Review: The 77

Review: The 77 

First up, full disclosure, I know a lot of the creators of The 77 as I'm part of the 1977-2000AD Facebook group admin and moderators team, as are they.  However, I will aim to be impartial  and give my honest opinion of the comic here.

Straight out of the gate, on opening the envelope containing my copy of The 77, I was impressed with its quality and size (that's what she said) a beautiful glossy cover featuring Bull a character from the story V gracing the front and beautiful artwork from Ian Gibson on the rear.  Here's an admission, when I was a kid I used to sniff a new comic or annual, weird I know but, there is just something about that new comic or book smell that still exudes excitement for the new thrills to be found inside.  Guess what, The 77 smells good.

There is so much in this 68 page anthology comic that I'm not going to mention every story, mostly because time is short as I'm writing while my baby is sleeping, but I'll give a spoiler free taste of a selection of the stories inside.  I'm not going to put pictures from the comics interior here as I don't want to ruin that new comic experience for anyone.

The opening story is Temporal Anarchy, a future shock type story from Alan Holloway set in Punk era Britain. The story is introduced by Philthy Luca, our narrator of the tale of a punk who gets more than he imagined when he uses a found safety pin as a new ear ring. Special mention here for Neil Sims art and character creation, absolutely superb stuff.

I enjoy a bit of fantasy fiction, cross that with a hint of sci-fi and you have Mal Earls Prodigal.  It really is his as he wrote, drew, coloured and lettered everything here.  I loved the look and the feel of the story and read it twice to take it in again.  I'm intrigued to see where we go next with this one, I would guess there will be no shortage of blood and gore as it's dripping off half the pages.

V, written by Steve Bull, art by Ade Huges and lettering by none other than 2000ADs Annie Parkhouse, has the feel of a Running Man and Gladiator mashup. There is a lot of intrigue and twists along the way that I don't want to spoil here. Enjoyed the retro black and white art from Ade here, nice to see it.

Dave Heeley has followed a 2000AD trait of predicting the future in Division 77.  The year is 2025 and the world is hit by a virus that causes the collapse of society and requires the 'help' of outside forces. An intriguing beginning to a future war story, I'm looking forward to seeing Division 77 in the thick of the action.

I have to give a special mention to Lew Stringers, Sgt Shouty of the Moon Force.  It was one page of warm and fuzzy memories of comics, from my childhood, like the Beano. In this time of lockdown I can totally feel the Sarges frustration at a lack of Hob-Nobs (when you read it you'll get it).

Throughout the rest of the comic we are treated to stories from 2000AD alumni John Charles, Kek W and also artist Steven Austin drawing a Baden James Mellonie story.  

Not everything hit a sweet spot, for me Penny Pentagram and Butch Yeehaw left me cold. Key Runners, written and drawn by a young creator, took me out of the reading experience as it felt out of place here.  I didn't enjoy 'The Tinkling Triangles' as much as I'd hoped as it was penned by the greatest and mightiest of Mighty Ones, Steve Macmanus. But I think that is because I haven't read his book, The Sheerglam Conspiracy, where the Tinkling Triangles are introduced. 

The baby is rousing so time to wrap this up, I am so impressed with The 77, this is no scratchy fanzine this is a professional superbly put together anthology that reflects the comics of our youth.  With its diversity of stories, The 77 is sure to please you on many levels, get on board now and you can say you were there from number one!

Here's where you can get hold of The 77:

https://www.facebook.com/The77Comic/

https://getmycomics.com/the77

PS: The baby approves

2000AD Podcasts

2000AD Podcasts 

My daily commute involves driving the A14, now if you've ever had the misfortune to drive on there recently you'll know how infuriating it can be.  I found that listening to my usual choice of music (Slipknot, Ministry, Beartooth) was not conducive to a stress free journey when stuck in traffic. So, looking for alternatives, I found a new saviour of my sanity the podcast.

It seems like there is a podcast by any celeb you care to mention and there is a wealth of dross out there. Equally there are some real gems to be found too, especially when it comes to geek culture and comics.  So I thought that I'd give a few recommendations of 2000AD podcasts that have kept me sane on my commute and other journeys.

 ECBT2000AD 

I'm sure many die hard fans have come across this 2000AD podcast at some point. The three regular hosts, Stephen Reid, John Burdis and Steven Ross, sometimes joined by Julius Howe or Dave Heeley, give us an insight into their week and often what's bugged them followed by a review of that weeks prog. 

You may not always agree with the lads and, in fairness, they often don't agree with each other.  But, what you will always get from these guys is an honest opinion unfettered by political correctness and any sycophancy, with laughs along the way.  This is a podcast done with a true love of the prog and its history, for fans and by fans.

The 2000AD Thrillcast 

This is the official 2000AD podcast and as such they have easy access to the creators behind the galaxys greatest comic.  I have heard some great interviews from some of the greats as they look back retrospectively on their work, along with newer creators giving insights into their processes.  Being an official podcast, as you might imagine, it is uncontroversial and has a bias to Rebellion and all their products. 

Mega City Book Club

Every two weeks Eamon Clarke and his podcast guest deep dive into a 2000AD related title. The titles can be pure 2000AD, sometimes other works by 2000AD creators (writing or art) or sometimes comics or graphic novels that are just brilliant pieces of work worthy of sharing.  

The guests range from comic fans to the creators themselves, what everyone has in common is a love for the medium and a desire to share that love.  I've even been lucky enough to be invited to chat with Eamonn on the podcast previously, when I got to talk about The Fall of Deadworld.  

The only thing is, if you listen, you should be ready to raid your bank account because the enthusiasm of Eamonn and his guests for the titles they talk about is contagious.  As a result I've had to search out and buy at least half a dozen titles to read for myself.  

Space Spinner 2000

Each week Conrad and Fox take a look at a months worth of progs starting at prog one and now including specials and annuals. This was the first American based podcast I'd listened to and it was great to hear the hosts discover the prog, marvel at the politically incorrect 1970s strips and try to understand both the dialogue and the adverts contained in the pages. All served as a great reminder of the early days of the prog.  Listen to this and you will want to start your own prog slog too.

Cursed Earth Radio

I'll be honest, I've not listened to a massive amount of the podcasts from these guys. The presenters are two American self confessed nerds who have loved the prog, but particularly Dredd, for years.  They originally started off just reviewing Dredd stories from the prog, meg and IDW but now look at the weekly Dredd and cast an eye over the rest of the prog.  Their enthusiasm and love for Dredd comes through each episode I've listened to.

NEW! Megaverse

This is hot of the press a brand new podcast out today, for us fans to dive into, reviewing the often overlooked Judge Dredd Megazine.  Here's the info:

Hosted by Julius Howe, Kieran Dempsey and Dave Heeley. It is was supposed to be a video podcast but in episode 1 Julius accidentally pressed record rather than play and record at the start, and so the video doesn't kick in until later in the show. 

Julius and Dave are 2000ad and comics lovers, Kieran only read comics as a kid. What will they all think when they jump into the middle of a load of stories in Judge Dredd Megazine? Do they even think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2bVPN9Obs

Review: Sentinel Issue 2: Scales of Justice

Sentinel Issue 2: Scales of Justice Review

Yesterday I was sent a preview copy of Sentinal issue 2 by artist Ed Doyle, one half of Sentinels creative team along with Alan Holloway who provides the story.  I'd not read issue 1 so had no preconceptions about what I was going to read. 

Straight out the gate there's a dragon on the front cover, I do love a good dragon.  First page opens to a gladiatorial arena, much like the Captain in Airplane I like Gladiator movies too.  So far two boxes ticked, next page it turns out that the Gladiators in this arena are dragons, take my money, I'm sold!

But this story isn't just a swords and sandals romp, even though I'd have been very happy with that, Alan Holloway takes us on a much darker journey.  He brings us a perfectly paced tale of Romans, slavery, lost lands, betrayal and retribution.  

Alan's story is brought to life by the striking black and white artwork of Ed Doyle, he manages to imbue the dragons with great character.  Each dragon has a look that makes them distinctive, from the rookie Gladiator to the battle hardened old fighter with broken horns and scars.  It's no mean feat to give so much variety and individual character to a bunch of dragons but Ed pulls it off.

This is a great one and done story, but I reckon that we could easily visit this world again, I would be very happy to do so and I'd highly recommend you Jump onboard too.  Here's a link to where you can grab your own copy.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sentinelcomic/sentinel-scales-of-justice-new-one-off-fantasy-comic?ref=user_menu

Marvels Captain America: Winter Soldier

Marvels Captain America: Winter Soldier

I've mentioned in a previous blog that I'm not a massive reader of Marvel comics.  I know a lot of the characters and I've seen all of the modern Marvel films, but never really got into the comics.  Perhaps it comes from childhood, there were never a great deal of Marvel comics available where I lived in the 70s. Plenty of the classic British comics that you'd expect, I think at one point I must have been getting five different comics a week.  The usual suspects, Beano, Dandy, Whizzer and Chips, Warlord, 2000AD, Nutty, Victor the list goes on. 

Because of the cartoon series on TV I loved Spiderman and I remember one Sunday, going for a walk with my dad and we went to a newsagent and I saw a Spiderman comic.  Being a generous dad (who didn't want to walk home with a moaning child) he brought me the comic. When I got home I sat and read it right away, sadly my biggest memory of this was disappointment. I was too used to the British anthologies, this was just one story, and it was a part of an ongoing story too.  My love affair with Marvel was over before it began

As the years went by my comic reading whittled down to 2000AD only until, at around 18 years old, I stopped reading comics altogether.  When I found my passion for comics reawakened again a few years ago, my first port of call was the galaxys greatest but then it expanded to a wider variety, even some Marvel titles. But those were limited to Deadpool (I'll admit purely due to the film) and the Garth Ennis run on Punisher Max.  The pure superhero genre or Avengers tie in stuff still wasn't on my radar.  

However, that was until a Lockdown Marvel giveaway on Comixology where they gave away a range of digital collected trades. Titles such as Civil War, Captain Marvel and the title that caught my eye Captain America: Winter Soldier.  Being a good Black Country lad I'm always

happy to find a bargain so I downloaded the lot.

Captain America the Winter Soldier is probably my favourite of the Marvel films, perhaps because it feels more like a stand alone thriller with added superhero elements, rather than a full on superhero movie. Needless to say this was the first of the trades which I read and I was pleasantly surprised.

Captain America: Winter Soldier Ultimate Collection shares little in common with the film from a story point of view but again it feels like a thriller.  The only backstory I know of Cap is from the films but, to read this, I don't think you'd even need that knowledge, this is a great standalone story arc. Flashbacks are used to fill in backstory and give a greater insight into the characters.  The writer, Ed Brubaker, keeps the story moving at a good pace throughout with a nice balance of action scenes and breaths for developing characters and the storyline.

 

The art duties are shared between Steve Epting, Michael Lark, John Paul Leon, Tom Palmer and Mike Perkins.  All involved give us some great art, with particularly good action scenes throughout. Often with the obligatory Marvel mass destruction of a city area and little regard for innocent civilian casualties while our heroes battle.

So, my first taste of a Classic Marvel Superhero was a success, perhaps in some part due to the fact that I have a knowledge and liking of Captain America from the movies.  But nonetheless I enjoyed the ride and I'm glad I gave it a chance. Now I just have to decide which of the freebie Marvels to read next.