Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1982 – The World’s End!

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.

This special week brings us a new Prog with the return of Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison’s “Grey Area,” so let’s get right to it!

Cover by Mark Harrison

I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1982

NOW ARRIVING

Grey Area: Endgame, Part 1
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Mike Romeo: ‘Grey Area’ is back! Now, we realize that with the recent jumping-on issue a number of weeks back, this may well be a lot of readers’ first foray into this weird and wonderfully drawn world, so let’s briefly get everyone up to speed, shall we?

“Grey Area” began as so many of writer Dan Abnett’s best stories do: with a mundane aspect of society made grandiose in its telling. The story focuses on a cast of characters, led by one Adam Bulliet, who are employed in what is known as Earth’s grey-area, which simply put, is an inter-galactic customs facility. You see, in the far future when humanity is so far past extraterrestrial contact that it finds itself in a position of trade and emigration, there will still be a need for bureaucracy. And that only makes sense, right? Inflated as they’ve become, there are reasons we have international customs, so logic would dictate the need for such an institution on a galactic scale as well.

Long story short, our friends in the Grey Area found themselves face to face with something that is referred to as a God-Star, which has come to eradicate the planet. So, as can happen, a nuclear device was detonated in the God-Star’s God face and the planet was saved. The nuke was carried on what was thought to be a suicide mission, but instead blasted our friends from the Grey Area through a wormhole into a strange new world. Which, coincidentally, was also about to fall prey to a God-Star! After long ignoring the warnings of the newly arrived Bulliet and company, the powers that be on this planet, known as Homeworld, decided to take action. But it seems as if their procrastination and denial dragged on a bit to long, as the God-Star has just made contact with the planet.

All hell has broken loose on Homeworld, and artist Mark Harrison is back to bring it all to life. Early on, “Grey Area” cycled through a few different artist before landing in Harrison’s immensely talented hands. At this point he’s drawn more “Grey Area” strips than the three artists who’ve preceded him combined, and I think we’re all the better for it. He’s got a way of combining delicate, gestural line work with bold swaths of secondary colors that looks unlike anything else in the magazine. I’m always struck by the way he lights his scenes, as his highlights have an almost luminescence to them. Combine all of that with a knack for atypical page design, and you’ve got yourself a gorgeous looking comic.

Judge Dredd: The Lion’s Den, Part 5
Credits: Michael Carroll (script), PJ Holden (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

MR: I know that Hershey’s back was to the wall, but god damn is she giving Texas-City Chief Judge Oswin a lot of room to run!

I feel like everything that’s happening between Hershey and Oswin is really surprising. I know that TC is loaning her a ton of Judges, but in return it seems as if Oswin is being allowed to do whatever she pleases. She’s butting in on diplomatic meetings, committing to infrastructure projects and proposing policy changes, all while her Judges are out there making our Mega-City One lawmen seem like boy scouts. Is Hershey that affected by the precarious position of her city? Is she so disheartened over having helmed the Justice Department during the city’s biggest catastrophe and the disastrously mis-managed recovery that followed? I mean, maybe she’d like someone else to make the decisions for a while, right?

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Or maybe, and here’s where my hopes lay, Hershey’s got some sort of larger plan at play. Isn’t possible that she’s decided to have it both ways? Allow Oswin the illusion of control so she expends the energies of her and Judges, while she unknowingly walks herself straight into some impending disaster, therefore bearing the brunt in Hershey’s stead?

Whatever the case may be, it’s tough watching Hershey play second fiddle to this boisterous Chief from elsewhere. Just a few months ago she leapt headfirst into the fray when she needed to, in an attempt to pull Dredd and Dirty Frank’s fannies from the fire. Now she seems as if she’s a different person altogether.

Sláine: Psychpomp, Part 5
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Adrian Johnson: Warriors Sláine and Gort seek to escape the Cyth and fight for their beloved land of Albion. It feels like Pat Mills is bringing this story (and the entire Brutania arc) to a climax with this installment. One of the consistencies of great ’Sláine’ tales over the years is Mills’ ability to inject humanity into the proceedings before going epic. I think the revelation of Sláine’s childhood trauma with the death of his mother and the Cyth’s exploitation thereof is a great example of this. It grounds Sláine’s characterization to us and makes us empathetic before decapitating his enemies.

On the art side, Simon Davis is finally able to inject more color into the palette as the story transitions out of the lair of the Cyth. It seems a welcome relief and yet it a testament as to Davis’ skill that he was able to do so much with a limited palette of three to four colors for so long. The reveal of the last panel very much gives breadth to this return to a wider palette in a major way. His paint strokes and figures even seem larger as a result.

Brink, Part 5
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), INJ Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

AJ: Investigators Brinkmann and Kurtis continue to unravel the machinations of the cult cells aboard their floating habitat. Writer Dan Abnett really feels like he is building to a huge reveal as he lays the groundwork of the cults and their sectioning in the habitat. I’ve commented before of my admiration of Abnett’s ability to use exposition to keep the story flowing and subtly build this world with layers of detail. That has not dimmed in the slightest here and is making me all the more antsy for the pay-off soon to come.

INJ Culbard has really found his handle on control of the pacing with his artwork. His patience with what would normally be panels of ’talking heads’ is pretty remarkable, especially within the weekly 8-page format where every bit of storytelling real estate counts. And again, I keep wondering what the pay-off will be and really anticipating what Culbard will bring to it.

Tharg’s Time Twisters: The Timeless Assassin
Credits: Rory McConville (script), Steven Austin (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)

Greg Matiasevich: While “2000 AD” does the longer stories and mega-epics perfectly well, Tharg also has his droids give us stories of shorter spans. Be they three-parters like the 3rillers or one-offs like Future Shocks, Terror Tales, or Time Twisters (among others), there’s nothing like getting a single shot of Thrill-ness right out of the blue any given week. And shots out of the blue are in keeping with the subject matter of this story: a mob hitman hiding out in a different century, and the rival families attempts to get him.

Because Time Twisters involve both time travel and twist endings (naturally), they are really tough to pull off if you’re not Alan Moore, so we don’t get to see them all that often around these parts. Having a time travel story almost automatically brings with it the weight of having to set up the rules of how this particular time travel setup works. McConville does a good job of having his choices make sense without spending too much page space ‘showing his math’, so to speak. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that there’s a clever anchoring of time travel and distance to a modern-day understanding of travel that I thought was really effective.

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Also effective was new art droid Steve Austin, making his Prog debut this week! As you can see from the preview, Austin is certainly comfortable giving a panel not only foreground action but setting background. At noticed some Chris Weston in Austin’s art droid programming, but coming through more clearly the more I look is Patrick Goddard. Check out our coverage of the last series of Pat Mills’ ‘Savage’ to do some comparing, but I’d be shocked if Austin didn’t cite Goddard as an influence or at least someone high on his reading list.

II. AN EARTHLET’S GUIDE TO 2000 AD

GM: 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 1982 is on sale today and available digitally worldwide on: