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. This FAQ collects everything you need to make your initial foray into the 2000 AD Thrill-verse as simple as possible.
II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1936
NOW DEPARTING
Sláine: Primordial, Part 13
“You are messing…with the primal forces…of nature!”
That line isn’t uttered anywhere in this week’s strip, but I couldn’t help but think back to Ned Beatty’s monologue from Network while I read it. The Drune Lords have transformed Sláine’s friend Gort into the Primordial, a human with the warping ability more powerful than Sláine, and in doing so have drawn the ire of Yaldabaoth. And Yaldabaoth has come to push the reset button on their little experiment.
Which might be a good thing for Sláine because, as you can see above, he’s kinda getting his ass handed to him by the former Gort. We’ve seen Sláine in tough positions before, and get out of them, but there’s only so many times you can say you are about to start kicking someone’s ass before you have to actually start doing it or find out it’s too late.
This chapter finishes up Book Two of the ‘The Brutania Chronicles’ and is the last Slaine story of 2015. In his editorial column in this Prog, Tharg tells us that Sláine will return next year in Book Three, entitled ‘Psychopomp’, which I am looking forward to getting to say for 13 weeks straight, as it seems to be a word that evokes so much of the craziness Mills and Davis bring to this strip that I’m shocked Mills didn’t invent it just for this strip. A little Googling revealed that ‘psychopomp’ refers to a guide of souls to the place of the dead.
Uh-oh.
Maybe Sláine DOESN’T get his act together in time…
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Judge Dredd: Blood of Emeralds, Part 3
Judge Joyce’s mom seems like a nice lady. Shame about her house, though.
This was a really great chapter. It’s always a treat to see Dredd outside The Big Meg; it seems to put him a little off his game and makes things interesting. Take the panels above, for example. Can you imagine Judge Dredd taking off his one-size-too-small boots before entering someone’s Mega-City One apartment? He’d probably dish out some Iso-Cube sentence just for them asking! But here, in this easier environment, boots are removed with no argument. It doesn’t mean he likes it, or that he’ll even sit, but he obliged.
I love how MacNeil adds wear and tear to all of the Judge’s uniforms. These aren’t costumes; they’re what are worn every day on the streets. Being a Judge is a difficult profession, and it shows on every helmet and shoulder pad. So many other artists draw what would essentially be brand-new gear, all shiny and free of distress, but not MacNeil. Like his drawing style, the battle damage is drawn as simply as possible. A tic here, a bent line there, and suddenly you’ve got dents and bullet pocks that help tell the story of what it’s actually like out there on patrol.
Continued belowCredits: Michael Carroll (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Outlier: Dark Symmetries, Part 2
The first volume of ‘Outlier’ was surprisingly tight in scope for a story that included aliens, sentient houses, true love, and enough bloody-minded revenge to fuel a Kill Bill sequel. So much so that I was more than a little surprised that it came back to the Prog pages, given that it seemed to wrap up pretty definitively.
This week, just the second into the story’s sophomore run, finds Eglington and Richardson opening things up in a big way with a (essentially) wordless and action-packed installment that hits exactly the opposite beats of its claustrophobic predecessor. We check in with the Hurde forces assaulting a stronghold deep in their territory and find Caul, the sympathetic antagonist from the last series, as part of the strike force. We’re given a nice reminder of his situation without the exposition-laden dialogue of the previous chapter; last week was fine, but two weeks of that in a row could leave a reader wondering when the Thrill-Power was going to show up. Turns out it was this week.
Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Karl Richarson (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Absalom: Under A False Flag, Part 3
So Absalom is on to the Priest. While he doesn’t quite know all of the details yet, he will soon enough. But has he tipped his hand too soon in the meantime? Now the Priest knows and may find it necessary to do something rash. Or maybe Absalom is coercing him into action?
Trevallion’s art looks really good this week. I feel like he’s a touch less noodley and a little more spare with his line than he was in the last two chapters. Maybe it’s deadline pressure or maybe he’s settling into a groove…I don’t know enough to say. But what I can say is that it suits him. Now his attention to detail with certain aspects of the art, like Absalom’s weathered old face or the carving on the knife, can shine with a little more breathing room. I’ve been impressed with his work up to this point, but this week’s strip felt really good to me.
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Tiernen Trevallion (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Helium, Part 3
Someone MORE capable? Why am I thinking there isn’t anyone more capable than now-ex-Constable Hodge? Maybe because her replacement is the Mayor’s nephew?
While there is certainly enough doom and gloom to go around in this strip, especially after last week’s look into what’s been happening (or possibly happening) below the Poison Belt, this strip is certainly anything but gloomy when it comes to the art. I know I keep saying this and I’ll stop the moment it becomes untrue, but D’Israeli has one of the best senses and use of color of any artist working in the Progs today. And when you’re also considering that includes artists like INJ Culbard, Simon Davis, Chris Blythe (w/ Colin MacNeil), then that’s high praise indeed.
And if you haven’t come around to agreeing with me yet, just wait until you see all the colors he’s going to be using next week, with all the explosions will be going off…
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), D’Israeli (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
III. THIS YEAR IN THE 2000 AD SCI- FI SPECIAL
After an almost twenty-year hiatus, the late, lamented “2000 AD Sci-Fi Special” made a comeback in the summer of 2014. Well, the mercury’s about ready to burst out the top of every thermometer I see, so that must mean it’s time for another extra slab of summer Thrill-Power to beat the heat!
The Special is a way for up-&-coming droids to get a crack at some of your 2000 AD favorites. But don’t let that new-robot smell fool you! These shiny new droids have been vetted by Tharg himself, so you better believe there is some zarjaz comics are on display here. Each strip is self-contained, making the Special another great place to begin reading 2000 AD.
Continued belowHere’s a brief rundown of what to expect:
Judge Dredd: Let’s Go To Work
Judge Dredd loves asking people for permits and proper paperwork. Probably because it’s the lowest impact policing he gets to practice. I feel like we’ve seen the Judge-Dredd-on-a-movie-set situation before, and recently at that. I’d be more critical of that, if it weren’t for Lynch’s art.
We’ve been fans of Lynch’s since he popped up a little while back, so it’s exciting to see his art take center stage in the special. I just wish it could have been in black and white! He did such nice work on Orlok with his use of halftones, and I feel a little like the color got in the way of his work.
Credits:Michael Carroll (script), Jake Lynch (art), John-Paul Bove (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Robo-Hunter: Iron Sam
Making a return appearance in the Sci-Fi Special is Sam Slade, Robo-Hunter! Working out of a 22nd Century Brit-Cit, Sam is the guy you call when you need a droid located or the one you already have goes a little loopy in the logic box. This time around, Sam’s landed himself a marvelous case: deliver a disinfecting anti-virus to billionaire-industrialist-protector Leonardo Sharpe so that Sharpe can use his ‘Irn-Bro’ tech-suits and droids to save the city from an alien invasion.
Easier said than done when one of your droid companions has chugged 47 ‘Robo Go Go’ energy drinks and the other is a cybernetic cigar with a heavy Spanish accent…
Credits: Alec Worley (script), Mark Simmons (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Future Shocks: Dust
Future Shocks: small page count, big twist. Only three pages to this one, so not a lot to say other than don’t miss it!
Credits: Gary Blatchford (script), John Higgins (art/letters)
Ace Trucking Co.: Star’s Truck
If you think it had been a while since we’d seen ‘Robo-Hunter’ (outside of his appearance in last year’s Sci-Fi Special’0, this is the first ‘Ace Trucking Co.’ strip to see publication in over 25 years!
Ace Garp and the lads are the sentients you call when you need to get stuff from one side of the galaxy to the other. Their strip grew out of the CB/trucking craze of the late 70’s, which accounts for Garp’s even-weirder-than-usual-for-“2000 AD” speech patterns. But despite the hiatus, the strip has apparently kept on trucking and made it back from the nebulas of obscurity into Tharg’s good graces!
Credits: Eddie Robson (script), Nick Dyer (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Survival Geeks: Movie Night
How does a group of geeks pass the time between interdimensional jaunts in their spacetime-traversing house? Why, flopping down on the couch and popping in the latest video compilation of their previous exploits, that’s how!
This strip is anything but a clip show, however. Rennie, Beeby, and Googe manage to set up some points for the Geeks next adventure while filling in new readers on what’s gone on before, including just how adorable a baby Cthulu named Howard can be.
Credits: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby (script), Neil Googe (art), Gary Caldwell (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Rogue Trooper: The Death of a Demon
How many times can you tease us with ‘Rogue Trooper’ strips, Tharg? At what point will you finally decide to put Adams and Douglas on a proper run of this character? These two obviously know what to do with it, so come on. Please?
This was an interesting strip, as we’re given a bit of a bigger picture than usual in a ‘Rogue Trooper’ tale. Clearly, in this war on Nu Earth there’d be some orchestrated attempt to win the hearts and minds of the populace and rally them behind ‘the cause.’ You know, propaganda! Things get twisty and turny in this one as we get to the surprise ending. Great way to wrap up this year’s special!
Credits: Guy Adams (script), Darren Douglas (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1936 and the “2000 AD Sci-Fi Special” are on sale today and available from:
Continued below- The 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone,
- The 2000 AD app for Android devices,
- 2000ADonline.com in print or DRM-free PDF and CBZ formats,
- Select US newsstands, and
- Finer comic shops everywhere
So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
