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 brand-new Prog, so let’s jump right in!
THIS WEEK IN PROG 1995
Judge Dredd: Ladykiller, Part 5
Credits: John Wagner (script), Carlos Ezquerra (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Mike Romeo: Between the treat of violence against a political candidate and the senseless murder of young club-goers, the Prog’s current Dredd-World offerings seem to have an especially biting, up to the minute view of American life. If the first chapter of Judge Anderson’s “The Candidate” felt a little close to home, then this week’s Dredd strip will surely cut you to the bone.
After feeling the pressure of Judge Dredd’s manhunt, infamous serial kinder PJ Maybe tried to make a deal with the lawman: back off and no one else gets hurt. I can’t help but wonder if Maybe actually though Dredd would agree to that, considering the history these two have together. Part of me thinks that Maybe knew from the start that his truce wouldn’t work, and the only reason he tried for it was to give himself an excuse to commit more heinous acts. Whatever the reason, Dredd finds himself standing over the fruits of his own stubbornness as over two hundred people die at the hands of a killer he’s consistently been unable to stop.
This was an especially hard strip to read, considering recent events in Orlando. This fictionalized madman, with his own twisted justification for murder on a grand scale, mirrors the all-too-real monster who unleaded his rage in that Florida night club. The latest in a long string of monsters, whose faces may be different, but erupt with the same hatred and delusion as this who’ve come before them. And that’s a lot like PJ Maybe, isn’t it? The killer amongst us with an ever-changing identity, evading detection until it’s too late.
Sorry to get so heavy, but this comic really stirred up a lot of what I’m sure we all feel right about now. Though I guess that’s what good fiction is supposed to to, right?
Scarlet Traces: Cold War, Part 8
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), D’Israeli (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Matiasevich: Oh yes…he has this!
Stuck on the fourth planet from the sun with renegade Martian/human hybrid Iykarus and his mate Iyra, Ahron Shakespeare has to try and help the renegade stop the Makers from completing their plan of destroying Mercury and wiping out all life in the solar system. Not quite what one would expect from a continuation of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds”!
This week focuses on the now-trio busting out of the Maker facility they were being held captive in. So as you can see above, more of a focus on the pretty pretty explosions and less talking heads (although Edginton does bring up a nice character bit/idea that I’ll touch on in a second). These sequences are pretty standard in adventure fiction: first you put your hero in a difficult or impossible situation, and then you show their prowess by having them escape despite the odds. But standard doesn’t have to mean boring, and D’Israeli & Edginton continue to keep things moving and interesting. The tripods are a carried-over idea from Wells’ original story, but D’Israeli’s reinterpretation makes them feel as much original creations as initial idea callbacks.
The other little bit I felt was a nice touch, even if it goes no further than its use here, was Iykarus’s correction of Shakespeare’s anger at a perceived lack of resolve in the native Venusians living under Maker rule. Although Venusian himself, the younger Shakespeare is quick to think the worst of his countrymen back in their (occupied) homeland. Easy for him to talk about resolve when he’s not living under the thumb of an invading force. Edginton has given us a taste of the racism Shakespeare’s felt on Earth, but Iykarus is quick to remind him of the difference of scale between the difficulties of life on his adopted planet and life on the planet he & his family left behind. Nothing earth- (or Venus-)shaking, but a nice little character beat, even if it shows the nominal protagonist as less than perfect.
Continued belowLuckily he’s a pretty good shot. Think that’ll come in handy next week? I can’t see how it wouldn’t!
Tharg’s 3rillers: Mindmine, Part 3
Credits: Rory McConville (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
GM: Third part of three means this week is the big finish. But is it a bang or a whimper?
I said last week that I was highly doubtful that, although things had stayed in the psychic realm for most of this story, Tharg would let Caxon’s tale end without some good old-fashioned laser blasting or real-world explosions. While there is actual physical contact of the violent variety, I have to say I was wrong about needing blasters or booms. McConville & MacNeil eschew bombast but still deliver a dynamite ending.
Without getting into spoilers (because for these shorter short stories, the storytelling bit-to-enjoyment ratio is so much higher because you have so many less bits to spread the enjoyment over), what I will say is that the storytelling rule of making as much of what you give the audience count on as many different levels as possible as much as you can is just as much in effect, if not more so, in a comic like “2000 AD” as it is in your standard 32-page American comic. Or TV episode. Or film. Or novel (they still make those without pictures? I kid, I kid…)
Because space is precious and at a premium, nothing is throwaway. Everything matters. And while that doesn’t stop writers from padding or treading water, the stories that cut through at the ones that DON’T do that. They use every part of the storytelling buffalo, so to speak. And the really clever ones will use certain parts so well in one particular instance that you don’t think those parts could be used again for other purposes. So when they DO show up again, and things DO tie together as a whole better than simply an event chain of A-to-B-to-C, then that story ends up being one you remember over others. Again, no spoilers, but I was pleased to see something I assumed was a textural storytelling device used in part 2 show up for the climax here in part 3. Two devices, actually, if that helps clarify things without getting too spoilery.
Good stuff!
Outlier: Survivor Guilt, Part 5
Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Karl Richardson (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Adrian Johnson: Captain Luthra and Jess are given the go-ahead by the Alliance commander to intercept a Hurde ship and present Caul to the Hurde as evidence that the war was instigated under false pretenses. However, the trio must somehow make it to the Hurde lines without being blasted from space by their own fleet.
I’m very pleased to finally see this arc kick into gear and get going. I do feel, upon reflection, a little bad for criticizing the glacial pacing of the previous installments when all the pieces were being assembled. However, it still feels like Eglington’s plot didn’t come alive until now once the characters were given a sense of purpose to galvanize and act upon. In any case, it feels good to see the script launching into the space opera I’ve been waiting for.
On the art side, Richardson’s work is looking great. I mentioned in my previous review that Richardson is finally starting to come into his own storytelling-wise. His camera angles are solid and varied with a sense of staging that is amping up the tensity of the script. Richardson’s linework has a rugged quality that befits the militaristic edge of the story; though even the female characters can seem to be cut from the same stone as the males.
Anderson, PSI Division: The Candidate, Part 3
Credits: Emma Beeby (script), Nick Dyer (art), Richard Elson (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)
AJ: Anderson and Flowers guard Mega-City One mayoral candidate Carol Smart after a second assassination attempt. However, it’s revealed that candidate Smart actually may not have been the target of the second attempt. Anderson must figure out the identity of the shooter before he strikes again.
Continued belowBeeby’s scripting is very solid. I’m enjoying the interaction between Anderson and Flowers; which is refreshingly void of the exchanges that one could normally find in these type of stories featuring the seasoned veteran and the callow rookie. Another thing that I’m appreciating is that Beeby’s script is concerned with the municipality of Mega-City One. Traditionally, the inhabitants of Mega-City One had always been portrayed as lemmings or fodder for arrest in respective stories. ‘The Candidate’ is one of the first arcs I’ve read in a while that is at odds with the Judges as a nigh-fascistic police force and more of an arm of a governing body. I was attempting to recall if I had read a Dredd/Judges story where there was the mention of a mayor at all; which was fruitless on my part. Thus, I think it’s a great angle that Beeby is choosing to craft this story from.
I had mentioned in my previous review that Dyer’s artwork feels like a direct call-back to the 1980s work of two classic Dredd artists, Mike McMahon and Cam Kennedy. Both are big favorites of mine and while it was very pleasing to my eyes to see the homage, I think Dyer’s storytelling is what distinguishes his work. His panel compositions are very strong; particularly in dealing with Anderson having to utilize her psi-abilities to focus in and find the perpetrator in the crowd. However, much like the aforementioned McMahon, Dyer takes aplomb in staging crowd scenes and rendering different types of people clearly without ever feeling like its forced or poorly composed. It’s a skill balanced by his action choreography; which is very smooth and reads beautifully.
That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1995 are on sale today and available digitally worldwide on:
- The 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone,
- The 2000 AD app for Android devices,
- 2000ADonline.com in DRM-free PDF and CBZ formats.
They are available in print today from:
They are available in print in North America next month from your local comic shop.
So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
