Comic Review - 2000AD Action Special

I thought long and hard about actually getting this, considering I've seen it described as an atrocity. But a cheap copy came up, and I thought "How bad can it be?". One question that always springs to mind when you read these things is why exactly writers bother bringing back characters if they're going to totally change them... In this way, this thing's a decade ahead of its' time, foreshadowing the damage Marvel and others would do to their characters around the turn of the 21st Century. 


The best episode is probably the 'Cursitor Doom' story. It's a little predictable, but true to what I've read of the original, and it is pretty neat on the first read as all the pieces slot into place. Doom is an interesting character and the contemporary framing against a television charlatan works really well. The Cursitor is kept as he was in the 1970s, and the result is a great story, with competent, if unspectacular, art by Jim Blaikie.

The 'Steel Claw' episode pours on the "adult" and "cynical" portions in great big ladles, but it's actually a pretty logical update, with a world-weary Louis Crandell growing into his job as a government assassin. It's not exactly faithful per se, but it fits in with the shades of grey shown in Crandell's character. Sean Phillips' painted art is beautiful too and perfectly fits the mood of the piece.

Another logical extrapolation is the 'Kelly's Eye' strip, which sees Tim under experimentation in a future, totalitarian Britain (the character would spin off into 2000AD's 'Universal Soldier' strip). While the eye of Zoltec is now part of Tim this makes sense, as does it lending him longevity, and it means an end to all those bloody stories where Kelly's placed in danger because the Eye he insists on wearing on a thin chain around his neck threatens to fall off. It's a bit bland and some sections don't make much sense (the superhuman nurses are a bit out of nowhere) but it hangs together just about. The premise also roughly pre-empts Albion (superhero captured so the government can exploit his powers).

2000AD's own Doctor Sin makes an appearance too. The strip's basically a cross between Doctor Strange and Hammer horror (you'll have to forgive me, I haven't read any of his other adventures) and it's fun in a hammy Hammer way. John Burns' artwork is simply beautiful, and Smith's script is full of wonderfully over-the-top language. The best bit is the Doctor is plainly out of his tree, and with his enemy basically being a possessed piece of dough it's difficult to see whether this one is tongue in cheek or not. Either way, it's diverting.

The Mytek strip is about... Oh, God only knows. I've only read a couple of 'Mytek the Mighty' strips, but this is a mess. I think it's something about Apartheid and colonialism and some toss with some Oppressive Bastards using a Mytek knockoff to keep The Man in power, but thankfully they shoot a monkey and this brings back the real Mytek, who wins. It's an absolute bloody mess, and why Si Spencer couldn't make up his own character for this piece of nonsense I don't know, as it certainly doesn't have much to do with the original Mytek.

The same can be said for Mark Millar's defiling of The Spider. This portrays the character as an insane cannibal who keeps the bodies of his victims in an underground station. As obviously signposted by the character's previous appearances (just like Jack Hawksmoor's God-complex was evident in early Authority, and didn't at come from out of Millar's arse, nosiree). Still, top marks for not just combining the Joker and Kid Miracleman. Oh, he did (most notably, the sequence where the Spider kills his psychiatrist, which is a straight rip-off - sorry, homage - to Kid Miracleman killing the nurse Annie in Miracleman #14). It's a total bloody mess, raping the character and not even getting a good story out of it. Adding to the feel that this is a hotchpotch of several other comics with the gore turned up, Higgins & Hine conspire to make the Spider look just like Namor. A horrible piece of work.
So this leaves us with four good strips, and two bad ones. But, to be honest, the good strips aren't that good - some originals will be much more satisfying and the Cursitor Doom strip especially while interesting is nothing spectacular. The new Steel Claw lacks substance, feeling like a preview of a series which never happened, while the Kelly's Eye story doesn't tempt me into tracking down Universal Soldier. Doctor Sin is fairly disposable, too. And the two bad stories? They're really, really bad, too bad to even be considered as a curiosity.