enough to have a character say how desperate they are, but would the reader truly believe it? Instead, what we see unfolding in the first page and a half of this week’s chapter is the fruition of the desperation Nixon and Sinfield are experiencing. We have two former Judges consorting with old enemies, the Kleggs, as their final call in order to secure fuel and supplies necessary for keeping the Titan refugees alive. When all of the talks fall through, and there seems to be no where else to turn, the matter of explaining the direness of the situation to their fellow refugees is approached as yet another burden for Nixon to bear.

Of course, everything that Williams packs into the script would go nowhere without an artist to put it all on the page. Like Williams, Flint’s brilliance lives in the subtleties he uses to tell stories. His art conveys ideas and story elements, freeing word count for Williams. This sort of collaborative storytelling is crucial for telling a story this dense in eight-page chunks. Nixon doesn’t just declare how malnourished and sleep deprived everyone is; Flint shows us how unhealthy the living conditions on Enceladus are through his art. We see the ashen skin tones, the dark and sunken eye sockets, and the discolored, cracking lips on everyone. He adds scratches and divots to everyone’s faces to show us how filthy and sickly they are. Between Flint and Williams, we’ve learned everything we need to know about the physical and mental state Nixon and Sinfield have found themselves in, and we’ve done it in just two pages.

No spoilers this week, but let me just say that I certainly did not see that last page coming!

Credits: Rob Williams (script), Henry Flint (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

 

Sláine: Primordial, Part 4

The previous Sláine arc and the current one both fall under the larger title of ‘The Brutania Chronicles’, and are very much two pieces of a larger story. This current arc, ‘Primordial’, refers not only to the engine by which the Drunes are looking to power their takeover of Albion from, but also looking back into not only their past, but Sláine as well. In this week’s story we see Sláine’s father, Roth, in flashback. It seems the headgames Sláine played on Gododin a few week’s back are being reciprocated here. Sláine taunted the Drune of how he killed Gododin’s father, and now Gododin is making Sláine relive his memories of his father’s shame and excommunication.

Continued below

All of which is rendered, as you would expect, impeccably by Simon Davis. For the sepia-toned flashbacks, Davis doesn’t just lay a flat color layer over his regular sculpted paint work, but rather shifts the entire color palette in that direction. So when he wants to use white highlights, he still uses actual white. This, to me, keeps these panels from feeling too out-of-place from the overall narrative, but rather just a step removed. It’s subtle, and I could be making too much of a deal about it, but I’d be surprised if that wanting to keep the panels from being too removed didn’t factor into Davis’ decision at some point. Since I doubt we won’t see these types of panels next week and the week’s to come, that seems like a pretty smart decision.

In addition to that, there’s Sinead’s desire to regress back to a primordial state to get away from the damage her Drune captivity inflicted upon her. So, you know, fun times!

Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

 

Grey Area: Locked In, Part 1

After a busy few weeks of catching up with everything that’s happened to Bulliet and company since the close of the last round of ‘Grey Area’ stories, it seems that we’ve finally found a moment to get to know our new setting a little better. With nowhere to go and no plan for how to return home, our cast seems to have become wards of the state. They’re not prisoners, as we see them freely moving about this Grey Area, but are relying on their intergalactic counterparts for shelter and sustenance.

Both Abnett and Harrison are hunkering down and putting in the effort to give us an idea of what it’s like to be trapped on this strange planet. They emphasize the monotony of the days to show the characters (mostly) becoming accustomed to their surroundings. We see Bulliet approach Officer Resting Bitch Face in an attempt to secure a meeting with the leaders of this society so they could all discuss the approaching ‘God-Star’ and the planet’s impending doom. It seems as if this is not the first time these two have discussed a meeting, and it appears it will not be the last. Other than that, the human’s days appear to consist of: wake up, eat, bathe, repeat. Monotony can breed a weird sort of complacency, can’t it? I mean, that’s human nature, isn’t it? So what if the officers from Earth’s Grey Area are at risk of becoming complacent? It could mean that they’d lose sight of the urgency needed to address the ‘God-Star’ situation, wouldn’t it? Then they’d be just like everyone else…

I’ve been adoring Mark Harrison’s work on this story and think that this week is a real high point for him. His interest in exploring this world and its inhabitants is clear. Every crowd scene and cityscape is such a treat to linger on and explore. The way he lights his scenes gives the story the feeling of being foreign and unfamiliar. It’s exceptional work.

Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

 

Orlok, Agent of East-Meg One: The Rasputin Caper, Part 4

This week’s ‘Orlok’ opens with the irreverent humor we’ve grown to love, but quickly turns towards a more serious-feeling espionage story. The shift clearly comes from which spy is in the ‘lead’; at the open this is very much The Black Widower’s show, with his friend ‘Orlof’ playing second fiddle. Then, as fortunes change and the titular character takes the reigns, the tone shifts to be more in line with our stoic protagonist.

I’m really enjoying the fearlessness of this story. Wyatt and Lynch seem to have found themselves in a place where they can indulge their whims and tell a story in whatever manner they see fit. So if it’s a serious spy drama one week and a menagerie of comics pastiches the next, well, so be it. Their work and the way they’re approaching it has made “Orlok” a rich and multi-faceted comic with seemingly limitless possibilities.

And yes, Lynch’s artwork is still astounding.

Continued below

Credits: Arthur Wyatt (script), Jake Lynch (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

 

Strontium Dog: The Stix Fix, Part 4

I’ve mentioned before that ‘The Stix Fix’ feels more like an old-school ‘Strontium Dog’ story than what came before it, even though that was the first SD story I’d ever read. So I guess what I meant by that is that ‘Stix Fix’ feels more like what I thought SD was going to be, rather than the more political and continuity-based ‘Life of Johnny Alpha’. Such as, I know this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Johnny wearing his full uniform with helmet, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in a current Prog where it felt like he was wearing it because that’s what he does when he goes on missions, not because that’s what we need him to wear to identify him, if that makes any sense.

And I gotta say…it looks good. From Greg Staples’ cover to Carlos Ezquerra’s interior pages, that very 70’s-style bubble-design with that color scheme still works when it really doesn’t have a reason to. Which is good because Johnny’s back to doing some good ol’ bounty hunting again. He’s looking for Mungo Stix, one of the Stix Brothers. The Stix Brothers have shown up in ‘Strontium Dog’ stories before as ruthless killer bounty-hunters, so I’m sure Johnny’s not looking forward to finding either Mungo or his brothers. But when you’re looking for a Stix, you have to start off at Stixville, which as one could imagine, is an entire town of Stixes. Women. Children. Men. Gun-toting men. Gun-toting men who don’t take kindly to Strontium Dogs poking around their town.

Good thing Johnny looks like he’s back in old form; he might need some of those moves to get out of this jam!

Credits: John Wagner (script), Carlos Ezquerra (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

 

III. OF INTEREST

We’ll have more about this year’s 2000 AD FCBD offering next week, but just to give you a taste of the Thrill-Power, here’s an ad based on the Henry Flint cover for that free Prog, complete with the usual spot-on British piss-take of American comics:

Which one bites closer to home: the completely colorless DC, or the CGI-character voiced by a sarcastic Hollywood leading man? You decide!

IV. RECOGNIZE THE LAW

It’s no secret that there are a great many flavors of Judges from a great deal of Mega-Cities, so we’re aiming to use this space as a way of exploring as many types of Judges as we can. Did you know that in Mega-City One there are Accounting Judges? And Exorcist Judges?

This week we turn our attention back to Mega-City One’s Psi-Division to examine their Cadets.

Features of a Mega-City One Psi-Division Cadet:

  • White Cadet’s helmet with shield and respirator (helmet is optional for Psi Cadets)
  • Psi-Division shield (no chain)
  • Blue/black Judge’s jumper with half-collar
  • Cadet’s shoulder pads (matching)
  • Cadet’s elbow pads
  • Gloves w/ pockets and knuckle reenforcement
  • Utility belt with eagle buckle
  • Cadet’s Knee pads
  • Heavy-duty boots with holster for Lawgiver (right) and sheath for utility knife (left)

As with all Cadets, Psi-Division Cadets are only assigned a lawgiver during the final stages of their training and under strict supervision. They may only carry while training in the field and may only draw after receiving explicit direction from a supervising Judge.

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1927 is on sale today and available from:

So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”

 


//TAGS | Multiver-City One

Greg Matiasevich

Greg Matiasevich has read enough author bios that he should be better at coming up with one for himself, yet surprisingly isn't. However, the years of comic reading his parents said would never pay off obviously have, so we'll cut him some slack on that. He lives in Baltimore, co-hosts (with Mike Romeo) the Robots From Tomorrow podcast, writes Multiversity's monthly Shelf Bound column dedicated to comics binding, and can be followed on Twitter at @GregMatiasevich.

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Mike Romeo

Mike Romeo started reading comics when splash pages were king and the proper proportions of a human being meant nothing. Part of him will always feel that way. Now he is one of the voices on Robots From Tomorrow. He lives in Philadelphia with two cats. Follow him on Instagram at @YeahMikeRomeo!

EMAIL | ARTICLES


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