Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1988 – Front Toward Enemy

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 week brings us a new Prog, so let’s get right to it!

Cover by D'Israeli

I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1988

NOW ARRIVING

Scarlet Traces: Cold War, Part 1
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), D’Israeli (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Greg Matiasevich: Martians invading Britain? Been there, done that, read the book, seen the movie. But what happens next? Not so much. And what happens after that? Even less. And then after that? Brothers and sisters, that puts is in all-new territory, and that territory is called ‘Scarlet Traces’.

Rebellion/2000AD acquired the rights to the Edginton/D’Israeli series ‘Scarlet Traces’ back in September. Already consisting of two graphic novels (one a straight-up adaptation of H. G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds”) and one limited series, this acquisition meant the series now had the financial backing to continue past those stories. Don’t worry, there are reprints of those earlier stories coming in early 2017. But thankfully, this first episode doesn’t require any previous knowledge of the series or events to engage the reader. And even if you still want to know what’s gone on before, in broad strokes, Tharg has included a nice little recap blurb to bring you even more up to speed on where Edginton has run with the baton after taking it from Wells.

The best D’Israeli is an unfettered one, as we’ve seen in his earlier work, especially ‘Helium’ and ‘Stickleback’. So the plot device of ‘Scarlet Traces’ following a Britain that not only survived the Martian invasion and retaliation (though not without scars of its own) but incorporated Martian technology into its own technological progress gives the artist carte blanche to design the living hell out of things. That said, D’Israeli still keeps the DNA of our world’s design aesthetic of this period in play, so even without knowing this story is set in a certain 1968, one would get the sense that this was from a Sixties gone bonkers.

I am thrilled (no pun intended) beyond belief that this series is back in circulation and look forward to gushing about it over the next few months.

NOW DEPARTING

Sláine: Psychpomp, Part 11
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Adrian Johnson: In this final installment of the Psychopomp arc, Sláine and Sinead are locked in dire battle with Lord Weird and his never-ending undead hordes of Trojan soldiers to free Zana; the primordial creature known as the ‘mother of all humans’. Sláine was brought low in the previous installment as Lord Weird simultaneously casts doubt as to the identity of Sláine’s father and the virtuousness of his mother Macha. Upon reflection, Pat Mills makes this entire arc seem disjointed in trying to balance the main plot of battling Lord Weird and what is the subplot of Sláine’s internal struggle with the mystery of his parentage. However, Mills appears to give more effort to bringing the subplot to the fore; which I did not mind and actually found far more interesting. The other subplot of freeing the creature Zana buttresses the point as it is referred to as the ‘mother of all humans’; thus freeing it would be a catharsis for Sláine’s own trauma with his mother. It’s perhaps too ‘on-the-nose’; yet effective all the same. As for this particular installment, I felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly. I felt like it was missing one more ‘beat’ story-wise dealing with Sláine’s internal defeat with the revelation of his mother’s impropriety. Also, I didn’t feel that the goal of Lord Weird and his undead army was fully realized to be compelling and seemed to take a backseat at times.

Continued below

On the art side, Simon Davis closes this arc with some excellent work; particularly with the closing pages of this installment as illustrates an army made of stone and massed not unlike the Terracotta Army sculptures in China. As I mentioned in a previous review several Progs ago, reading this arc was my first introduction to Davis’ work. I was duly impressed throughout this arc and enjoy his style immensely. Davis’ color palette and thick brushstrokes are sublime and really convey the epic scope of Sláine. As a long-time, if not lapsed, fan of Sláine, Davis is now definitely among my favorite artists depicting the character right behind Mike McMahon and Glenn Fabry

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

Mike Romeo: It’s been an interesting few weeks for the saga Michael Carroll’s currently knee deep in telling. Narratively speaking, for sure, but more to the point this week is its execution. Carroll’s a writer I think of as someone determined to pack as much as possible into every strip he does. It normally makes for some dense storytelling, as he tries to cover as much ground as possible. In comparison, the last few weeks have felt remarkably airy, like we’re in a holding pattern. Prog 1988’s strip feels a lot like the two that preceded it: Dredd getting his crew in order while Oswin grabs more and more power. It certainly works to build suspense, but I’m not really used to this much lingering in “2000 AD.” Don’t let me get you turned around; there’s new information in every one of the last few strips, but a lot of it feels designed to reinforce what we already know, serving to emphasize the shifted power balance in Mega-City One, but things are starting to feel a tad redundant overall.

Texas City’s Chief Judge Oswin has taken another turn for the worse, as her Judges seem to be actively bringing harm to MC-1’s Psi Judges. Clearly, the goal here is to get Hershey’s most powerful Judges out of the way, so I can’t help but feel that she sees her endgame to be near. Colin MacNeil’s art is, as always, clean and awe inspiring. He and colorist Len O’Grady had some particularly striking moments this week, like when Psi Judge Lewis came into contact with a ‘screamer.’ It was a panel that would do both Mike Mignola and Brendan McCarthy proud.

Brink, Part 11
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), INJ Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

AJ: Investigator Bridget Kurtis is cornered by members of the Leper Heart cult after discovering a related murder may actually represent an uprising aboard their orbiting habitat. Abnett’s scripting is metastasizing from a police procedural to municipal intrigue with relative ease. With the death of her partner Brinkmann a few Progs ago, it’s been great to see Kurtis’ character come to the fore and consequently opening up the scope of the story as well. I had described the story as being a ‘slow-burn’ in previous reviews. I was not sure how the cults and the murders were tying together to the plot. I also wondered if the story itself was actually about the investigation of the murders or an exploration of this particular world and its denizens. However, Abnett has adroitly drawn all of these elements together for a very compelling read.

Culbard has impressed me within the last couple of Progs (including this one) with his pacing and his color palette. The color palette is both intense and subdued. I know that seems paradoxical, but Culbard chooses the right value of blues and greens as his ‘cools’ and punctuates it with ‘hot’ magentas and purples. It’s a balance that I admire greatly as an artist myself. And regarding the pacing, Culbard does an almost effortless job at having the storytelling hit certain ‘beats’. There never seems to be an errant panel that doesn’t contribute to the story. Take for instance the continuation of Kurtis’ escape from the Leper Heart in this installment. She has been cornered in this ventilation shaft and accordingly, the panels themselves have become tighter, claustrophobic and more in number. There’s a rhythm in place until she makes her escape and the page opens up. It’s a skill that not every artist has or perhaps not one that every artist exercises when trying to use the particular advantages of the medium.

Continued below

Black Shuck: Sins of the Father, Part 6
Credits: Leah Moore & John Reppion (script), Steve Yeowell (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)

GM: If Shuck thought he had the element of surprise against King Coenwulf, training the men of East Anglia in secret before marching on the usurper, then he is sorely mistaken. This week sees Coenwulf alerted to the Dene King’s presence and, not surprisingly, rather upset by it. So on top of saving his wife and unborn twins from the curse of lycanthropy he passed on to them, Shuck has managed to piss off the local monarch as well.

Being American, I don’t have the grounding in English history that the local “2000 AD” readership has. This means that I keep forgetting that the majority of the names and places mentioned here in ‘Black Shuck’ are real (to one degree or another). Every week I take a spin through Wikipedia after reading each installment and seeing where Moore & Reppion are hewing close to historical record and where they are taking a Thrilling tangent is part of the fun of this series. Or any of the ‘historical’ Thrills in the Progs, to be honest. Given that we lead off this week’s installment with a bit of historical captioning about the kingdom of Mercia, I let that guide my info-diving this week. Soon after I was hip-deep in reading about the lineage of Mercian kings. Sure enough, Coenwulf is there…with about two dozen other monarchs on either side of his reign. Turnover tended to be pretty high for that job, as one would imagine. Seriously, it’s worth checking out just to take in all the craziness.

Speaking of craziness, Moore & Reppion hit on an interesting bit of characterization this week, or at least reinforce one from earlier: Shuck’s view of his lycanthropy as a blessing, even in the face of the harm it poses to his family. I can see how everything his transformation gives him (strength, invulnerability, healing) would be assets in the medieval Europe he lives in, even if he weren’t out on the road as an adventurer. Domestic life can be just as dangerous for someone wearing the crown (trust me, see the earlier Wikipedia link), With that kind of danger a fact of life, having the ace-in-the-hole of being a werewolf couldn’t help but make someone pretty arrogant. Maybe I’m used to series leads being a little more introspective, but like his ‘confidence’ from last week, this note the writers are hitting is one grace note that’s sticking with me more than I thought it would. Is this setting Shuck up for a greater fall later in the series? Probably. I can’t think of too many writers who would keep things going too well for their protagonist without a calamity or two thrown in there.

We shall see how this plays out; and judging by the episode number, we’ll be seeing it soon!

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 1988 is on sale today and available digitally worldwide on: