2000 ad prog 1933 feature Columns 

Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1933

By | June 3rd, 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 1933

Cover by Richard Elson

 

NOW DEPARTING

Judge Dredd: Breaking Bud, Part 5

As ‘Breaking Bud’ comes to its conclusion, artist Richard Elson turns in his best work for this story yet. It really feels like he’s hitting his stride so well I wish we could get a few more weeks of this! When I got to the first panel of the second page and saw the shorthand used to show Dredd throwing a bunch of punches in rapid succession, I knew there was something different going on. It seems as if Elson took that opportunity to play a straight version of Dredd against a cartoonish interpretation of the ultra-violence he’s capable of. That sort of realistic-rendering-meets-comic-shorthand suits Elson’s work really well, I think.

And, of course, John Wagner ties this one up in a way only he can. While this story may have started as a statement on wealth disparity, it ends with the zaniness of a Dredd strip from thirty years ago. Time travel, black humor, and the aforementioned ultra-violence all play their part in closing this one out. While the story has a tidy end to it, Wagner was sure to insert a few openings for himself to revisit these characters and, probably most importantly, the future tech at the center of it all.

Credits: John Wagner (script), Richard Elson (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

 

Tharg’s 3rillers: Commercial Break, Part 3

The three-part “Commercial Break” comes to a close this week, as our protagonists do all that they can to control their newly found Brixels.

Reading this, I couldn’t help but get a really strong 70’s Jack Kirby vibe. Weird monsters, a mother box, and a New Gods-esque flying apparatus all helped to cement this feeling for me. Maybe I’m seeing things? Who knows. What I can say for sure is that, Kirby infusion or not, this was a pretty solid end to a fun little story.

While each part of this story has had some pretty strong visuals to latch on to, Mike Collins really seemed to stretch out this week. The visual of all of those umbrellas filling the streets really was a sight to behold. I also appreciated how each of the characters seemed to be able to do different things with the Brixels. I guess the easiest way to describe what the Brixels can do is to say that they’re sort of like a Green Lantern’s power ring: whatever the user can imagine seems to be what is at their disposal. Naturally, everyone’s different and has different levels of creativity, so while someone may simply make a giant umbrella, another may come up with an elaborate, winged flying machine.

Credits: Eddie Robson (script), Mike Collins (art), Gary Caldwell (color), Ellie De Ville (letters)

 

Strontium Dog: The Stix Fix, Part 10

Prog 1933 brings ‘The Stix Fix’ to a close, and with it the first Strontium Dog story that’s felt like classic SD in quite some time. Or at least one that has had all the elements I would associate with classic SD. No politics or Johnny as martyr; just simple crossings and double-crossings with some kidnapping and plenty of Thrill-Powered violence thrown in. It felt like Wagner & Ezquerra were taking the recent resurrectee on a shakedown cruise to see if the returned Johnny Alpha could handle getting back into the usual swing of things. I’d give that part of it a resounding yes.

Continued below

The individual appreciation for those things and their swing will vary from reader to reader. There wasn’t anything about the story I disliked, per se; the writing was solid and the art was strong, but it did seem to be missing that little spark to push it over the top for me. That might have to do with the NKD characters, who seemed more one-note than necessary.

Like I said, more of a shakedown cruise than a full-fledged odyssey. But now that ‘Strontium Dog’ has been fixed, it’s time for Wagner & Ezquerra to make sure the character still has his…way about him.

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

 

Sláine: Primordial, Part 10

As we left things, Imperator Furiosa…err Sinead is back in her right mind as she and Slaine attempt to flee from the Isle of Monadh without being spotted by the Trojan soldiers or the Drune Lords. Because while Slaine may not think the number of enemies against him is too many to kill, even he is probably wrong about that. Therefore, discretion needs to be the better part of valor and the two of them need to get the hell out of Dodge.

But if that happens, we have a pretty anticlimactic ending. So the Trojans are appealing to their lords to use their mystical powers to locate Slaine. This would not be good.

Slaine knows how to escape mystical detection by ignoring the Drune’s psychic calls. This is good. Slaine is not a simple, single-brain-celled barbarian; he will not be goaded into giving away his and Sinead’s location. This is very good.

Lord Weird knows what buttons to push. This is not good. He jams them and jams them until Slaine, despite Sinead’s pleas for reason, breaks down and shouts a response to the Heavens. (At least Lord Weird has the decency to thank Slaine for his participation.) This is very very bad.

But for whom? That would be telling. if you happen to see Simon Davis’s cover for Prog 1934, which is a riff off the last panel in this week’s strip, you’ll know that the things are about to get really bad really quick for all parties involved.

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

 

Future Shocks: The World According to Bob

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m going to declare what a fantastic artist INJ Culbard is. His art looks like no one else’s, and every time we see something new from him, it’s like he’s figured out yet another way to refine his craft. With this Future Shock, I was particularly struck by how easily he seems to communicate volume and direction with so few lines. His coloring certainly helps achieve these effects, but I feel his figure work would still give the illusion of heft and motion even without it. Characters are weighted to the earth by their own mass, and the folds in their clothing shows you where their movements are going.

While I am happy to see Culbard’s work as often as possible, I don’t know that a Future Shock is the best venue for exploring his ideas; they just seem too big to be contained in four pages. While the first page did well to set up the premise and intrigue needed at the start, everything after that felt a bit rushed. A four-page comic is going to have a brisk pace to it, no doubt about it, but this felt a little TOO brisk. I couldn’t help but feel like there was more happening between the panels than we know of during my first read through the story.

That aside? I found the story to be wildly imaginative. I absolutely love the premise and wish we could have spent more time with the main character as he explored a world very much of his own making.

Credits: INJ Culbard (script and art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

 

III. OF INTEREST

Every month Multiversity Comics takes a look at the Previews catalog and gives you, the readers, several groups of books that we’re looking forward to picking up when they hit comic shops two months or so from now. We break that huge chunk of product into lists for Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and ‘The Best of the Rest’. This month’s ‘Best of the Rest’ column includes an upcoming 2000 AD re-issue that corrects an absence for US Dredd readers that’s been unaddressed for too long: John Wagner & Colin MacNeil’s ‘America’

Continued below

Scheduled for an August release, this book collects all three of Wagner & MacNeil’s ‘America’ tales, including the original, which consistently ranks at the top of many readers’ ‘Favorite Dredd Story’ lists. And not only that, it was the lead-off book in the Mega-Collection series currently delighting fans in the UK and Ireland. My hope is that, since this edition’s cover mimics the Mega-Collection’s cover treatments, that this is the beginning of 2000 AD rolling out US collections similar to the Mega-Collection schedule. That would be sweet.

If you would like to know more about this story or need a reminder of exactly why it ranks so highly among discerning Dredd fans, I recommend you listen to the Robots From Tomorrow episode we did a few months ago on that very book!

 

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?

If Judge Dredd isn’t barking at control for back-up or a meat wagon, he’s probably requesting a medical team. This week we’re taking a look at Mega-City One Med Judges!

Now, the tricky thing with cataloging Med Judges is that everyone draws them differently. Their uniforms don’t seem to be as pinned down as, say, that of a Street Judge. Now, with that said, there seems to be two approaches to a Med Judge’s uniform: sleek or bulky. In an attempt to reconcile the differences, I’m going to approach this week’s ‘Recognize the Law’ by asserting that this is actually intentional, with the sleeker Med Judge uniforms belonging to those who work inside of Justice System medical facilities, and their bulkier counterparts being those who are out on the streets responding to calls.

Features of a Mega-City One Med Judge’s Uniform:

  • Black helmet with cross visor (facility) of red shield and split visor (street)
  • High-collar Judge’s jumper in navy (facilities) or dark green (street)
  • Red medical cross design light-duty shoulder pads (facilities)
  • Red shoulder pads with cross insignia (street)
  • Med Judge badge
  • Badge chain (street division only)
  • Light-duty elbow pads (facilities)
  • Elbow pads w/ rigid plastic shell (street)
  • White Med-Gloves (facilities)
  • Greed duty gloves with cross insignia (street)
  • Med-Judge utility belt with med-kit, sterilization unit, Laz-Stitch pen, med-grade cuffing tape, pocket defibrillator, CIT-ID chip scanner, Ultra-Scope, pain gel (street)
  • Med Judge belt buckle
  • Light-duty knee pads (facilities)
  • High-impact knee pads (street)
  • Heavy-duty boots with holster for Lawgiver (right) and sheath for utility knife (left)

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1933 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.

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