Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 1942

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. This FAQ collects everything you need to make your initial foray into the 2000 AD Thrill-verse as simple as possible.

II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1942

Cover by Glenn Fabry and Ryan Brown

Judge Dredd: Enceladus – Old Life, Part 3

Before we get into spoiler territory, let’s talk a little about what Rob Williams is doing here. It’s no secret that we’re big fans of his work on Judge Dredd, and I’d argue that he’s one of, if not the, best writers to tackle the strip in recent history. I think what appeals to me most about his work is his ability to isolate complicated elements of a character and use it as a nail to hang his stories on. When ‘Titan’ first began back in 2013, Williams was firmly leaning on the idea of an aging Judge Dredd. Readers were shown what it looks like when Mega-City One’s premier lawman loses a step, and what it means for how he views his own mortality. While that storyline kicked off with that theme in mind, the height of William’s exploration of Dredd’s age came with “The Man Comes Around,” a one-off strip with art from R.M. Guera. After thoroughly exploring Dredd’s aging (so thorough that I was convinced the Judge’s death was imminent,) Williams has set his sight on another facet of the character’s inner workings: his morality.

Judge Dredd’s seemingly arbitrary, but none-the-less rigid moral boundaries have often been rolled around, so don’t let me convince you that Williams is first to this party. While often at the fore of many a Dredd story, Williams’ approach is different. Like the whole aging thing, Williams isn’t putting focus on this stuff for our consideration; he’s doing it for Dredd’s consideration. The readers are merely spectators as Williams repeatedly works Dredd into scenarios that force tough decisions and leave him helpless in the face of those decision’s fallout.

Over the course of Judge Dredd’s history, scores of writers have worked towards shaving down the grey area in his thinking until we’re left with an almost entirely black&white man of the law. With Dredd, it’s yes or no, right or wrong, and rarely ever maybe. But even within this rigid framework Williams has found a sliver of grey to force Dredd into. Twice, maybe thrice, within the span of stories starting with ‘Titan’ and carrying on to today, Judge Dredd has found himself with his finger on the button. His decision has been between the lives of a few against the lives of the many. Now, this may seem like a no-brainer; of course he would choose the many. But what if the man himself could have very well found himself amongst the few? How many times has Dredd face the threat of exile on Titan? And of those times, how often would it have been the wrong decision? So, when deciding on the annihilation of every mutilated prisoner on that distant moon, things can get a little complicated for Dredd. If he was so close to being wrongly sentenced, could there be others who actually have been? And what happens if he eventually has to have his nose shorn off and is shipped off-planet? Will his annihilation be such an easy decision for The Meg’s new fair-haired child?

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So let’s get spoilery! If you want to avoid such things, we’ll catch up with you down at “Absalom,” ok?

It’s safe to say ‘Old Life’ has declared itself to be a horror story, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, this whole string of stories have been horror-tinged, but this week’s opening pages gave me a real monster-of-the-week vibe. It’s that classic horror trick of suddenly isolating someone, making it clear that there is a threat that will be faced alone. Henry Flint did a phenomenal job of nailing this tone, particularly when the Nixon-monster reveal happened. Between the design of the monster and that warped perspective, Flint not only nailed the horror elements of the scene, but gave the whole thing an extraordinarily surreal feeling. It really helped to amplify the shock of seeing the entirety of Nixon’s new form for the first time. I’m assuming that she’s either got some manner of shape-shifting ability, or is able to warp how others perceive her. Thinking back, she was in monster form when she killed Judge McTighe, but security cameras caught her in her human form.

Two of my personal favorites got the spotlight this week, the first of which was Chief Judge Hershey. Seeing her ditch her Chief Judge’s uniform and return to Street Judge garb was exciting. She’s become a real favorite of mine over the last couple of years, and I liked seeing her shift into a more proactive role. The last few weeks have seen her eschew any actions that would be expected of someone in her position in order to do what she feels is right. From the evacuation of the freezing sectors, to her return to the streets, Hershey seems to be more focused on saving the day than she is her own hide. This’d be worrisome on it’s own, but then she says, “If these streets are going to die in the next few days I’m going to be out there on them. I’m a Judge. For just a few more days, maybe, but I’m a Judge.” Pretty ominous, don’t you think?

My second favorite character moment came in the strip’s final page, as we see Dredd in the presence of Mr. Wally Squad himself: Dirty Frank! Frank’s appearance was hinted at last week, and now we’ve got him in the flesh. And praise again for Flint, his Frank has the appearance of being especially dirty. His hair and beard have gained considerable length, so I think it’s safe to say that Frank’s been out in the cold since the end of “Day of Chaos.” So it’s pretty fitting that when Dredd finds him, he’s just putting the finishing touches on a snowman.

Credits: Rob Williams (script), Henry Flint (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Absalom: Under A False Flag, Part 9

Over the last two months, ‘Absalom’ has really won me over. As I’ve said in this space a few times, I had relatively little exposure to this story before ‘Under A False Flag’ began, and because of that I guess I was a little wary coming in. But with every passing week, and I saw more and more of the imagination and fearless comic-booking that Rennie and Trevallion are capable of, I grew to really enjoy this strip. Each chapter seemed to be more outlandish than the last, relying on dark humor and sight gags to add levity to a story about child solders and a holy crusade.

I’ve read and enjoyed plenty of Rennie’s work before (check out “Department of Monsterology” if you haven’t already), but this was my first real exposure to Tiernen Trevallion’s art. The more I read of ‘Absalom’ the more impressed I became with his art. His sense of comedy meshed extremely well with Rennie’s, and his character and prop design made the strip feel like none other. I was caught off guard by the story’s conclusion, but that’s not to say that if felt at all rushed or incomplete. Instead, it made me realize that it was something I could have easily read another few weeks of.

Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Tiernen Trevallion (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

Helium, Part 9

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The good news is that our heroes and Professor Bloom did not drop to their deaths in the Poison Belt. They were saved by the Ballerophon, a massive airship that rose out of the Belt and had apparently been tracking them, or more specifically, Professor Bloom. Incidentally, Edginton has shown Bloom as someone with a conscience, so I’m not lumping him on the side with the mutants or the bureaucrats or any of the other forces antagonizing Hodge and her deputy Solace Grimbsy (still awesome, BTW), but he doesn’t quite feel like one of the good guys yet. Anyway, avoiding death by asphyxiation is always a good thing. But since the Ballerophon was tracking Bloom, that means they’re the ones he was running from. Well, one of the ones in any case. But is Hodge going to just let them take Bloom when he’s still under her jurisdiction? Not that she has any real leverage besides Solace against the retro-helicarrier, but still…Hodge doesn’t seem like someone willing to just roll over when things got tough.

Since D’Israeli continues to dazzle on the visual side of things, I thought we’d look into the name Ballerophon and see what comes up, for a little change of pace. Ballerophon (or Bellerophon, the spelling is a little tricky) was a Greek hero who did many great deeds, so definitely a prime candidate for having cool stuff named after him. The big takeaway on his resume was his slaying of the Chimera, a creature consisting of a goat’s body, lion’s head, and serpent’s tail. Not quite ManBearPig, but something really making life difficult in Greece of yore. Ballerophon manages to get himself Pegasus the winged horse either by sneaking up on it while drinking or having it handed to him by his god father Poseidon, and goes off to kill the Chimera. So there’s your aviation angle for the naming rights. Ballerophon does manage to kill the Chimera but does so in an interesting fashion: after failing the traditional methods, he jams a hunk of lead on the end of his spear and manages to get the lead jammed down the monster’s throat. Since the monster breathes fire, the heat from those flames melts the lead and the Chimera asphyxiates. So a little oblique connection to ever-present danger of death by asphyxiation in ‘Helium’.

Normally that would be where the story ends for Ballerophon, but with him being Greek and their national love for tragedy, it gets better. Or worse, if you happen to actually be Ballerophon. He figures his fighting prowess and winged steed makes him a Baller of the first order (sorrynotsorryabouthepun), so he decides to fly straight up to Mt. Olympus where he feels he obviously belongs. Zeus doesn’t take kindly to the arrogance on display and sends a gadfly to sting Pegasus en route, knocking Ballerophon off and sending him plummeting to the Earth. Zeus ends up using Pegasus as his own ride from that point on, and Ballerophon lives out the rest of this days as a blind, crippled hermit.

Maybe that last part was lost to history by the time it came to naming the retro-helicarrier? We’ll see if that’s foreshadowing or not!

Credits: Ian Edginton (script), D’Israeli (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)

Outlier: Dark Symmetries, Part 8

You can only plan a caper for so long before you have to actually put it into action. In real life, there’s a chance all that planning could pay off and your job/heist/activity go off without a hitch. But that’s boring. The reason stories always show us the plans that don’t go right is because that’s interesting. You get to see what the characters are really made of when they have to deal with things NOT going according to plan. So I want all my plans to go smoothly, but all the fictional plans I read about to go pear-shaped at the first possible opportunity.

Eglington and Richardson don’t quite follow that plan (surprise) because we see Carcer executing the objectives pretty successfully for most of this week’s strip. Get onto the Hurde ship, blow up some computers, free some pod people…check, check, and check. I should take this opportunity to amend my earlier statement: things going according to plan can still be exciting if you have an exciting plan, and this one is made to look pretty good by Richardson. And I’m sure Carcer didn’t plan to get shocked in the back by that Hurde minion, so things aren’t going quite that smoothly.

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But it’s a line of dialogue on the last page that really intrigues me. We’ll talk more about it next week hopefully, but with all the laser blasts and explosions and skulking going on, it’s that line that has me even more excited.

Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Karl Richarson (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Jaegir: Tartarus, Part 6

So, remember part one of ‘Tartarus’? When the story opened with a flash-forward of Jaegir dressed in Souther fatigues and running from a Strigoi? Well, we’ve finally caught up to that moment in time and have seen the series of events that led Atalia to this place.

Last week I wrote a little about the exceptional work Simon Coleby had been doing that week in particular. Well, it seems like I could cut and paste that whole paragraph right here because he’s already outdone himself. The art in this week’s strip is astounding, particularly the monster panels. I think Coleby’s the type of artist that can make deep shadows at high-noon make sense, so now that he’s set upon an irradiated battle field that’s filled with mutated human warriors, well, it’s like he’s meant to draw these pages. I love that he and Flint have gotten to bookend these last few Progs!

Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Simon Coleby (art), Len O’Grady (color), Ellie De Ville (letters)

III. CHECKING IN ON THE MEGA COLLECTION!

Launching back in January, the Mega Collection is a joint publishing venture between Tharg’s 2000AD/Rebellion and Hachette Partworks to put out a comprehensive line of hardcover collections for the best and most important Judge Dredd stories ever. And with 38 years of Dredd stories to pick from, that ends up being a huge chunk of books. Seriously, that image above is just part of the unified spine design for the completed series, so imagine all those books and more on your shelves. With the “Casefiles” books covering Dredd’s exploits in strict chronological fashion, the Mega Collection is taking a less obvious release path. Although starting with a collection of Wagner & MacNeil’s ‘America’ was a pretty safe bet, subsequent books have jumped around Dredd (and Judge Anderson)’s timeline quite a bit. I’d imagine this kind of approach would be crazy for most comic properties stuffed with retcons/reboots/whathaveyou, but with a character like Dredd and his consistent linear chronology, the jumping around probably serves the readers well. If you know there’s a period of, say, 10 books in a row collecting an era that just didn’t click with you, this schedule keeps those books from hitting one after the other after the other. Although, seriously, who wouldn’t want to get every book just to have that complete spine line-up?

Having said that, let’s take a look at what stories have been collected and released so far for UK (and now Australian) readers (and us Mega-City One residents living vicariously through our Brit-Cit and Oz citizen siblings). Note – the volume numbers relate to the books’ positions in the overall collection, while the issue numbers relate to order of release:

Issue 1 – America (Vol 1): The story concerns two childhood friends taking distinctly different life paths in Mega-City One. While one grows up to fame and fortune as an entertainer, his friend becomes more and more disillusioned with the status quo. She becomes a democracy activist and later a terrorist.
Issue 2 – Mechanismo (Vol 24): When robot Judges are trialled on the streets of the Big Meg, does it herald the future of law enforcement, or the beginning of a nightmare?
Issue 3 – The Apocalypse War (Vol 36): East-Meg One launch a nuclear attack on Mega-City One. How will Dredd lead the fight back…?
Issue 4 – Origins (Vol 45): In Origins, you’ll learn the true story behind the creation of the Judges and Justice Department as a villain from the past returns to reclaim his heritage…
Issue 5 – Psi-Judge Anderson: Shamballa (Vol 10): Scripted by the epic Alan Grant, and illustrated by Arthur Ranson, Issue 5 features the stories Shamballa, The Jesus Syndrome, Satan, The Protest, and R*evolution. Shamballa was the first Anderson story to be published in colour in 1990, and it cemented the creative pairing of Grant and Ranson, who brought a new maturity to the character.

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Issue 6 – Judge Dredd: Mandroid (Vol 25): Mandroid is a vigilante story about former soldier Nate Slaughterhouse, who is invalided with his family back to Mega-City One with half his body replaced with cybernetic parts. When his wife goes missing and his son is targeted by criminals, Nate goes on the rampage.
Issue 7 – The Heavy Mob (Vol 55): This issue comprises of the stories Holocaust 12, Brit-Cit Brute, Wynter and the Judge Dredd tales Father Earth, Debris and Warzone, concentrating on the heavily armoured divisions within Justice Department, sent into the most extreme of troublespots. Holocaust 12 and Brit-Cit Brute have never been reprinted since their original publication in the early 1990s, so this will be the first time they will be getting an airing in twenty years!
Issue 8 – The Cursed Earth (Vol 32): This perennially popular story in which Dredd must journey across the irradiated wasteland that North America has become to deliver a vital vaccine to Mega-City.
Issue 9 – Devlin Waugh: Swimming in Blood (Vol 14): When Vatican precognitive telepaths predict a horrific presence at the underwater prison of Aquatraz, Devlin is sent in to investigate and uncovers an uncompromising evil which will cause him to cancel elevenses and abandon the Queensbury rules in order to survive!
Issue 10 – Judge Dredd: Shimura (Vol 61): Former Senior Judge, now ronin (a master less samurai), Shimura brings down a shed load of vengeance on the denizens of Hondo-City, the far-eastern megalopolis, and all that remains of the nation of Japan, following the Atomic Wars.
Issue 11 – Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos – The Fourth Faction (Vol 49): With the much-loved mayor of Mega-City One presumed dead by the citizens, an election has been scheduled to choose his successor. Cadet Judge Hennessey has predicted that something terrible will happen on the Election Day and she may be right. East-Meg assassin Nadia has arrived in the Big Meg, carrying a deadly weapon that could destroy everything!
Issue 12 – Judge Dredd: Democracy Now! (Vol 2): Collecting the rest of the Democracy stories not already in other collections.
Issue 13 – Judge Dredd: Hondo City Justice (Vol 60): Hondo City is the Japanese equivalent of Mega-City One – a large, sprawling urban mass policed by a Justice Department. Culturally however, it is totally different. While on the forefront of modern technology, the Hondo-citizens remain tied to the roots and customs of feudal Japan, while the Samurai-like Judge Inspectors who police the city, have been plagued by cases of corruption. Fortunately, judges like Aiko Inaba are upholding the law while questioning the authority of Justice Central.
Issue 14 – Psi-Judge Anderson: The Possessed (Vol 08): Psi-Div’s top telepath deals with cases of demonic possession, sleeper-cell agents, psychic manipulation and alien encounters in ‘The Possessed’, ‘Hour of the Wolf’, ‘Helios’, ‘Contact’ and ‘Beyond the Void’.
Issue 15 – Judge Dredd: Alien Nations (Vol 75): All manner of aliens live in Mega-City One, and with them come more bizarre cases for the lawman to solve throughout this volume!

Issue 15 was released this week so that brings us up to date. But the next eight volumes have already been announced:

Issue 16 – Judge Dredd: Doomsday for Dredd (Vol 42): A mega-epic so big it has had be split between two volumes, 1999′s Doomsday Scenario comes to the Mega Collection! In the volume concentrating on Dredd, Orlok the Assassin arrives in the city with a plan to kidnap the lawman and take him back to East-Meg, where he will stand trial for war crimes. Meanwhile, crimelord Nero Narcos is making moves to wipe out the Judges forever with an army of robots…
Issue 17 – Judge Dredd: Oz (Vol 31): Skysurf champion and hero of the people Marlon ‘Chopper’ Shakespeare breaks free from incarceration and escapes to Oz, where Supersurf 10 is being held. Meanwhile, a mysterious new enemy appears in the Big Meg calling itself the Judda – what links does it have with Justice Department’s past?
Issue 18 – Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos – Endgame (Vol 50): The events that started in Day of Chaos: The Fourth Faction come their shocking finale, with an entire city in flames as citizens run riot, infected with the Soviet Chaos Bug, and the Judges struggling to cope. Could this be the city’s final days?

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Issue 19 – Judge Dredd: Total War (Vol 03): This volume sees the Judges held to ransom by terrorist group Total War, as they reveal that nuclear devices are hidden around the city – unless Justice Department relinquishes control, they will be detonated one by one, killing millions.
Issue 20 – The Simping Detective (Vol 21): Undercover Judge Jack Point trawls the seedier streets of Sector 13 and what better way to blend in with Mega-City’s bizarre populace than dressed as a clown? Simon Spurrier and Frazer Irving’s future-noir series takes private detective tropes and runs them through the Big Meg blender as Jack deals with untrustworthy dames, deadly aliens and tortuous metaphors.
Issue 21 – The Dead Man (Vol 04): Young Yassa Povey finds ‘the Dead Man’ out in the Cursed Earth – terribly burned, barely clinging to life, he can remember nothing of what happened to him. Determined to find out the truth, he heads into the dark heart of the wasteland with Yassa in tow – what he finds will have shocking consequences…
Issue 22 – Judge Dredd: Target Judge Dredd (Vol 30): This volume features Dredd’s encounters with merchants of death like Stan Lee aka ‘Deathfist’ and lethal hitman Jonni Kiss amongst others.
Issue 23 – Devlin Waugh: Chasing Herod (Vol 15): Vatican-sanctioned supernatural investigator and vampire Devlin Waugh faces one of his biggest cases to date in the epic ‘Chasing Herod’ storyline, and also puts him up against one of his most unstoppable foes.

Now if those stories sound like things you’d like to read ASAP if not sooner, many of them are available in other print collections or digitally from 2000 AD directly. You can check out their online store and various apps at the links below.

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?

The highest office in all of Mega-City One is that of the Chief Judge. While The Big Meg may have a mayor from time to time, it’s no secret that the person who holds the position as Chief Judge is not only the most powerful person in the city, but possibly the world. While the uniform changes over the years, there are a few steady hallmarks of the position. Currently, Mega City One’s Chief Judge is Barbra Hershey.

Elements of a Mega-City One Chief Judge’s Uniform:

No helmet
Black, zip-up, synthi-leather Judge’s jumper with high-collar and star zipper pull
Ridged shoulder pads, matching
Chief Judge’s chest plate shield
High-impact elbow pads
Duty gloves with knuckle reenforcement and accessory pockets
Utility belt with eagle belt buckle
High impact knee pads
Duty boots with accessory pockets, holster (right) and sheath (left)

That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 1942 is on sale today and available from: