Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1975

Welcome, Earthlets, to 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 British sci-fi comic “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 worth of zarjaz comics waiting for you to discover and enjoy.

Cover by Brendan McCarthy

I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1975

NOW DEPARTING

Tharg’s 3rillers: Repossession Orders, Part 3
Credits: Eddie Robson (script), Jake Lynch (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

Adrian Johnson: In this final installment of ‘Repossession Orders’, we finally learn what is hunting the squatters at the haunted council estate. Two weeks ago, I had made mention that the story seemed reminiscent of the film Poltergeist. Eddie Robson’s script definitely tips its chapeau in that regard. It also concludes the tale with a denouement that almost directly calls back to the ending of director John Carpenter’s 1976 film ‘Assault on Precinct 13’. While I wasn’t wholly satisfied with the ending, Jake Lynch’s art kicked into gear in a big way in this final part. His inclusion of more warm colors to his suitably dark palette was not only a relief visually, but also punctuated the otherworldliness of the spirits upon their reveal. Overall, I thought this three-part 3riller was a decent, if not somewhat familiar, read within the page count allotted.

Judge Dredd: The Grindstone Cowboys, Part 3
Credits: Michael Carroll (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Len O’Grady (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Mike Romeo: Anyone with eyes would know ‘The Grindstone Cowboys’ has been a great looking strip so far, and I think it’s safe to say this particular installment is a real high-water mark. MacNeil’s action astounding, as he’s able to illustrate gunfire, leaping, dodging, Lawmasters (motorcycles), explosions and all sorts of other goodies without ever losing readability. Intense action with a large number of participants can be a real test for a comics artist, and that goes for newcomer and veteran alike, but MacNeil handles these pages like a master. And I’ll call back all of the praise I heaped upon Len O’Grady last week, because he really blew the doors off of this one.

In terms of narrative, Carroll is still packing this story to the gills. But unlike the last couple of weeks, things felt a little smoother this time out. Maybe because the exposition was kneaded into all of the action? Possibly, though I’d just chalk it up to getting all of the groundwork from the first two strips out of the way. Now we can do things like catch up with Judge Joyce, who’s tethered to this whole thing, and take a bit of a longer look at Judge Farrow. He’s been quite the naysayer this whole time, hasn’t he?

Survival Geeks: Geeks Fatales, Part 3
Credits: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby (script), Neil Googe (art), Gary Caldwell (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Greg Matiasevich: As we saw last Prog, the Napoleonic Mouse Army of Doom (my pet name for them) has sent a pair of psychic scout mice assess where on the scale of threat the Survival Geeks fall. Horny teenager ranks fairly low, obvs, but Howard the pet Cthulu? That could go a lot of different ways, honestly…

Beeby & Rennie continue to play up the similarities & differences between the two pairs of Geek squads, both in personality and home dimensions. This lull in the action looks like it’s gonna come to a screeching halt on page 1 of next week’s strip, but I don’t mind getting this extra beat of downtime to flesh out the teams. They’ve made some obvious jokes about the dimensional differences (non-cancelled Firefly is kinda low-hanging fruit) but mixed in with that are a few clever observations. The differences between the George Lucases, in particular, showed an acknowledgement of his actions outside The Saga I found pretty astute.

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Googe & Caldwell continue to shine. I meant to mention last week that DC was smart to grab Googe as one of the “Flash” artists for ‘Rebirth’ because he everything he needs to succeed on that book is on display here: solid handle on motion and kineticism, no fear in moving ‘camera angle’ to break up talking-heads scenes without going too distracting, more than one ‘one-size-fits-all” body type, and more. Plus, anyone who throws in an M41A pulse rifle and Colonial Marine gear gets two thumbs up from me.

Next week: Charge of the Mice Brigade!

Tainted: The Fall of Deadworld, Part 3
Credits: Kek-W (script), Dave Kendall (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

MR: Now that we’ve seen a bit about how this world operates and what life is like for some portion of the populace, it seems Kek-W has cast his gaze upon what Judges are like at this point in the game.

With the world crumbling, we see that both sides (citizens and Judges) have embraced something of a culture of death. We see a preacher evangelizing the idea that living is a sin and that assisted suicide is the path to redemption. I found it curious that, during this sermon, the reading was from The Book of Judges. It’s almost a throwaway line, but I found it to be revelatory. Of course, Judge Death’s whole modus operandi is the thought that life is a crime, a secular statement that now seems to have some roots in a Judge-based religion from his homeworld.

It’s interesting that we’re sort of joining a story already in progress. This world is clearly damaged beyond repair, and we know where things are headed, so this is the end. But the religion, the state of the Judges, the deadfluid… these things are all indicative of a long, long series of events. This is the type of story that Kek-W and Kendall can mine for a long time to come, which comes in handy considering that Wagner seems to have no interest in retrieving The Dark Judges from space.

Aquila: Charon’s Mercy, Part 3
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Paul Davidson (art), Len O’Grady (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)

AJ: This arc continues to be so much fun as Aquila and Felix get closer to the Big Bad in this installment. We left off over the previous chapter with the guys having vanquished two of the Big Bad’s underlings, Charon and Mercury. Charon and Mercury were a sanitation crew (of sorts) in a gladiatorial arena; clearing out the bodies of the dead. Simple enough, right? But we soon discover that this crew is actually taking the bodies to be fodder for the Big Bad’s necromantic experiments. And Aquila intends to stop it.

The highlight here is Gordon Rennie’s script and the banter between the Big Bad and one of his unfortunate experiments. The conversation between the two is hilarious while providing just the right amount of exposition to move the story along rather smoothly. Paul Davidson’s art and Len O’Grady’s colors continue to shine. From Aquila and Felix hacking through thorny thickets and battling the undead guarding the Big Bad, there is almost a kinetic malice that emanates from the pages. Davidson also shows some really cool creature designs in the final panel that promise nothing but trouble for Aquila and Felix.

II. AN EARTHLET’S GUIDE TO 2000 AD

At Multiver-City One, we understand trying to figure out to start with a selection of almost 40 years worth of comics can be 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?

To help all you new & potential readers, we’ve put together something we call 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 easy and simple as possible.

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1975 is on sale this week and available from:

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