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 Chris Weston.
I. NOW DEPARTING
Judge Dredd: The Heart Is A Lonely Klegg Hunter, Part 2
As quickly as it came to us, this Klegg adventure is gone. I guess the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Or something.
I was a bit surprised to find out why exactly The Hunters Club of Mega-City One were after dear ol’ Sensitive Klegg. It’ll be curious to see if anything comes of it. Also, how about Dredd’s reaction to SK’s predicament? I mean, we all know he’s a jerk, but for Joe Dredd to root for a perp? This Klegg must be grating to be around!
This story continues the streak of Rob Williams scripting fantastic stories to be drawn by mind-blowing artists. Chris Weston brings life to this tale in a manner I don’t think many others could be capable of. The way he makes SK act and emote is masterful, especially when one considers how difficult it must be to make an alligator convey any emotion besides rage or flesh-hunger and still look like an alligator.
Plus, this week’s strip wins Line of the Week for: “KLEGGY WANT IN!”
Credits: Rob Williams (script), Chris Weston (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
II. NOW ARRIVING
We’ve got a new strip kicking off this week!
Sinister Dexter: Congo, Part 1
So you’re going to put an Amazon analog in this story and call it Congo? Dan Abnett, we love you.
Sirs Sinister and Dexter return this week, which means that only chaos and debauchery will follow. In a surprising move, Finnigan Sinister has gone and gotten himself a legitimate job. In less-than-surprising news, he did it for an illegitimate reason.
The introduction of Congo is a prime (get it?) example of what Abnett does best. Take something as simple and mundane as a shipping warehouse (or, in last week’s case, a customs office) and use it to springboard into a big concept. In the case of Congo, it’s using known buying habits to narrow a manhunt. Awesome.
This strip introduces Jake Lynch to the world of Sinister Dexter. This’ll be his first multi-part story for 2000 AD, and judging from what he had to draw this week, he’ll do just fine. I especially enjoyed the ‘order milk’ post-it on the computer monitor. Well played, sir.
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Jake Lynch (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
III. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1889
Brass Sun: Floating Worlds, Part 2
Gravity plays a big part in this week’s strip. Be it the pull from the planetary spar that is making all manner of things coalesce into the gaseous clay Ariel, Wren, and company have been tasked by Chairman Pei to find. Or the realization that the Sweet Sisters will kill them all upon their mission’s completion if any manner of nasty creatures doesn’t kill them first. Or that Wren’s link with the key means that other aspects of it might be attracted to her and save her some hassle in tracking them down.
All that, and the introduction of a heavyweight character new to the series but not to the reader. (And no, it’s not Muhammad Ali. I laid off the Gaseous/Cassius Clay joke I was going to make but didn’t want you to think this was a play off of that, and in explaining all this I guess I went ahead and told it anyway…)
One thing that’s not a joking matter is the amount of control Culbard shows in his artwork simply by his manipulation of the color palette. ‘Brass Sun’ literally spans the solar system, with locations coming and going all the time. One of the ways Culbard reminds readers of certain settings is locking each one with a specific color tone, like the reddish hue of Ariel’s control cabin. It’s shorthand, but a necessary one for the amount of places Edgington carries the story over. I’m guessing the series will run out of locations before Culbard runs out of color choices.
Continued belowCredits: Ian Edgington (script), INJ Culbard (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Tharg’s 3rillers: Voodoo Planet, Part 2
DREAM CLEAN OR THE BOGEYMAN WILL VISIT!
Man, I’m really digging this strip. Between the character design and oxygenated candy that makes one hyper-suggestable, there is a lot going on. Readers get the backstory of last week’s villain in surprisingly few pages because of Adams and Holden’s perfect balance of showing and telling. Frank explains some data he’s assembled about the atmosphere in a flashback, and there are signs in the present day establishing the status quo our characters are living in.
In talking about how awesome PJ’s art looks in this story last week, we failed to mention was how spot-on the colors are. That credit goes to colorist Steven Denton; his palette for this story is precisely what it needs to be: lots of earthy, natural tones with big splashes of orange and fusha that give the setting an otherworldly eeriness.
There’s a hell of a lot going on in this strip, and it’s sure going to be interesting to see how this all gets wrapped up!
Credits: Guy Adams (script), PJ Holden (art), Steve Denton (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Future Shocks: The Name Of The Law
It’s a common thread in genre fiction that knowing someone’s true name can give you power over someone. I’m not talking about knowing Tim is short for Timothy; I mean the unspoken name that links to the essence of that person. Sometimes it can be using a superhero’s secret identity to blackmail them, or in the case of more magic-driven stories, being able to literally control them by speaking their true name like a cheat code.
Pretty powerful stuff.
So when Cassie gets the name of the boss that had harassed her and virtually every other woman at the company, it was time for some payback. But with all the possibilities open to here, how much revenge will she get? His apology? His job? His life?
Credits: Eddie Robson (script), Nick Dyer (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
IV. OF INTEREST
A couple of quick hits this week in case you missed them:
V. 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! “2000 AD” Prog 1889 is 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!”
