THE COMPLETE FUTURE SHOCKS VOLUME 2 / AUTHOR: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: REBCA / RELEASE DATE: 8TH AUGUST
If you ever wanted to write comic books when you were younger, and you lived in the UK, you probably wanted to write for 2000AD. The weekly action comic, which began in the punk-infused summer of 1977, has brought hundreds of characters to life and given work to thousands of British writers and artists, including some who went on to do very big things. For most of those guys (and a few girls), the first steps along this career path was to turn in a Future Shock. These one, two or three-page one-offs were designed to test a writer’s mettle, and the twist ending demanded by these very ‘Twilight Zone in miniature’ thrillers was the make or break moment for many a promising auteur.
This collection, the second in Rebellion’s chronological trawl through the 2000AD archives, features early outings from the likes of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), Mick McMahon (Slaine) and Garry Leach (Marvelman), as well as some beautiful line work by industry veterans Eric Bradbury, Jesus Redondo and Ron Smith. Alongside these titans of the comic world are dozens of names you likely won’t recognise forty years later and, while there are more than a few for whom that is no surprise, the work of a couple – Alan Hebden, for one – may make you wish that history had turned out differently.
This being an anthology, the quality and tone is variable, and tropes do begin to appear as you read through. It is probably best enjoyed as a tome to dip in and out of, to let the impact – or sometimes absolute lack of impact – of the twist settle in. Still, the revolution of writers and artists, with some more time-tested hands turning in the odd story alongside those trying out, keeps the book interesting if you do decide to attack it all in one go.
The inclusion of some extras from the yearly hardback annuals brings a couple of early Alan Grant pieces, and particular highlights found within volume two include Steve Moore’s The Masks of Arazzor and Alan Moore’s The Regrettable Ruse of Rocket Redglare. Fans of the latter are well-served with the addition of some Time Twisters and the four Abelard Snazz tales from 1981-82.
2000AD is still being published, forty two years after its first issue, and still occasionally features a Future Shock amongst its pages. There are many more routes for promising writers to take to gain a foothold in the comics world these days, but this is a reminder of a more exciting (better?) time in British comics. Come for Alan Moore, stay for the rest of the talent, and watch out for that twist.
