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 2000 AD
Judge Dredd: Taking Doors
Credits: Ken Neimand (script), Kieron McKeown (art), Matt Soffe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: The opening scene grabs you right away, as it is a clearly recognizable cop show scene. Kieron McKeows’s art promises a lot in this story, with Dredd joining a recruit and their teacher Clarence about to enter a “crime” scene. The art is a sharp mix of modern style and framing with smooth color rendering by Matt Soffe, while showing a clear respect for the classics of Judge Dredd style. Little has changed in the ways the Judges dress in six decades, and Ken Neimand shows us just how little has also changed in how they enforce the law.
Dredd reflects back across the decades in the count of five they start the exercise. Neimand reminds us that he’s been more than born for this, he’d been a copy of Judge Fargo and literally made for it. The range of doors he’d kicked in and “crimes” he’d busted across the decades flash by him – and us – as the panels and perps flow one to the next. Booby traps, illicit robot part swaps, alien creatures, masochism parlors and whatever faces them this time are all handled in similar fashion. He loses count of the number of doors across the years. The images are all served up beautifully for us, maybe asking if this is the face of justice as another door is kicked in guns a blazing. It ends as Dredd’s career opened, training a new cadet how it is properly done. Well, at least how it is done in theory.
The Out: Book Three, Part Nine
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: It is odd that Dan Abnett chose the ninth part of the third book of “The Out” to refresh longtime readers on exactly what Cyd’s whole story is, but that’s exactly what we got here. This chapter, through the guise of catching up her old pal Cheerio, reminds us of the path that Cyd has taken to get here. It is done relatively painlessly, with only a hint of exposition, and it is mixed in with Cheerio’s story, so it doesn’t drag the story into a slow and unnecessary ‘remember when’ segment. It also helps to refocus the book a little, and remember that Cyd is no longer just wandering the Out in search of photos, but has a real purpose in her life: to find her daughter, as hopeless as that may seem.
This chapter is more or less confined to Cheerio’s ship, but Mark Harrison manages to find plenty of weird in that setting, with Cheerio resembling an overgrown stuffed animal, and the ship being overrun with junk. Harrison also gets to draw Cyd being uncomfortable, both with revealing her past to her sentient bag (boy that sounds weird if you’re not familiar with this story), and also with her having to encounter her past with honesty. This is difficult for all people, but when Cyd considers all that has happened to her in the Out, not all of which she is proud of, Harrison is able to frame her as uncomfortable but not quite ashamed of her previous actions. It’s a nice bit of subtle character work in a strip that sometimes can eschew that for a gnarly alien or gorgeous starset.
Joe Pineapples Tin Man 09
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Simon Beasley (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Matthew Blair: It’s the grand finale of the Joe Pineapples and Sue Bananas love story. Will they reconcile the differences in their programming amid a grisly scene of murder and robot exploitation? Or will they fall victim to their programming and end in a tragic display of violence and regret?
When reading a story like “Joe Pineapples Tin Man 09” it’s fascinating to see how the story has developed and matured as time goes on. Initially, writer Pat Mills created a story that felt more like a heavy metal album cover and didn’t take itself too seriously. However, with this part of the story he manages to wring a hell of an emotional gut punch out of two assassin robots who are trying to reconcile their newly discovered feelings with their programming. It’s a genuinely emotional conclusion to the story and heartbreaking to read
Continued belowWhile the artwork in previous stories was amazing, it did feel cluttered and difficult to read. Lately it’s been getting a lot simpler and in “Joe Pineapples Tin Man 09” artist Simon Beasley delivers his simplest, and arguably best, work yet. The use of black and white flashbacks punctuated by bits of color continues to be used with great effect and for supposedly soulless machines Beasley manages to inject a substantial amount of emotion into the artwork that really enhances the story and transforms it from an over the top meathead piece into a sweet and desperately sad tale.
“Joe Pineapples Tin Man 09” is definitive proof to the old adage “less is more” and shows that even though robots may be programmed to kill, they are still capable of love, fear, and very sad goodbyes.
The Order: Heart of Darkness Part Four
Credits: Kek-W (script), John Burns (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Chris Egan: The fourth entry slows things down just a bit, or at the very least gives us a pace at which to absorb things in a calmer, less, “What is happening?!” mode. There’s still plenty of weird and scary stuff going on, but we’re getting the time to sit with it and soak it in. If you ever thought you’d read a comic with weird metaphysical body horror centered on Ben Franklin, you’re lying.
Still giving us plenty of Jules Verne from Hell vibes, the blending of nautical horror and shadow brain parasites has plenty of scare potential. This script is asking you not to just read the comic, but to contemplate the story and the implications of what exactly is happening to Franklin. If you blow by it top fast, it’s just weird and silly stuff, but to look at this bit of shadow and dig into the horror will make for a more satisfying reading experience. But is that too much to ask for those looking for a quick bite of surrealist historical fiction?
I wish this week was just as tight a result as the first three issues, but at least this gives you plenty to mull over. And boring, it is not. I’m still fully engaged with this series, but for right now I’m feeling a little lost as to where it’s going to go from here.
Proteus Vex: Crawl Space Part 9
Credits: Mike Carroll (script), Jake Lynch (art), Jim Boswell(Colours), Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: “Proteus Vex” continues to surprise as it begins to build its next great act. The events of the ninth part of ‘Crawlspce’ aren’t all that remarkable, this is a table setting strip. And that is what makes this episode interesting as the creative team so the laborious work that happens from time to time in episodic storytelling. It forces “Vex” to be more like a normal comic strip instead of this arch silver age sci fi yarn with hard edged violence. As it turns out the Mike Carrol and Jake Lynch are more than capable making a normal strip.
This episode isn’t without its flourishes. The use of dramatic irony has improved over the past couple of weeks. This week we see the foundation of the “Long-Lasting Peace” which is said to be forged when the disparate systems pledge faith and loyalty to the Imperium and their fight against the Scorchers renewed scorched earth tactics. This is revealed to be a useful agreed upon fiction. no one is coming to help the Imperium, at least, not yet. I’m sure eventually others will flock to their banners but for now they’re going alone. This sequence, 5 panels on the first page. Isn’t flashy or overtly stylish. It is straightforward and achieves its goals: push the plot forward (Imperium fights alone) and continues the dramatic motifs of the series.
The Imperium might be without friends at the moment but Vex isnt. Midnight Indicating Shame is coming to aid her friend, even if that means they have to eat a few more bugs along the way. Lynch continues to draw the space catapillar with a surprisingly sinister quality it exists in this liminal space between cute/adorable and nightmarish. Their pitch to the ships crew and the fleet about how the Hive uses ideology to get them to assume Need = Love, mirrors the way history for the Imperium is subtly manipulated and naturalized to suit them. It’s a good speech that ends on some chilling earned threat of violence. They can try to stop her and fail, let her pass, or do something more daring: join her.
This strip isn’t stand out and bombastic but it is functional and workmanlike in ways I can’t help but appreciate.
