Where I review a bunch of 2000AD/DC Trades I've picked up

[The Adventurer]

Over the last month or so I've picked up a Stack of those DC Trades reprinting 2000AD matterial.  I figured...hey I'm new too 2000AD so why not through my thoughts of each up on the 2000AD message board.

So here we go...

Nikolia Dante: The Romanov Dynasty/The Great Game - Nikolia Dante ended up being the first 2000AD trade I picked up, partly by acident, and partly because my hunger for "European Comics" was growing thanks to discovering the Humanoids albums thanks to DC.  I quickly relised that I'd been dooped, 2000AD wasn't like Humanoids at all, it was something entirly different, in an fantastic way.  Pure unadulted Science Fantasy, of the type I can NOT get over here States side in satisfactory quantities.  Nikolai Dante was my first taste of 2000AD and continues to be a favorite of mine.  Nikolai's high flying adventures in cutthrougt Politics is just what the docotor ordered, and I can't think of a single story arc in either volume that wasn't entertaining.  It's definitly one of the first books I recomend when pushing the 2000AD line on other American readers.

Skizz - I'm not an Alan Moore fanatic by any means, his mainstream work that seems to get all the raves over here in the US, like The Watchmen, really never did anything for me.  They're good, but not really...raving awesome.  But I do like Alan Moore, his work on Tom Strong, Promethia, and Top 10 are pretty entertaining.  I went in to Skizz looking to take a look as his early work, and that's exactly what I got.  I liked how he made Skizz alien, he didn't understand our world one bit for most of the book.  The main characters were pretty interesting as well, with alot of depth.  Except for the main bad guy, he was a seriously cardboard villain, a batshit "Everyone different is out to get me"/"Those damn commies are stealing all the water" is a pretty tired consept.  But maybe it wasn't in 1982 UK, I don't know I wasn't there.  Still it was a pretty solid "Stranger in a Strange Land" story with solid art.

Bad Company: Goodbye, Krool World - I have mixed feelings on this book, the first story 'Bad Company' was awesome, I loved the Behind the Frontlines approch and how any character could die at any instant.  It was a good Sci-Fi war tale that had a kinda weak ending.  Now Bad Company 2....I don't know what happened, but they took a great story and removed everything that made it interesting and shat something out that was supposed to sound philisophical.  Kano's quest for his brain and Danny becoming the, already lamn, Krool Heart was just too much stupid to discribe.  Good art all around though.

Rogue Trooper: The Future of War - Lattly I've had a real interest in 2000AD's early Progs, I don't really know why, maybe it's the Black and White art, or a nostogic trip back to the days of campy plots and hackeyed dialog, I don't know.  All I do know is Rogue Trooper is pound for pound the most consintrated book of 'Camp' I've ever read.  Don't get me wrong, I love the setting, the style, and I'm a sucked for War stories, espesaly Future War stories.  But damn, this book is full of Expossition Dialog, inane plots, and random Improbible situations escaped at the last second.  And for some reason I dig it all.

Strontium Dog: The Early Cases - Now here was an interesting book, like Rogue Trooper I was looking for a look at the early days of 2000AD, but what I found was something a little better writen but still chauk full of those little bits of '70s camp.  Johnny and Wulf are a class act action duo in a really over the top future.  What I was really shocked to discover was Johnny's "Cute Sidekick" Gronk.  I would have never suspected such a character in a book like Strontium Dog. Then I remembered...it was the 70s, everyone had cute bubbling sidekicks.  One the whole I really liked the 'Galaxy Killers' story, but found 'Journey Into Hell' to drag on way way too long, and 'Deaths Head' was just really weird with it's Timetravel plot.  A good fun book all around with, again, exceptional art.

which brings me to pound for pound my favorite 2000AD book so far.

Robo-Hunter: Verdus/Day of the Droids - Wow, I don't know what to say, but this is the craziest over the top comic series I've ever incountered.  Verdus was like The Wizard of Oz on crack and Day of the Droids is....er..well I havn't read it all yet, as I just got it yeasterday, but it's so far pretty crazy.  Sam Slade just can't catch a break from the world coming down around him.  It's funny, it's action packed, it's somewhat dramatic...in funny ways! It's probibly one of my favorite reads of the year.  At it's nearly 30 years old!


So yeah, I've been reading alot, and 2000AD his rapidly climed my charts to be a high contender of "Best Comic Company Ever"  Which is strange as a year ago I had barly heard of it, and completly ignored it based on my, compleatly wrong, belive that Judge Dredd was stupid (it was that damned movie, I swear bad movies blind me to more good stuff then anything else)  I've got on the ball and now pick up 2000AD, Judge Dredd Megazine, and 2000AD Extreme Edition regulary and still have a stack of DC reprints in my pull box at the local comic shop plus the last of the DC new orders.  I can't wait to read them all.  2000AD ROCKS.

[paulvonscott]

Hey Adventurer, great reviews!

It's great that these really old strips still have the thrill power to attract getting new fans.

"And for some reason I dig it all."

Heh, yeah.

Anyay, I recommend the first Slaine book - Warrior's Dawn - as well.  It's different from a lot of fantasy of the time.

If you have any more reviews, post 'em!

[Satanist]

Glad to see you like Senor Slade. He was one of my faves as a kid and reading the new trades I was amazed at how little its dated.

Oh and (early)Slaine is a great read.

[The Adventurer]

I was going to skip Slain as the resent 2000AD Prog really turned me off.  Are you saying the first Book is signifigently different?


Also, My Bad, I posted this thread on the wrong forum.  I guess someone moved it for me.

Next on the docket I've got a stack of books to pick up and read include...

A.B.C. WARRIORS: THE MEKNIFICENT SEVEN
A.B.C. WARRIORS: THE BLACK HOLE
THE BALLAD OF HALO JONES
THE COMPLETE INDIGO PRIME
DEVLIN WAUGH: SWIMMING IN BLOOD
DEVLIN WAUGH: RED TIDE
JUDGE ANDERSON VOL. 1: ANDERSON, PSI-DIVISION
JUDGE DREDD: DREDD VS. DEATH
JUDGE DREDD: JUDGMENT DAY
RED RAZORS
ROGUE TROOPER: FORT NEURO
SHIMURA
SINISTER DEXTER: MURDER 101
SINISTER DEXTER: GUNSHARK VACATION
SINISTER DEXTER: SLAY PER VIEW
THIRTEEN

and now....probibly Slain.  I guess just to have all the DC releases

[Richmond Clements]

The early Slaine's where awesome, with some of the mosy jaw dropping art from Mike MacMahon you'll ever see.

And Adventurer, nice reviews! It's great to see a new convert with suck zeal, I've read soe of your posts over on CBR, and I'm just glad that someone there is trying to talk about something other than the latest issue of Thor.

[Byron Virgo]

I know what you mean about Bad Company - the first series was brilliant, and the second never quite managed to match it. I also thought the Strontium Dog book was great, and like the other boarders I can heartily recommend the new Slaine book - it really is great.

If you're interested in reading other reviews (or even writing one yourself), why not drop by and maybe even contribute to the 2000AD Review site by following the link below:

Link: http://www.2000adreview.co.uk" target="_blank">2000AD Review

[paulvonscott]

The latest Slaine is a set of epic stories, the early slaine is about Slaine and Ukko, wandering around the land of the Young, getting into all sorts of trouble, and fighting/tricking their way out of it.  It's HUGELY entertaining, has some fabulous B/W art, and is different to the current stuff in mood and scope, so don't skip it!

[Dudley]

I bow to no-one in my hatred for the current Slaine.  

The old stuff, which I didn't really start reading until I was well into my loathing of his current incarntion, is SUPERB.  Don't miss out.

[The Amstor Computer]

"I bow to no-one in my hatred for the current Slaine"

Yup - 'tis awful. But on a lighter note:

"Slaine: Warrior's Dawn" comes highly, highly recommended. It's inventive, funny, beautifully illustrated and - like the best of Pat Mill's work - written by someone whose passion for the material is painted across every page.

You won't see finer work from any artist than Mike McMahon's dark, grainy, atmospheric art on the stories collected in this volume. It's striking work that springs onto the page near fully-formed, and builds to what is perhaps his greatest achievement for 2000AD in the Slaine epic, "Sky Chariots".

McMahon's ably backed up by Massimo Belardinelli, whose work filled in gaps between Mike McMahon's stints on the series. While perhaps not his best work - that would come on Ace Trucking Co., a story that played to his strengths in a way that Slaine didn't - it's able, attractive art that kept the story moving.

This is golden-age 2000AD, and it should *definitely* go on your shopping list.

Glad to know you're enjoying the books, and I hope that you'll stick with 2K for a good while to come!

[IndigoPrime]

One more vote for early Slaine. I can't stand the new stuff?it's truly utterly terrible. The early stuff, however, has a freshness of concept and execution sorely lacking in anything post-Horned God. Personally, I'd highly recommend picking up all Slaine up to Slaine the King. The Horned God isn't bad either, although a chunk of book one spends time going over old ground, while book three's art is terrible, at least in comparison to the first two books. Everything after the end of that story (including time-traveling Slaine?pretty much a cross of Quantum Leap and Conan, it seems) is worthless, sadly.

[Jared Katooie]

The only Slaine I really liked was Demon killer and that was probably due to the fantastic art. I still say it's important to look at the earlier stuff as it is miles better than anything were getting now.

JUDGE DREDD: JUDGMENT DAY
RED RAZORS

A word of warning about these two. Despite being a great writer Garth Ennis never really managed to do a good Dredd. As with Slaine you should give it a look-see, but bear in mind it's nowhere near as clever as anything Wagner has written.

Red razors also comes with a warning as it's pretty mindless and occasionaly very annoying. It does feature fantastic art but the incredibly underrated Nigel Dobbyn which however.

[IndigoPrime]

I largely agree. Judgment Day was, frankly, appalling. It reminded me of very early Dredd, but without the charm. Red Razors, however, was something I initially really liked: the first series has its problems, but also has plenty going for it. The lame sequel would have been better off never appearing though.

[The Adventurer]

THREAD BUMP GO!

I've had a chance to pick up a number of new trades so I figure... Hey Review em up!

So away we go...


Devlin Waugh: Swimming in Blood - I've actualy been itching to pick this up for a while but I got delayed.  Well I got it, and I have mixed feelings, the first story, Swimming in Blood was really good, a good story with some good horror undertones that introduces a very interesting character.  I loved the art style and the writing was spot on, at least until a bit of a muddy endding.  I bit confusing on what actualy happened when the sub hit the dome.  As for the character of Waugh himself, he's one bad dude with the most flowerly atitude I've ever read, he's like the polar opposete of Nikolai Dante.  Deversity is always my favorite part of anthology books like 2000AD.  As for the other three stories, the Mega City One imagration bit was funny as hell, and Waugh's team up with Judge Dread was fun.  But the final story witht he black and white art.... I don't know what happened, but it sucked HARD, lost everything that made Waugh an interesting character, with a pretty dull plot.  In all, a good book, but I hope the next Volume is a little better in showcasing Waugh's character.


ABC Warriors: The Meknificent Seven - Now here's an interesting little book.  It starts out so good, a solid little Sciecne Fantasy War story with an interesting premisis, the way the human leaders hid from harm and had fine control of the ABC Warriors in the field. It was very cool.
THEN the Volg had to get beat and suddenly the book became something else...something far less intersting.  The ABC Warriors stopped being soldiers and became maurading rangers on Mars and....man I don't know, it just some of it's charm.  It was still good, but I wanted more of the Volgan War, or atleast more of the aftermath, with Humans not wanting to keep the ABC Warriors around after their job was done, that was interesting, but dropped like a brick.  I'm picking up the 2nd volume, but it better get better, more focused, then "The ABC Warriors stop another elitest human group from hurting a lesser group".  Eh... it felt a little too forumlatic.  Art wise the whole thing was steller across the board.


Eh... Pretty good offerings, they were no Robo-Hunters though.

I've got Judge Anderson and Slain in route from Amazon.com so expect reveiws on those soon.

[DavidXBrunt]

You should know that between books one and two of the A.B.C.'s they became supporting characters in another strip entirely and 'The Black Hole' is almost a spin off story from that other strip. If you're expecting more of the same you won't get it. It's very different indeed.

Doesn't stop the story from being good and interesting but I thought a warning was in order. Enjoyed the reviews, please keep them coming.

[Artificial Idiot]

Yeah, if you can stand missing out on some very vital details and possibly having parts of Nemesis the Warlock spoiled for you (I don't know, as I've never read Nemesis) The Black Hole is the most exciting read I've had in awhile. It really is much more mature, and brings out a darker side in some characters.