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Review
Best (non Dredd) series
Nikolai Dante
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Gavin Hanly: For
me this year, it has to be Nikolai Dante. While the
sea-based stories were rather unimpressive, it showed such a phenomenal return
to form in the closing weeks of the year that it would be impossible to overlook.
Dante's long been one of my favourite characters in the comic, and it's a joy
to have him back in the thick of the political intrigue of the Russian capital.
Getting mon Fraser back on art duties is a dream come true too. So with
even John Burns's artwork seeming rejuvenated in Prog 2006 and the prospect
of more Fraser artwork on the series he never should have left - I've never been
so eager to read the tales of the Russian Rogue.
Honourable mentions go to the 10 Seconders which has great
potential that will hopefully be explored more deeply in its upcoming second
series, Malone for an excellent sleight of hand, and Caballistics Inc which can't
return soon enough.
James Mackay: Well, this
might upset some people, but I’m going to plump for Sinister/Dexter. I’ve
always been rather fonder of these two than your average 2000AD Reviewer, but
this has really been a stand-out year for them, with some real plot advancement,
some great dialogue, and some real pathos.
Robert Cornell:
Bursting onto the scene in Prog 2006, Williams and Harrison’s exciting
new story The 10 Seconders was obviously something
special from the first chapter. With good characterisation and strong, coherent
plotting and dynamic artwork to match, they were able to brush aside the usual
problems of god-like super villains without resorting to kryptonite or the dreaded
deus ex machina.
When Williams ended with a terrific sequel hook, it was only one in a series
of great cliff hangers and unexpected plot developments.
In short, a perfect example of how to tell a story one week at a time.
Alex Frith:This is tough. It's been a great
year, but no one series has held its head obviously above the others. For sheer
exuberance, and a dramatic return to former glories, I have to give it to Nikolai
Dante. I stress that this is as much for the exciting dragon-clone filled
conclusion to the pirate saga as for the fantastic 'Sword of the Tsar' sequence.
The Red Seas |
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Stephen Watson: The
Red Seas has
covered a lot of ground this year and
despite shifting the focus it’s still original and entertaining.
Linton Porteous:
The Red Seas - The Hollow Land. In this ripping yarn,
pirates in flying ships battle dinosaurs and armies of ninja lizard-folk in a
tropical land beneath the earth (created by a race of long-dead Martians) and
Edginton manages to make it work both as a standalone adventure and a continuing
part of the saga (this being a direct sequel to last year's Underworld). Over
nine episodes and seventy pages, we're utterly immersed in a fantasy land reminiscent
of the likes of Jason & the Argonauts,
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and other childhood wonders (notwithstanding some
rather clunky Star Wars references).
Yeowell's black and white art lends
itself perfectly to the story, and it's great to see the use of double-page spreads
and single-panel pages, marking this as a true fantasy epic. As if all
of that wasn't enough, we're treated to a fantastic cover by Jim Murray for the
first prog in the series.
Andrew Howe: The Caballistics hiatus
left this category wide open in 2006, and the resulting showdown between Malone and
the final instalment of The
V.C.’s (both scripted by Dan Abnett) is a tough one to call. Some
much-needed character building in 2005 made The V.C.’s a contender,
and Hoff’s walk on the wild side was an inspired scripting decision that
mirrored aspects of Smith’s own initiation to good effect. The decision
to end the series on an inconclusive note was refreshing (imagination is a wonderful
thing), but the surprisingly low mortality rate reduced the impact of the final
episode.
Malone |
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Abnett has two distinct styles – when he’s spinning
a yarn he tells it reasonably straight (The V.C.’s, Sancho
Panzer, Atavar),
but his atmospheric character studies (Durham Red) are another matter
entirely. Malone used every trick in the book to draw the reader
into its world – repetition, cinematic panel layouts, insane clowns, dialogue
decanted from a bottle of cheap bourbon – and the art was as close to a
perfect match for the script as we’re likely to see. It was only
seven episodes long, and it technically only existed as a bridging story for Sinister
Dexter, but it evidenced a commitment to quality that I’m never given
to ignore.
That’s two great stories from a single writer, one of
which would make an enjoyable movie and the other a memorable short story. Malone’s
literary tendencies give it the edge, and I’ll be hoping that Abnett continues
to take the occasional holiday from Downlode in 2007.
Honorable mention – The
Red Seas, which after several years
amounts to an impressive body of work. I suspect Edginton scripted Stone Island to
avoid being typecast as a purveyor of old-school thrills, for which I’ll
be sending him this year’s John Smith Award for crimes against comprehensibility.
Bryan Coyle: Tales from
the Black Museum got
off to a shakey start, with what amounted to badly-reheated Terror Tales and
sub-par Tarantino-esque parodies of urban legends, with a recurring failing that
the Black Museum bookends robbed the stories of any decent endings. But
the tail-end of the series showed what could be done when the basic format was
used well, with the tale of what became of the devil held in Iso-Block 666 being
a particular standout.
Adam Crabtree: Lobster Random, Chiaroscuro
and Ten Seconders were exceptional, but can’t quite compete with the more
regular and broad palate’d strips introduced in 2006.
Harry Kipling |
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Ever since Harry
Kipling: Prologue landed in Prog
1476 (there it is again!) I have sung its praises
with the voice and clarity of a Nightingale. I went into it NOT wanting to like
it. It struck me initially (i.e. first couple of pages) as a rather pretentious
riff on bedtime stories, with chubby children under threat from some baroquely
caricaturial menace. My love first blossomed on the third page with the immortal
line “All right you chaps! Gang up on a fellow will you? Queensbury rules!
First one to scarper’s an atomic ponce!” Between page three and five
I found myself completely drawn into this hilarious, exciting world of Simon
Spurrier’s and Boo Cook’s invention.
That said, recent instalments
have been a bit threadbare, but we live in hope for a return to its original
promise.
For the Megazine, Black Museum walks
away with the prize; something about it just inspires our finest creative droids
to greater heights, bringing out real darkness and putting some of this year’s
Future Shocks and Terror Tales to shame. Dear old Henry Dubble was never meant
to bring such joy into our lives…!
David Knight: While I did develop a soft
spot for the action packed and occasionally incomprehensible lunacy of ABC Warriors,
my favourite non-Dredd continuing story of 2006 was The
Hollow Land, the latest full-length chapter in the saga of The
Red Seas,
which featured the considerable writing talent of Ian Edginton and the astounding
artwork of Steve Yeowell, and began with a pirates vs. dinosaurs siege and ended
by further expanding the mythology of the series.
 Ten
Seconders |
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Jordan Smith: The
Ten Seconders is why
I'm glad that I started collecting the galaxy's greatest comic at Prog 2006.
This is what I'd call an awesome story. Perhaps because it's a mixture
of action and drama just like Jumped only around ten times better. Yeah, I know,
bad joke.
And the art? Superb! A bit cartoony
to start with but by the time it reached part 5, the cartooniness was being replaced
with some very cool painted art. Definitely one of the better artists of 2006
and I don't know why I'm mentioning it, but I loved all the lettering.
Martin Charlton: For sheer shock value, for
leading us all down the wrong path, I’m going
for Malone. The sort of thing 2000AD should do more often. The writing style
was beautiful, the art (and I’m by no means a great fan of Coleby) suited
the strip perfectly. Very nice indeed.
WR Logan: If Caballistics Inc. had been
in more progs it’d probably have
won. Simon Fraser’s return has injected new life into Dante but
again, it hasn't been enough yet to get top vote. For me
the story that surprisingly has grown on me over the year has been The
86ers,
Gordon Rennie may appear to be a miserable git but is one of my favourite writers
and Paul Holden’s
art just keeps getting better with every outing. I’m hoping that he’s
progressed from art droid you call when you have a short deadline to one you
just call because you want decent art.
Definitely one that has grown on me with each new appearance
and one I look forward to reading more of.
The 86ers |
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Pete McCosh: A tricky one this. There’s
been a lot of good stuff in the past year, but not many series have had more
than one or two outings.
Dante is in scintillating form right now, but it still
has a way to go to make up for the interminable pirate shenanigans and the hasty
conclusion of that sub-plot which made up the bulk of the year’s stories.
The Ten-Seconders started very strongly but lost its way a bit. I’m still
eager to see the next instalment, particularly after seeing that mouth-watering
peek at Dom’s art. Conversely, The 86ers
seemed very dull at first but it has since revealed itself to be a multi-stranded
story with plenty of intrigue to look forward to. Harry Kipling has been more
hit than miss for me, but not by enough to make it great yet.
The ABC Warriors was a much better
effort from Pat Mills: giant robots knocking seven bells out of each other while
spouting crazy dialogue = great stuff.
London Falling was an excellent little story; an inspired mixture of the ancient
and the modern which really captured the bloody and malevolent nature of the
old folk tales.
Over in the Meg, the year’s been dominated by Siddha and
Fiends, neither of which did much for me.
But for me, the best series of the year has been The
Red Seas. The way it gets further and further away from its beginnings
as a pirate story as Edginton piles on the nuttiness, yet each step along the
way seems like a perfectly reasonable progression, is inspired. In calling this
the best series, I’m also taking into account the way the two stories we’ve
had this year have focused on entirely different characters in completely different
situations yet have still retained the same overall feel and quality.
Joseph Saxton: It's been a good year for
series in 2000AD with very few series really dipping into the category of low
quality. Back
at the beginning of the year Caballistics Inc. managed to effortlessly retain
its status as one of the coolest strips ever, and the Ten Seconders combined
an enticing story and excellent art that I reckon left everyone wanting more. Nikolai
Dante made a fantastic turn around with the ditching of the weak, meandering
pirates in Pacifica storyline and looks to carry on as one of the best continuing
storylines.
My winner this year is Sinister Dexter (including
Malone). This ended last year on a high and hasn’t dropped off it yet.
Malone was a wonderful piece of writing and a genuine surprise at the end
while the current dilemma facing Sinister is expertly handled. Hopefully
it can maintain this momentum, though its hard to drop off when important events
happen in any strip.
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