Welcome, citizens, to this week’s installment of Multiver-City One! Each and every Wednesday we will be examining the latest Prog from Tharg and the droids over at 2000 AD, and giving you all the pertinent information you’ll need headed into this week’s Thrill-Zine!
WE HAVE A WINNER!
Before we get into this week’s Thrill-Zine, let’s give away some funny books! Keen-eyed readers may remember the contest we ran last week. You know, the one where all you had to do was re-tweet us or use the hashtag #MultiverCityOne to win a sweet 2000 AD prize pack? Well, we’re pleased as punch to announce that our winner is reader Doktor Andy! The good doctor will be receiving a set of pocket-size Dredd books as well as volume one of ABC Warriors The Volgan War! Good for him!
I. NOW ARRIVING: Aquila – Where All Roads Lead
Coming off of last week’s heaping plateful of new stories, the droids are showing no signs of slowing down, as this week’s Prog sees the return of another familiar strip to the pages of 2000 AD. Set in the 7th century, the story focuses on the slave-turned-immortal-warrior know only as Aquila. Drawn to Rome by forces that are beyond him, Aquila encounters a beggar who is more than he appears to be. It’s incredible how this first chapter can feel so historically accurate while maintaining such a strong sense of high fantasy. In just a handful of pages, we’re introduced to a world where Christianity is beginning to take shape and already butting right up against the long-standing traditions of antiquity. Tight dialogue and bold art bring this story to life in just five pages. This is expert storytelling not to be missed.
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Patrick Goodard (art), Gary Caldwell (colors), and Ellie De Ville (letters)
II. THIS WEEK IN PROG 1851
As always, it’s a tough choice to make on which of these stories gets the nod. But this week Mark Harrison makes it easy by bringing the thrill power visual overload to his and Al Ewing’s Damnation Station. It makes sense that a strip set in the future should feel like one taking real advantage of technology, which Harrison does in his use of blurring different distance elements and integrating painted and/or modeled backgrounds into his panels. But the linework he uses on the figures themselves is straight out of Kyle Baker’s cartoonier vocabulary; just enough to give them individuality without breaking the tone of the story. This grounds Ewing’s characters in real idiosyncracies amidst the gleaming neon
And a good thing, too, because Ewing juggles a few different mysteries and balances slight payoffs with more questions. Why is Commander Joe Nowhere so keen to play off surviving a bullet to the heart? What is CX919 and who thinks it could do Grayle some good, when we clearly see in Prog 1850 that he wouldn’t? And are the enemies of our Hosts (the Earth’s original owners graciously letting us stay on it in return for our service with the Earth Stations) really our enemies? This serial had a prior 2000 AD run before returning last week, yet Ewing does a great job of bringing the reader just enough up to speed to pick up from here. Catch-up reading encouraged, but not required.
III. AN ORAL HISTORY OF JUDGE DREDD
The tale of Judge Dredd has been continually published since 1977, and has been brought to us by some of the most creative minds to ever work in comics. As a result, there have been some out-of-this-world story beats woven into the fabric of the character. We thought it would be interesting to talk with the writers and artists behind Mega-City One and see what their favorite bits of Dredd’s history are. This week, Arthur Wyatt and Henry Flint return to talk a bit about The Cursed Earth.
[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/robotsfromtomorrow/oral_history_2.mp3](And here’s the direct download!)
IV. FUTURE PERP FILES
Continued below
ATTN: ALL CITIZENS OF THE MEG! Be aware that there is always a Judge watching you. Each sector is equipped with millions of HD-CCTV and bioID units. They are there for your protection. If your intent is upright citizenry, then you have no qualm with our surveillance. And remember: if you see something, you are now an accessory to a crime. That’s six months in an Iso-Cube, creep! Random CPU algorithms has selected this citizen for immediate surveillance and assessment…
That’s gonna do it for us this week! Prog 1851 is on sale today and is available from finer comic shops everywhere, from 2000ADonline.com, and via the 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone. So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
