Review: 2000AD PROG 1930- Recognise the beast, stare it down, strike it, slay it

Publisher: Rebellion
Released: Writers and authors: Numerous
13th May 2015


PROG 1929 of 2000AD jolted me. It reminded me that those working in contemporary comic books are more often than not the most asleep people in the world today. I’ll keep this brief, explain, and then I’ll review PROG 1930.

There was a general election in the UK last week. People had the choice between a couple of identical slave masters. Their vote meant supporting neo-liberalism because all of the political parties are neo-liberal parties. Okay, that’s good if you want neo-liberalism, but what is neo-liberalism?

Neo-liberalism is tax cuts to private banks and corporations, the state funding of all risk, with all profit going to those banks and corporations. Neo-liberalism is privatisation, austerity, endless foreign wars (very profitable for arms manufacturers) and less and less human rights as the fake war on terror is used to justify a Police surveillance (money again) state.

That is what neo-liberalism is, that is what UK voters were voting for last week, and what did 2000AD tell their readers to do?

It told them to vote for neo-liberalism, using the tired old cliché that voting is the only way that they will have a voice.

Do you get why that might have upset me? Do you understand then why I might be so pitched off with 2000AD that I would refuse to review their comic book?

Now it’s a week removed from the election. Guess who won? Yes, neo-liberalism won, and now it has the consent of the governed to carry on raping and pillaging all over the UK.

Thanks 2000AD, thanks for telling your readers to vote for it, now the government can do whatever it wants under justification that it has a legitimate mandate to screw us all over, because, well, that’s what we voted for.

Okay, I need to put this behind me, so I’ll end it here. I’ve been reminded of the statist asleep mindset of 2000AD in 2015, but that doesn’t mean that the book is completely worthless, so let’s jump into PROG 1930 and see what’s in store for voter/slaves this week.

Judge Dredd opens, as he always does, with the tale of a man getting screwed over by a system designed to maximise profit, and to use and discard human beings as ‘human resources.’ Sounds familiar to me. It’s a strong story, but the main protagonist lacks likeability, so seeing him get revenge on the selfish people who screw him over isn’t as satisfying as it should be. It is a good reminder however that rats in a cage attack each other as the actual evil that caused their situation (the scientist) is out of reach. Try to be nice to each other people, we are rats, let’s try to make the cage as liveable as possible, and how about we get that scientist (that would be the politician working for his corporate overlords) instead of attacking each other?

Talking about scientists experimenting on caged animals, that’s exactly what we have in the second story this week. ‘Terror Tales- Phase Shift,’ is an old school black and white sci-fi/horror tale, and just my cup of tea. I grew up with these tales. These are the stories that got me into comic books in the first place, not the superhero stuff that snared most kids.  I was always a fan of the creepy stuff. This tale is great, it has a mad scientist, gruesome experiments, a cat obsessed dead Mom ghost, and a delicious sting in the tale that should delight every fan of horror shorts. I loved it, the art was great as well, and I’d like to see much more of this old style excellence within the pages of 2000AD.

The next story is Slaine, and it begins with the cry of the elites,
‘He’s just one man, what can he do to us?’ Oh, I can do a lot, in my silly little reviews, read by a handful of people, I can get people to think, and to take up the fight against the neo-liberal status quo, to talk to their children, to unmask the demon, and to eventually defeat it. That’s what little people can do, we are not as little as we are led to believe. Slaine is the comic book embodiment of average, every day people in the UK today. After the election, we are told that it is all over for us, but it’s not over. We will rise up, all of the 'little' people, rising up to slay the demonic neo-liberal horde that is destroying our country whilst telling us that we voted for it, and so therefore have no option other than to step aside and let it wreck everything. No, we will not do that. We will not vote, then go back to sleep. We will fight. We are Slaine. We are immortal British warriors, and we do not give up. We will fight, we will fight, we will fight, and in the end, the beast of neo-liberalism will fall and be banished from our shores, forever.

Grey Area is about silly aliens, it’s funny, some light in the dark. There’s a message here as well though, the message being that big strong creatures have allowed themselves to be placed within a softly spoken BBC style friendly zoo. Hey, sounds like your typical newspaper buying, television watching, football supporting voter to me. I bet they love watching Question Time in their prison. Watch how red blames blue, blue blames red, the circle repeating for infinity, it will be fun.

‘So…are you going to stay in this zoo, beating on the other animals penned with you, until the God-star snuffs you all out?’ 

That’s the question of our times, and it links perfectly with what I was saying about Judge Dredd. We need to realise that we are caged, then we can formulate an escape plan, the problem of course being that the vast majority of television heads don’t even realise that they are in a cage at all.

PROG 1930 of 2000AD concludes with good old Strontium Dog. There’s something of the Return of the Jedi about the story at the moment, with Johnny in a fat gangster’s boudoir, a gangster that looks suspiciously like Jabba the Hutt. I like Star Wars, so I’m okay with this ‘homage.’ It’s coming back this year with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in it, so I'll take this story as an appetiser for the main course. Johnny Alpha is pretty much Han Solo in this book, and that’s okay with me. Some will attack it for a lack of originality, but I don’t really care, it is funny, enjoyable and provides a nice soft landing to what has been a pretty intense, rough and ready ride in starship 2000AD this week.

Last week they told you to vote for slavery, but this week I detect some fighting spirit within the pages of 2000AD. There isn’t a weak story here, and a couple of them really are saying something. Slaine is not just a treat for the eyes; it’s positively brimming with angry muscular defiance, rebellion and immortal British revolutionary fire. Slaine embodies the rebellious spirit of a man who refuses to buy into the mainstream media pushed lie that individuals are powerless to change the world around them. The corrupted neo-libeal elites want us to be in that 'little me' mode of thinking. They want us to vote, give away our power, and then return to our hovels and await the raping and pillaging that is to come. Slaine is the defiance that refuses learnt helplessness, rejects cowardice and fights to reclaim freedom and liberty from the control system that exists to enslave us all.

Do I forgive 2000AD for last week? Not quite, but PROG 1930 is a brilliant comic book, and perhaps after time I’ll learn to live, and yes, to even forgive, but I’ll never forget. The fight continues, and it would be nice if the editorial team of 2000AD recognised what is going on rather than limply going along with the flow of the neo-liberal blood, disease and garbage-polluted stream. The writers though, Pat Mills and Dan Abnett in particular, know what is going on, and truth is bleeding from every panel of their excellent stories, making 2000AD the one essential comic book that should be at the top of every comic book fans weekly pull-list.

Rating: 10/10 (Essential)