Comics Review: "2000AD Sci-Fi Special"

- by Ninja Ross, 4 June 2014

BORAG THUNGG, EARTHLETS! 2000AD is bringing back the classic annual holiday specials, with their twentieth issue. They were originally printed every summer from 1978 to 1996. After a long break, we have this sucker, which is made up of short stories starring some of 2000AD’s biggest characters, interpreted by some of their newest script and art droids.

The book kicks off with a story called Jinxed, following 2000AD’s most famous character, Judge Dredd, as he transports a stolen museum piece with a bad luck curse. All kinds of things go wrong, including an incident with a car full of very angry dogs.

As you can expect, it’s a book about Dredd having terrible luck. Not a new concept by any means, but Beeby keeps things light and fun, while Eoin Coveney’s art helps create the lively atmosphere that makes this a great start to the book.

It’s a shame “Jinxed” only lasted for a brief few pages, though; it would have been nice to see things escalate to the point of ridiculousness (not that it doesn’t get pretty ridiculous). But what we do have is fantastic, anyway.

For me, the stand out story in this book is Bodj Job, immediately following Beeby and Coveney’s Dredd story. It follows Sam Slade. And when you get Slade, you get Slayed! Yeah! (Don’t blame me, I didn’t write that line. It’s in the book.)

Slade, along with his sidekick Hoagy and his Robo-Stogie (A Spanish talking robotic cigar) find themselves in an IKEA style shop, looking for some missing robots.

While trying, and failing, to find a way out they’re dragged into a plot to take over the world by turning every robot into a piece of furniture. Slade is forced to help build the machine, causing him to have a brief breakdown.

For the Nonscrots among you, 2000AD is known for taking parts of culture like IKEA, celebrities, elevator music and so on and turning them into over the top sci fi stories like this. Alec Worley’s script is clearly influenced by these classic 2000AD stories and Mark Simmon’s fantastic black and white art really emphasises that.

The next story is a Future Shocks one, called Expose. Future Shocks have always been a huge part of 2000AD, giving new creators the chance to show off what they can do in four pages. Every Future Shock must come with a twist ending, so you can imagine how difficult these must be to do. This one is the best I’ve read in a long time, if mostly for the art.

It follows an idealistic journalist as she tries to find out why so many robot servants are committing suicide. Jody LeHeup gives us a pretty excellent start but fails to deliver an unpredictable twist. It’s not a bad twist, it’s just one you should be able to see coming from the start.

He was so young!

Jefte Palo’s art is what makes this one of the best Future Shocks I’ve read in a while. It’s sharp and stylish. Reminiscent of Skottie Young at times, which is definitely not a bad thing.

Speaking of really nice art, there’s this excellent pin up of Judge Anderson by Fay Dalton. It’s done in a vintage pulp comic style and looks pretty amazing.

Click for a better look!

Next up is Red Durham, which features a character originally featured in Strontium Dog. She’s a bounty hunter with a mutation that gives her a lust for blood. Not quite a vampire, but still.

Written by Robert Murphy, with art provided by Duane Redhead, this is one of the weakest stories in the book. That’s not to say it’s bad, far from it. It’s actually a very fun read. It’s just that nearly everything else in here is so much better.

Orlok: Agent of East Meg One, by Arthur Wyatt and Jake Lynch is probably the only story in this book I didn’t like. It follows a Soviet assassin as he tries to steal a McGuffin. Pretty standard stuff but comes off as a bit dull without any really outstanding artwork to make up for it. The action scenes aren’t anything to shout about, either.

The last story features Rogue Trooper in “Dregs of War,” by Guy Adams [you may already be familiar with him, Trash Mutant reader! - Ed.] and Darren Douglas. It’s a relatively simple story, but the action scenes are just freaking AWESOME enough to keep things exciting. It’s Rogue vs. zombie Cyborgs. That’s all it is and that’s all it needs to be.

If you can't enjoy Zombie Cyborgs, we really can't be friends.

It’s a nice way to wind things up, with some simple story telling and some real nice art. Rogue gets to blast some bad guys to bits and we get to enjoy the show!

To finish things off, we also get another pin up. This time it’s of Slaine, by Ben Wilsher. It’s freaking cool, man. It’s freaking cool. Blood and swords and stuff. You’ll like it, believe me. No, seriously; it’s DROKKING BADASS.

Overall, it’s a very strong book with only one story letting it down. It’s varied, it’s fun and it’s awesome. Well worth picking up.


So, planning on checking out this zarjaz anthology? Have anything to add regarding these classic 2000AD characters?

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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