The nastiest, goriest, most horribile EVER aka Ban this sick filth

[AlexF]

Fresh off a re-read of Aquila from the Ultiamte Collection, I noticed that the story Charon's Mercy is a strong contender for the nastiest story ever to see print in 2000AD, and that's got to be saying something. The bad guy is a torturer who takes his work to a level that is best described as Human Centipede meets Martyrs. Rennie's descriptions and Davidson's art leave literally nothing to the imagination.

Somehow at the time I didn't notice it, perhaps more struck by yet another nice nod to Blackhawk (by the end of that story, our Hero had half his face sort-of melt; in this story half his face/body are skinned), but it really is strong stuff.

Not complaining! But it did make me wonder if anything has been nastier? I mean, the tradition of torturers in the Prog goes back at least as far as The Fink and Great Uncle Baal, and gorey body horror art goes back all the way to the Visible Man (not to mention dinos and bears munching on people), but Aquila goes that extra mile...

John Wagner turned my stomach some with The Skinning Room and Ratfink; Simon Davis merits consideration for his work on Stone Island, and surely John Smith has to be in the conversation.

What say you?

[broodblik]

The last page of the first episode of the new Hook Jaw was quite gruesome as well.

[Colin YNWA]

If comedic violence and gore are allows in Zombo deserves a shout.

For creepy and deeply unpleasent surely its Cradlegrave.

Edit to add: Oh and there was that resent Future Shock that won the Thought Bubble competition. The lady did horror things to her baby (need to re-read it) but remember thinking at the time. NO... surely not... re-read... yep they did that...

[Richard]

That was Sunday Scientist in prog 2072.

John Smith has a recurring character (actually two different characters from a species of torturers) in Firekind and Tyranny Rex who would do all sorts of unpleasant things to people.

In Cannon Fodder Sherlock Holmes came to a very sticky end.

[Professor Bear]

That bit in Cradlegrave where Donna's headless, limbless body is rotating on a kebab skewer and then you twig: doner kebab = Donna kebab.  That's probably the only bit of visceral nastiness that sticks out over the last few decades' worth of comics in which gore, tits and swearing - while hardly wall-to-wall - have nonetheless been constant fixtures.  I can safely say the stuff the OP mentions didn't even register.

[TordelBack]

Stone Island certainly gave it a go, with its nearly bisected skinless sausage, and some explicit murdered lovers are pretty spectacular too. The torture/vivisection in the opening chapters of Outlier is beyond horrific.

[Greg M.]

Donna kebab was the first thing I thought of too. That and the treatment doled out to Winwood and Cord at the climax to Killing Time. Or indeed Bagman's Cinnabar massacre.

But it's not just John Smith - Mr. Wagner also has a mean streak. The death of Dallas Hall and the Flying Frankfurter in Song of the Surfer both resonate more powerfully with me as an adult than they ever did as a teenager.

[Link Prime]

I can safely say the stuff the OP mentions didn't even register.

Ditto regarding the Aquila stuff.

The absolutely grotesque imagery of Torquemada's nose and protruding spine as depicted by John Hicklenton during his Nemesis run always stayed with me.

Two other honorable mentions that shocked this pre-teen youngster:
- The Mutant melting the brains out of the Council of Five.
- A street Judge being executed by Total War in 'America' (wounded, face down on the pavement).

[Funt Solo]

One thing from early days that I find difficult to shake is that bit in Robo-Hunter, where Kidd is starring in a soap opera, and the writers don't like the young actress and so they keep giving her horrible side-plots involving things like terrible skin conditions.

It's not grand guignol, or anything, it's just this low level of fuck-uppery that's real enough to be worrying.

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The Fear from Fall of Deadworld, where you get possessed by the helmet and become Fear. And that you turn around in the woods and he's just standing there. "I've always been here" he intones. YIKES!

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Pretty much all of Return to Armageddon is disturbing. Redondo does great flopping, pustulent skin.

[Art]

Big Dave ain't never getting reprinted.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Nemesis making Be Pure's big mouth even bigger made me wince at the time (I was 12) and still does.  And Slough Feg's death didn't leave much to the imagination either. 

[AlexF]

There's really no shortage of contenders! The thing with the Aquila story was especially that I did not notice when reading it in the weekly how horrible it was - one of those things where the situation and mood you're in can affect how much any given story affects you.

Good call on that 'Killing of Kidd' bit - that boils stuff really was mean.

[credo]

Killing Time, pretty much all of it but especially the torture of Winwood and Cord at the end. Also Soft Bodies. Also Deux Ex Machina.

Oh, and the guy getting his face melted off by black vomit in the first episode of Revere.

John Smith really can do body horror, eh?

[sintec]

Yeah, as a lover of body horror, one of the things I'm taking away from this thread is that I need more John Smith comics in my life.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Yep, he never held back.  Must be about 25 years ago when he had a demon graphically discussing how he was planning to wear Fervent and Lobe's foreskins on his horns.

Another bit in Revere that gave me pause for thought was when the guy got sliced neatly in half (possibly [spoiler]the same chap who had his face melted?[/spoiler]).

But I think the most gruesome Smith scene I've seen to date was a Strange Case from the Megazine, where some lad ends up [spoiler]crawling round without his skin[/spoiler].  Illustrated by John Hicklenton too, also a man who had no boundaries when it came to drawing comics for us kiddies.

I miss them both hugely.