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Review
Best moment
Malone
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Gavin Hanly: Without
a doubt the revelation that Malone was Finnegan Sinister, with the revelation
of Dexter's paralysis coming a close second.
The first almost made me drop
my prog in shock - especially as Abnett allowed the reader to come to the
conclusion at the same time as Sinister - a very impressive piece of writing
indeed.
The second allowed Abnett to pull
the rug from underneath many of us who were expecting Dexter's return, but were
a mite peeved when it actually happened.
Both
of these have raised my estimation of Dan Abnett's writing skills to extremely
high levels.
James Mackay: The
reveal in “Malone”. The collective readership gasp when the rug
was pulled from under our feet was wonderful to behold. Possibly the best
moment this decade.
Robert Cornell: Prog
1513:
“And this is Downlode, the city that told you to always lock the deadbolts.” Here
we have a strip and character on the edge of the abyss. It seems quite possible
that comedy-psychopath Finnegan Sinister will actually kill Tuesday Weld and
if he does it will be one of the darkest and bravest plot developments in the
history of 2000AD. A few pages later, he’s stepped away and we’re
in a much safer place but at this precise moment: Shudder.
Alex Frith: I howled with laughter at seeing
three shaven Stronts, giggled with glee as Captain Bug Stomper descended into
Bates-like madness, was tickled pink to see Jarrod Kawl win a girl's heart. But
I'd be lying if I said that the most outstanding moment this year was anything
other than the panel when the mysterious Malone
opens the door to one Rocky Rhodes, and one hell of a rug-pulling moment.
Masterful stuff, especially given that I wasn't especially enjoying Malone before
that.
Stephen Watson: I
thought ‘Great’ when
Sinister & Dexter bought
the farm. Was less impressed when they brought it back for a refund!
ABC Warriors |
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Linton Porteous:
It's not often that 2000AD moves me to uncontrollably shout a string of celebratory
expletives, but the double-page title spread of a platoon
of Hammersteins charging towards me across the icy battle-strewn oil-fields of
Volgograd did just that. As
the opening scene this wouldn't have had the same effect – but the timing
was perfect. Mills and Langley lulled us into a false sense of security – opening
the tale with two predominantly red pages as the ubiquitously bickering Warriors
approach Broadband Asylum on Mars. From there, we enter the asylum proper,
and four blue-hued pages of typical Mills lunacy (if that's not a misnomer). It's
a complete shock to the system then, to turn the page and be hurled hundreds
of years back in time to the bright winter landscape of the Volgan War in a ridiculously
sumptuous and energetic double-pager.
Andrew Howe: Joe taking
some personal time on Megway 38 in Fitness Test, possibly
thinking about how he gunned down a 12 year-old kid in Direct Action. Dredd
showing his human side never gets old - we’ve come a long way from his
last major crisis of conscience, but sooner or later something’s gotta
give.
Bryan Coyle: I liked the last
page of Chiaroscuro. Despite
the dodgy creature-feature monster in a top hat that preceeded it, the last scene
seemed nice and low-key in keeping with the rest of the story.
Adam Crabtree: So many little golden nuggets
scattered throughout the year’s thrill crop, it’s quite hard to choose.
The “punishment” of Damage from the Ten Seconders (brutish, gigantic
monster chastised by the man who created him) comes to mind. The beach landing
of Harry Kipling: Prologue. Any number of anarchic and imaginative routines from
ABC Warriors (Blackblood getting turned inside out, Steelhorn’s resurrection).
Nonetheless the clear winner of this for me is the villain’s
reveal from Lobster Random: The Agony and the Ecstasy. The moment when the story’s
big bad Rex Ferris is revealed as a conjoined twin; specifically a human conjoined
to a tyrannosaurus rex! Carl Critchlow, you are an absolute leg’s end.
Judge Dredd |
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David Knight: Judge
Dredd escaping from the chain gang in Prog 1511. My runner-up favourite 2000ad moments of 2006 include
the appearance of brachiosaurs as siege engines in The Red Seas, (prog
1491), the atheist army portrayed as zealots in part 2 of Harry Kipling (deceased) Something
for Nothing (Prog
1498), and startling opening of Stone Island featuring nude decapitated corpses
(Prog 1500).
Jordan Smith: The moment
we discover that Malone is in fact no other than Finnigan Sinister.
Ok, sure, it was the biggest surprise of the year and I won't be surprised if
this got everyone's vote but there wasn't really that many surprises aside from
Origins. Great story, lovely twist at the end. No one foresaw it for
even a second.
Martin Charlton: The
first panel of Sword of the Tsar. Why? Because it’s Simon Fraser back on Dante, where he belongs.
That’s bloody why.
Tom Frame
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WR Logan: The Tom Frame
tribute. Not a strip
but 2000’s greatest moment from 2006 was also its saddest;
ego’s were put to one side to pay respects to one of the greatest droids
to work on the galaxies greatest comic’. The best moment the centre pages
to Prog 1508.
Pete McCosh: Konstantin
taking off his helmet in Sword of the Tsar. You just know that the only way this can end is with one
of them getting killed. Again.
Joseph Saxton: It's difficult to judge this,
but a few stick in my head, the look on Sorrel’s face as the portal opened
in Stone island was a great moment for an artist and Dredd’s conversation
with fargo in the connection was a lovely bit of scripting. Personally
I’m
going for the conclusion of Malone. This really
caught me by surprise and as reveals like this can’t come along very often
I like to celebrate them when they do.
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