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: End of Days, Part One
Credits Rob Williams (script) Colin MacNeil(art) Chris Blythe(colours) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: “Dredd” gets a mostly new creative team with Rob Williams and Colin MacNeil coming aboard along with always good Simon Bowland on letters. After a series of one off or brief multi-part strips ‘End of Days’ seems to be setting itself up as something big and “serious.” What that is, however, is left mostly to interpretation as Williams and MacNeil create a hodgepodge of references that code everything as “serious” and yet fails to say anything beyond the mood. As a mood piece, Colin MacNeil’s art when paired with Chris Blythe’s work is fantastic. In particular the use of warm reds and vibrant oranges and MacNeil’s willingness to get a little Frank Miller “Sin City” and render Dredd primarily as a black silhouette, more icon than character.
That sort of thinking under girds this strip from page design to panel content. It isn’t poorly done, the page layouts and Bowland’s lettering pace everything wonderfully. There is this out of time, dreamlike, quality to the interplay of images and a contrasting sense of urgency. It honestly shouldn’t really work that well as a mood piece, but it does.
What doesn’t work is Rob Williams scripting, in particular his use of an omniscient narrator. This could be a matter of my own inner reading voice, but there is something discordantly playful about it. It’s too self aware as it puzzles about the nature of dreams and the horse bound rider. It notably dose not fit the mood of MacNeil and Blythe’s art work. This is a choice that dose not make sense within the strip. Perhaps it will reveal itself overtime, but as an introduction it is jarring and honestly feels out of place in “Dredd,” or at least this version of “Dredd.” This lack of harmony has me more teased by confusion than interested and engaged it what comes next.
Sinister Dexter: Bulletopia – ‘Boys in the HUD’
Credits: Dan Abnett (Script), Steve Yeowell (Art), John Charles (Colors), Jim Campbell (Letters)
Christopher Egan: The last time we saw Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter they had killed Holy Moses Tenenbaum on their last job. Not knowing that the gang lord was actually from an alternate dimension, whose existence was tied to the fabric of reality; it was only after he was dead they discovered that killing him would effectively reset the space-time continuum.
Now, everyone in the city of Downlode knew who Sinister Dexter were. But they are now living in a new version of their universe and no one knows who they are. As the two once-famed hit men grapple with this new existence, they are pulled into their next job: An attack on the A.G.I. has revealed a rogue A.I. wreaking havoc in Downlode.
Really this new entry is all set up, but it doesn’t really go anywhere in terms of exposition or really setting up what is to come. We get a few beats regarding the attack on A.G.I. and a few references to the fact that these two guys effectively live outside of time with a knowledge of how things used to be, but it looks like we will have to wait until next week to get any real story substance.
Bulletopia part 1 is little more than a story bridge, but it is a necessary one. Hopefully the next Prog will get things going!
The Order: Inbetween Days
Credits: KEK-W (script), John Burns (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Rowan Grover: “Inbetween Days” works as a pretty good interlude for the series at large, giving us just enough content to satiate and intrigue us for the next ongoing. KEK-W keeps the tone of 18th Century revolutionary France consistent here, whilst injecting a nice amount of steampunk-esque futurism. This also makes for a lot of brutally quiet battles, with the standout moment being the horseback soldiers failing tremendously against a battalion of tanks and armed gunmen. The final scene with Francis Bacon is also a great way to show some of the major players of the series and catch us up to their antics in a succinct manner. The way that he interrogates Ritterstahl makes him appear as a passionate man but his words have such a sinister bite to them at the same time. With this final scene, KEK-W sets up an intriguing setting for the next series to build upon that ties the disturbingly cyborg-esque Bacon to the main plot.
Continued belowBurns’ art is always classical and affectionately rendered, and this is still the case in this short burst of a story. The first page captures the chaotic divide between Renaissance-era style and more futuristic themed warfare. King Leopold is performing a bombastic speech, whilst two panels later, fighter jets are raining down missile after missile, visually detailing what this series is all about in the space of about three panels. The shots of the tanks demolishing their way through ground soldiers is a terrifying shot too, with soldiers running away fearfully almost in a riff off the gangsters on the “Action Comics #1” cover. Burns’ also renders Francis Bacon’s automaton with terrific kinetic energy. He picks up slabs of debris and generally menaces the panels like an old school Jack Kirby creation, and brings a great classic comic feel to the prog.
This installment of “The Order” works well as a bridge between series, setting up new ideas and bringing others to a satisfying climax. I’m intrigued to see where this goes once the series restarts in two weeks.
Future Shocks: Journey to the Edge of the Earth
Credits: Chris Burnham (script and art), Len O’Grady (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: Well, this was a treat.
Chris Burnham crafts a short, very resonate story around the very real phenomenon of people believing the Earth to be flat. Burnham packs the story with a bevy of conspiracy theory images, from lizard people to Illuminati symbols, and sets the protagonist with a steely conviction that, of course, the Earth is flat, and he will do whatever it takes the prove that, despite what all the morons around him think.
For anyone who is a Flat Earther, first of all, read a book, but second of all, don’t bother reading this. Burnham doesn’t hide his disdain for the conspiracy theorist at the book’s center, and even as everything he says appears to be true, there is no sympathy for this guy. As the story wraps up, there’s a laugh out loud stinger at the end, and Burnham gets one last jab in for the poor, misguided fool at the heart of the story.
This is a really fun, silly story that is sadly even more relevant during this pandemic: people believe what they want to, facts be damned. Well, facts be damned until those same facts lead to your demise.
The Diaboliks: La Vita Malvagia Part 1
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Don Reardon (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Greg Lincoln:Gordon Ronnie’s writing is so deft in this opening that though he’s quite obviously introducing a new story at a running pace, it feels like Diaboliks has a foundation behind it. It’s a spin-off of the long running strip Cabalistsics and having never read it it is surprising how involving this is from the outset. The Demon and Sorcerer pair introduced in this in medias res cold open are quite possibly pulling a caper, or perhaps not and as it’s not the point of the strip it’s just an amusing, action packed introduction to out “heroes.” ‘La Vita Malvagia’ gives us a montage of chase and fight scenes as the narration and dialogue tells us what we need to know about the unlikely pair, their child and why they are both running/being hunted. It’s a good, solid urban fantasy fun with just enough forked tongue in cheek moment to set the hook for next week.
Don Reardon’s blocky, open and heavily inked style creates an immediate impression and sets a definite mood. The impression that his art gives you of the characters are pretty solid. The mooks chasing Jen and Solomon are most definitely mooks and our heroes get to shine as they, well mostly Jen dismantles the fools that wrecked her favorite car and interrupts their unnatural luck or cheating at a swank casino. The visual impression that sticks in the mind are the demonic appearance of Jen as she lets loose. It’s a short feeling introduction but it does wet the appetite for more.
