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Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2210 – Dark Visions!

By , , , and | December 2nd, 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 Dave Kendall

THIS WEEK IN 2000AD

Judge Dredd: Simply Normal Part 4
Credits: Kenneth Niemand (script), Steven Austin (art), Chris Blythe (colours), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Christopher Egan: This week’s installment pushes the script to the rear and forces the action forward. The revolting Simps make their initial move against the conversion therapy facility, though, their efforts may not be as successful as they imagined. The same can be said for this chapter as a whole. Moving in the right direction of action and humor that comes off as a little less offensive, I had a few genuine chuckles. And while Dredd and co. are still taking a backseat, their inclusion feels far more natural than it did previously.

While the core idea is still a poor one, overall this chapter works a lot better, but it still isn’t as good as so many other current “Judge Dredd” strips. Both the writing and art work are completed confidently and do add lot of weight to the overall work, but it still doesn’t quite stick the landing. The creative team gets a lot more praise from me just based on that.

Better, but chapter 4 should not be where this storyline picks up steam. The plot is still doesn’t know how to balance the emotion and heart behind its ideas and the slapstick dystopian satire.

Stickleback: New Jerusalem, Part Ten
Credits Ian Edginton (script) D’Israeli (art) Jim Cambell(letters)

Michael Mazzacane: The tenth entry in ‘New Jerusalem’ starts with a bit of cheek, as Stickleback-Holmes declares the current crisis over, but that another one is not far behind. That sort of reflexive narration isn’t unheard of, Edginton and D’Israeli’s decision to end it with a close up of Stickleback staring directly at the reader as he wonders “when did this all become so convoluted?” puts it over the top. It gives the strip a bit of a gag, but also cements Stickleback-Holmes as possessing a new kind of self-awareness and vision. Which the remainder of the strip proceeds to articulate and give readers of what this new amalgamated personality will be like.

As the come down strip there isn’t much action in it, it is largely a conversation-fishing expedition between Stickleback and Orlando. The latter there to ask for Stickleback’s continued support in the wars to come. The former fishing for complements and flexing his Holmesian deductive reasoning. That duality, the peacocking of intellect and desire for adulation is the encapsulation of this new personality and identity he is forging. It is subtle and well-illustrated sequence by D’Israeli. You’ll be amazed at how many variations of smug there can be.

The ending strip to ‘New Jerusalem’ does everything you’d want it to do. It puts a pin in the present crisis, leaves our protagonist in a new position full of possibility, and ends on quite the promise for the future.

Visions Of Deadworld: Last Man Standing
Credits: KEK-W(Writer), Dave Kendall (Art), Simon Bowland (Letters)

Jacob Cordas: I think I’ve listened to the metal album here before. Visions of scarred batfields, charred deserts and ruined cities are scattered across a planet that barely qualifies as a planet. Ruins are the regular. Society is in shambles. God is dead and now there stands a statue in honor of the creature who has taken his place.

This Rivers of Nihil rendering of the apocalypse is reimagined gorgeously by Dave Kendall. Each monstrosity hangs on the page with colors that seem slurred together. Mechanical nightmares abound in an almost surrealist haze that makes me uncomfortable on multiple levels. This is high quality work that feels fresh, while embedded to the genre of music that birthed it.

KEK-W’s writing isn’t able to live up to Kendall’s imagination but comes close. It’s a bit overwritten in the worst way, not living up to the hyper reality it is establishing. It needs to be taken one step further into a world of impossible horror hyperbole to function fully and never hits that height.

Continued below

At the end of the day though, this is a brief excursion into a world I would love to visit again. It captures the mood and mindset it needs to, even if it can’t consistently exist there.

Dexter: Bulletopia Chapter Four: The Funt Outta Town Part One
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Steve Yeowell (art), John Charles (colours) Simon Bowland (letters)

Ryan Pond: What goes around, comes around, seems to be the central theme to “The Funt Outta Town.” A uniquely phrased story, this is a weird future where The Maul has living product and zombie like consumers. Dexter and his companions are fighting for their lives to get out, but some leftover trauma isn’t exactly making it easy for Dexter to focus on his job.

Dan Abnett must have a dictionary lying around for some of these terms, because this entire story exists in a world that seems to be crafted solely on consumer and pop culture. But even then, every word is a twisted spelling based on the phonetic pronunciation, like “the maul” and “downlode.” It makes for a fun, but sometimes confusing read. But the story does flow well and there is enough on the page to keep me engaged and interested.

Yeowell does a great job with the art, utilizing a more traditional style combined with expressive faces and emotive gestures. The maul rats remind me of the creatures from I Am Legend and the gunfire is quite explosive as bullets rip off heads and leave stiff corpses in the wake. There is something unique in the way Charles uses warm colors. Dexter’s red suit and the bright yellow blonde hair work well in quiet scenes, but they also contrast well with the grayish green colors of the maul rats in the action scenes.

This was a fun and interesting foray into the world of Dexter, but it was also a bit of an information overload. Not necessarily new reader friendly, but it definitely leaves enough curiosity to go back and read some previous chapters for context.

Fiends of the Eastern Front: Constanta, Part 9
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Tiernen Trevallion (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Greg Lincoln Last week’s shocks continue as Edginton, Trevallion, and Parkhouse hit their penultimate chapter in this origin story. The manipulations of the witches have brought the Constanta to them again and they trick him further. As the dragon had prophesied he would become at some point an immortal thing and their gift of blood have mad him a Nosferatu. They though are the ones that get surprised here. His hatred of being trapped mixed with his bloodlust drives him to consume them and their corruption. Edginton’s story maintains its hints and overtones of fairytale, though. The Constanta slumbers for a year and communes with the beasts in his slumber.

Trevallion sells this story in his art. He casts the witches fully as sinister as they first bind our “hero” and then become his victims. The surprise he shows in them and the anger he portrays in Constanta play very true in those moments. He sells the fairytale impression of the Constanta’s slumber and the terror that accompanies his awakening and appearance to his brother as the story reaches its final moment. I’m not sure if he has subtly darkened the colors of the strip as it’s gone on, but the overtones of rising darkness in the story feels very evident in the coloring choices. It all bodes well for the finale next week.


//TAGS | Multiver-City One

Greg Lincoln

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Ryan Pond

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Michael Mazzacane

Your Friendly Neighborhood Media & Cultural Studies-Man Twitter

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Jacob Cordas

I am not qualified to write this.

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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!

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