Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1954 – The End of PJ, Maybe?

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 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 1954

Cover by INJ Culbard

Judge Dredd: Serial Serial, Part 5

“Maybe.”

That’s the answer to every question in this story, leaving readers in an intentionally uncertain place. Who’s the real villain here? PJ Maybe. Was the serial killer stopped? Maybe. Is PJ Maybe finally within Judge Dredd’s reach? Maybe. Is Justice even on the right path? Maybe.

This sort of calculated ambiguity is just one example of John Wagner’s mastery over the never-ending, serialized comics form. Most long-running comics characters find themselves in a perpetual second act, each story leading into the next story which leads into the next. This can create a sense of tedium for long-term readers. After holding on long enough, the recurring feeling of deja vu sets in as stories and scenarios are reconstructed and twisted with the hopes of creating the illusion of something new. Now, don’t get me wrong, Dredd can and has fallen into this sort of trap. But after reading ‘Serial Serial,’ I’m reminded of how that sort of storytelling can work well for the reader.

At the center of this story is the elusive serial killer PJ Maybe. Maybe not only has a knack for murder, he’s also proficient in manipulating Department of Justice information and has no qualms about (literally) swapping his face for a new one. Those last two facets of the character give Wagner, or whatever writer decides to take up the cause, a way of twisting the reader’s perception, leaving them uncertain about everything and everyone. Maybe can be anyone, and any information Justice has on him cannot be trusted. He’s a knife in the water, or, the cloak and the dagger.

Wagner is able to have his cake and eat it, too, with writing such a vaporous character. That is to say, he’s in a position where he can use his skill as a writer to deliver one ending that can play in two ways. First, if someone were to read ‘Serial Serial’ on its own, they’d be given a proper beginning, middle, and (most importantly) an end. An ambiguous end, for sure, but a clean end none the less. And for that ambiguity? I’d say it plays into the tone a character like PJ Maybe brings with him to a story. Part unstoppable horror movie killer, part spy/detective villain, the guy is meant to leave questions in his wake. It adds to the mystique that was created for him, reinforcing the only thing we can be certain of: with Maybe, it’s always a maybe.

Then, on the flip side of the coin, all of the questions and unknowns are up for grabs when future writers want to have a crack at the character. Now, for those reading for a long period of time, the character’s history becomes richer and his status elevated. The next time we get a sniff of PJ, memories of his slipperiness and all of the times Dredd almost had him will come to mind. And since each story has a cleaner end than, say, your average Spider-Man arc, the long-form narrative maintains an air of freshness.

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All in all, another fantastic story from Wagner made better by MacNeil’s involvement. These two have a long history of working well together, and this was no exception. I’d be bummed to see this end, were it not for the fact that these two are working together on ‘Terror Rising,’ a new Dredd strip over in the monthly Megazine.

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

Defoe: The Hanged, Part 5

The look at an alternate historical London that ‘Defoe’ provides us is fascinating. And the presentation of differing viewpoints from British citizens vis a vis their opinions on the merits and detriments of a strong monarchy & upper class is truly something readers are unlikely to see anywhere else in today’s comics culture. Tharg has truly blessed us with thought-provoking content. But we were promised zombies. It’s already Part 5 and we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of anything resembling a good old-fashioned zombie chomping. Will we get to Part 6 before seeing such a thing?

No. No you will not.

And I don’t want to give away too much, but let me just say that when a zombie jury delivers a verdict against you consisting of the word ‘appetizing,’ then you should really start running. Or, better still, hire The Dirty Dozenne to represent you, because with the reeks returning, this band of undead-killers is back in business this week and sporting the latest in 17th century high-tech armament.

This Week in Historical Divergences: we see that Defoe’s London is missing its landmark St. Paul’s Cathedral, replaced by a Temple of Solomon. This temple was built by the same Sir Christopher Wren who oversaw the St. Paul’s Cathedral rebuilding in our history, but together with Sir Isaac Newton and diarist John Evelyn, Wren obviously felt that a London designed after the Kabbalah and more attuned with Enlightenment beliefs and ideology was the way to go. Plus there’s a strong link between Solomon and freemasonry, the latter of which is something London has a long history with (just read “From Hell” if you want a crash course in that). The appearance of zombies and obvious mysticism no doubt played a part in this shift, as noted by one of the Dozenne in the panel above. I’m not sure if such a temple was considered by Wren in our past, or if there were existing sketches or designs of such a structure if he did, but Gallagher really outdoes himself bringing this alternate version to life.

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

Brass Sun: Motor Head, Part 5

So who the hell is this golden boy with a strategically placed leaf for pants, anyway? Aside from being, you know, the deliverer of death and destruction for anyone and anything he happens to come across.

Recap time!

Arthur is an automaton assassin sent by The Modernity to stop Wren from getting the Key which she will use to restart the sun and save every planet in The Orrery from freezing to death. But since the Orrery is the size of our own solar system, it turns out Wren isn’t looking for a key like the one Superman uses to unlock the Fortress of Solitude or anything. It’s actually an operating system that will allow the sun to work without the guidance of The Modernity, which is a large moon-sized sentient supercomputer originally created by the Blind Watchmaker to run the sun that powers the Orrery. But The Modernity malfunctioned long ago and after considering itself a god, decided that having anyone able to access this system that could essentially destroy it was a bad idea. So it manipulated the planets in the Orrery (where the separate slices of Key coding were kept) to fight wars against each other and eventually plunge themselves into the isolationist Dark Ages we find them in now, thus preserving The Modernity’s existence by ensuring those pieces would never be gathered and used to overwrite him. Until Wren came along.

Got that? Good.

So now we find Arthur on the same node as Septimus and Wren, cutting through every obstacle in his path like a hot knife through butter, with our dual protagonists barely able to move, let alone escape. Septimus has just gotten Wren to stop telling him he needs to kill her to keep the aspect of The Blind Watchmaker in her head out of everyone else’s hands, maybe due to the fact he’s finally grown a pair and stood up to his superiors. But that course of action might need to be rethought once Arthur shows up in 3…2…1…

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

Sinister Dexter: The Taking of the Michael, Part 4

In keeping with the nautical theme this strip has taken of late, I’ll say things have been moving at a pace closer to an ocean liner than a speed boat. But all signs point to that changing here pretty soon. Until then, we get a little more of a glimpse on just who Moses…excuse me, Mr. Tanenbaum is.

Abnett pushes a lot of Kingpin buttons with Tanenbaum, both in his physical size (which Goddard pulls off quite well) and his slow-burn menace. Just like Wilson Fisk, you underestimate Tanenbaum (or overestimate your usefulness to him) at your peril. He’s not your friend, he’s not your benefactor, he’s a monster with a yacht that threatens all existence.

And it’s interesting to see how Abnett plays that aspect of this strip. There’s no weekly reminder of that extradimensional aspect of the story. The few instances of slightly futuristic tech, some mentions of unknown agencies and the occasional reference to life off-planet, and the play-on-words naming convention are kind of hints that this isn’t a straight crime yarn. Because everything else Abnett & Goddard are serving up in this strip is Grade-A action.

Speaking of serving, it looks like Sinister & Dexter are finally aboard the Michael and ready to start dishing out some bullet-stuffed justice!

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

Bad Company: First Casualties, Part 4

Bad Company has seen some terrible stuff. The kinds of things no one would ever forget, except it seems that maybe they have forgotten. The medicine they’ve been willingly ingesting has actually been blotting out some very specific memories. But now, three days after they all stopped taking the pills, the memories have started to return. Bad Company is so close to remembering, but it seems like they’re going to need a little help.

Milligan’s ramped this story up into something that’s part Rambo and part conspiracy theory. I’m not sure who drew first blood, of if that even matters at this point, but I am sure that the Company is hell-bent on finding some answers. And like the best conspiracy theories, it seems as if there’s someone in power who benefits from these secrets being kept!

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

III. JAEGIR – BEASTS WITHIN

Not only does this week bring you the usual feast of Thrill-Power, but living in North America gives you a second course in the form of this graphic novel: “Jaegir: Beasts Within”!

One look at the cover will tell you that this story is set in the Rogue Trooper universe. However, that being said, you don’t need to know anything about that universe before picking up this book. And I know that for an absolute fact because I had read a sum total of probably 8 pages of Rogue Trooper material prior to reading ‘Jaegir’ and I was able to dive right in. But what sort of swim are you in for if you take the plunge? From the 2000 AD website:

While war rages across the galaxy between the Great Nordland Republic and their Souther enemies, Kapiten-Inspector Atalia Jaegir of the Nordland State Security Police is charged with investigating and tracking down war criminals. Viewed with suspicion and hated by her own people, Jaegir is no stranger to conflict and betrayal…

Think of it as an Internal Affairs officer in the Cold War-era Soviet Army investigating war crimes with a heavy dose of genetic modification, high-tech weaponry, and good old-fashioned brutality. And she’s on the good side! The ‘people’ she’s going up against are the worst of the worst; what does that kind of duty do to a person?

Answering those and other questions since it launched in Prog 1874, we’ve have the good fortune of following every ‘Jaegir’ installment since Day 1. So when I say that writer Gordon Rennie and artist Simon Coleby have done top-shelf work on this entire run of comics, I know of what I speak! When you pick up “Beasts Within,” you’ll be getting three full story arcs, plus a one-off tale from Prog 2015, plus an interview with Coleby, plus a cover gallery. (And in case you’re wondering, it DOES collect the story from the US-format 2014 one-shot, so you’re completely caught up with this book in your hands). It’ll cost you $22.95, but remember that these 2000 AD trades are formatted like the Progs and Megazines, so they’re a larger trim size than your average comic or trade paperback.

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Once you’ve added this slab of comics to your collection and started reading, make sure you head on over to the Earthlet’s Guide to 2000 AD where you’ll find links to our Prog-by-Prog coverage of every ‘Jaegir’ story!