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!
I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1859
Future Shock: Home Are The Heroes
After Tharg’s 3rillers returned in Prog 1856, we see the return of another 2000 AD staple here: the Future Shock! These stand-alone shorts are concentrated bursts of science fiction thrill power, designed with a twist ending to send your head spinning in completely new directions. Future Shocks have been both a training ground for tomorrow’s creators and a showcase for today’s best and brightest. This Prog’s story takes 4 pages to show us a boy whose father is returning victorious from a space war, and his anxiety over whether his father will be different or not. And shooting. And space ships. And aliens. And… ah, that would be telling…
Credits: AJ Butcher (script), Nick Dyer (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Brass Sun: The Diamond Age, part 10
And you would be correct.
As for the type of trouble, well, again, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? Suffice it to say that it is peril quite perilous, enough to make you want for a kettle and some lardy cake. But we hope these two images from Brass Sun really show off for you the color work Culbard has been bringing with his pen on this strip. As Wren makes her way through the clockwork universe, the colors help sell her changing setting as much if not more than the architecture. Check back at our Prog 1854 look at the strip and see the palette he uses for that setting, and then the 1850 strip for that palette. Open linework framing distinctive color decisions. And on top of that you get Mark Harrison’s fluid digital pastels in Damnation Station. Plus John Burns’ Rockwell-meets-Ezquerra brushes on the Dredd strip. Or scratch the binary itch with Dyer on the Future Shock or McKay/Townsend stripped down on Flesh. Lots of goodies to choose from in these pages, humes!
Credits: Ian Edgington (script), INJ Culbard (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
II. AND IN THE MEGAZINE THIS MONTH
This month’s Megazine, also available today, is such an amazing collection of incredible art. Let’s start with that cover…
Insurrection III, part 9
It’s cool to see what Colin MacNeil has been doing these last bunch of issues in color. Don’t get me wrong, the story is perfectly suited for John-Paul Bove’s greytones; it’s just a treat to see a different take. As the cover states, Colin and Dan Abnett present the final installment of Insurrection this issue. This story has been such a treat, both in art and dialogue, I’m eager to see this collected into one volume.
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Colin MacNeil (art), John-Paul Bove (greytones), Simon Bowland (letters)
Judge Dredd: Duty Calls
This issue sees two brand-new Judge Dredd stories. First up is a fast-paced one-shot focusing on a young sniper. I personally cannot recall ever seeing a Judge sniper uniform, and I must say that they are pretty sweet-looking. The story, as you may gather from the title, is about the tough decisions Judges are faced with in the line of duty. This is a tight and concise story that leaves a lot of room for the art to sing. Everything from the hearty linework to vivid color is spot on in this one. There’s a ton of energy and motion through this whole thing. The action scenes are so clean, quick and fluid, the whole thing almost feels like it’s animated. Couple all that with some bombastic page layouts and you’ve got yourself one solid strip.
Credits: Alec Worley (script), Ben Willsher (art), Gary Caldwell (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Dredd: Underbelly, part 3
The second of our Dredd stories is the conclusion to the Dredd movie sequel. Already solicited to be released as a single issue in January, It’s been a blast to see the movie versions of Dredd and Anderson in print, hopefully with plans for more in the future! Maybe a Judge Anderson solo adventure set in this world.
Continued belowCredits: Arthur Wyatt (script), Henry Flint (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Ordinary, part 3
I do not think it’s possible to put into words how much I’m enjoying the art in this strip. D’israeli’s art is so clean and economic that it almost betrays the level of craftsmanship needed to pull it off. This installment ends on a cliffhanger you know is much too good to be true for our hero. I want this story to never end. Ever.
Credits: Rob Williams (script), D’Israeli (art), HV Derci (letters)
In addition to these four fantastic stories, the Megazine carries a pair of Interrogations: interviews with Will Simpson and Warwick Johnson Cadwell that each feature a bunch of art that you do NOT want to miss.
III. AN ORAL HISTORY OF JUDGE DREDD
The tale of Judge Dredd has been continually published since 1977, and has been brought to us by some of the most creative minds to ever work in comics. As a result, there have been some out-of-this-world story beats woven into the fabric of the character. We thought it would be interesting to talk with the writers and artists behind Mega-City One and see what their favorite bits of Dredd’s history are. This week our favorite Dredd historian PJ Holden returns to cover Wally the Robot and the other oddballs characters in Dredd’s early life.
[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/robotsfromtomorrow/pj_holden_history_3.m4a]
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…
V. ACROSS THE BLACK ATLANTIC
IDW released a teaser image for what’s coming from Judge Dredd in the new year. We’ll just put it right here and let your brains do the rest…
That’s gonna do it for us this week! Prog 1859 and Megazine 342 are 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!”
