Comic review: 2000AD PROG 1920- You don’t fix a rotten barrel by throwing out a couple of maggoty apples

Writers and artists: Various
Publisher: Rebellion
Released: 4th March 2015


My 2000AD reviews have been a bit too long recently, so this will be a condensed version.  I’ll do the reviews, but I’m not going to dissect the book panel by panel. Does the book resonate in a contemporary context? Does it deal with neo liberal/new world order issues? These are my concerns, so that is what I will talk about.

So, here we go with PROG 1920 of 2000AD.

The cover (by Dylan Teague) is great, and it made my cashier at WH Smiths feel uneasy (it has a girl with a gun in her mouth) so that’s a win as far as I’m concerned.

The first story (Judge Dredd) is your usual statism propaganda nonsense with the cops portrayed as brave heroes.  I’ve already discussed this in my previous reviews so I won’t repeat myself here. Great art, boring story, horrible message about human enslavement to a control system of sociopathic, order following, uniform wearing dogs of the elites.

Second story (Survival Geeks) was a Kevin Smith fanboy pleasing comedy thing with references to Star Wars. If you are this kind of geek then you and me will not get on. Next story…

Third story was the conclusion to ‘Station to Station.’ I read it as an individual’s attempt to make a mark on a world of hive mind conformity. I can relate to that. Very good, very good indeeed.

Great art, blah story

Fourth story (The Order) was a fight scene with worms. Not much happening here this week.

Last story (Savage/Grinders) disappointed me somewhat as the ‘resistance’ were basically portrayed as deluded terrorists who were then executed by our hero, a man who sees the problem not as the system itself, but ‘a few rotten apples’ in a perfectly good barrel. That’s the mindset that the mainstream relies upon to keep the system going. It’s a mindset that makes excuses. A mindset that helps control systems, a mindset that doesn’t want to rebel. It’s the mindset of one of the dogs of the centralised control system. It’s a mindset that doesn’t want freedom, and has no interest in being free because the very idea of being free terrifies it. In other words, and to be brief, blunt and direct. IT’S THE MINDSET OF A COWARD.

That’s the book for the week. A bit disappointing really. I liked the cover, the art in Judge Dredd and everything about Station to Station. I want to read more from Eddie Robson (the writer of Station to Station) so hopefully I’ll see more of his stuff in upcoming issues of 2000AD. More freedom, more individuality, more breaking free from the hive mind control system of our times. That’s what we all need to start thinking about, and demanding. You don’t fix a rotten barrel by throwing out a few maggoty apples. You smash it to bits, and start building all over again.

Ratings:
Judge Dredd- 5/10 (I really love the art from Greg Staples)
Survival Geeks- 3/10 (Kevin Smith stuff)
Station to Station- 9/10 (Contemporary, interesting and by far the best thing about this comic book)
The Order- 5/10 (A lull in the story this week as our heroes fought against the worms)
Savage/Grinders- 2/10 (Protestors equal Terrorists)


Overall: 6/10 (Worth getting for the cover, the art in Judge Dredd and a contemporary sci-fi story that actually resonates with what is happening in the world today in ‘Station to Station’)