Welcome, citizens, to this week’s installment of Multiver-City One! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at 2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment! Between the weekly “2000 AD” itself, the monthly “Judge Dredd Megazine”, an extensive library of graphic novel collections, and new US-format one-shots and mini-series, they have decades of zarjaz comics for you to enjoy.
We’ve got a brand-new Prog this week, so we’ll jump right in after a quick public service announcement!
I. AN EARTHLET’S GUIDE TO 2000 AD
We understand that having such a large selection of comics to choose from can make knowing where to start with 2000 AD seem daunting. What do they publish? Where can I get it? What’s up with Judge Dredd? Can I still read “2000 AD” if I don’t like Judge Dredd?
So to help new & potential readers, we’ve put together An Earthlet’s Guide to 2000 AD. A regularly updated FAQ, The Guide will collect everything you need to make your initial foray into the 2000 AD Thrill-verse as simple as possible.
II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1932
Judge Dredd: Breaking Bud, Part 4
Judge Dredd has found some information to latch on to, and now he’s coming for Bud Biggard! But, as it turns out, he won’t be the only one showing up on Bud’s brand-new doorstep. Just like the last time we saw the future tech currently in Bud’s possession, there are some time-travelers who are mighty keen on locating it.
Some of Wagner’s dialogue in this week’s strip was a little heavy-handed. What struck me most was when, after Bud’s wife cried tears of joy, he told her that, “There’s going to be lots more to cry about.” Obviously, he means that he thinks they’ll have enormous happiness from now on, but when we know that there’s no way for that to be true…well, it’s a little thick.
While a bit of Bud’s banter may have left something to be desired, Wagner successfully managed to shift the reader’s perception of Dredd and the Justice Department this week. When this story began, we saw Justice as the entire reason Bud’s life had gone down the toilet. Now though, Judge Dredd almost appears as the good guy. He’s the only one who can stop the bad guys from the future, right?
Credits: John Wagner (script), Richard Elson (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Sláine: Primordial, Part 9
Man, Mad Max: Fury Road was one hell of a movie, wasn’t it? Not only was it one of the best action movies I’ve seen in years, it gave moviegoers so many characters to take to heart, starting with Imperator Furiosa. I’ve seen more fan art about her since the film’s release than just about any other pop culture character this year. She’s popping up everywhere, including (from the look of the image above) “2000 AD”!
Oh, wait…that’s not Imperator Furiosa. That’s Sinead, the woman Slaine has been trying to rescue from the thrall of Gododin for literally the last year (in real time; much less in-story). And it looks like she’s thrown off her chains, both physical and mental, at this point and is looking for some payback. And Mills & Davis are only too happy to oblige her.
We also found out last week that the black ops Trojans were led by Slaine’s friend Gort, who is also a follower of Gododin, albeit a much more actively minded one than Sinead had been. As far as I can tell, Gort’s first appearance was in Prog 1874, or the first chapter of ‘The Brutania Chronicles’ that was also the start of our Slaine coverage here at Multiver-City One. They seem to have known each other for quite a while prior to this; am I missing something? I don’t feel like there’s information left out that I need for story comprehension, but with so much Slaine backstory that I have yet to get to, I’m wondering if Gort will show up when I get around to reading that, or if he really was introduced back in Prog 1874.
Continued belowIn the meantime, I can enjoy watching Davis & Mills let Sinead cut loose. That sword definitely gets some use!
(Oh, and another little bit of Fury Road trivia: one of the three screenwriters for the film is 2000 AD’s very own Mad Man himself: Brendan McCarthy!)
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Davis (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Future Shocks: The Big Heist
This week we’ve got a Future Shock about a heist that’s gone way too right. If this is your first time reading a Future Shock, these stories are one-and-done strips that usually end with a twist. The creators have to find a way to not only tell a satisfying stand-alone story, but they have to do it in just four pages! It’s not an easy task, which is why 2000 AD uses these stories to test the mettle of new talents. In this instance, the newcomer in question is Daniel Dwyer, winner of the 2000 AD portfolio competition at the 2014 Thought Bubble comics festival.
So, despite being set in space, this is a classic heist story. Writers Dan Lester and David Baillie spin a familiar tale by leaning on some crime tropes. While this could normally sound like a negative, it’s actually pretty smart given they have so little room to work with. By presenting familiar story elements, Lester and Ballie are able to dive right in, knowing the reader has a built-in familiarity with this type of situation. What really impressed me about this is the fact that they managed to squeeze two big twists into such a short story, both of which came naturally within the narrative.
On the art side of things, I was left a little cold by Dwyer’s art. The guy seems to have a knack for mechanical drawing, as every spaceship and cockpit was exquisitely rendered. But when it came to presenting the story’s characters? Well, Dwyer seems to have a far easier time with space crafts than human faces. I don’t know if it was a matter of being rushed, but the art in this strip felt a little undercooked.
Credits: Dan Lester & David Baillie (script), Daniel Dwyer (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Strontium Dog: The Stix Fix, Part 9
Johnny’s got himself in a fix for sure at this point!
It turns out Honorable General Bing hasn’t been looking for Jim Jong Jing; he’s been trying to get Jim Jong Jing out of the way so he can mosey on up the NKD government ladder and take his place. Bing contracted the Stix Brothers to kill Jing, but they figured why get paid once for a job when you can get paid twice for it. They’ve kept Jing alive to extort another payment from Bing to finish the job. So Johnny Alpha’s now got a bunch of killer bounty-hunters to the left of him and a power-hungry NKD joker General to the right, while he’s stuck in the middle with the General’s long-suffering translator. And it looks like things are about to get hairy, no matter what language you want to describe it in!
Speaking of language, there’s been an interesting lettering decision made in this strip; or at least I think it was a deliberate decision. Usually when showing someone speaking in a different language, comics will either have the lettering written in that other language or the text will be in English with either a different font or around the text or an asterisk with an editor’s note mentioning the language difference. None of those are used here, and there’s an exchange between Jin the translator and General Bing that really only works if it takes place in their native language. I’m wondering if that was a production hiccup or what, but it did force me to read the page a few times to make sure I read it right.
Credits: John Wagner (script), Carlos Ezquerra (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Tharg’s 3rillers: Commercial Break, Part 2
Well, things have certainly taken a turn! I knew that, since this is just a three-parter, things would move pretty quickly this week. Good golly did I now expect things to get this big, though.
Continued belowThis week’s strip is pretty packed, so it’s hard to talk about what happens with out spoiling anything. I was pretty surprised when I found out who the person on the television was. And I really got a kick out of the pseudo-science explanation of how someone’s living room could suddenly be filled with multicolored, shimmering gems. There’s a lot of fun comic booking to be found in this strip, and it’s all packed into as tight of a narrative as possible.
Next week is the big wrap up to this Brixel™-packed story, so stay tuned!
Credits: Eddie Robson (script), Mike Collins (art), Gary Caldwell (color), Ellie De Ville (letters)
III. OF INTEREST
I think it’s safe to say that there are few, if any, bright spots when it comes to the 1995 Judge Dredd film. The complete miscasting of Stallone and Schneider overpowers the choices of stalwart character actors Max von Sydow, Jurgen Prochnow, and James Earl Jones (who has a vocal cameo as the prologue narrator), a young Diane Lane, and a performance from Armand Assante so over-the-top as to circle the globe and almost, just almost, come back around to being good. Hundreds of choices going into making every movie, and nearly all of them were wrong when it came to Judge Dredd.
Nearly.
Although he was not the director Danny Cannon’s first choice for composer (that nod went to Jerry Goldsmith, who had to bow out very early in the process for scheduling reasons), Alan Silvestri turned in a score for Judge Dredd that showed he clearly missed the memo telling him it was supposed to suck. Silvestri had already done scoring duty on Predator, The Abyss, and the Back to the Future trilogy by this point, so his sci-fi chops were sharp indeed. The original score release for the film only had about 40 minutes of Silvestri’s music sharing a CD with some soundtrack songs from groups like The Cure, The The, White Zombie, Cocteau Twins, and Leftfield. But now, Intrada records is releasing an expanded version, with Silvestri’s complete score.
Clocking in at almost 2-1/2 hours of music over two discs, this new release will include the entire score as heard in the 1995 film on the first disc. The second disc will have almost an hour of early & alternate takes of that material, before changes in the film editing required re-scoring for the finished film. Also included will be the music composed by Goldsmith for the film’s first trailer.
One of the strength’s of Judge Dredd is that his world and stories can support more than one kind of tone. While the 2012 Dredd had a score that fit in perfectly with the film it was attached to, the music for the 1995 Judge Dredd is just as well-suited for a tour of duty in Mega-City One…just not the tour it ended up with. So do yourself a favor: buy this release when it comes out next month, crank it loud on the stereo, open up your favorite Case Files or Mega-Collection, and give this music a chance to be the soundtrack for some REAL Dredd Thrill-Power!
IV. RECOGNIZE THE LAW
It’s no secret that there are a great many flavors of Judges from a great deal of Mega-Cities, so we’re aiming to use this space as a way of exploring as many types of Judges as we can. Did you know that in Mega-City One there are Accounting Judges? And Exorcist Judges?
This week we’re taking a look at Mega-City One’s baddest of the bad: The Holocaust Squad!
Features of a Holocaust Squad Judge’s Uniform:
- All-purpose ‘midnight blue’ exo-suit with helmet dome, life-support, temperature regulation, weapons array, jet propulsion system, and flight-stabalization unit
- Helmet with ‘X’ visor, Holocaust Squad insignia, chin strap, infrared and thermal imaging, and communications array
- Matching shoulder pads
- Chest-mounted shield
- Exo-suit ready utility belt with extra large pouches
- Elbow bumpers
- Shield shaped knee bumpers
The Holocaust Squad is Mega-City One’s last line of defense. The squad is made up of Judges who, for one reason or another, are willing to accept the sure-death that the position brings. Whether it is in the face of nuclear Armageddon of natural disaster, the Holocaust Squad is expected to lay down their lives so that The Meg can survive. Since every one of these Judges are considered to be living on borrowed time, they are afforded luxuries others are not. As is outlined in section 49C of the Extreme Sanctions Charter, Holocaust Squad Judges may indulge in alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, and a number of other controlled substances.
Continued belowThat’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1932 is on sale today and available from:
- The 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone,
- The 2000 AD app for Android devices,
- 2000ADonline.com in print or DRM-free PDF and CBZ formats,
- Select US newsstands, and
- Finer comic shops everywhere
So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
