The Best of 2000 AD reprint collections have highlighted some of the greatest comics of the long-running anthology. The previous five volumes have showcased classics from the golden era of the 1980s, modern classics from the last 20 years, and a couple of hidden gems. This sixth and final volume caps off the reprint series with an eclectic range of comics, covering time travel, estate-housing horror, parody, a killer polar bear, and heaps more.
As one of the collection’s goals is to bring new readers to 2000 AD and its back catalogue, I’ve brought in someone new to the anthology to see its effectiveness. Like the previous five volumes, my guest and I will discuss the stories within and see how effective they are for new readers. To join me this time around is film critic Andrew Moriatis.
Trevor: Welcome back to How To Love Comics, Andrew. Before we jump into this collection, what is your experience with 2000 AD?
Andrew: I’d read Dredd vs Death about a decade ago, but my familiarity with the world is mostly via the two feature films, so I’m sure the authors’ reputations will live and die on my thoughts.
Trevor: Let’s jump into this collection then!
Judge Dredd: Tempus Fugitive
Written by Ian Edginton. Art by D’Israeli. Coloured by Len O’Grady and Chris Blythe. Lettered by Tom Frame and Annie Parkhouse.
Trevor: First up, we have a Judge Dredd story. How does this tale stack up with your understanding of the character and his world?
Andrew: I tried not to come into the collection with any assumptions or expectations.
From what little I am aware of 2000 AD, this is a pretty open world, so I tried not to bring memories of Stallone or Schneider to proceedings.
As a standalone piece of storytelling, however, I thought its theme was much more intelligently addressed than in Alan Moore’s story than Tempus Fugitive.
Edginton’s tone is Douglas Adams-esque. Or maybe Douglas Adams-lite.
Like Adams (and Moore), the author is fascinated by the possibilities of time travel and paradoxes. And, certainly, that theme has endured across any number of mediums, but the treatment was lacking in wit or intelligence.
Edginton introduces a satire on class warfare and the war on drugs, but that disappears, earlier on.
And he never explores – or even teases out – the motivations of the villain(s).
A disappointment.
Trevor: I think this is a story that was a victim of the release schedule. The three chapters, told in 18 pages, were actually released over three years. When that’s the case, it can be difficult to tell a cohesive story. It’s likely why certain themes fall away in favor of the revenge on Dredd element.
Andrew: Oh, that makes sense, now.
Trevor: It definitely would have benefitted from being told over three consecutive issues of 2000 AD instead.
This story didn’t grab me as much as The Hot Dog Run later in the collection but there were some fun elements to it. However, the superior time travel story in this collection is definitely Chrono-Cops.
Andrew: That said, D’Israeli’s artistry is impressive, creating a visually rich world, supported by the colour work of Len O’Grady and Chris Blythe.
Trevor: Oh totally, D’Israeli is a fantastic artist. Very expressive, with rich line work that really pops with the colouring. I quite enjoyed the panels where the linework disappeared, relying on shape and colour to highlight the intensity of the moment, such as Dredd interrogating the time traveler.
For those curious about other Edginton/D’Israeli collaborations, I highly recommend Scarlet Traces, a steampunk continuation of War of the Worlds, and Leviathan, a Victorian mystery/horror set on a city-size cruise ship. Both of these benefit from having more space to be fleshed out and are fantastic showcases of D’Israeli’s work.
Shakara
Written by Robbie Morrison. Art by Henry Flint. Lettered by Ellie De Ville.
Trevor: Next up is Shakara. This one’s a visual tour de force, going for visual bombast instead of depth of story. While I don’t have any evidence for this claim, it feels like the kind of comic, at least in this introductory arc, that’s a vehicle for Flint to draw cool stuff. What did you think of it?
Andrew: I was also quite bored with Shakara.
The tone is much darker, with a monochromatic and moody visual style that effectively conveys the story’s sense of existential dread.
Dune is invoked, as is Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dante’s Inferno.
What – in my mind – was lacking was the sense of why.
Not necessarily in Shakara’s motivation, but in any understanding of coherent plot development.
The situations were all repetitive, even with such a limited page-count.
Again, the visuals were terrific, but so what?
Trevor: It appears that there are a bunch of more Shakara stories after what’s included in Best of 2000 AD Volume 6. I’ll have to assume that based on how the final pages end, with a glimpse of motivation, that things become more fleshed out.
Andrew: Let’s hope it wasn’t more of the same.
Tharg’s Time Twisters: Chrono-Cops
Written by Alan Moore. Art by Dave Gibbons.
Trevor: Next up, we have the one-off Chrono-Cops by the creative team who would go on to do Watchmen a few years later. I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve been listening to a bunch of the old Dragnet radio drama recently so this being a parody of it was right up my alley.
Andrew: Yes, Moore is someone with a rich understanding of multiple genres and mediums.
And you can never accuse Alan Moore of taking the easy option. Chrono-Cops shows what a great writer can bring to previously established material.
It’s not enough to say “I have this beloved material. I am going to be different for the sake of being different.”
He has a great instinct for the possibilities of not only the IP but storytelling itself – further consolidating his reputation for complex plotting, creative ambition and an interplay between originality and metatextuality.
And he does so with such precision.
Sometimes, he can be a little one-note – that note being self-reverentially smug – but it’s difficult to complain when he so effortlessly twists traditional narratives into thorny paradoxes.
Trevor: You’re right. This is a masterfully crafted story that really packs a lot into such a small space.
Judge Dredd: Hot Dog Run
Written by John Wagner and Alan Grant. Art by Ron Smith. Lettered by Tom Frame.
Trevor: As has been with every Best of 2000 AD collection, there has been a second Judge Dredd strip from the golden period. How do you compare this one to the first?
Andrew: To me, Hot Dog Run was the more impressive variation of this action-orientated take on Judge Dredd’s world.
Story is key and there’s a real tension and energy right from the first page.
If there isn’t a sense of jeopardy and stakes, then it’s just mindless action.
Wagner and Grant also managed to ask questions about Dredd by framing him from the perspective of these students, who are also distinguished even with a limited spotlight.
Trevor: Some of the best Judge Dredd stories are ones where the perspective is framed by someone else. The Hot Dog Run uses this very well as it allows for Dredd to be examined from the outside of his black and white world view.
Andrew: It’s a character not dissimilar to the Man with no Name or Mad Max. Because that character is so steady (and because you want him to be steady), he needs a foil who undergoes an arc or at least a change in their outlook.
Cradlegrave
Written by John Smith. Art by Edmund Bagwell. Lettered Ellie De Ville.
Trevor: Science fiction is 2000 AD’s bread and butter. However, they do dip into horror now and then. Cradlegrave is one of the more notable of the anthology’s more notable explorations into the genre. Did this one grab you?
Andrew: I don’t know if I could say that I particularly liked this story, as it is difficult to warm to, but I admired its ambition and creeping dread.
It reminded me of early Clive Barker, who would take place grotesque horror into particularly British contexts and settings.
Similar to Barker’s The Forbidden (adapted into – and Americanised as – Candyman), Cradlegrave is routed in the politics of contemporary social justice: estate housing and rehabilitation.
John Smith seems to want a balance between Ken Loach/Jimmy McGovern social drama and Cronenbergian body horror and he achieves it, for the most part.
It’s difficult not to see austerity as subtext to a council estate that is left to feed on itself.
Trevor: The Forbidden/Candyman is a good comparison.
Cradlegrave starts off relatively grounded. The horror simmers in the background while the human element is in the foreground. You know there’s an unease going on in the background but you can’t put your finger on it until it’s revealed. It’s very effective.
Shako
Written by Pat Mills and John Wagner. Art by Ramon Sola and Juan Arancio. Lettered by Jack Potter.
Trevor: Did you know that Shako is the “only bear on the CIA’s death list”?
This is one of 2000 AD’s oldest strips, running in the first year of the weekly anthology. It very much feels like something published in the late 70s, with a bit of an exploitation vibe and pushing the boundaries for violence at the time.
Andrew: Again, this reminded me, in terms of tone and story of Shakara.
If it’s supposed to be an existential exploration of man’s dark impulses, then there needs to be dark corners and sudden surprises.
It was just one situation – repeated over and over.
Trevor: Yeah, it does get a bit repetitive after a while. It’s a series that reads better week-to-week as opposed to in big chunks. That being said, the creative team do a good job in mixing up the scenarios each chapter – even if they tend to end the same way.
D.R. & Quinch’s Agony Page
Written by Jamie Delano and Alan Davis. Art by Alan Davis. Inked and coloured by Mark Farmer. Lettered by Jack Potter.
Trevor: Finally, we’ve got a D.R & Quinch’s Agony Page. Most of these, including ones featured in previous Best of 2000 AD collections, lean into the anarchic essence of the longer-form stories that Alan Moore and Alan Davis created. This one does to a degree but I think you get more out of it if you’re reading 2000 AD at the time.
Andrew: It’s more of a gag than anything else. It’s the comic that probably seems most the product of its time. At first, I thought it was a comment on lad culture of the ‘90s, but it likely predates that phenomenon.
The Verdict
Trevor: So, Andrew, how was your first experience of 2000 AD’s offering outside the world of Judge Dredd? Is it something that you would explore more of?
Andrew: I would be interested in more Dredd books by Wagner and more horror by John Smith. I have no idea what others will expect, but both manage to breathe fresh life into familiar material.
Trevor: I’m glad to hear it. There are plenty of Judge Dredd by John Wagner to enjoy!
Thank you for joining me, Andrew.
Andrew: Thanks. It was a pleasure.
Best of 2000 AD Volume 6 is available in all good comic book shops, online retailers, eBay, Amazon, and the 2000 AD webshop.
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