3 out of 5

I’m a bit mixed on these now semi-regular crossover events. It… kind of brings the 2000 AD verse closer to a DC / Marvel vibe, which is troubling, but it’s also so insular and inside baseball that it’s hard to get worked up over so conspiracy theory that suggests the long running mags are turning into something they’re not. On the other hand, that insularness is a lot of fan-service fun, as is the break from regular programming to just try something new. But then overall, that “something new” begins to inevitably wear thin when we’ve done it before.

I do credit ringleader Kenneth Niemand with finding in-universe logic for this Rogue Trooper- / MC-verse crossover, using accepted characterizations of various baddies from each world (the traitor general; the Sov leader; etc.) to justify a universe conquering team-up. At the same time, as soon as we jump into alternate histories – this takes place during the Apocalypse War – it triggers the sense that nothing much matters, and then it becomes a race just to mess things up until the conclusion. When stories along this path are more isolated, I think that offers up a lot of narrative options; here, though, we went very linear – it’s a straight line from 2000 AD through the Meg – which theoretically makes the story stronger, but because of the nature of these events also makes it pretty predictable.

The Meg edges out the prog entry because it’s where the story really takes place, as the 2000 AD issue is essentially prologue – Venus Bluegenes getting the teams together. I did love the novelty of A. Niemand writing the entirety of the Meg, and B. the restructuring of the Meg such that all the reprints / text stuff were in the back half of the book, behind the story, but… I ultimately was enjoying the non-crossover stuff more, which also made the Meg more worthwhile.

Great art across the board, and flipping back to the 2000 AD issue, the positive side about the limitation of the story structure is that it prevented writers like Milligan from getting too indulgent on a Bad Company return – it’s all down to business.

Absolutely killer art all around. (Backed up, yet again, by a criticism: some wildly changing character models for those who’ve often been associated with one artist – like Atalia Jaegir; you can’t even tell it’s her until she’s named in some instances.)

If I had to choose one option, I’d continue with these 2000 AD / Meg events, just for how they provide opportunities for thinking outside the box, but there’s maybe a more casual, playful version of this – like the first outing – that works more consistently.