Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2027 – Lawman Of Steel!

Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our “2000 AD” weekly review column! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at Rebellion/2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment. Let’s get right to it!

Cover by Matt Ferguson

Judge Dredd: Harvey, Part 4
Credits: John Wagner (script), John McCrea (art), Mike Spicer (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Greg Matiasevich: With the street assessment of Judge Harvey completed, Judge Dredd has to now deliver his grade on this new iteration of the controversial Mechanismo robots to Chief Judge Hershey. Will the mechanical lawman pass with flying colors, or fall short by the standards of Mega-City one’s top street cop?

Since McCrea and Spicer continue to do fantastic work this Prog, let’s step back a bit and look at things a little more ‘big picture’. As I’ve mentioned before, ‘Harvey’ is a sequel to the ‘Mechanismo’ storyline by Wagner and Colin MacNeil that ran over six Megazine installments back in 1992. That story also had Mega-City One rolling out mechanical magistrates to supplement a weakened Judicial force, but its interesting to compare and contrast the difference 25 years can make, just in the state of the Meg alone. Dredd was a legend even back in the ‘Mechanismo’ — so much so that the robots’ personality and assessment of the law were based on Dredd’s Comportment (his written treatise on the matter) — but he was still just a beat cop; he finds out about the Mechanismo project as the first robot is literally being deployed on the street. In ‘Harvey’, Dredd is considered a trusted ally of the Chief Judge with his assessment and council being actively sought before the program’s widespread implementation.

But as Dredd’s stature has risen, the Meg’s has fallen. The original robot deployment was brought on by, among other things, massive casualties and resource losses stemming from the death of 30 million citizens during 1990’s ‘Necropolis’ mega-epic. Even given the Meg’s overall population of around 400 million at the time, that’s still a lot to lose. Flashforward twenty years and we have the Wagner-led ‘Day of Chaos’ epic killing almost 87 percent of the city. Eighty-seven percent! When then-Chief Judge Francisco stepped down in its aftermath (handing the role to Hershey), he told her the Mega-City One they had known was gone and they had all better get used to it. The five years since have seen the Meg continue to try and bolster resources, all the while fending off various catastrophes; the Mechanismo revival is simply their latest attempt.

While ‘Mechanismo’ showed us a Mega-City One trying to progress into an uncertain future, ‘Harvey’ gives us a city desperate to prevent one of certain disaster. If Judge Harvey and the others are as competent and flexible as Wagner has shown us these past few Progs, can Chief Judge Hershey afford NOT go ahead with the program if Dredd gives a thumbs down? Can Dredd see past his (admittedly well-earned) skepticism to recognize all the lives potentially saved by this move, both of Mega-City cits and his own fellow Judges?

Some things to keep in mind as you read this week’s Prog…

Defoe: Diehards, Part 2
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Ryan Perry: While the art here retains the same admirable qualities it manifested in its first issue, it fails to be dynamic. Colin MacNeil does not capture motion well, and consequently the whole issue feels static. There are moments of action that completely lose the intensity they’re meant to have because the art doesn’t move. The cartoonish depictions of characters stick out more here than it did before; our caricature of a titular character contrasts with the more realistic world presented and the attempt at an eery or scary tone. The visual style still pops though, and everyone will come away from this issue focused on the cool things MacNeil does with the art.

Pat Mills’s subpar dialogue is front and center here and it’s almost unbearable. The biggest issue is that he can’t get across the grandeur of saying the outlandish things his characters say. The story only now introduces its main character, whom has no definition at all. This completely shifts the direction of the story in a way that makes the first issue feel misleading, and not in a fun, clever way. The clumsy dialogue also stands as a take away from the villains, who were set up to be really cool and intriguing. They come across as corny instead of menacing, which is another thing that really contributes to the storytelling shift that takes place here.

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

Alice W. Castle: What’s interesting about “Brink: Skeleton Life” after five chapters is how Abnett and Culbard seem to be drawing away from the concept that sold me on the story in the first place. The concept of a ghost story in space was, frankly, fascinating, but we’re now at the point where the story has focused more on the business aspect of Galina’s production delay, even bringing in the CEO in charge to root out the problem. It’s a strange move and one that has my enthusiasm flagging.

Now, I’m not saying Abnett and Culbard should have blasted full steam ahead with the ghost story aspect, but it’s been five chapters now and each chapter has felt incredibly similar. Since the second installment, each chapter has dealt with Kurtis meeting a new player in the game, reiterating why she’s on Galina and that she doesn’t believe in ghosts. Then someone pulls a Barbossa and suggests that there’s more going on than the space equivalent of cabin fever to end on a note that I feel like is supposed to read as “Oooooh, what is Kurtis going to find next time?”

I think what’s making the pace so frustrating is that we’ve had five chapters in a row of Kurtis being skeptical of the haunting claims and being sure that her investigation will provide a logical explanation… only to not investigate anything. I sincerely hope that Abnett and Culbard can move past this repetition and move into the actual story because, as I’ve said in the past, Culbard’s artwork is fantastic and the concept is intriguing, but the moment-to-moment storytelling is somewhat lackluster.

Scarlet Traces: Cold War – Book Two, Part 5
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), D’Israeli (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Rowan Grover: “Scarlet Traces” jumps from high paced spy-tinged action to a more philosophical issue dealing with race. It’s a little jarring as we jump from storyline to storyline, and the nature of this type of storytelling can be a bit of a hit or miss. I do like that it sheds light on a darker side of humanity as they prepare for war against the Martians – it’s surprising how much I was accepting of how good-natured they were being depicted as.

D’Israeli is usually a big sell for this series for me, but most of the issue occurs in the same red-tinged room. However, we do get a good sense of expression between the two protagonists. The android is haunted by visions of the past, and a sense of frustration and sorrow is channelled in D’Israeli’s art. Some of the martian aesthetic is great too – the third page we get some of the android’s people with abnormal features, creepy and Alien-esque. It’s a slower issue overall, but deals with some great themes and further world building.

Cursed: The Fall of Deadworld, Part 5
Credits: Kek-W (script), Dave Kendall (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Greg Lincoln: Dave Kendall’s art struck me this week as he managed to do so much of the storytelling on its own. As a fan of silent comics and untranslated manga, I can say that this was a successfully creepy and immersive read without the dialogue. Sure, there are twisted nuances and bits of comedic snark that you would miss if English was not your first language, but Kendall solidly drives the narrative this issue with his layouts, his command of expression, and body language. His nightmarish vision of life during the ‘Fall of Deadworld’ fully hits in these five pages; they show the intense sense of weird getting turned up to eleven against a background of the eerie blue-green. The bizarre nature of this scene of body salvage is grounded by the recognizable electrical towers that dominate the background, and the witty undead banter. Kek-W makes the villains of the story somehow human through the casual nature of self referential comments and the nearly sit-com couple banter.

We also get to know the two new named characters from last issue a little better. Agatha Proudwater, whose appearance made such an impression on me, shows very pragmatic concerns and moral judgement that the other survivors seem to lack through their unconsidered violent greedy actions. Her dialogue reveals just how dire the plight of the living is, regardless of the luxury items looted from the refuge. Patti Halliday, who has taken the role of watching Jess, has obvious need for connection to the brighter past through the artifacts of that time she’s kept, and a need to relax, if only through the luxury of a cigar that has been around since the first page of this story. References to our current, messed up world crept in this issues story too, as the resistance has taken taken up refuge in a wall that President Boone erected to keep out the cartel and the muties.

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That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 2027 is on sale this week and available from: