2000 AD Prog 2175 Featured Columns 

Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2175 – Semi-Detached!

By , , and | April 1st, 2020
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 Brett Parson

THIS WEEK IN 2000AD

Judge Dredd: Hair of the Dog Part 2
Credits Ian Edginton (script) D’Israeli(art)Annie Parkhouse(letters)

Michael Mazzacane: For me, the Ant-Man movies offer a novel spin on Marvel Studios tired action pipeline through their ability to have action that isn’t violent fist fights. At the climax of the first film, the film uses the powerset for prop comedy and visual gags as much as for fighting. Ian Edginton and D’Israeli take that sort of spin, using Ant-Man powers and perspective shifts to have a bit of fun with Dredd as he battles it out in a forrest of dog hair.

The color work D’Israeli started in the first strip pays off here with a complete shift in color scheme. The last strip was saturated, cartooning, but realistic leaning. The second part of ‘Hair of the Dog’ drops the value down and when mixed with heavier ink pushes things into a more Kirby-esque position. This strip is largely a shootout between Dredd, Balzari, and Donne. Being largely action it is a bit of a quick read but the page compositions D’Israeli produces are worth going over a couple of times as they straddle the line between readable and excess. The choreography is clear with a couple of bits of visual humor to lighten the mood.

Where this strip falls somewhat short is how it ends. It goes for a reveal at the end that makes sense given the knowing articulation of cliché’s makes sense and would happen. That doesn’t make the ending earned in any way, just a kind of sheepish grin at things playing out how you would expect. Putting the end aside, this was a fun strip that showed off some real craft.

Skip Tracer: Nimrod, Part 5
Credits: James Peaty (script), Paul Marshall (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)

Brian Salvatore: ‘Nimrod’ continues to be a glacial mystery, lumbering through flashbacks and providing only hints of forward progression each week. This week’s strip features the most interesting action of any installment thus far, but it still spends so much of its time tracing what happened that it really kills any momentum for the story. Even the cliffhangers aren’t very effective, because they happen every week, so any perceived danger is stripped from it.

Marshall’s art continues to be extremely expressive, and gives the strip a sense of danger that the script has a hard time conveying. Marshall and Teague aren’t doing enough with the flashbacks to give them a slightly different look, forcing the reader to question when the action they are viewing took place.

The methodical detective work is a deliberate choice on the part of the team, but it continues to be frustratingly slow. This is a shame, because the mystery itself has intrigue to it, and could be enjoyable if presented differently, or even in a less serialized format. But unfortunately, this format and this story make for a dull match.

Survival Geeks, Crisis of Infinite Nerds, Part 1
Credits: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby(script), Neil Googe(art), Gary Caldwell (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Gustavo S. Lodi: It is always refreshing to see a creative team so enamoured with comics as a medium. That is surely the feeling when reading “Survival Geeks,” which tells an impossible story of a group of nerdy friends meeting their doppelgängers from multiple dimension, in what can only be described as a battle for all nerd.

The passion for the medium is felt, most obviously, by the series of homages, down to the title of this adventures, a direct no to DC’s massive event. Illustrations switch between a more cartoony, deformed aesthetics, which is peculiar to “Survival Geeks” alone, but blend sit with a clear inspiration to Jack Kirby, from his celestial creature, down to a robot being that fans of the Fantastic Four will easily recognise.

Continued below

The story itself is a romp through the architecture of the multiverse, with very funny remarks and banters among the main characters. It is at the same time lighthearted and breezy, but it does not sacrifice plot and future development, hinted as early as this first issue.

All in all, “Survival Geeks” debut of the ‘Crisis of Infinite Nerds’ does not hide its colors, but is also not a slave to them. The story being crafted here is unique, even with all the homages it rightfully pays.

Aquila: The Burning Fields Part Two
Gordon Rennie (Script), Patrick Goddard (Art), Pippa Bowland (Colours), Jim Campbell (Letters)

Christopher Egan: As Aquila is getting bandaged and healed after his cage match in part one, he begins to reminisce once again about the event that led him to this moment. Thinking back to his time with General Titus, an unrelenting and evil Roman leader. Nine years earlier, in 70 AD, the First Jewish/Roman War was raging on. Aquila is smack in the middle of the battle at the Destruction of the Great Temple of Jerusalem. Aquila is fighting on the side of the Romans, killing Judeans left and right. The brutal kills are swift and nasty as our one-time immortal protagonist makes his way through the crowd of enemy soldiers.

Making his way into the Great Temple, Aquila notices the main room is empty. Titus storms in with followed by his men, claiming the Judeans to be insane for defending an empty structure. At that moment, a Jewish man, who has begun self immolation with a small vase of…something, charges at Titus to hopefully take him down as well. Aquila defends his leader with a spear thrown at the flaming man. The rest of the chapter is a discussion of philosophy and religion between Aquila and Titus. Titus discusses becoming a legend in the eyes of history, believing Aquila to the legend he has heard of. It ends with Titus and Aquila working together to achieve both of their separate goals simultaneously.

This chapter gives us some insight into how Aquila continues to earn a name for himself, but in terms of a follow up to chapter one, it doesn’t really give us anything of note. A brief battle and an elderly Jewish man on fire are the two most shocking and violent moments shown here, so it never achieves the energy or interest that last week’s opener gave us. It isn’t bad, but with how brief these weekly chapters are, readers should either get more action, or more story build up. This ultimately feels like decent filler and nothing more than Aquila recalling a few hours from his past.

Hershey: Part 1
Rob Williams (script), Simon Fraser (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

Greg Lincoln: It’s comics so it’s not a real surprise that this story is happening. It’s not so much a clear coming back from the dead tale as it is a pug that imminent death on hiatus tale, seems Hershey may have a year and a bit to take care of something she regrets letting happen. This opening chapter reminds us that the magnitude of the job of chief judge is impossible for one person to do and tough Hershey did her best she let Smiley set up a shadow organization inside the halls of Justice. Reaching back to the story “The Small House,” Rob Williams apparently intends to deal with some of that shadow network with Hershey perusing it post faked death. She even calls this a version of the long walk and it starts with kind of a sedate bang.

Williams’ story is compelling enough but the art delivered by Simon Fraser brings it to a curious life with its solidly engaging three tone coloring. Hershey looks like a tough older woman, determined and carrying the weight of the world in her shoulders. These pages are striking in the sparseness and choice of details. The cool colors that open the story set a somber tone and support the serious tone and stoic look and attitude of the main character. She’s very much on her own in these pages even when there are others around her, she’s central here, in the spotlight. This is her story and we should be glad we get to visit with this character for at least one more story arc.


//TAGS | Multiver-City One

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Gustavo S Lodi

Gustavo comes all the way down from Brazil, reading and writing about comics for decades now. While Marvel and DC started the habit, he will read anything he can get his hands on! Big Nintendo enthusiast as well.

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Christopher Egan

Chris lives in New Jersey with his wife, daughter, two cats, and ever-growing comic book and film collection. He is an occasional guest on various podcasts, writes movie reviews on his own time, and enjoys trying new foods. He can be found on Instagram. if you want to see pictures of all that and more!

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Michael Mazzacane

Your Friendly Neighborhood Media & Cultural Studies-Man Twitter

EMAIL | ARTICLES


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