Best of 2000 AD #1

2000 AD

2000AD isn’t a company a lot of people tend to be aware of outside the United Kingdom. Even here it’s a niche product that’s mostly known for John Wagner’s creation, Judge Dredd. Best of 2000AD is a 12 issue American-style comic series, each 100 pages long and it seeks to change this. Every issue will feature a Dredd story alongside numerous other stories from the pages of 2000AD comics. As a long-time fan of the company I’ll admit that I’m hoping for the success of this book. It’d be nice to see more of the British anthology style of comics outside of my home country. Let’s have a look at the first issue and see if there’s any chance of this happening.

Judge Dredd: Terror

Writer: John Wagner

Artist: Colin MacNeil

The first Judge Dredd tale of this series focuses on a very political subject. Terrorism. The story revolves around Total War, a pro-democracy terrorist group operating within the dictatorship of MegaCity One. We see a member of the group preparing to bomb a local club and in the process of meeting a woman. In a brief act of conscience he decides to remove her from the club before his bomb can go off. After a series of lies about his motivations the two fall in love. They move in together, completely unaware that the judges are watching every move they make.

Terror is a suspenseful story. At around 50 pages it’s the longest tale in this book but it’s definitely worth reading. Similar to previous storylines revolving around Total War there’s very little of Dredd himself in this story. The main man appears occasionally but the lovebirds are the main stars here. Despite one being a murderous terrorist and the other effectively supporting his crimes the writers manage to make them both sympathetic. We get insight into their views on the Judges system and their suppression of democracy. There’s of course no attempt to justify the acts of terrorism here but the characters are well-written and layered. You can understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and they don’t come across as one-dimensional. They’re great characters.

Legendary Dredd artist Colin Macneil handles the artwork in this story and he does an amazing job as always. His artwork has that painted quality to it that you’ll often see in Alex Ross’ work. MacNeil’s work looks far darker and grittier though which helps add weight to a story like this. His work might not be suitable for young kids though. This is a mature story that doesn’t shy away from the violence that terrorism causes. There’s graphic murder scenes throughout this story. People get body parts blown off, riddled with bullets and a graphic suicide shown at one point. There’s also some brief nudity but it’s kept tasteful. This isn’t a hentai magazine.

This is a great story and a great start to this series. The highlight for me was the monologue that Dredd himself gives on terrorism part-way through the tale. It’s reminiscent of his monologue during the America storyline. Admittedly, it’s not quite as fantastic or iconic as that one but it’s still a brilliant piece. The political slant might put some people off but Dredd comics are nothing if not political. If you enjoy seeing politics mixed with some nice action and some dark comedy then you should enjoy this.

Jaegir: Strigoi

Writer: Gordon Rennie

Artist: Simon Coleby

The second story in this comic is another police tale. This one focuses on Inspector Atalia Jaegir hunting down deserters believed to have witnessed a war atrocity. That’s her main focus anyway but she gets side-tracked a bit here. Atalia learns of a classmate infected with the Strigoi virus. This virus turns the person into a murderous monster intent on ending their own bloodline. After hearing about this situation she decides to put him out of his misery too before he kills his family.

It’s a decent enough story. You get a bit of action throughout and some insight into Atalia and her background. The artwork is nicely detailed and realistic given the sci-fi setting of the series. My main criticism is that as good as the story is, Jaegir isn’t a great fit for this issue. This Best of 2000AD series is meant to make the company’s work accessible to new readers. Jaegir is a spin-off of a series called Rogue Trooper so there’s a lot that new readers might struggle with. There’s slang used along with events and places referenced in the dialogue that don’t make much sense on their own. If you’re familiar with this series or Rogue Trooper then you should understand and enjoy this story. New readers will likely struggle with this one though.

The Ballad of Halo Jones

Writer: Alan Moore

Artist: Ian Gibson

The penultimate story in this issue is the beginning of Alan Moore’s classic, The Ballad of Halo Jones. The story revolves around our title character, a young woman bored of her daily life. Like a lot of young people she wants to leave her home and see what’s beyond it. Some may find this unoriginal but between Moore’s writing and the futuristic setting it’s quite a read. Moore really embraces that 70’s sci-fi feel and I think that’s what keeps this entertaining. There’s even a talking robot dog. These early stories focus on monotonous day-to-day events like shopping trips so that silly 70’s feel helps keep your attention.

We only get the first few segments of the series here but it’s easy enough to get new fans interested. Those new readers might struggle a little with some of the dialogue though. Moore invents a lot of slang for his vision of the future but it’s easy to get used to. This is by far the oldest story in this issue but Halo Jones definitely holds up. Hopefully its presence here will get some new fans curious to see how her life progresses from chapter to chapter.

Brink

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: I.N.J. Culbard

Brink is the final full story of this book. It’s another police story. Earth has been rendered uninhabitable and humanity has moved out into space stations. Our main characters, Bridget “Bridge” Kurtis and Carl “Brink” Brinkmann are police officers trying to keep things under control. On this occasion they’re investigating a murder where someone has drilled through a man’s head. Naturally, they try to find the culprits but their hunt leads to something more. I won’t say what since I don’t want to give away too much but it’s interesting. Abnett does a good job of creating a simple yet entertaining story. One of the things I loved was the small descriptions of numerous things and people throughout the story. It helps people who have never read Brink understand more of what’s going on. In a book like this that’s perfect. Culbard’s art is quite nice too.

Mr Meat Bingo’s Zombie Umbrella

Writer: Henry Flint

Artist: Henry Flint

To end this issue we have an entry from Tharg’s Alien Invasions. Tharg is the alien mascot of 2000AD and these are standalone short stories focused on alien invasions. This one shows the sole survivor of the human race describing how humanity was wiped out by alien life. I don’t want to go into too much detail on the story since it’s only a single page in length. The art is great though and the story itself is extremely creative in the way it handles human extinction. This is a fun little ending to this issue.

Overall, Best of 2000AD issue one was a fantastic read. This series looks like it’s going to be not only good on its own but a brilliant introduction to 2000AD for new fans. I think this series could really help popularise the company outside the UK after reading this. I still think Jaegir wasn’t a great choice for this series but aside from that all the stories fit here. They’re accessible and enjoyable with great art and I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in sci-fi or British comics.