Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2016 – Texas Hold ‘Em!

We’re back for yet another dose of weekly thrills! Strap in, because change is coming as “Hope” goes on break and the incomparable Henry Flint steps into art duties on “Judge Dredd.” Meanwhile, “Kingmaker,” “The Order” and “Kingdom” all hit their mid-way marks, as we find out in this week’s note from Tharg the Mighty. Also in that note is a little bit more on what to expect in the special 40th anniversary issue, which will be a supplement to that week’s regular Prog.

THIS WEEK IN 2000 AD

Cover by Alex Ronald

NOW DEPARTING

Hope: …For the Future, Part 6
Credits: Guy Adams (script), Jimmy Broxton (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

Ryan Perry: This installment is weird. It is not that the writing or art has deviated from the quality standard this team has established, but that the story told feels wholly disconnected from what we’ve seen so far. There is little to no progress made in the main plot which weighs the story told down; it feels disjointed. Instead we get a story framed as the next step in the Fabrizzi case that introduces a mysterious new character who could serve as the story’s antagonist and more development for Mallory Hope than we’ve gotten in most of the former issues.

Guy Adams’ use of attitude and dialect creates a character whose voice can distinctly be heard by the reader, such as in the accuracy of statements like “If the bitch wants to drink she can do it on her own time. Hell, she can drown herself in the stuff once her scenes are in the can, you know?”. The choice of “the stuff” instead of simply “it” and “in the can” instead of simply “done” makes the scene feel authentically of the 40’s. Adams turns the character on his head and is able to create a genuine surprise in the direction he takes because of the voice he establishes early on. The one issue I take is that Adams indulges in cliche characterization with our main character. The depiction of Hope here sinks fully into that of the stereotypical cold, cool character that turns to mush when his family or loved ones are mentioned. It’s been done to death and was an uninteresting narrative choice.

The complement of creating believable characters can be extended to JImmy Broxton as well. His depiction of mannerisms and expressions is as much a part of the characters’ believability as Adams’ writing. Broxton continues to use the use of black and white to denote the presence of magic in this issue. Much of the heavy lifting in this issue though is in the depiction of emotion in our two main players. From the subtle depiction of surprise when Hope is made aware of the magic in his meeting to the louder expressions of emotion when our new characters disappear. The image that pulls the most emotion from the reader though is the depiction of what is presumably Hope’s wife in a broken brutalized positions, surrounded by magic. Broxton makes a rare choice here for a comic artist when he chooses to depict a nude female body realistically. She carries more weight on her than the average comic book female and she’s not perfectly sculpted; the reality of her depiction heightens your empathy for her.

CONTINUING IN PROG 2016

Judge Dredd: Deep in the Heart, Part 5
Credits: Michael Carroll (script), Henry Flint (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Mike Romeo: As sad as I am to see Tiernen Trevallion go, I am over the moon about getting to read some Henry Flint comics! His art has such a rugged toothiness to it that I feel he’s perfect for most any Mega-City story, so seeing that translated to Texas City was interesting. Where there are some tweaks and changes to how Flint handles a futuristic cityscape, I feel like his biggest shift is in his color palette. Where he usually uses greys and weird blues in his backgrounds now sport an array of earthy browns. This shift in color plays especially nicely when we meet the ultra-nimble Paradox Vega, a young girl decked out in shades of teal who just so happens to be the focus of Judge Dredd’s hunt.

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Speaking of Dredd, he’s been on quite the tear through Texas-City. He’s already apprehended a series of perps, all of whom seem to be unrelated, but are clearly part of Dredd’s larger plan. If you cast your mind back to last week, Dredd’s stint in TC is all about tying up some loose ends in regards to Sector Zero, an urban legend made real. You see, Sector Zero was conceived as a way of keeping an eye on the highest levels of Mega-City One’s Justice Department. They’d oversee the SJS in an attempt to answer the age old question of “who watches the watchmen?” The problem was that every top layer of supervision would themselves be unsupervised, requiring yet another layer in perpetuity, so the idea was scrapped. Or so everyone thought.

As I’ve said a few times already, Carroll’s assembled quite the mega-arc here. It seems as if every one of his strips, regardless of whether they seemed like a one-off at the time of publication, eventually feeds back into the larger narrative he’s weaving. The amount of dot-connecting he’s doing, planned in advance or not, is astounding. In my opinion he’s made the leap from regular series writer to being a major contributor to the Dredd mythos.

Kingmaker, Part 6
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

MR: This was a really good installment, I think. Leigh Gallagher’s art is lush and involved, which gave me something to get lost in. The way he’s able to go into such detail without losing clarity is not only impressive, it’s also immersive. Then, to have Edginton’s narrative play out the way it does really sold me this week.

Where past weeks have had more action or bombast, this installment really focused on the world and its dynamics. In particular we learn a lot about the relationship between Dryads (who sort of feel like analogs of wood elves) and orcs, which unsurprisingly is more than a little strained. We also learn more about the wizard Ablard, who continues to fascinate me. While we do not get the backstory on the chain link tattoo across his face, we do get a good rickety-old-man moment from him as well as a brief flashback. In the flashback, two things were of interest: 1) he says that he “was not a wizard that day” and 2) it looked to me as if the aforementioned tattoo wasn’t on his face. I’m dying to know what this guy’s story is! Did he lose his powers when those (awesome) giant robots attacked, or was he not yet a wizard? The way he put it seems open to interpretation.

With every passing week I find myself more and more invested in this strip, and a world building installment like this was just what I needed to pull me all the way in.

The Order: Wyrm War, Part 6
Credits: Kek-W (script), John Burns (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Liam Sunner: The strip opens strongly, balancing an urgency of the plot hook, while at the same time recapping the situation, Kek-W’s mix of character action and future narrator recalling his tale allows exposition without cluttering the story. Kek-W uses the two time-periods to weave between the overall narrative, reminding the reader of the concurrent storylines within the strip without altering the pacing. The effective use of real estate is further seen in the brief sequence of one character saving another. Again, this is a twofold effect, first to break up what could have been an exposition dump, but also laid seeds of conflict of intention between the cast.

Burns’ art again highlights the urgency of the early pages and the threat facing the cast. The difference in character movement, panic versus control, composure versus berserker rage all say more about the characters than pages of prose ever could. A great example of this is the underwater sequence at the start, especially the panel in which Donna Catalina saves Savinien. His use of colour is interesting, intentionally obscuring elements with monotone segments while the forefront pops with vibrant colours. This is especially notable towards the end of the strip, where the cast is being shown the city, their monotone indicates a less important detail that the city itself. Parkhouse, again providing clarity helps to round out the story, guiding the readers’ eyes working off the art and dialogue to push the pace of the strip

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Kingdom: As it is in Heaven, Part 6
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Richard Elson (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Bobby D.: Dan Abnett pens a pretty intense installment; things start out slow, but soon our heroes are thrown from one dire situation to the next. Their situation starts to take a turn for the worse, and the heroes head into a unknown area that might just make things worse than they already are. Abnett shows us Gene’s softer side as he puts his friends lives first during a confrontation. If you’re a sucker for beastly protagonists who care for their friends then Gene the Hackman definitely fits that archetype.

While the line art does an excellent job of showing the body language of each character, I started to notice some of the same facial expressions being used over and over. It’s not so often that it’s particularly noticeable, except in Leezee’s case. In all three panels she appears in, she has had an almost identical look of shock and surprise. However Richard Elson’s art still does an excellent job of displaying Gene’s courageous nature. Gene’s body language – and even the way he fights – shows how much he tries to put his friends first, to the point where we see Gene pick up his friend Cutback and carry him away.

The story largely uses blues and grays in its color palette. There’s a little bit of yellow on the uniforms of the Aux soldiers, but predominantly blue and gray are used the most. However, the moment Michelle rips out Canis’ throat, we start to see a larger use of warm colors that in my opinion, Elson uses to highlight the intensity of everything that’s going on. The red blood stands out against the gray background and uniforms. Shots fired from Bull’s gun are an intense mix of yellows and oranges. Even (though maybe to a lesser extent) Leezee’s red hair at the end of the strip.

The art does a good job of conveying a sense of worry and urgency to the reader as Gene and company are put through.

Maybe this is strange description, but Gene makes me think of a mix between Wolverine and Teal’c from Stargate SG-1. Seeing as he’s more than capable of fighting, but has a deep loyalty to those he considers his friends which made me admire him as a character.

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” is sale today and available digitally worldwide via: