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)

Review: 2000AD PROG 1941- Outlier/Dark Symmetries is starting to get really good.

Artists and writers: Various
Publisher: Rebellion
Released: 29th July 2015



Here’s a new writing experiment for anybody reading this ‘review’ to enjoy, or dislike, depending on how it goes.

What am I going to do is write this review as I read the comic. One story at a time, I’ll let you know what I think.

First off, the main cover looks pretty nice. The colours work well, and the concept of creeping evil invading mundane reality is both creative and interesting.

Inside the book then, here I go. The little cartoon strip ‘Droid Life’ is a joke about antagonism towards technology. It’s silly, and slightly funny, though not exactly something that I will remember as being particularly insightful or hilarious.

Tharg’s spiel is always worth reading, mainly because he frames the context into which the preceding stories should be read. Let’s see what he has to say this month. Err, not a lot, he’s just saying that the people working on 2000AD work hard and that they appreciate their publishers. You’re being a bit dull this week Tharg, a bit dull. We know that they work hard, so do bin-men.

Onto Judge Dredd, the hero of 2000AD, and a perfect symbol of the morally vacuous, order following society that we are living in today. Here we go again, with the assumption that order followers in uniform exist to serve and protect the poor, innocent, helpless civilians. I hate that assumption for one reason. The reason being that it is a lie. After that assumption the story washes over me. I enjoy the art, but this pushing of an authoritarian anti-freedom, anti-humanity lie is all I can take from the story. This lie needs to be exposed, not reinforced, and all this story is doing is reinforcing the illusion that those in positions of authority serve the people, and not the corporate state. We all know whom they really serve by now. Don’t we?

Next story is Absalom/Under a False Flag, the most smug, self-satisfied, self-aware piece of media student post-modernism since fatso Kevin Smith arrived on the scene. Oh crap, I’m not looking forward to reading this one. Let’s see how many safe 1980’s references I get in this week’s instalment. Okay then, he starts with a reference to ‘kettling’ and ‘hippies.’ That’s a weird amalgamation of modern Police tactics with a 1960’s CIA sponsored movement. It’s very odd that he thinks that modern protestors are ‘hippies,’ because as far as I’m aware most hippies are either dead or very elderly in 2015.

Oh well, on I go. It gets even weirder. A supposedly ‘anti-authoritarian’ and ‘rebellious’ Police detective gets to act like he’s helping out abused kids, when in reality everything that I hear about the real-life UK child abuse cases involves the cops refusing to investigate high level paedophiles, not exposing them. This story takes a huge leap of faith and assumes that cops act as some sort of independent body that properly investigates and prosecutes child abuse. Here’s a reality check, they don’t. The Police are the dogs of the state. They investigate what they are told to investigate. In the real world ‘mavericks’ like Harry Absalom might try to investigate, but if they get too close to those in positions of power (see the case of fat bas**** paedophile MP Cyril Smith) then they will be taken off the case, demoted and sent packing. That’s the real world, and I’m not seeing it in this comic strip.

Next story is Helium, and I’m already smiling before I’ve even read the strip, as it’s so bright and colourful, and such a nice contrast to the dowdy black and white drabness of Absalom. I’m going to read it now, hope it’s good. Okay, now I’ve read it, and it’s like a WW1 aerial battle war movie, but with horrible men after a brave female. That’s okay, I know how it works now. If you read contemporary comic books you are always going to get young females as the feisty, brave and independent protagonists, acting like men, in the driving seat and taking control. It can get a bit much, but I like Helium and the feminism is just simmering in the background of the narrative, and not bashing you over the head as many Marvel and DC titles do today.

I also appreciate the fact that Helium is a simple story, lacking in Absalom style self awareness and smart arsery, and instead preferring to tell a fun story, keeping it simple and keeping it reader friendly.

Next up is Outlier, a story that took a while to get going, but was actually pretty enjoyable last week. Let’s see how it goes this week. I tell you what, it has a great start, with a narrative structure that is very enjoyable and works very well. The rest of the story is really good as well, as it’s getting me very excited for what is going to happen next within the narrative. It’s hooked me, and I’m really enjoying this story. This is a bit of a surprise as this one started slowly almost lost me, but now it’s getting really, really good, and the art is pretty sweet as well.

Last story in 2000AD this week is Jaegir, a story that to me is reading a bit like a child’s war story, but with a modern style female heroine as the main protagonist. I haven’t particularly enjoyed it so far, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best this week. Okay then, read it now; here’s what I thought. ‘I bring war criminals among my own people to justice.’ That’s the first quote of this narrative, and already it’s ignoring how the real world actually works. Since when do countries do this to their own people? A few low level soldiers perhaps, but the real criminals, the people who gave them the orders? No chance mate. See Tony Blair, George Bush, WMD’s and Iraq for more details.

How can I take this story seriously when it is putting forward the idea that countries properly investigate war crimes, and then prosecute those responsible like they are some kind of unbiased, fair and moral third party. That doesn’t happen. What actually happens is that war breaks out, one side wins, and the other side loses. The winning side then sets up show trials (see Saddam Hussein) and executes anybody on the losing side for ‘war crimes.’ The war crimes committed by the winning side are ignored, and all those responsible for them get promoted and then get to write books where they tell lies about what went on, and those lies are then called ‘history.’ That’s reality, and that’s how the world works.

I give Jaegir credit though, as the female responsible for investigating war crimes committed by her own people ends up almost being killed, by her own people. That makes a lot of sense, so I guess that the story is saying something after all, in a roundabout way.

Flicking back through PROG 1941 of 2000AD I didn’t really enjoy the first two stories, the third was simple, colourful and fun, the fourth was really good, and the final story was better than usual. That’s alright, I’ll take that, and with the very nice front cover that’s just about enough to give 2000AD a thumbs up this week.


Rating: 7/10 (After a slow start, Outlier is getting surprisingly good)

Comic Review: 2000AD PROG 1936- ‘It’s our defiance that makes us truly human.’

Publisher: Rebellion
Writers and artists: Various
Released: 24th June 2015



I hadn’t been counting it down, but I knew that it couldn’t last forever, and now the time has finally come. It’s the last issue of Slaine, after PROG 1936 it will be gone until 2016, and although I’m happy that it will return, it’s going to leave an irreplaceable gap in my comic book reading week for the rest of the year. Oh well, chin up boy, nothing lasts, enjoy the good times, as they won’t last forever, and so I intend to enjoy Slaine, and then wallow in misery and think about the good times when it’s gone. So, if you happen to see a lonely, bedraggled comic book reviewer in the pub over the next couple of months, be nice, the withdrawal symptoms are going to be tough on this one.

Enough of the silliness, and onto PROG 1936 of 2000AD which begins, as always, with Judge Dredd. This week he’s landed in Irish stereotype land. Get ready for some drinking, fighting and wife beating, ha ha ha, it’s so much fun laughing at the stupid drunken, funny talking Irish, and nobody is going to call you out on it either. When did it become okay to do that? I must have missed a memo or something, because in a day and age when people get upset and take massive offence at trivialities, it appears that the Irish stereotype is one thing that you are still allowed to get away with. Umm, I wonder why that is? Actually, I know why. It’s a pigmentation issue, if you know what I mean.

The next strip (Absalom) is about that annoying pub bore bloke, the guy with PC jokes masquerading as edgy social commentary. Okay, I’ll give him a second chance, lets see if he’s as irritating as he was last week. I’m all for second chances, not that anybody even gave me a first chance, but that’s another story.

Okay, we start with 80’s pop group references and care home children. Is this going to be about the ‘historic’ child abuse scandal that is going on in the UK at the moment? It kind of is, and it kind of isn’t. It’s talking about children being taken by establishment figures and used in a fictional fight against demons, but then it makes a mistake, choosing the easy target (Christianity) instead of focussing on the real life villains (politicians from all parties).

I understand that the Christian church is an easy target right now, but the child abuse scandals are not about the church, they are about politicians, and how paedophilia was (and still is) used to blackmail politicians into following the agenda of their masters. If you are going to do an ‘edgy’ story about 1980’s child-abuse, but with added demons and monsters to make it ‘sci-fi,’ why pretend that the abusers were Christians, when Christians had nothing to do with it?

The child abuse rings in the UK revolve around politicians and BBC celebrities, so why not be honest about it and give those poor old Christians a break for a change? I’m not a Christian myself, but this prolonged multifaceted attack on the Christian faith is starting to get very obvious now, and I’m getting really fed up with it. It’s cowardly, and in this particular story, completely unjustified.

Wow, the beginning of Slaine references the global flood, who was responsible, and why it was done. This is really exciting for me, as it ties into my own research on the subject. The narrative then hints at genetic manipulation by the ‘gods’ and the immortal spirit that reside in all of us.  I can’t quite believe that I’m reading about this kind of information in a mainstream comic book, this is great, and although I’m massively biased, you have to at least take some of my enthusiasm on face value and take a look at this for yourself.

No more spoilers, no more praise, get Slaine NOW. It’s the last chance that you’ll have to read it in 2000AD this year, and if you miss it and end up reading (and loving) it sometime in the distant future, remember that there was at least somebody out there who was raving about it on a weekly basis.

My review is going a bit long this week, so I’m thankful for Outlier/Dark Symmetries. It has no dialogue. I don’t know who is who, and there’s a fight going on, or something. I must be a bit dim, as I’ve read it two times and I can’t get anything out of it at all. This one has lost me. I’ve tried, but nope, I can’t get anything, nice art though.

Helium is much better. Not a lot happens this week, it’s a character building issue, but what does happen is very entertaining and genuinely funny as well. I like the main protagonist now and I want her to succeed, and coming from a cynical, angry old grump like myself, that’s a huge compliment.

I enjoyed two out of the five stories in PROG 1936 of 2000AD and I got a huge kick out of the superb front cover by Tiernen Trevallion. Two out of five, with an awesome cover, isn’t bad. I’m happy with that.

Helium is a very well written tale. I love the slow pacing, and the character building and I’m really getting into the story. Slaine/Primordial has been special, and I’ll go back now and read all of the stories together, savouring each gorgeously constructed panel and the best dialogue that I’ve read in a comic book for many a year. I’ll miss it, but it will return.

Last week I was blindsided by foolish optimism and purchased more than my usual share of DC Comic books. Man, was that a mistake. Listen to my advice. Don’t do it, they are bloody awful and aimed at a feminist studies student circa 1996. Who is buying this nonsense? It’s a mystery to me. You don’t get anywhere near as much of that US brand of PC nonsense in 2000AD, and Tharg’s book still feels somewhat like an old fashioned subversive comic book.

I can see signs of the PC brigade moving into 2000AD though, so I just hope that Tharg holds out against the tide of political correctness. It’s not going to be easy, but I have faith in the old alien. This era of the social justice warrior is killing comics for me, so I appreciate 2000AD more than ever. It’s not perfect, but there’s always something within its pages that brightens up my day, and compared to the teen feminism of DC, Marvel and most of the so-called ‘independent’ US comic books, 2000AD stands alone as something refreshingly alive and defiantly different.


Rating: 8/10 (For the Cover, Slaine and Helium)

* Quote in review title is a line of dialogue taken from Slaine. Without defiance what have we become? Cattle bred, and waiting for leisurely slaughter (that quote is from me).