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Review part 1
Another year
over - but before the new one begins, there's just time to cast a glance back
at the previous 12 months and find out if we really think 2000AD still deserves
the moniker of "The Galaxy's Greatest Comic". We gave a selection of
2000AD reviewers a list of categories to choose from and here's what they made
of 2005...
Gavin
Hanly - 2000AD Review Editor
It's been another
good year for 2000AD and its stablemate The Megazine. To my mind, the two comics
continue to be more consistantly entertaining than much of the work produced for
the superhero obsessed American market, and even given its Sci-Fi inclination
offers great diversity with tales like The Red Seas, American Gothic and Caballistics
inc being fundamentally unique. So what stood out this year?
Best non-Dredd
series: The Simping Detective
Something of a
cheat, this one, since the Simping Detective is set in the Dredd universe. But
hey, I'm making the rules - so I can break them...
This series has
been around for a while before 2005 begun, but it's really stated to hit its stride
this year. Jack Point was a character that, at first glance, might appear best
suited to a one-joke one-off, but he and his supporting characters have started
to become really defined in 2005. Daveez has proved himself to be a much nastier
nemesis and less of a pushover than previopusly believed, Miss Anne Thrope and
her companions promise more plot development in 2006 and Point himself has proven
to be one of those characters that doesn't win all the time - making the series
quite unpredicatable. And, best of all, it manages to mix plot, action and humour
without any one of those overwhelming the strip.
The recent script
we published gives a good indication of the level of work Spurrier puts into this,
and the results have been rewarding for the readers. He and Irving also gel together
wonderfully and help to create a series that despite taking its influences from
all over the place seems quite unlike anything else out there. Let's hope for
the swift return of Jack Point in 2006.
Best Dredd
story: Mandroid
Something of a
close call, this time around. It really came down to either this or the latest
Maybe tale but, in the end, the slow-burn plotting of Mandroid wins out. Considering
most of us were expecting a big monster robot fight when we saw the preview art,
the gritty and downright depressing nature of the strip was something of a shock.
In many of his
strips, and this is no exception, Wagner manages to balance the heroic elements
of Dredd with the seediness of Mega City with the facism of the judges like no
one else. But as it's been said before, the best Dredd stories (eee either America
or Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee) deal with the downtrodden citizens of Mega City
One. Therefore, focusing on Slaughterhouse and his fracturing family adds far
more weight to what could have so easily have been another stand up fight. The
slow downward spiral of Slaughterhouse seems inevitable from the very first episode,
but Wagner raised his game for this tale, with excellent touches such as Dredd's
sympathising of his situation. This combined with the moody artwork of Kev Waler
gave us one of the best Dredd tales in a very good year for the Lawman.
Best non-Dredd
single episode one-off: Bones
of Eden
Of all the tales
in the Winter Special, this was really the only one I thoiught had the potential
to really go somewhere. Mixing the apocaclyptic nature of such comics as Y
- the Last man and The Walking Dead, this managed to get across
an inventive idea in very few pages and, with a small amount of rejigging - such
as either dropping the flashback scenes or making them more obvious with a different
hue, could well be worth a short 4 - 6 episode try-out series.
Best Artist:
Frazer Irving/Kev Walker
Another slight
adjustment of the rules here as both artists turned in some of their best work
this year.
As mentioned above,
Walker was just as responsible as Wagner for the success of Mandroid as his depiction
of Mega City One made the place look more unforgiving than ever. He has developed
into one of the classic Dredd artists and hopefuly it won't be too long before
we see him back in the comic.
Meanwhile, Irving's
style in The Simping Detective has been a revelation and each episode is a joy
to pore over. We can only hope thet the continued success he's getting from American
comics won't lead to him abandoning the series for a while. It's
the age old catch 22 of any 2000AD reader - we want the creators to be successful
- but we don't want to lose them to the States either...
Best Writer
John Wagner
He may be too obvious
a choice for this one but in 2005, he showed that he still is, by far, the best
wirter working for 2000AD. His Dredd work this year has been exemplary starting
with After the Bombs - which showed the nastier side of Psi Division and continung
to include to the magnigficent Caught in the Act and Mandroid as well as the excellent
Kenny Who? and PJ Maybe tales in the Megazine. Rounding all this up with what
looks like being another classic Strontium Dog tale and you can't deny that the
man is a genius.
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Prog
1428
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Best 2000AD
Cover: 1428
Henry Flint turns
in a cover that was the best of the year for me. Mixing a great use of the logo
with the giant figure of Dirty Frank make this a winner all the way.
Best Newcomer:
Sean McNaughton
There were some
interesting debuts in the Winter Special this year which gave a lot of new writers
and artists the opportunity to reach a wider audience. Dave Kendall and Rusell
Hossain deserve honorary mentions but it was the 18+ winner of the Stabilo competition
that realy impressed. McNaughton turned in a job that was considerably better
than some other artists that have been let loose on Dredd. A few more facial expressions
on Dredd would have been nice, but overall this was a work that hopefully should
have garnered him another commision for the comic. Highly impressive.
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Megazine
231
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Best Megazine
Cover: Megazine 231
The (publicised,
this time) return of PJ Maybe is depicted on the cover by Chris Weston, returning
to the character he designed in last year's Six. This is a wionderful cover that
quickly gets across both Maybe's intent and Dredd's predicament with one of the
most devilish grins seen outside of the Joker. Easily the top Megazine cover this
year.
Most under-rated:
2000AD by the UK comics industry
Every month, I
pick up Comics international and it's extarodinarily difficult to see a reference
to the comic outside of David Knight's regular reviews. We also hear stories of
direct retailers not willing to push the Extreme Editions or more irritatingly
the Winter Special. It strikes me that a little more should be done by UK comics
shops to help promote the only real mainstream "adult" comic we have
left in this country. A little less focus on Infinite Crises and a little more
on Dredd and his stablemates next year, if possible?
Most over-rated:
Robbie Morrison
Now, this was a
difficult one, especially singling out a writer like this. However, my initial
choce for this category was going to be either Nikolai Dante or Shimura, and Shakara
was something of a letdown aftyer such a long build up - so this all led to a
rather inevitable choice.
Shimura is just
not a terribly interesting chatracter, and only the appearance of Dredd has given
the latest series an eklement of interest it would otherwise have been missing.
I find myself desperately trying to get to grips with teh series, but it just
feels like it lacks heart.
But he main concern
is really over Nikolai Dante. Having just read the Courtship of Jena Marakov collection,
I can't get over just how much better Dante used to be. There was a consideable
amount of tight plotting, court intrigue, and a real forward momentum. Since Dante
went to the pirate seas, the huge supporting cast that was built up over the past
few years was pretty much dropped and it's becoming more and more difficult to
discern any direction for the series.
I do think this
is hopefully a small lull in an otherwise promising run. Let's compare it with
season 5 of the West Wing or series 6 of Buffy. Both were watchable, but mere
echoes of what went before. But both also went back to full strength with the
following series. And that's what I'm really hoping for from Dante in
2006.
Worst thing
about 2000AD this year
A difficult category,
and one I won't labour over. The page drop in the Megazine, no matter how needed
it was, is certainly up there. As was the "look, just don't complain"
attitide to the fans that could occasionally be seen.
The real lack of
publicity for Dreddcon/ Zarjaz was another one. There are enough 2000AD fans in
the mainstream press for the Zarjaz exhibition to have been worth of a good press
release - but I've seen very little news of it - which is a shame for such a great
exhibitiion.
The DC graphic
novels failing wasn't wondeful - but something much better came out of it - and
finally, the difficulty at getting hold of any of the Extreme Editions or Winter
Specials in central London started to grate by the close of 2005.
Best thing
about 2000AD this year
The return of a
substantially long-running series, as seen with Leatherjack, was one of the most
welcome development this year. While Leatherjack itself may have petered out a
little towards the end, this length made the strip far more enjoyasble and easier
to understand then would have otherwise been possible.
A stronger continuity
in Dredd was also welcome with both Rennie and Wagner producing Total War follow
ups and Rennie finally getting in the game with his big Summer Dredd tale - Blood
Trails.
The Winter Special
was a fantastic idea and one which will hopefully be repeated. As mentioned, Zarjaz
was another surprising success at the end of the year and one that will hopefully
be reported well in the Megazine or weekly comic.
The new trade paperback
collection line is a vast improvement on the DC effort - with some excellent Dredd
tales as starting points, an overall improvement in the design and the Complete
Dredd Chiorncles being a fantastic idea. Not so sure about the hardback line -
but in the meantime, the paperbacks are great. Good to see then finally getting
discounted at Amazon too, making them very affordable.
What would
you like to see in 2000AD or the Megazine next year?
Better recaps.
Too often series are brought back with insufficient recaps to get the reader up
to speed. A good example wouldf be The recent Dredd tale "Change of Loyalties"
where the "in this prog" section doesn't remind us who Kazan is at all.
A sufficient overhaul of this section or - on plug mode - something that says
you can read all past synopses on this site would be appreciated. In addition
Less gaps between
runs. Slightly related to the above - as well as experimenting with longer
stories, shorter interlinking series that help to keep a character and plot in
the readers' memory would be worth experimenting with. Low Life has done this
to an extent, as has Dante in the past.
A good Rogue
Trooper game. Speaks for itself, this one...
More short
interviews/publicity on big comic sites. Comic Book resources and Newsasrama
are always falling over themselves for creator interviews and Rob Williams self
publicising Breathing Space was a good example of this. Organising creators to
do quick Q&As on new series would be a step forward.
Sinister Dexter
finishing. The series showed a massive improvement in the latter half of
the year, just when i thought it had run out of steam. however, now's the time
to end it on a high.
More reviewers,
more interviewers for 2000AD Review. I'm always looking for reviewers for
the site. It's simple to email me (although you do have to make a free sign-up
for the message board - just to help cut down on spam) and if you're willing to
do a synopsis too, I'll always be eternally grateful. In addition, I'd love to
get more peopple willing to do creator interviews for the site. I can help set
up the contacts - just let me know if you're happy to do the research and create
the questions.
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