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Extreme Edition 5
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15th
October 04 |
 |
Cover
by Simon Davis |
2000AD
Extreme Edition 5
John Wagner & John Ridgway; Gerry Finley-Day, Eric Bradbury,
Carlos Pino & Mike Dorey; Peter Milligan & Jim McCarthy.
What
to Expect:
- Judge Dredd,
future lawman of vast megalopolis of Mega City One, on America’s eastern
seaboard, is following Jug McKenzie, the world Supersurf champion, during his
promotional visit to Twister Valley in the Cursed Earth. Hoewever, Dredd is not
the only one with his eye on the Wizard of Oz…
- Bill Savage
is leader of the resistance cell ‘The Mad Dogs’ in an England invaded
by the Volgan Republic of Eurasia. Although practically Volgan public enemy number
one, Savage won’t stop the killing while he still has his hand on his trusty
double-barrelled shotgun…
- Bix Barton,
Master of the Rum and Uncanny, is the sole operative of the Department of the
Irrational in Old Whitehall. But since he defeated his arch-nemesis, Steve Ditto
The Astrally Projected Man in 1940, he has had nothing to do for sixty years,
and now faces rationalisation and redundancy. With no-one, save for Michael Cane,
Bix’s trusty walking stick, Barton must attempt to find something Rum, or
at least somewhat bizarre, within five days to save his job…
Originally Appeared
In:
- Judge Dredd:
Twister – progs 588-591
- Invasion!: Dartmoor
– progs 10-11
- Invasion!: Death
Line – prog 12
- Invasion!: Bounty
Hunter – prog 16
- Invasion!: Slaves
– prog 17
- Bix Barton: Barton’s
Beasts – progs 663-668
- Bix Barton: Carry
on Barton – progs 723-728
Review by Ed
Berridge
This is a slightly
strange issue to begin reviewing. Previously the Extreme editions have all been
thematically linked – be it the (then) complete adventures of PJ Maybe,
or the Invasion issue. However, this issue, whilst nominally under the nominal
linked banner of a shared theme, is probably the least focused of the reprint
title released so far. This issue contains the Judge Dredd story ‘Twister’,
Bill Savage returns, and we are introduced to Peter Milligan and Jim McCarthy’s
Bix Barton, Master of the Rum and Uncanny (despite being erroneously being described
simply as “The Master of the Rum” in the opening editorial, making
him sound rather more piratical than is actually the case). The issue is completed
by a nice painted cover by the ever reliable Simon Davis, always adding a touch
of quality, and showing a considerable skill for likenesses as well.
The Judge Dredd
tale is nice having, to the best of my knowledge, never been previously reprinted.
The strip has excellent black and white and colour artwork courtesy of John Ridgway.
This was the first strip where Dredd went fully colour, and there is a nice contrast
made between the scenes in ‘reality in black and white, and the scenes in
Dredd’s ‘hallucination’ in colour. The strip also has a witty
script from John Wagner, who obviously takes great delight in subverting the Wizard
of Oz mythology, lovingly depicted by Ridgway. However, the nature of the strip
as a kind of post-script to the ‘Oz’ Mega Epic might leave those readers
who haven’t read the earlier story a little in the dark.
The four Invasion
stories on offer are slight, if enjoyable, entertainment. The art of Mike Dorey
and Carlos Pino doesn’t stand up as well as the previous editions with the
likes of co-creator Jesus Blasco, but it is lifted somewhat by the inclusion of
some art from the under-appreciated Eric Bradbury. Again, the brisk pace of the
writing by Gerry Finley-Day surprises: on one page a bounty hunter is hired by
the Volgan’s to take out Bill Savage, and by the very next page he and Savage
are already in a battle to the death, after he has already killed two other resistance
leader in between! It’s also interesting to compare and contrast with the
new series by Mills and Adlard that recently finished over in the main comic.
Although initially fairly reactionary and episodic, the strip does seem to bear
some comparison to the recent series, most noticeably in the uncompromising anti-heroic
character of Bill Savage.
The bulk of the
issue, however, is made up of Bix Barton, the possibly immortal sole employee
of the Department of The Irrational, the largely inactive government department
charged with uncovering the bizarre and irrational. This was interesting for me,
as I had never read this when it originally appeared in 2000AD, so I was rather
looking forward to reading this. What we have here are the first two Barton tales,
which makes for a much more complete reading experience. The art by Jim (brother
of Brendan) McCarthy complements the story nicely, although the black and white
first series looks better than the coloured second series. Occasionally the art
style can be slightly confusing – in a flashback, both Barton and his nemesis
Steve Ditto – The Astrally Projected Man look nothing like their actual
appearances in the main body of the strip. But overall it would be hard to imagine
a strip more suited to McCarthy’s art style, as he was an artist who was
largely overshadowed by his more lauded peers, it’s nice to see a nice collection
of his work.
The script by Peter
Milligan is fun, if not as highbrow as previous efforts, but this works well as
a refreshing breath of fresh air. Comedy strips in 2000AD have a high mortality
rate, and despite a few wobbles this strip manages to coast along pretty well.
Occasionally the script can be a little confusing, and could do with a little
more of the backstory being revealed. However, Milligan makes up for this with
the irreverent humour of the story itself: a moment that struck me in particular
was the Bix’s engagement to a psychotic tramp, which turns out to be a central
plot point of the first story. The second story suffers somewhat in comparison
to the first, as it sags somewhat under the weight of shoe-horning in all the
Carry On references. Yet there is a nice irreverent tone to the story, and a sense
that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Milligan also some up with the
goods on the character front as well, with prominent characters like the Batman
look-a-like Steve Ditto or Whitehall bod Perkins. The future London setting of
New Whitehall is also quite reminiscent of Milligan and Brett Ewins’ earlier
series Johnny Nemo for Eclipse and later Deadline Magazine.
Overall, this is
quite an enjoyable issue, but not quite up to the previous standard set by earlier
issues. The idea (encouraged by the cover) is that this is a themed issue, but
the choice of stories seem somewhat incongruous. The Dredd tale fits the parody
concept just barely: it’s more of joke rather than a strict parody. The
inclusion of the Invasion strips seem a little odd, as they don’t have anything
to do with the stated theme, and seem somewhat at odds with the other strips on
show. We already had what we were informed were the pick of the bunch from the
series, so it seems strange to reprint these, in such a small group, in this issue.
We are informed that more Invasion strips are to be reprinted in the future at
the end, which leaves me wondering why they didn’t just print all of the
remaining strips together? The Barton episodes are good, particularly as they
have never been previously reprinted. Yet the inclusion of the first series, which
hasn’t got any strong parody element, means that the central theme is diluted
even further. It might have been better to concentrate on more parody stories,
like the strangely neglected Carry on Judging strip by Alan Grant and Cliff Robinson
that appeared in one of Mega Specials. Or perhaps just made this a Bix Barton
issue, and reprint the other stories that the character appeared in – either
solution would have made this a stronger issue. Apparently the idea for future
Extreme Editions is to loose the themed concept of stories when the title moves
to its bi-monthly schedule. I can only hope that they concentrate on reprinting
whole stories, such as the upcoming MACH 1 reprint, rather than the half and half
measure that we are being given here. All in all, this is quite an enjoyable issue,
but the constituent elements seem a little disparate, and overall it fails to
match the standard set by previous issues.
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