Comic review: 2000AD- PROG 1947- Some Light Within the Darkness

Artists and writers: Numerous
Publisher: Rebellion
Release Date: 9th September 2015



There is a reason why I stick with 2000AD. It’s not nostalgia, and it sure as hell ain’t consistency, it’s the moments, those brief, fleeting moments when the writers say something, and in PROG 1947 that happens, something is said, and so here is my review, to analyse, and to record it.

Tharg’s bit is passive aggressive this week, and the conclusion of the Dredd- Enceladus arc says nothing. Does Dredd ever say anything? To me, he says love authority, worship uniforms, do what you are told, rely on the state, rely on others to protect you. That’s all he says to me. He’s a villain, always has been.

The Alienest messes up this week. Why? Because the main protagonist shows a disregard for human life, killing a man because he was about to reveal her secrets, she kills him, and doesn’t appear to particularly care about it, at all. I can’t root for her. I can’t invest in a character that shows so little regard for human life. This story is starting to fail, and the pretty art can no longer redeem it.

Apocalypse Anonymous ends this week, and it manages to sneak in some meaning, at the end.

‘The question is- How can we keep the legions of Hell at bay when so many monsters already live among us?'

Do they really want an answer to that? My answer is the same as it always has been. You change the system by refusing to join it. The ‘heroes’ in this comic book story wore uniforms of the state. That is not how you change things. You change things by abandoning statism, and by going your own way. That’s the message, and that’s the truth that people do not want to hear.

Grey Area has one moment, a moment that exposes the pathetic psychological block that stops many western people from doing anything to make the world a better place. I’m thinking of Christians, Buddhists and ‘New-Agers here. I’m thinking of the kind of people who say a lot, and do nothing. The attitude is summed up in the following line:

‘We are too enlightened to defend ourselves.’

Yes, so enlightened, so enslaved. Christianity, Buddhism and new age spiritual enlightenment. Do nothing philosophies, ideal for the state, ideal for the New World Order. Lambs to the slaughter, doing nothing, and lining up for the slaughter house.

Dreams of Deadworld- Mortis has a tie in to that philosophy, that idea that ‘good’ people carry with them, that idea that makes them prey to a sociopathic predator like the modern state. However, in this tale, the predator is a monster called ‘Mortis,’ and not the soft, collectivised, smiling BBC ‘progressive’ monster that we have in the real world.

The story follows a group of explorers. They arrive on a planet destroyed by monsters, and the first person they meet is one of the monsters that killed off the planet, that being Mortis. They greet him warmly, optimistically. He views them as voter dupes, as fresh meat. The explorers open up to him tell him of their ‘human resources,’ resources that he will inevitably feed off. He smiles, coos nice words of support, of friendliness, and then he kills them. Hey Mortis mate, with talent like that you should be working for the BBC, or some other New World Order PR firm.

The message in this story is clear. If you go through life thinking that everybody you meet has morals, that everybody feels the same way as you, that everybody is ‘nice,’ well, reality has one heck of a surprise lined up for you. It’s a meat wagon, and it’s waiting outside your house, line up, line up, women and children first, we’ll take the men later.

Do you see now why I stick with 2000AD? It stumbles, it mumbles, it messes up, it confuses itself, and it’s very much stuck within the collectivist statist, New World Order, banking tyranny matrix.

However, as it stumbles, blindly through the dark, occasionally, just occasionally, it comes across a light switch. It’s hand lurches, fumbles in the dark, finds the switch, and all of a sudden, the room is seen for what it actually is.

It’s a slaughterhouse, and here I am, on my daft little blog, to take a snap-shot of that slaughterhouse, put up the evidence, on-line, to detail it, fingers crossed that somebody will see, and who knows? Perhaps one day, we can start to do something about it? Hey man, I’m an idealist, that’s why I write, and that’s why I stick with good old 2000AD.


Rating: 8/10 (Dave Kendall's art in Deadworld is awesome. Sick, dark, diseased awesome)

Comic review: 2000AD PROG 1945- A Pleasurable Diversion

Artists and writers: Various
Publisher: Rebellion
Released: 26th August 2015


It’s Tuesday afternoon, it’s raining, and I’m listening to black metal music whilst writing up my review of 2000AD PROG 1945.

Life is good.

As usual with my 2000AD reviews, I’m reading and writing as I go. So first off, the front cover. It’s pretty bloody good this week, featuring a feral looking Dredd, crouched, battle scarred and ready to explode into a violent assault on whatever unlucky bloodbank (aka every enslaved human being currently living under neo-liberal corporate statism) that is threatening his uniformed authority.

Nice one Mr. Jake Lynch.

Let’s see what Tharg has to say- Oh dear, he’s still describing reality as ‘mundane,’ and applauding himself for diverting our attention from the world around us. Not good Tharg. Reality is never mundane. Reality is fascinating. Reality is awesome. Reality is the one thing that the good sheeple (yeah, I use that word) need to get more attuned with, because if they don’t, it’s bread, circuses and slavery, FOREVER.

Oh Tharg, you are either very dim, or are just as caught within the neo-liberal matrix as 90% of the comic book readers themselves. A good story doesn’t have to deal with ‘mundane reality,’ but the best, the very best, always deals with it, that’s what makes them great, that’s what makes them a cut above the rest, and that’s what every writer working for 2000AD should be striving for.

Take precious, delicious reality, take something that you see in the every day life that you lead, stick it in your narrative, and say something that needs to be said.

Judge Dredd gets us off to a bad start. It’s all about the heroic cops (Judges) and how they are temporary down, not out, and about to fight back against the evil villains. The art (as always in this arc) looks great, but what is the story saying? To me it’s saying, support uniformed authority. That’s all that I’m getting here, and that’s not a message that I have any respect for.

The Alienist Part 2 utilises a story telling technique that makes it a very involving and enjoyable read. The technique is to show the inner thoughts of the main protagonist, giving readers the pleasure of being a spy within her mind as the narrative progresses. That’s extremely reader friendly, and I love it when writers think about the reader first. I already mentioned the art last week, it’s great, black and white, old-fashioned horror, very cool. This story might not be saying anything, so it will only ever rise to good, but it’s a very enjoyable good, so all credit to everybody involved.

‘Apocalypse Anonymous’ is very interesting. The story is about Special Forces operating in Syria, in 2015. Yes, you heard that correctly, 2000AD are actually featuring a story that references real world events that are happening right now. How are they going to get around that without upsetting anybody? How are they going to have westerners look like the good guys when we all know that our callously evil western governments deliberately created ISIS in the first place?

This story solves that problem in two ways. Firstly, it doesn’t mention ISIS, instead it just refers to ‘rebels,’ whoever they are, and then focuses on western Special Forces and what looks to be an upcoming fight with alien monsters. Will ISIS be mentioned late on in this three-part story? Will it bring up the fact that the US is working with ISIS to get rid of the leader (Assad) of a country that has done nothing to anybody other than wanting to be free from corporate western hegemony?

Will it mention that Syria is ran by a largely secular government, and that the so-called ‘rebels’ are Sunni Muslim extremists, otherwise known as Al Qaeda, or ISIS? Will it mention that western governments are on the same side as these Sunni extremists? Will it mention that the fight is Sunni Islam and the west versus Shiaa Islam and Russia? What do you reckon? My bet is that the next two episodes will have the western Special Forces fighting monsters and that nothing of any consequence will be discussed. That’s what I reckon will happen, but I’ll wait and see. I could be wrong. I hope that I am.

Grey Area/Contact is very amusing, very wry, and very entertaining. The story is concise, easy to follow, straight to the point, witty and fun.  It’s a nice piece of writing, very clever, very enjoyable and even a reality obsessed bore like myself couldn’t help but enjoy it. Nice writing Mr. Abnett, you are a talented, clever bloke and your dialogue is as sharp as an Oscar Wilde brand of razor blades.

I was a bit dismissive of Helium last week, but it’s usually enjoyable and the big bright colours and playful tone always makes me smile. This week’s episode begins with a gorgeous purple background and big happy faces. The narrative itself begins with a joke and ends with a very serious cliffhanger. Are our heroes doomed? Tune in same time, same 2000AD channel next week folks. I love it. That’s how you are supposed to finish a comic book.

Looking back at PROG 1945 of 2000AD it’s looking like a ‘good’ issue. Good means that it was fun, that it entertained me, that it diverted me. It didn’t say anything, but it didn’t try to. I look for excellent in my comic books, but good is certainly better than bad, and 2000AD was far from bad this week. The best story was Grey Area, and the worst was Dredd. Next week should be good. Helium has a delicious cliffhanger that will be resolved, that new arc (Apocalypse Anonymous) will show whether it’s going to touch reality, or not, and there’s something new called ‘Dreams of Deadworld’ that looks to be very intriguing indeed.



Rating: 7/10 (Not much reality, but 2000AD is a good, diversionary comic book this week)