2000 AD Prog 2083 Featured Columns 

Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2083 – Fame in the Fifth Dimension!

By , , , and | May 30th, 2018
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our “2000 AD” weekly review column! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at Rebellion/2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment. Let’s get right to it!

Cover by Neil Googe

THIS WEEK IN 2000AD

Judge Dredd: The Paradigm Shift Part 2
Credits Michael Carroll(script), Jake Lynch(art), John Charles(colors). Annie Parkhouse(letters)

Greg Lincoln: Michael Carroll created a very clever script this week, one that actually makes picking up his novella more attractive. Rather then spell out his plot simply, he laid out the clues for us to put together ourselves, engaging the reader more in the story. In Dredd’s era, he posits the question of why the Pleiades tablet is important and then in the flashback though he never mentions the stolen item he implies the dangerous information it contains. Judge Deacon’s interrogation of Brigadier General Corrado reveals that he agent that sent her after had a list of thirty sets of coordinates even though she only was sent to a single site. The hint implies the rest of the story. It’s clever; the scripting involves the reader in the story more then simple exposition.

Carroll also seems to have something to say about the way Judges operate as a single law enforcement entity. In the past, Judge Deacon explains in plain English that his word is literally law in no uncertain terms and that the “chain of command is broken.” In Dredd’s era, he shows Dredd and his partner, Joyce, collaring Lugo, the perp who burgled Cake’s shop. Though I didn’t catch it on first reading, they bust into his apartment unannounced, no “Judges, drop your weapons…” or anything. Dredd arrests him on the charge of shifting at Judges, something they themselves caused. Yes, Lugo is a criminal, but the whole event seems sketchy. In reality, police and governmental abuse of authority is a real present issue and it’s interesting that Carroll remind us that the Law in “Judge Dredd” is very equally callable of being unjust. The oddest story beat of that scene was the grin that Lynch put on Dredd’s face when he’s coercing information out of Lugo.

Jake Lynch and John Charles’s art again is reminiscent of the classic Dredd artists Mike McCone and Carlos Esquerrez. Lots of the scenes this week are medium to long shots and John Lynch shows a real skill in communicating feeling through posture. He often does not have the power of a clear facial expression to say someone is as unimpressed or uncowed as his final panel does for the woman Judge Deacon faces. Through John Charles’s pallet this chapter showed that the Judges chosen in the past represented a wider cultural base then the mostly white Judges of Dredd’s time. All of Deacon’s team both in style and color represent more of the world the your usual book. It’s a really good thing to see…except part one established that the women with Deacon were pretty pale actually. Their skin tones stood out to me and I had to look back to last week and see why.

Skip Tracer: Heavy Is The Head, Part Three
Credits: James Peaty (script), Paul Marshall (art), Dylan Teague (Colours), Simon Bowland (letters)

Kent Falkenberg: “Skip Tracer” rounds the corner into neon-noir in ‘Heavy is the Head, Part Three.’ And while James Peaty and Paul Marshall’s strip take on some well-worn tropes, it’s a comfortable fit for the seedy world they’re creating.

The opening scene this week is a flourish of fluorescent overload as Nolan Blake’s interest in a target’s murder brings him to a crowded night-club managed by an old flame. Dylan Teague washes the sequence in thick shadows and blisteringly neon pinks, as a brawl breaks out and Blake ducks and dodges broken bottles and switchblades before delivering some crushing blows himself. Marshall’s energetic art balances the viciousness of every swipe and strike with a certain weariness that’s been draped over Blake’s countenance ever since the strip began.

The rest of “Heavy is the Head, Part Three” is devoted to establishing the relationship between Blake and Selby Hix – owner/proprieter of The Node and purveyor of all the dirty little secrets littering the Cube’s underbelly – all while hinting at their past history. Peaty’s script doesn’t exactly peel back many layers of this onion, but the familiar repartee between the two makes it clear that a fairly important one exists between the two.

Continued below

Again, Peaty and Marshall aren’t re-inventing any wheels here. But a story doesn’t really need to be revolutionary when it’s told with this level of confidence and restraint.

Survival Geeks – Geek-Con Part Two
Credits Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby(script) Neil Googe(art) Gary Caldwell(colors) Annie Parkhouse(letters)

Michael Mazzacane: Of all the lessons “Survival Geeks” ‘Geek-Con’ has to offer it is clearly: never take strawberry bonbons in general, and especially interdimensional “investigators.”

The survival crew find themselves overwhelmed by their new found fame and are slowly torn apart by it in a matter of pages. Rufus is thirsty. Clive is too smart to enjoy himself. Simon has the emotional volume of a teaspoon. And Sam is perpetually confused by Simon. Once again I’m rather delighted to see how quickly Rennie and Beeby setup character dynamics, stereotypical they maybe. It’s really efficient story telling that sets things up for this arc on a character level after the first strip setup the basic plot conceit.

With the convention setting there is of course copious pop culture references, so much so that I wonder how much of it is in the script or just artist Neil Googe just riffing on things. It turns this strip into a bit of a where’s waldo of looking for various references or sight gags. The very first panel of the strip features a cornucopia of pop culture time travelers, which don’t seem to be altered enough to get the copyright free reference in. Unsurprisingly this strip and arc seems to be riffing on Doctor Who fandom and tropes with the strip mainly narrated by Whovian pastiches Jack Darkmatter and Countess Eternity. These crusty originals are enjoyably passive aggressive with one another and try as they act nonplussed, are clearly annoyed with everything around them. The Countess Eternity design has more flair to it, but Googe brings out the sense of derision Darkmatter has about everything with his eyes.

The other Who like riff, Inspector Qui, gives the strip some adds a different comedic flavor with how vain and false they are. The older busy bodies may hate the youths but at least respect something, Qui is clearly just a griffter. Seeing the titular “Geeks” fade back into the background for an extended riff on Who fandom and culture was surprisingly entertaining even for someone who interacts with that stuff several times removed.

Damned: The Fall Of Deadworld, Part Three
Credits: Kek-W (script), Dave Kendall (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)

Rowan Grover: This is a week of triumph, as not only do protagonists Jess and Patti take over the El Cadaver cartel, but our company is reunited with the beloved English-speaking robot dog, Horse. Kek-W scripts some solid vehicle-led action in this piece, with the more intimate sections featuring characters on ground amidst the hubbub, enhancing the drama of the piece further. We also get a little more development and insight into Jess as she takes charge negotiating with the old Martinez, showing her confidence despite her naivety and age. We’re still in the dark about her supernatural talents, however, so I hope that isn’t pushed too far back in the series to have an impact. There’s not a lot from much of the other support cast, however it’s not necessarily to the story’s detriment as it gives us more chance to want to support Jess.

Kendall brings to life some beautifully post-apocalyptic style battle scenes here, with the vehicle-mounted fighters feeling like a highlight. Kendall’s vehicles feel lived in and authentic, with real wear and impact when the crash into each other. There’s also some great costume design evident in lesser characters, from a bandana-wearing, spiky-haired and skull-masked assailant to a fighter made up in Day of the Dead style face paint. It gives a sense of culture mashup as the eof society post-crisis might lead to races banding together. It’s also lovely seeing how Kendall uses negative space. In panels like one with Jess and Horse talking to Martinez, the space behind them is filled with a dusty blue, white and red palette, smudged upwards almost to look like smoke. It gives us a sense of place yet is unobtrusive to the main focal point of the characters.

Continued below

Kek-W and Dave Kendall continue to build their intriguing world, establishing character relationships and drawing excellent car fights. I just hope we get to see more of Jess’ talents coming up soon.

Durham Red: Born Bad, Part 2
Credits: Elec Worley (script), Ben Willsher (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)

Tom Shapira: Part 2 of this new storyline and I still don’t feel like I have much of a grip on what makes Durham Red, as a character, tick. Is she a moralist or a stone cold killer? Does she hate her mutant abilities, which make her into a vampire, or tolerates them? the title of this serial, “Born Bad,” seems to imply something about the protagonists struggle against her own nature, but so far this isn’t a very interesting take – the ‘self hating vampire’ is a well-trodden ground, after all.

Still, this is a pleasant enough strip – well paced and professionally preformed. Ben Willsher really brings out the shine this week; his work on the talking (mutant) ape “Monkey Harris” is especially soulful, those are some deep eyes, but all the non-human characters look great. I was rather miffed with the protagonist last week, her skin looked too plastic, but this time we get a better use of that as Willsher exaggerates her smooth skin and facial features for a creepy effect. He also does some nice stuff with coloring – establishing blacks and blues in the background in preparation for the final shot that takes Durham Red to a new, and very different, location.

Good showcase for the art, waiting for the story to keep up with it.


//TAGS | Multiver-City One

Michael Mazzacane

Your Friendly Neighborhood Media & Cultural Studies-Man Twitter

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Greg Lincoln

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Rowan Grover

Rowan is from Sydney, Australia! Rowan writes about comics and reads the heck out of them, too. Talk to them on Twitter at @rowan_grover. You might just spur an insightful rant on what they're currently reading, but most likely, you'll just be interrupting a heated and intimate eating session.

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Kent Falkenberg

By day, a mild mannered technical writer in Canada. By night, a milder-mannered husband and father of two. By later that night, asleep - because all that's exhausting - dreaming of a comic stack I should have read and the hockey game I shouldn't have watched.

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Tom Shapira

Writes for Multiversity, Sequart and Alilon. Author - "Curing the Postmodern Blues." Israel's number 1 comics critic. Number 347 globally. he / him.

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