5 out of 5

Is it perfect?  Naw, there’re some average thrills in here, but Tharg has offered up such a satisfying brew of one-shots of classics and fresh starts and the thank-god end to the stale Bad Company that the XMas bumper for 2015 is an excellent palate cleanser from the last couple months‘ of ongoings.

First to the extras you don’t regularly see in the weekly progs: a wraparound cover by Ian Kennedy, which I sadly missed out on because, interestingly, my shop carried the alternate ‘previews exclusive’ Bisley cover (not that that’s SO horrible); a text story, normally something you see in the Meg, which is a satisfying Dredd’s the teeth-gritting cheer-bringer winter crime tale, featuring the awesome one-line closer: “Save it for someone who cares, punk;” and a painted 2-page spread of tons of 2000 AD characters from across the eras, which might be an artist mash-up but otherwise looks like Ian Gibson to me.  It also seems like a couple of the thrills (ABC Warriors, especially) were allotted extra pages.

For the contents: we’ve recently had some wonderful one-shot Dredds, and ‘Melt,’ Rob Williams Enceladus followup featuring snowman robbers, is on-par, also featuring an amazing one-line closer that underlines both the cutting humor and potential depth of the Dredd strips.  An Absalom epilogue to the strip’s last appearance by the recently-regular team of Rennie and Trevallion; this was an excellent inclusion for what might be seen as a jumping on issue, even if its only a one-shot, as it gives you the curmudgeonly and kind sides to Harry Absalom while also giving a taste of the strip’s demon-huntings.  I’m also glad, story-wise, that this happened, since the last ongoing felt cut short.  As a similar “and then…,” Abnett and Simon Davis show us the new world of Sinister Dexter, recreated after their killing of multiversal Moses Tanenbaum.  You could say it’s standard SinDex run and gun and grins stuff, which ain’t a bad thing, but it’s also just a fun winking way to put things back to status quo.  There’s also a confusing Future Shocks which is apparently a followup on a FS from frickin’ 30 years ago – hence the confusion – that does feel like class 2000 AD, but only starts to resolve into something sensible for new readers in the last few panels.

For the wrap-ups and starts, Bad Company wheezes into its predictable non-ending so Milligan can pick up the crew again if he so desires.  I guess it’s possible to get nostalgia thrills outta the strip, but it ran its course of political /social commentary ideas after its first arc, and Rufus Dayglo’s art ended up feeling a lot less soulful than Ewins and the original team, so this was a no-go retread for me.  New Kingdom!  Gene.  Them.  Not much to go on here, but doesn’t prevent me from getting insanely excited.  The Order returns, which also has me excited, but the first entry seemingly starts way afield of where we began, picking up in the 16th century with none of the first series’ characters in sight, to my awareness.  I hope we get some context (beyond mentions of the time worm) soon enough.  ABC Warriors, which reads of typical Mills overkill, but Clayton Crain’s insane art and the promise of Mills in full-on hijinx mode is something to look forward to.  And lastly, Strontium Dog, which has Johnny Alpha getting wrapped up in another heist.  It’s a pretty typical setup, without much flair at this point, but, like these other strips, holds promise: it’s Wagner and Ezquerra, so at their worst, it’s still pretty dang good.

SO MUCH CONTENT, Y’ALL.  …Okay, so it’s like 12 American bucks for all of that content, but you shut your mouth and buy it.