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Extreme Edition 7
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16th
January 05 |
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Cover
by D'israeli |
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2000AD
Extreme Edition 7
Roy
Preston, Geoffrey Miller, Massimo Belardinelli, John Wagner, Cam Kennedy
What to Expect:
- Flesh Book
2:
23rd century man has discovered time travel, and now farms the oceans of the prehistoric
era for their Dinosaurs, hunting them for their flesh.
- Judge Dredd:
Beyond Our Kenny
Budding Cal-Hab artist Kenny Who? cam to Mega City 1 hoping to find his dream
by becoming an artist for Big 1 publishing. Now, three years later his family
have come to Mega city 1 hoping to find him.
Originally Appeared
In:
- Flesh book
2: progs
86-99
- Judge Dredd:
Beyond our Kenny: Judge Dredd Megazine 1.01-1.03
Review by Martin
Charlton
I’m going
to be honest here. When asked to review the latest Extreme Edition, my heart sunk…
I mean, I’ve
bought them all thus far (being seemingly blessed by having easy access to them
in most of my local newsagents), but at times have wondered why. The series started
well enough, with the first two issues rivalling the quality of 90% of the recent
2000AD graphic novels, and certainly seeming better than the ‘Best of’
issues I’ve been able to get hold of. Then came the Savage issue which,
while not being bad, seemed, at least to my eyes, to be more of a functional release,
rather than something they wanted us to re-read.
This was followed
by the Ant Wars issue, which I stopped reading half way through. The parody issue
seemed to mark the low point for the series thus far, with a hotchpotch of ideas
being thrown together (A parody issue! With some extra, introductory Bix Barton
for those who don’t know what it’s all about! And some Savage to make
up the page count!), before the decidedly superior MACH1 issue being a vast improvement
on things…
It seems thus
far that the content of the Extreme Editions can be lumped into three categories
- Reprinting the
very early stuff that either wouldn’t shift as a GN (a la Ant Wars &
MACH1)
- A handy tool to
introduce readers to the world of something upcoming in the world of 2000AD (Dredd
Vs. Death & Savage)
- Stuff that can
be thrown in to make up the numbers, or to give the impression of a ‘theme’
issue (Black Widow, or the parody stories)
Now, I’ve
got to admit I only started reading 2000AD about two or so years ago, so while
I know all of the important stuff and have read ‘the canon’ of 2000AD
stories, there are still gaps in my knowledge. These are gaps which cannot be
address completely by the Prog or Meg, which is handily where the Extreme Editions
come in.
I’d never
read Invasion or Ant Wars, nor did I have much of an idea who PJ Maybe was, before
buying the relevant Extreme Editions… So despite any previous criticism
of the format I might have been responsible for, I’d like to say this, once
and for all: I see the point of the Extreme Editions. Although the argument as
to whether or not they actually constitute being ‘Extreme’ can be
settled on a different day.
And so to EE7,
the first to benefit from the increased frequency of the format, which in my mind
at least will prove beneficial, allowing a greater deal of reflexivity in the
contents. Containing Flesh: Book 2 and Judge Dredd: Beyond Our Kenny, it fits
the first two categories listed above, with Flesh being a nice chance to see a
previously un-reprinted classic, and Beyond our Kenny providing the lead in to
the current Meg story ‘Who? Dares Wins’.
Little admission
here: I honestly wasn’t aware of there being a second Flesh book until the
contents of this issue were announced, nor was I familiar with the previous exploits
of Kenny Who? until picking up this issue. So I With a lovely ‘gatefold’
by the much underused D’Israeli, this looks like a fun collection from the
moment you see it on the shelf next to the prog. With a subtle (and disturbing)
take on the old Captain Bird's Eye adverts, coupled with references to the story
itself, it gives the cover that retro feel quickly becoming associated with the
Extremes.
Flesh 2 is written
by Geoffrey Miller, despite the original being by Pat Mills (I guess this is before
Mills became so protective of his work) and continues the story of ‘Claw’
Carver post-Flesh Book 1. Despite his villainy, this is very much his story, with
the rest of the cast slipping in and out of the shadows with alarming regularity.
Only Carver is given sufficient character development for us to really care, with
his foil ‘Peters’ being very much a stock good guy, coming out with
clichés like: ‘The bottom of the sea is the place for scum like you
– and that’s where I aim to put you’, and the classic ‘just..
hope… I… threw… the... switch… in… time…’
The story centres
around The Atlantis Station, a station created by Trans-Time to farm fish and
send it back to the 23rd century where mankind lives on a diet of synthetic food.
This set up all comes undone however, with the arrival of the self serving Carver
and his bounty of stolen gold.
I don’t want
to give too much away about the story here but at times I was often vexed at the
number of plot devices used to add something new every week, often at the expense
of the plausibility of the plot. A quick run through shows: A abnormally large
Nothosaur, a rogue tow line, a Tanystropheus, giant Scorpions, a very convenient
case of amnesia, a Cynognathus, a problem with the human controlled Cybosaurs,
and a whole pack of Nothosaurs to bring us home. This often feels like the writer
is just throwing everything at the wall, and seeing what will stick. This overload
of ideas not only limits the extent to which the story can find its flow, but
also exposes the end of the story as somewhat rushed (this is coupled by the change
of artist with two episodes to go).
I don’t want
to come down too hard on this, however, as it’s certainly an enjoyable romp,
acting as a superb sea-based partner piece to Flesh and is leaps and bounds ahead
in both complexity and intention from the later Ant Wars. Think of it as The Lost
World to Flesh 1’s Jurassic Park. Not as fresh, or on such a scale, but
in some ways all the better for it.
The art (bar the
last two episodes) is gorgeous. What else can you say? It’s by Massimo Belardinelli
and god, does it show. If Colin Macneil is known for his entry wounds, Belardinelli
makes a case here to be known for his ‘Dinosaurs biting into the neck/midriff’
of other Dinosaurs.’ His realisation of both 23rd century technology and
of the Triassic period is first rate, and his drawing of the characters to reflect
their personalities is awe inspiring. His panel layout is also excellent, with
a number of splash pages that could be used as museum pieces to show small children
how we imagine the world to have been then. However, with two episodes to go Carlos
Pino takes over the reigns and the quality dips noticeably. One cannot help but
feel that Pino was drafted in at short notice, with a noticeably rushed feel to
many of his panels, and a lack of consistency when drawing the characters (Carver
is especially chameleonic). It’s a shame Belardinelli didn’t get to
finish the tale, or it would’ve stood the test of time better.
In conclusion,
Flesh: Book 2 seems very much, to me at least, to be superbly representative of
the output of 2000AD during the first 200 issues or so. A deeply cynical take
on the possibilities given to mankind by technology, and a demonstration that
‘Mankind’s ingenuity will ultimately bring about his downfall’.
An enjoyable read. Not perfect, but ahead of much of the chasing pack for the
crown of ‘most underrated story in 2000AD history’.
Which brings us
nicely to the back up story in this issue: Judge Dredd: Beyond our Kenny, about
the attempts of the Who? family to rescue their husband from his unfortunate Mega
City 1 nightmare. Reprinted from the first issue of the Megazine, this is also
a thoroughly enjoyable, if throwaway tale, which probably suffers in the history
books due to having to compete with a stellar line up containing Judge Death:
Boyhood of a superfiend, and Judge Dredd: America. Whilst clearly not having the
pull of either of these tales, much like Who? himself this story refuses to get
down on itself for any length of time.
Sitting here behind
the full on action of Flesh this can seem a little under whelming at first, and
really benefits from being read in one sitting. With lovely art (and a very Gaelic
palette) from Cam Kennedy, this is a timely reminder of the ferociousness of John
Wagner when he’s writing at full pelt. And with some lovely comic touches
(including little Ken Who? taking a piss on a judge), and a very sweet heart beating
within its pages, this functions perfectly as the back up strip to any more serious
2000AD tale. Like most of the great Dredd stories, Dredd features only marginally,
with the main focus being on how the absurdities of Dredd’s world impact
on the everyday citizen (although in a completely different way to America).
Complete with
thistles by John Ridgeway to fill the gap left by the different dimensions of
the EE to the Meg, Beyond our Kenny wraps up a rather splendid Extreme Edition.
So there we are.
Extreme Edition 7, in my mind at least, can stand tall as the EE where everything
fell into place. Continuing the trend of a lovely cover by an excellent contemporary
artist, and containing a forgotten piece of 2000AD ancient history, and a nice
tie in the Meg at present, EE7 stands if not the best EE (that’s probably
the PJ Maybe issue), then certainly the second. The format has settled down, and
the purpose is clear: to remind us there’s more to 2000AD’s history
than the Apocalypse War & Halo Jones, and to guide us towards the future,
clear headed, prog in hand, and a smile on our faces.
Now all Rebellion
have got to do is sort out the distribution problems!
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