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!
THIS WEEK IN 2000AD
Judge Dredd: Citizenship
Credits: Rory McConville (script), Jake Lynch (art), John Charles (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Rowan Grover: McConville portrays a powerfully relevant “Judge Dredd” tale with some heated political commentary in “Citizenship.” The story is about a Mega-City One citizen trying to get her alien husband, Pon, citizenship through underground and black market means. The couple is forced to take this route because the government keeps perpetually delaying Pon’s application,. He’s alienated based on his physical appearance, since humans are granted their citizenship with relative ease, a well-veiled metaphor for America’s border control. This becomes much more complex when Pon has to undergo cosmetic surgery to take on the appearance of a dead Mega-City One citizen in order to live independently. McConville uses this point to tangle up the story even more as the identity of the dead citizen turns out to be one of a torturous gangster. The real cherry on top of the proverbial ice-cream occurs at the end of the story. McConville has Dredd reveal that they deported Pon back to his planet, and when the citizen reveals that he’ll be killed for his changed appearance, Dredd basically apologizes and says “WE’LL KNOW FOR NEXT TIME.” It’s a scathing remark that reflects the hot-headed state of our own authorities, highlighting what “Judge Dredd” stories excel at.
Jake Lynch works well for this almost satirical style of narrative. His art style is sketchy and raw but almost feels exaggerated to the point of ridicule. Lynch’s Dredd is a tall, awkward and unmoving pillar of power, with a more accentuated heavy jaw than what commonly appears. Lynch also conveys emotions in the couple pretty well, although seems to have trouble rendering them with the alien version of Pon. It’s not until he undergoes surgery that he seems to display fear, comfort, or dismay, which feels a little unbalanced. John Charles handles colors, using again a very exaggerated, contrasted palette to make this story work. The story is highlighted by sickening greens – in the citizen’s headband, her dress, and Pon’s new hair color. It gives a good sense of unease to the story and colors everything around it a little paler.
McConville, Lynch, and Charles provide great critical work in “Citizenship.” Although the metaphor can be a little heavy-handed, it feels appropriate considering how often this takes place in our world. It’s a great one-off story that will leave the readers a lot to chew on.
Survival Geeks: Dungeons & Dating (Basic), part 1
Credits: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby (script), Neil Googe (art), Gary Caldwell (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters).
Tom Shapira: Here it is, my first decent (ascent?) in the world of “Survival Geeks.” The painful similarity between it and The Big Bang Theory (a group of social misfits and the one ‘normal’ woman) kept me away so far but this serial seems to be a decent jumping-on point, with our heroes flung a virtual simulation of classic dungeon-crawling campaign when things go horribly wrong.
It’s broad, very broad even. It’s a take on Dungeons and Dragons that starts with one of the male heroes in Red Sonja-esque metal bikini. Subtlety is not the strong point here, nor are original jokes. And yet, against my better judgment, I rather like it so far. 2000AD is rather known for its broad humor anyway and I’m down for the obvious joke every once in a while if it’s preformed with enough conviction. So far “Survival Geeks” doesn’t really seem to lack conviction.
A big part of it is the Neil Googe art that is rather committed to the bit. Hyperactive and cartoonish, there’s always a sense of movement and stuff happening on the page. Even the talky parts feel kinetic. Gary Caldwell’s colors rather compliment this style, very bright and sunny (even in an underground basement).
Continued belowI suspect my liking of this strip is rather dependent on the length. It doesn’t seem like a format that could sustain a long run but I’m willing to be surprised. Maybe Rennie and Beeby have some surprises waiting in their sleeves….
Kingmaker: Oroborous Part 1
Credits: Ian Edginton(script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Greg Lincoln: “Kingmaker” seems to be that title for people who always thought there was something fishy with the totally peace-loving hobbits of Tolkien. The story takes up the space for two stories in the magazine, the extra pages allow the creators to ease their way into this tale and make us kind of smile at the obvious satire of it before they get serious. Ian Edginton makes no secret he is riffing on the classic Middle Earth setting — its characters, its tropes. He takes it as far as to retell the Bilbo story, calling it essentially ‘There and Back Again.’ That recap of Baliol’s initial adventure with Ablard to his current companions, the elf princess Yarrow and the orc Crixus, is kind of dry and info-dumpy. Both the orc and the reader wish to be elsewhere. Much of what really works and hooks you in this story actually come from the interactions between Ork and Yarrow. We also get hints about the nature of the great enemy this time around for this magic filled world. The ending gives us and the Crixus proof that this place of peace is not all the stories and his wizard companion makes them out to be.
Leigh Gallagher has an art style the leans into photo realism. It is very clear from the outset of the story where we were and what setting she was referencing. Her use of expression tells you and Ablard’s companions that there is more going on in the Boroughs and with Ablard’s friend then he seem to be aware of. Her faces are line heavy and the backgrounds are rich with fine details. Her characters communicate a lot about themselves beyond the dialogue. Both her dragons and her spaceships are done with great creativity.
Grey Area: Making History Part 1
Credits Dan Abnett (scrip) Mark Harrison (art) Ellie De Ville (letters)
Michael Mazzacane: I’ve often come away not all that enthused by Mark Harrison’s page design. His mixture of vibrant colors and effects over wire like, scratchy, line work makes for some interesting if not immediately readable images. The start of ‘Making History’ largely eschews these tendencies for plainly well organized pages that slowly build tension as every tries and waits to figure out what is about to go down.
This strip is a series of pages cross cut against each other. You have Lyra in the command center. Bullit and his crew running things on the ground. And you have Grell and his spooks at parts unknown. Each page is split into pretty much thirds as everyone gets ready for it to happen. This slows the strip down and turns it into a good exercise in tension. De Ville’s lettering helps to connect Lyra and Bullit across space but every now and then the Grell segment will be injected to disrupt the easy flow. Harrison does a good job of using the comic page itself as a sorta macor or meta panel that holds everything together.
Everything just slowly builds and builds until it happens, and Kymn’s statement of “ Oh holy god –” is more than earned and readers are left on quite the cliffhanger. Abnett had kind of hinted at what Grell could be planning, but what the plan actually entails makes perfect comic book sense. This was just a well-executed strip.
