Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1953 and Judge Dredd Megazine 365

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.

There’s a brand-new Prog AND Megazine out this week, so after a quick public service announcement we’ll jump right into the Thrills!

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 1953

Cover by Ryan Brown

Judge Dredd: Serial Serial, Part 4

Looks like PJ Maybe is raising the stakes this week, as the collateral damage in his game of ‘find the serial killer’ intensifies.

I’ll tell you, this is a pretty sinister storyline that Wagner’s cooked up. Dredd is in a position where, welcome or not, he’s being aided by a serial killer, the aforementioned Maybe, in his hunt for another serial killer, identity unknown. This probably wouldn’t be that huge of a deal if Maybe weren’t killing serially in order to give Dredd clues about the unknown serial killer. Who, by the way, seems to choose an M.O. and only kills eight times with it, and has been repeating the pattern for years.

A series of serial killings has prompted another serial killer to kill serially in order to stop the first serial killer from killing. Supposedly. My head’s spinning a little, but Wagner lays it out pretty clearly.

Now, it’s plain as day that MacNeil is absolutely crushing it, right? The guy is a master who, in my opinion, has been producing the work of his career over the past few years. So let’s slide some much deserved appreciation towards colorist Chris Blythe, shall we? The guy’s got incredible range and is working in a way that really works with the line art. MacNeil’s style has gotten really dense, with huge chunks of flat, black shapes that make up each scene. In response, Blythe comes at the page with huge slabs of colors to help solidify the page. Instead of putting down flat colors, though, Blythe adds some subtle gradients to help convey the shapes that MacNeil suggests with his line work. The only criticism I have is that he can get a little carried away with the textures. Sometimes that stuff is perfectly placed, like on Nashigoru’s food covered shirt. But in other places, like the ground on the first page, these textures can start to compete with MacNeil’s clean inks. Overall, this is a minor complaint about an overwhelmingly fantastic looking comic.

Credits: John Wagner (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Defoe: The Hanged, Part 4

Last week we gave you some historical background and context on the hangings at Tyburn. And as if on cue, this week’s strip shows Defoe and his spy colleague (Jones, If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Wouldst-Be-Damned Jones) making a trek to that very place during one of the very public executions.

Mills introduces something this week that plays off something he’s been seeding previous chapters with. A few of the reeks we’ve seen have had third-person narrative captions from an in-story book attached to them telling of their execution, be it defiant, repentant, or something in-between. With no other source of information, we’ve taken those accounts as gospel. But in this week’s Prog we see the Bishop who writes those captions in attendance, trying to get that day’s convict to repent before taking the noose.

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“Any last words? Something to show my readers how you descended the slippery slope of immorality into a loathsome life of crime, and paid a terrible price for your wickedness? … Quickly now! Confess your sins and you may yet be saved!”
“Piss off, devil dodger.”
“High Mills. Hung for stealing a suit. He expressed remorse and penitence in his behavior and confessed very freely what a wicked person he’d been.”

Yeah, I’m thinking the Bishop is using a different definition of ‘penitence’ than the rest of us are familiar with.

But this bit plays into the theme of this arc (aside from the reek-hunting) that the lower class are growing less and less subservient to the upper as they are used to. And while the upper classes may be trying to either downplay or crack down on that spirit, it is growing more prevalent and taking hold in more public venues, like Tyburn. Could London proper be next? And how does this affect Defoe? We get another wrinkle or three this week!

Credits: Pat Mills (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Brass Sun: Motor Head, Part 4

How much worse can things get? Seriously. I know Culbard has this part set in a bright environment, but Septimus and Wren could not be in a darker predicament. She is minutes away from lobotomy and he is powerless to help. Not good!

This section has, at least to my mind, a few nods to Gilliam’s Brazil that really jumped out at me. One was the linking of torture and brainwashing to the type of sterile, white environment more commonly seen in hospitals and places of healing (although there are centuries worth of evidence that such places did more torturing than healing, so maybe the link isn’t that far-fetched). But the other is with the blood drop. Compare the image above with these shots from the film:

Clearly intentional, right? In the film, that foot belongs to protagonist Sam Lowry as he visits the offices of a colleague who happens to interrogate prisoners of The State. Lowry’s smearing of the blood visualizes his growing realization of exactly how damaging this system really is to those living in it. Septimus is having the same epiphany over the course of ‘Motor Head’, and the use of the smearing blood is a great visual motif for it. I also like that comics can make that contrast even more pronounced; the white is pure white, the red pure red.

Speaking of red, another player in this great game makes his smashing entrance this week. Let’s just say that bloodshot isn’t the only spot of red we see this week!

Credits: Ian Edginton (script), INJ Culbard (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Sinister Dexter: The Taking of the Michael, Part 3

It seems like assuming either Sinister or Dexter would not do something simply because they don’t have the will is pretty stupid at this point, you know? Leave it to other gun-sharks to equivocate or hesitate at the moment of truth. Ramon Dexter will pull that mutherfuntin’ trigger and not think twice about it. See above.

After last week’s street shootout, the extradimensional Moses Tannenbaum is ready to set sail on his gigantic yacht and leave all this to cool down in his absence. But a man of Moses’ wealth & taste has to have a party & provisions with him for a getaway like this, so the boat’s not leaving quite yet. Dexter & Sinister are trying to find ways on the boat when they’re made in the Rack & Ruin bar by a trio of gun sharks that quickly becomes a pair of gun sharks.

The strip’s flash back/forward structure tells us the Rack & Ruin shootout was so massive it’s taken days to get IDs on all the bodies. Are our main characters among the dead? What do YOU think?

Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Bad Company: First Casualties, Part 3

“Remember Min Town!”

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After reading through this week’s strip, this comes across less like a plea for civilians to never forget, and more like a command the members of Bad Company are shouting at their own brains. Some thing happened in Min Town that was beyond the death and destruction that war brings. Or, at least, that’s the theory Danny Franks is working with. And the way he sees it, there’s only one way to know for sure!

I am thoroughly enjoying this strip. From the narrative to the art, everything bit of it feels fresh and exciting. I’ve never read much Bad Company before, but the way Milligan is laying it out means that I don’t have to know any of the backstory. That said, every week that passes makes me more and more interested in what came before. This is a real highlight of the current line up.

Credits: Peter Milligan (script), Rufus Dayglo & Jim McCarthy (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

III. THIS MONTH IN JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE 365

Cover by Barry Kitson

Judge Dredd: Terror Rising, Part 1

Reason #483 that now is a great time to be a Judge Dredd fan: there are two different Wagner/MacNeil strips running right now! One in the Progs that we’ve been covering the last few weeks, and this strip kicking off its Megazine run this month. And not only that, but ‘Terror Rising’ looks to be not only another chapter in Wagner’s ‘Democracy’ series, but also another in the team’s celebrated ‘America’ series. Lots of things in play here!

Total War is a terrorist group operating in Mega-City One with the goal of abolishing the Judicial system. They were the organization that America Jara belonged to, and that have carried out such attacks as suicide attacks against Judges and attempting to blow up the Statue of Liberty in a symbolic gesture (resulting in the nonsymbolic shootout that ended the first ‘America’ story).
We open ‘Terror Rising’ with Total War restarting its campaign against the Judges; suicide bombings, drive-by shootings, the works.

We also see Judges Dredd and Beeny reminiscing over the group’s earlier activities at the site of the Statue of Liberty. Dredd’s apology to Beeny over her mother’s death seems both genuine and hypocritical at the same time. One could get the impression just from this story that Dredd ordered the Judges to not fire on the Total War terrorists (including Beeny’s mother America Jara) and that order was ignored. Going back and checking the original issue shows Dredd clearly giving the order to fire while the group was still in their vehicles, only issuing the cease order after a mortally wounded America crawled out of the wreckage. Megazine 250 has Cadet Beeny bringing all this up to Dredd, point by point, and making it clear she knew he had that entire cell gunned down to make an example for others. But now, 25 years after the shooting and almost nine after Beeny graduated from the Academy and joined the Justice Department, Dredd apologizes. Beeny doesn’t say if she accepts it or not, but she does reiterate her belief that while she recognizes her mother’s actions were wrong, the reasons behind them were and still are valid.

In a lesser series under lesser writers, Beeny would be a simple plot point, a ticking time-bomb of ‘when is she going to betray Dredd and the Department?’. But Wagner has never gone there with her, and after this many years it’s safe to say he won’t because that would be the easy out, and he’s never been one to take the easy way out when it comes to Dredd and Mega-City One. I can’t wait to see where we go from here!

Credits: John Wagner (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Demon Nic, Part 5

Last month we saw Nic and Mercy get out of a bad scrape by the timely intervention of an angel claiming they were under his protection. If saying that gave a pack of demons enough of the willies to call off their attack, what do those two have to fear from this point on with such a guardian looking out for them? Kind of a lot if that angel up and disappears when a Deception Dagger-wielding pack of Assassin Apostles show up.

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Assassin Apostles? Man, I love this strip!

Grist continues to absolutely kill on this title and make things look so incredibly easy. Phil Elliot really keeps things going with a primary palette that pops while still keeping things from going too bright or over-the-top. Part of that might be the black background all of Grist’s Art floats above, acting like a diffuser or grounder of those colors. I don’t know, but every month I keep thinking this will be the issue where Grist’s border-less panel approach is going to be confusing, and every month I’m gratefully proven wrong. He doesn’t get the love that lesser artists seem to bask in, but if you ever needed an example of why Grist is one of the most underrated cartoonists working today, ‘Demon Nic’ can be Exhibit A!

Credits: Paul Grist (script/art/letters), Phil Elliot (colors)

Storm Warning: The Relic, Part 5

For what a handsome strip this has been, this week’s “Storm Warning” looks particularly good. The sequence where Judges Storm and Kneale venture down into the old tube system was a real treat, particularly the panels that show the duo walking further and further down the tunnel. The way the shrinking circles worked as their light source drifting away from the reader was masterfully executed. Couple that with the circular layout that accompanies the big reveal at the end and you’ve got a solid chapter of this story.

Last we saw Storm and Kneale, the duo had spilled over a railing and were plummeting towards the earth. Unsurprisingly, they lived, but not without a scare. It would appear that Storm took the fall a little harder than her partner, which has caused some ghosts to appear in an attempt to beg her back to life. Kneale sees these apparitions and, well, sort of behaves as you’d expect anyone to in a situation involving ghosts. Afterward, Storm reminds him that she does not appreciate touching, which was interesting. Was the statement a product of her discomfort with mouth to mouth resuscitation, or is it something more? Is her psi-ability communicable through touch? Or could anyone have seen the aforementioned apparitions?

Credits: Leah Moore & John Reppion (script), Tom Foster (art), Kirsty Swan (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)

Lawless: Between Bad Rock & A Hard Place, Part 5

Two Metta Lawsons? Rondo sure will be pleased!

Writer Dan Abnett has been teasing the idea that Colonial Marshal Lawson may not be who she says she is, and has built a pretty strong case against her. Last month it seemed that living proof of her deception arrived on Badrock, in the form of the real Marshal Lawson! Now, if we can just get one of them to fire off their Department of Justice-issued, palm-coded lawgivers we just might get to sorting this whole thing out!

Winslade and Abnett have made this one of my favorite strips in the Megazine. Next issue wraps up this stretch of stories, and as bummed as I am by that, I know Winslade needs time to get these pages looking as good as they do!

Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Phil Winslade (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

IV. MEGAZINE FEATURES

New Comics: Vertigo – The New Wave of the New Wave by Karl Stock

There is no Vertigo without 2000 AD. That’s not opinion, but rather cold hard fact. The DC imprint was founded on the voice of works by such 2000 AD alum droids as Alan Moore, Peter Milligan, Grant Morrison, and the like. In this article, Milligan describes the relationship between the two publishers as, “‘In short, 2000 AD isn’t exactly a brother of Vertigo – but maybe it’s a third cousin by a nutty aunt and career-criminal uncle.’” Vertigo is launching a slew of new books over the next few months (12 total; seven ongoing and five minis) and staffing the majority of them with UK talent very familiar to regular Thrill-Addicts. Find out who’s doing what and where with this comprehensive write-up!

New Comics: Bad Company – Back to the Front! by Matthew Badham

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Did you know that ‘Bad Company’ was originally going to be by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Carlos Ezquerra as part of a biweekly ‘Judge Dredd’ comic that never materialized? No? Then check out this article to find out even more facts about one of the most anticipated comebacks in recent “2000 AD” history!

Fiction: Hunting With Missiles by Karl Stock

Clay has a record to beat, a target to hit, missiles to guide, and an assistant robot with a thick Scottish accent to do the grunt work. Sure he’s trying to shoot down one of the most prominent batgliders in Mega-City One, but there’s no way someone of his skill can miss, right?

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1953 and “Judge Dredd Megazine” 365 are on sale this week and available from: