Publisher: 2000 AD
Writers: Rob Williams, Ian Edginton, Gordon Rennie & Emmy Beeby, T C Eglington
Artists: Henry Flint, D’Israeli, Eoin Coveney, Karl Richardson, Simon Coleby,
Colourists: Len O’Grady
Release date: UK 19 August 2015/North America 19 September 2015
Price: £2.45/$2.99
2000 AD
I love the smell of 2000 AD in the morning. You know that smell, acing every story smell, that smell of ………..talent. Nothing in the comic book world smells as good as 2000 AD.
Halfway through 2000 AD Prog 1944 the cover story The Haunting of Hex House Part 1: The Alienist by Gordon Rennie and Emmy Beeby pops up and you will be thinking: ‘If only Downton Abbey had been like this. Nestled in an England of 1908, populated with the old and traitorous, the fat and traitorous, the middle-aged and traitorous and the just plain traitorous, who find themselves dealing with ectoplasmic manifestations and ladies who have a melt-down. And all the characters seem to inhabit an undiscovered film set furnished by Hammer Film Productions.
I, personally, dislike the lazy criticism of too parochial, too provincial, if I made the same claim about superheroes, well all those fanboys and girls would give my arse a good kicking. The black and white artwork from Eoin Coveney matches, and syncs with the prose with such perfection it would be easier to believe everything in The Haunting of Hex House Part 1: The Alienist came from just one mind and not three.
Helium from Ian Edginton and D’Israeli continues to read and look as if it has somehow been plucked from the pages of a copy of the French 1970s magazine Métal hurlant. Although Helium is not as ersatz as that might suggest. The characterisation is rich and advanced to the point where the usual stereotypes are nowhere to be seen.
The rest of 2000 AD Prog 1944 remains a quality hard to find in single-issue comic books from anywhere else in the world. Jaegir: Tartarus from Gordon Rennie and Simon Bowland continues to impress. The same can also be said for Outlier: Dark Symmetries by TC Eglington & Karl Richardson.
Oh, and the other guy, well, you know prep, he is good too. Drokk!
Reviewer: Steve Hooker