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! Let’s get right to it!
This week’s cover is by Nick Percival.
I. NOW DEPARTING
This week’s Prog sees two strips coming to a close, so let’s give them a proper send-off, shall we?
Judge Dredd: Traumatown, Part 5
As all hell breaks loose in Mega-City One, Judge Dredd tries to control the situation by staying cool and level-headed. And it mostly works. Mostly.
We were way off-base about what could be causing these nightmarish problems, but this is still a story with deep roots in Judge Dredd’s past. The tragedy that was Chaos Day is still unfolding all these month later, and the cause of everyone’s ghastly visions is the latest in a series of its unforeseen consequences. Once we learn what exactly has been causing Judges and citizens alike to see walking corpses everywhere they look, Dredd takes swift action to put an end to the situation.
But did he act too quickly? Did the scenario he found himself in feel too familiar? Has one too many of Dredd’s bad decisions come back to haunt him? These are some of the questions I was left with at the close of Traumatown, and I’m sure that that’s all part of Wagner’s design. At one point in this chapter Owen Krysler is brought up, and along with that name comes a series of events that’re sure to shake even Judge Dredd.
For readers who don’t know, Krysler was The Judge Child. He was born a powerful Psychic with an eagle-shaped birthmark on his face. It was predicted that he’d lead the Judges through Mega-City One’s darkest days. Finding Krysler was no easy task, and eventually Dredd decided to not even bring him back to Mega-City One. This decision would earn Dredd the ire of The Judge Child, which would cause some problems for him down the line. So, given this history, one could see why Dredd would close this case out in the way he did.
Credits: John Wagner (script), Nick Percival (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Indigo Prime: Perfect Day, Part 8
All hail Christhuhlu!
So Schroder, the old Nazi, screwed everything up. And I literally mean everything. Every thing ever since Jesus was crucified is now different. You see, Schroder sent the actual historical Jesus into space, where he presumably imploded, and replaced him with a polymorph. This polymorph then somehow became a Lovecraftian monster with face tentacles as seen above, which has done some real damage to the fabric of space/time, to say nothing of the sanity of one of the writers of this very column. Not only was this done as a means to summon an even bigger and more terrible other monster which we’ll presumably read about in a future strip, but the temporal feedback from this event wreaks absolute havoc on Indigo Prime, who are our only hope in putting things back the way they were.
I can’t wait for this strip to come back, as Davis and Carter really throw down the gauntlet in this last bit to leave things well and truly “Oh my God what are we gonna do?” for all involved.
Credits: John Davis (script), Lee Carter (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1887
Time Twister: Burping Hitler
A popular ethical question to pose to someone is if they would go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, thus preventing his rise to power and (presumably) World War II. Here in the real world this scenario is something confined to the circles of philosophy majors and alternate history fans, but in this Time Twister, we get to see what would actually happen.
Baby Hitler would defend itself with mind-bullets generated from excess temporal energy built up by sending the mind of the adult Hitler back into his infant self’s body at the point when the Allies would have their child-killing troops show up.
Continued below(Just as an aside, I’d like to personally thank Rob Williams for giving me the opportunity to write that sentence in a completely straight-faced context.)
The whole story is 4 pages that really leaves no room for anything other than concentrated awesomeness. Gurr, in particular, brings a woodcut-type feel to his art without sacrificing fluidity. We see black & white artwork in “2000 AD” all the time, and it’s a credit to Tharg (and Matt Smith) that there doesn’t seem to be one style of monochrome art that the mag feels locked into.
So give it a show for the art, and stay for the Baby Hitler mind-bullets (and what comes later).
Credits: Rob Williams (script), Simon Gurr (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Grey Area: Nearer My God To Thee, Part 4
I made a Star Trek reference last week and am continuing the trend this week, as we follow Bulliet and his team into the God-Star like Kirk and company flying through V’ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But Abnett and Harrison use this time to ratchet up the tension pretty effectively. Harrison, especially, comes through in a big way to keep the reader aware that the ETC crew is going up against something massive. If there’s every any comic art that you feel should be glowing up from the printed page, it should be Harrison’s work on Grey Area.
I just hope next week’s glow isn’t the thermonuclear device Bulliet is packing in that suitcase…
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
III. OF INTEREST
From now until they run out of books, you can grab slabs of thrill-power for ridiculously low prices from the 2000 AD website! Titles like “Nikolai Dante”, “Robo-Hunter”, “Death Bowl”, “Necronauts”, Greysuit”, and “Mega City Undercover” can be yours for even less than usual. And if non-fiction is your thing, you could pick up the oversized “Art of Judge Dredd” hardcover, as well as the seriously well-stocked “Thrill Power Overload: Thirty Years of 2000 AD”. The latter is one of the best books about the “2000 AD” publishing history I’ve ever seen!
Today also sees the release of “Brass Sun” #2 from 2000 AD to your local comic shop. The first issue sold out and is being reprinted, so you know all of your friends are hopping on board this science fiction epic. Don’t be left behind! Or the Scythes might get you!
And for those of you waiting for Wren and company’s return to the Prog, you only have one more week to go!
And if that’s not all, we gave you an exclusive look at Chris Weston’s cover for Prog 1889 yesterday. If you haven’t checked it out already, including all the behind-the-scenes material passed along by PR droid Molch-R, what are you waiting for?
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! Both “2000 AD” Prog 1887 and “Brass Sun” #2 are on sale today and 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!”
