Comics

2000 AD #1770-1771

Prog.1771 was a (slightly) bumper-length Prog to commemorate 2000 AD's 35th anniversary. What this means in practice is two variant covers, slightly better paper than normal, a free poster, lots of ads for future strips, and two more Thrills than usual -- all for a slightly higher price than your regular issue. Well, it is only a half decade...

• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: Eve of Destruction, Parts 6-7 by John Wagner & Ben Willsher
• Grey Area The Do & Personal Space, Part One by Dan Abnett & Lee Carter
• Nikolai Dante The Wedding of Jena Makarov, Parts 8-9 by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser
• Absalom Ghosts of London, Parts Six - Seven by Gordon Rennie & Tiernen Trevallion
• Strontium Dog The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha, Chapter Two: The Project, Parts Eight - Nine by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra & Hector Ezquerra
• What If...? Gunnar Survived the Quartz Zone Massacre by Andy Diggle & Colin Wilson
• What If...? The Visible Man Returned to Earth by Pat Mills & Henry Flint

Grey Area could be great if Abnett didn't remind readers of the entire premise every other instalment. It grates, especially when reading them in such close proximity. I know elsewhere I moan about my lack of understanding when it comes to long-running stories, but they're things that have returned from months/years away only to pick up where they left off -- Grey Area has been running weekly for a couple of months at this point, we don't need telling what it's about again.

As, to all intents and purposes, a new fan, the two What Ifs make barely any sense. Nice art by Colin Wilson though. Conversely, I'm beginning to get a handle on Nikolai Dante and enjoying it -- makes me want to find the whole thing and read it through. Maybe they'll reprint it all in collections at some point (they have as it's gone along, but I think some of the early ones are out of print).