I really enjoy Survival Geeks, definitely made me chuckle more than once. Neil Googe's art is great and perfectly suited to the story.
With the greatest respect to Beeby and Rennie, I think Googe's art IS the story. It's just so much damned fun, so packed with clever visual reference and pure invention, and everyone looks to be having a blast even when they're supposedly in mortal peril.
Without Googe the strip could still be one of the most competent 2000AD comedy series. It's a nicely sustained romp, characters are well-defined and generally likeable, plots never get bogged down, things move along, there are good gags most weeks: but for all that, in different hands it could so easily be just a 2000AD riff on Big Bang Theory (
-shudder-).
For my money the writers' true genius here (and it's no small thing) is in giving Googe a continuous procession of great settings and setups to draw. And by Grud does he deliver. His characters emote, his backgrounds convince, his details amuse: every panel is colour and energy and humour.
Like all good strips it's the product of a successful partnership between writers, artist and letterer, but I've no doubt that it's Googe's art that makes Survival Geeks the ongoing joy it is. I take my hat off to all involved.
