Welcome, citizens, to this week’s installment of Multiver-City One! Each and every Wednesday we will be examining the latest Prog from Tharg and the droids over at 2000 AD, and giving you all the pertinent information you’ll need headed into this week’s Thrill-Zine!
This week’s cover is by Clint Langley.
I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1868
Judge Dredd: Titan, Part 7
Things are looking dire out on Titan. Dredd is in no condition to have any sort of effectiveness and the negotiation between Chief Judge Hershey and former Chief Judge Sinfield are at a stand-still. The only hope of anyone getting off this moon alive seems to be resting squarely on Special Judicial Squad Judge Gerhart, but he’s not looking to be in any sort of fighting shape. There are bombs under the prison and everyone’s getting a little antsy, so let’s all just relax and not do anything rash, ok?
Once again, we’re left with an explosive cliffhanger that’s going to make the next seven days feel like an eternity. The next chapter of this strip is the last, and I can’t wait to see how this all wraps up and what comes next for everyone involved.
If you missed it, earlier today we posted an interview we did with Rob Williams for the Robots From Tomorrow podcast. He talks a lot about what’s going on in this strip, as well as Dredd’s age and a few other bits we know you do not want to miss.
Credits: Rob Williams (script), Henry Flint (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Ulysses Sweet, Maniac for Hire: Centred, Part 8
Ulysses is back from his enlightenment, and I feel like he’s been changed by it. This chapter feels a little more serious, as Ulysses squares off in a knock-down, drag-out battle for the lives of everyone around him. It’s interesting that there’s only one voice in his head this week, as his inner monologue waxes on about the nature of his skill set and what it all means when you’re encountering an equal. The violence in this week’s installment seems more serious, less cartoonish. What’s it all mean for Ulysses? Has he truly been centered (or centred, depending on what side of the pond you’re on)? Does it even matter after what happens?
The tonal shift the strip has taken is interesting; it’s as if there’s a new focus as we near the finish line. Both Adams and Marshall have shifted away from the slapstick nature they’ve given the character, and are revealing a type of depth that wasn’t apparent in the installments leading up to this. Next week is the wrap-up to this story as well, and I’m eager to see how it all comes together.
Credits: Guy Adams (script), Paul Marshall (art), Chris Blythe (grey tones), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Grey Area: All God’s Children, Part 3
That’s certainly one way to voice your displeasure in your Almighty. And probably anything that drove you to those measures would be a sore subject if brought up again, even if it was in the name of offering support or guidance? I’d say that’s a big yes.
So while Kymn is making sure the ticking Rookuk bomb doesn’t go off and take the whole Grey Area with it, Bulliet and company are readying the six ECT crash teams (with full riot gear, aka powered e-skels, riot gear, and armor plating) to jump in should Kymn not be able to pull this off. Anders’ (the unconscious samaritan) colleagues are riding Bulliet something fierce to go in guns blazing, which seems rather uncharitable for a group priding itself on its patience and service to all God’s creatures. Guess that only goes so far? Bulliet’s not one to pull a hasty trigger, but time is running out.
Abnett keeps grounding this series in the plausible (such as the use of Ethical Evaluation Teams), and Goddard matches him panel for panel. His alien designs, in both this story and previous ones, aren’t cut from a single mold; like old-school Trek where different aliens were just people with different skin coloring and a stray prosthetic for good measure. His tech looks both futuristic and used, like workday tools. Because this is less like the final frontier and more like your local airport.
Continued belowCredits: Dan Abnett (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Abigail Ryder (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters)
ABC Warriors: Return to Mars, Part 7
Tubal Caine can fix it. Anything you need repairing, he can get back into shape. So he’s good about getting things back to status quo. But what if the ‘damage’ is something good? Will he still fix it?
This Prog shows Tubal talking to one of the Terraneers, humans who were genetically engineered to colonize Mars and have grown mutated over the years. But the kid Tubal talks to is a normal human; free from the air-sac growths and other deformities that have spread into the Terraneer population. But even though he’s different, the other villagers accept him. Until he makes noise about why he hasn’t changed like the others. About how his secret choices have made him better, stronger, faster. At that point, the Terraneer Founders have decided they’ve had enough. Will Tubal let them fix this? Or will he get involved?
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Clint Langley (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Strontium Dog: Dogs of War, Part 8
Things have escalated since Johnny Alpha and company finished off the Normal Brotherhood. The mutant army is marching on New Britain’s Parliament and looking more and more like they’ll be raising their flag over it by tea time. When your government takes steps to sterilize your entire race, that basically takes things like mercy and humanity off the table. But when given an opportunity to twist the knife, will Alpha make the right call?
Ezquerra and Wagner are not letting up on this at all. As the endgame approaches, we see the American response to Alpha’s advances, as well as the government’s next line of defense now that the Brotherhood is out of the picture: the Ikans. Only 87 of them are allowed together at one time because they are so incredibly hostile. Will that be enough to stop Johnny Alpha and the Strontium Dogs? Why are the prime minister’s officials talking about surrender terms then?
Credits: John Wagner (script), Carlos Ezquerra (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
II. 2000 AD FOR DUMMIES
Since Greg and I started Multiver-City One, the thing we keep hearing most from people is: “I really want to start reading 2000 AD/Dredd but have no clue where to start.” Let’s fix that, shall we?
When I was first getting into 2000 AD, I admittedly found the character of Judge Dredd to be difficult to wrap my head around. I hadn’t read enough to really understand who he is and how he’s used to move a narrative. It kept me at arm’s length for a while, until I discovered a pair of books that would change everything. Through these books, I fell into a world that was so much larger than one grizzled Judge could ever hope to be. A world sprinkled with Mega-Cities and Judges of all make and model. I even realized that there is an enormous cast of characters inhabiting the same city as Dredd, but having barely any contact with the man himself. These characters came to me with absolutely no preconceived notions of who or what they are.
The first of these two books was Lenny Zero and the Perps of Mega City One. I picked this up because of four things: 1) Andy Diggle, 2) Jock, 3) the title (so bad-ass), and 4) the cover (equally bad-ass.) As silly as it sounds, I had no idea that this was tied to Judge Dredd at all. I was floored when, only three pages in, the book’s titular character flashes his badge and declares, “I’m a Judge.” It was as if he was declaring this right to me.
Lenny Zero and the Perps of Mega-City One starts off with the story of a member of The Wally Squad, which is what the division of undercover Judges in Mega-City One are known as. He manages to extort a little bit of money and hatches a plan to escape to Luna-1 with it. When things go wrong, Lenny finds himself with a dead Judge on his hands and the Special Judicial Squad on his behind. His only escape is to dig deeper into the Mega-City underworld.
Continued belowJock and Diggle truly show what a force they can be together in this book. Between Jock’s stark artwork and Diggle’s knack for writing truly believable dialogue, I was hooked. I blew through this volume, which also features work from John Wagner, Robbie Morrison, Steve Dillon, and Henry Flint (just to name a few) and was hooked. I needed more.
Enter Dirty Frank.
While Lenny Zero set me up, Mega City Undercover vol. 2 is what cinched it. I hadn’t (and still haven’t) read volume 1 of this series, as it’s long out-of-print and has a hefty after-market price tag on it. That said, it’s not at all necessary to understand and enjoy these stories.
Mega City Undercover volume 2 introduces readers to The Low Life, a section of Mega-City One that is exactly what it sounds like: the part of town where you’d go to find all manner of underworld activity. It’s the type of place where it makes sense to send some Wally Squaders to dig up some intel. Written by Rob Williams with art by D’Israeli, Rufus Dayglo, and Smudge, this is where I was introduced to Judges Dirty Frank and Aimee Nixon, and they quickly became two of my favorite characters. They, along with a motley crew of other undercover Judges, are faced with Sov terrorists, a designer drug epidemic, a rash of biblical catastrophes, and an ominous crime lord known as The Big Man.
This book introduces a boatload of characters and a lot of really interesting ideas. It’s a solid look into the politics and corruption of the Judicial system, with a clear portrait painted of deep-cover Judges trying their level best to toe the super-fine line between Wally Squad and Perp. We see them bend rules with the threat of Titan’s Judge prison looming large over their heads. Action coupled with exceptional character development and some true crime drama is the name of the game here. If you’re enjoying what Williams and Flint are doing in the current Dredd strip, then you’ll be interested to know that this book sets the stage for a lot of what’s happening now.
Hopefully you find these titles to be as enjoyable an entry point to the world of Dredd as I did. Both of these books would be right up your alley if you enjoy Gotham Central or Remender’s run on Uncanny X-Force. From here, there are plenty of other books that help flesh out this world for you to check out. Maybe in future installments of this article we can talk about The Taxidermist, which is about competitive human taxidermy on an Olympic level, or Hondo City Law, which focuses on Japan’s Mega City. There’s literally an entire world to explore in these books, and we’ll cover it all one week at a time!
III. OF INTEREST
IDW’s latest 2000 AD import is Rogue Trooper. This series represents the veteran strip in new tales a la Duane Swierczynski and Nelson Daniel’s Judge Dredd ongoing. Rogue Trooper will be written by Brian Ruckley and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli, with covers by Glenn Fabry. But like a lot of books hitting the stands these days, there is another artist doing subscription variant covers for the book. And that artist is James Stokoe.
IDW has posted some Stokoe process art for the first issue variant cover on their Tumblr blog.
Pencils for issue #1
Full art for issue #2
Full art for issue #3
IV. FUTURE PERP FILES
ATTN: ALL CITIZENS OF THE MEG! Be aware that there is always a Judge watching you. Each sector is equipped with millions of HD-CCTV and bioID units. They are there for your protection. If your intent is upright citizenry, then you have no qualm with our surveillance. And remember: if you see something, you are now an accessory to a crime. That’s six months in an Iso-Cube, creep! Random CPU algorithms has selected this citizen for immediate surveillance and assessment…
That’s gonna do it for us this week! Prog 1868 is on sale today and is available from finer comic shops everywhere, from 2000ADonline.com, and via the 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone. So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
