Comic Review: 2000AD PROG 1935- Defining the nature of darkness

Writers and artists: Numerous
Publisher: Revolution
Released: 17th June 2015


It’s been a tough, barren desert of a week for this comic book reviewer, with far too many useless DC Comic books wasting my time, and depressing my brain, so I’m going to finish the week on a high and review a comic book that always has something to offer. It’s not always great, but it’s always good, and after reading far too many childish superhero books that left absolutely no impression whatsoever (Doomed #1) it’s going to be a lot of fun to jump back to the UK and into PROG 1935 of good old 2000AD.

The book begins with Judge Dredd, and if you’ve read any of my previous reviews you’ll know he’s a character that I have always had (it goes back to my childhood) problems with, so I’m always prepared to get through his bit, and onto something that doesn’t annoy me so much. This week he’s playing the role of a cop on a television detective programme, and a conspiracy is afoot. Ho hum.

Next story is ‘Absalom- Under a False Flag’ a title that really whets my appetite. Unfortunately the story itself is really starting to get on my nerves. It’s the dialogue that’s doing me in. it’s so knowing, so ironic, so sarcastic, so deeply, deeply irritating. Three pages in and there’s smart-ass jokes about veganism, Amy Winehouse, a UK paedophile investigation, the Kray twins and racism in old John Wayne movies.

Enough, please, stop it. You’re killing the story with all of these endless bloody references. I can’t concentrate on what is going on, it’s like listening to the most annoying man in the pub, drunk, and on full volume telling the pub about how knowledgeable and witty he is. I don’t even care about the narrative anymore. I can’t concentrate on it, the dialogue is killing it for me and I’m finding it impossible to enjoy the actual story.

I had to put 2000AD aside for a while after enduring the smart arsery of Absalom, my nerves were in shreds, and I needed a strong cup of tea and a walk around the garden just to calm myself down and get into a calm frame of mind again. Thankfully when I returned I had the pleasure of once again diving into Pat Mills’ Slaine, a beautifully drawn strip, with dialogue that doesn’t have to rely on teenage showing off, because it actually has something to say. This week starts dark, with gloriously disgusting artwork, by the super talented Simon Davis, portraying the eaters of flesh, the feeders on pain, the tormentors of humanity. Without spoiling it, there’s a powerful message here, about those who would serve evil in the name of bringing peace. It’s brilliant, just like it always is.

Any story that can follow Slaine and not seem like an utterly underwhelming experience has to be good. ‘Outlier- Dark Symmetries’ is not going to wow anybody, but it has it’s own quiet self-confidence, and a pace to the story telling that I like. It’s character based, and the dialogue and art are very good. I’m not 100% sure about it yet, but it intrigues me, and that’s a good start, especially for something that had to follow the out of this world awesomeness that is Slaine.

Concluding 2000AD this week is ‘Helium- Part 2.’ It has a great start, a really enjoyable exchange between two characters that then leads to a further exploration of the narrative. That’s good writing by Ian Edginton, and I want to single it out for praise in this review. From this promising start a very clear picture of what is happening is then succinctly (but not rushed) laid out for the reader, with the narrative concluding on splendid moment of revelation that really has me looking forward to next week’s instalment.

Looking back at PROG 1935 of 2000AD I make that three stories out of five that I enjoyed. That’s pretty good for me, especially when you bear in mind that I’m a notoriously schizophrenic reviewer, and that I would probably dislike Judge Dredd no matter how good it is, just because it has Judge Dredd as a hero in it. I’ve been careful not to spoil Slaine, because it really has to be experienced for yourself and no matter how much I rave about it, I won't be able to do it full justice here in these reviews.

Get 2000AD this week (as usual) for Slaine, but it’s not just about him, there’s plenty more enjoyment to be had, and I’m going to say this just to spite myself. You’ll probably enjoy Judge Dredd and the very loud, annoying and obnoxiously knowing Absalom as well.



Rating: 9/10 (Slaine really is something else this week, gnawing through to the marrow of truth, it exposes the reasoning behind an individual’s willingness to serve a system of human enslavement.)

Comic review: 2000AD PROG 1932- ‘I Spit on Your Gift of Obedience!’

Released: 27th May 2015
Artists and writers: Various
Publisher: Rebellion



‘All hail to the majesty that is my mighty organ.’

And so begins another week of 2000AD with editor extrordinare Tharg boosting about the superior spatial capabilities of his green storage box. How strange, is he an alien or something? Oh yeah, he is, I forgot. I didn’t forget about my weekly dive into his comic book though. So here we go again, with my weekly ramblings on the latest edition of 2000AD.

It begins, as it always does, with the big chinned control freak, good old Judge Dredd. Seems like he’s actually going to help somebody in this story, he’ll arrest them afterwards of course, but I guess that’s better than the real world Judge Dredd? At least he isn’t planting stuff on them and beating them up for ‘resisting arrest’ as they have their hands cuffed behind their backs.

Judge Dredd is a funny old character, a hero who should be a villain, but cannot be portrayed as a villain because of what he represents. The most enjoyable part about his adventures is reading how the writers do somersaults in order to portray him in a good light. This story is a perfect example of that, and the simple way to do it is to create people that are worse than him. It’s the old excuse that we need uniformed order followers to control us because there are bad people out there. What a laugh it all is, the justification for immorality in a uniform, and so the world keeps on turning, orders keep getting followed, and nothing changes.

Onto Slaine, and immediately it’s excellent, with dialogue about control, slavery and dog like human obedience to anti-human control systems. It’s a world removed from the Police state authoritarianism of Judge Dredd. People say this story is all about the art, but it really isn’t. The art is self-evidentially excellent, but read the story, read the dialogue. You are getting deep essential moral truths here. ‘I spit on your gift of obedience!’ The dialogue here really is the best, and alongside the spellbinding art you have something special, not special because it’s clever or witty, but special because it is all about truth, a truth that you don’t always get in comic books. Pat Mills, Simon Davis and Ellie De Ville, you are doing amazing work here, and it has to be released in a collected hardback format when it inevitably, and sadly comes to it’s conclusion.

‘Future Shocks- The Big Heist’, is a story about a bank robbery in space, as you might have expected from reading the title. It starts by addressing the main problem that comic book readers of 2015 would mention when reading about a futuristic bank robbery, that being why would there be any physical money at all in the future? After addressing that problem, the story gets straight down to action, and there’s a good twist at the end, a twist that makes sense and delivers a satisfying conclusion. It was a decent short, with basic art, but the structure of the narrative was professional and strong.

‘Tharg’s 3rillers- Commercial Break- Part Two’ introduces some aliens, sparkly bits and the idea of willpower holding constructs together, much like in the Green Lantern comics. The tone of the book is not serious, the protagonists joke and quip and it’s all done with a smile at how ridiculous it all is. I liked it, it’s light, it’s entertaining, the art is cute, colourful and cuddly and it’s a nice change of pace from the other stories in PROG 1932.

There’s lots of intrigues, political double-dealings and betrayals going on in Strontium Dog- The Stix Fix- Part Nine,’ and it can get confusing. There’s a strong vein of humour running throughout it as well though, and it’s always nice to see our hero insult people who cannot understand his language, it’s cheap, but it’s fun. The story is essentially about an every man caught in the middle of political shenanigans, he’s Johnny Whistleblower in space, but rather than having a whistle he has his fists, and oh look, he’s just stolen a gun. It’s fun, but it’s not in the same category of excellence as Slaine.

That’s it for another week in 2000AD. I enjoyed the book, as I invariably do. Slaine really was exceptional this week, and there are a couple of other treats to enjoy as well. It gets two thumbs up from this not alien, not green headed man with a decided average organ. Yuck that sounded gross. I was talking about my little brain, and it came out all gross. How did that happen? That’s it. I’m off. Buy the book, it’s good.

Rating: 8/10 (Slaine is the main course, but there are some nice side-dishes as well)