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! We’ve got a new Prog this week, so let’s get right to it!
This week’s cover is by Alex Ronald.
I. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1897
Judge Dredd: Cascade, Part 4
Alright, so last week we covered how Gideon Dallas made his way from Under-City slave to Mega-City celebrity. We also talked a bit about how his public statements regarding The Judges and their role in the city have changed and speculated a bit on whether or not Dallas may have some sort of extra-human ability.
This week’s strip picks up right where the last left off: with The Lawlords! Dallas, along with Indira Knight, have just introduced these ominous-looking characters to a stadium full of people quite excited to see them. These people also seem really into the idea of more law, which runs more than a little counter to what we think of your average Mega-City One resident. This chapter re-iterated that Dallas was checked and found to have no Psi abilities, but something’s definitely going on with him. I mean, within minutes of the Lawlords reveal people decided to straight-up attack Judges in order to make way for their new rulers. People can’t be that easily swayed, can they?
And just who are The Lawlords?
In keeping with Carroll’s use of lesser-known characters (Dallas and Dolman), The Lawlords were a thorn in Judge Dredd’s side back in the 2001 strip ‘Lawcon’. As far as we can tell, despite plenty of in-story references, this is the only story they’ve appeared in before now. What’s interesting is that The Lawlords weren’t even the big bads in that tale, inserted into the story to act more as an obstruction than the real problem.
Written by John Wagner with art by Richard Elson, ‘Lawcon’ saw Dredd and a team of Judges attending an intergalactic convention for those who uphold the law back on their home planet. The story opened by introducing The Lawlords (who Dredd had already been aware of and knew would be in attendance) and establishing the fact that East-Meg 2 was seeking to ally with them. This does not sit well with Dredd or his counterparts from Brit-Cit and Hondo City. You see, The Lawlords are a race of beings who are spreading their brand of hyper-oppressive law across the galaxy. You know these guys must be bad if Judge Dredd thinks their law is too harsh. While the story begins as a diplomatic drama, it quickly turns into a story of body snatchers who have been replacing delegates from as many planets as possible. After seeing how Dredd made short (and brutal) work of the problem, The Lawlords agreed to leave Earth alone. Dredd took things a step further, letting The Lawlords know that if they ever came within ten light-years of his planet that he’d consider it an act of aggression.
And now here we are.
I will note that it’s not yet clear if The Lawlords have actually broken Dredd’s ten light-year rule. We only see them on screens and monitors, never actually standing on the surface of our planet. Another interesting bit from this week’s strip is Dolman’s reference to seeing the devastation The Lawlords inflict on a planet first-hand. He says he witnessed it as a Space Marine, but I don’t think this was ever shown in an actual story. Someone let me know if I’m wrong on that.
So what’s The Lawlords’ role in all of this? How did Dallas become associated with them? What role, if any, have they played in the insanity following Dallas wherever he goes? If The Lawlords are on or near Earth, will we see other Mega-Cities come into play? We’ve got two chapters left to wrap this thing up, so expect some action next week!
Continued belowCredits: Michael Carroll (script), Paul Marshall (art), Gary Caldwell (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Brass Sun: Floating Worlds, Part 10
Having retrieved the gaseous clay and dispatched the Sweet Sisters (at the expense of the Nominal Charge, Ariel O’Connor’s original air pirate ship), Wren and the others are now heading back to Chairman Pei’s palace to make things right. But as you can see above, it turns out Pei might have other things on his mind at the moment.
‘Floating Worlds’ has taken its time with showcasing Ariel the Air Pirate and her world, but things start to snap back into Wren’s side of the story with this week’s strip. The Wren-visible Vonnegut make an appearance, as does another player not seen since Prog 1889. This second player is one that has appeared in other stories before, usually with heroic results, but my impression of their appearance here is that they are anything but the cavalry riding in to save the day.
Credits: Ian Edgington (script), INJ Culbard (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Aquila: Carnifex, Part 8
So Nero has been collecting the heads of servants to various deities around Rome in his quest for godhood. Well, he hasn’t been doing it himself; that’s just not how these things are done. He’s been sending his carnifax (Latin for “executioner”) Aquilla to go forth and procure these melons for him. Right now he has five heads severed and mounted, while the sixth is still attached to its body but that body is in Nero’s possession and will be crucified soon. But what about the seventh?
Wait, doesn’t Aquilla pledge his allegiance to Ammit the Devourer for rescuing him from death by crucifixion? And isn’t Ammit the Devourer not some dude with an enourmous appetite, but rather a deity of some sort?
Yes. Yes to both.
Well, then wouldn’t that mean Aquilla himself classifies as a servant and could be used as the seventh head in Nero’s schemes?
Why yes, yes it does.
And doesn’t Nero have others in his employ that are just as powerful as the nigh-unkillable Aquilla? Powerful enough to kill the Wolf Mother of Rome?
Yes he does.
Does this bode well for Aquilla?
No. No it doesn’t.
Black Shuck, Part 7
Back in the Multiver-City One column for Prog 1891 I did a little digging into the origin of the name ‘Black Shuck’ and what it might mean for a protagonist to be called that. There was one aspect that I thought might have been a metaphorical description, but in this week’s Prog turns out to be a hell of a lot more literal than I had imagined.
We also see the flashbacks start to match up to where we found Shuck in Part 1, alone on the beach next to an empty boat that we later find out was quite full when it started out from East Anglia.
And although known for its science-fiction fare, “2000 AD” has almost as much of a history with sword-and-sorcery characters. Moore & Reppion are doing their best to add to the tradition of Slaine, Aquilla, and the rest with Black Shuck, and this week’s strip makes a good case for his addition to that lineage.
Credits: Leah Moore & John Reppion (script), Steve Yeowell (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Jaegir: Circe, Part 5
I know we talked about it last week, but good golly can Len O’Grady pick some colors. I recommend clicking the above image to see it in all its full-sized glory. With Jaegir working with a fascist regime, O’Grady’s reliance on reds, yellows, and browns certainly reminds me of the color schemes of Nazi Germany and the old Soviet Union.
Looks like shoes have dropped and lines have been drawn, with Jaegir and her team set on some quick and decisive action in the wake of last week’s strip. I really like Heize and Reesa’s trope-busting response to seeing their Kapitan turned against them. Now with things settled and Jaegir no longer in immediate danger, we can focus on the long-term threat: Circe! And what was found in her stolen blood? It’s looking like it’ll be an action-packed strip next week!
Continued belowCredits: Gordon Rennie (script), Simon Coleby (art), Len O’Grady (colors), Ellie de Ville (letters)
II. OF INTEREST
Gonna keep it brief this week, earthlets, but here are a few things that might pique your interest:
The Thrill-Zine is getting its own movie! If the awesome history book “Thrill Power Overload” wasn’t enough for you, then you can plug into this documentary when it hits theaters/vidscreens! “Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD” talks to both creators and fans of the magazine to celebrate how a scrappy little British weekly comic survived and grew into the juggernaut of British publishing we talk about every week. There’s no solid release date on this yet, but we will definitely keep you posted on it making its way to you. Check out the teaser trailer here, and the main site here.
While we didn’t get a chance to feature Chris Weston in our Artist August series last month, that doesn’t mean we aren’t big fans of his work, in all the different forms it comes in! Those of you who’ve been following the Megazine for a few years might remember this cover from issue 325:
Awesome stuff. And those of you with memories going back a little farther might remember this image from “Akira” that Weston was paying homage to:
And those of you with even longer memories might be able to remember a world where we only had 8-bits to use when working out our video entertainment, instead of the billions upon billions at our disposal now. Had that first image been produced back then, it might have looked something like this:
Thanks to The-Other-User for putting together the 8-bit Dredd, to Chris Weston for the Megazine cover, and to Katsuhiro Otomo for kicking the whole thing off with one of the most iconic images in comics.
III. 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 1897 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!”
