2 out of 5

Yeesh, these guys.  Milligan and McCarthy are one of the classic duos.  Their anarchic work on Strange Days and Paradax sent who-could-predict ripples of influence out into the creative ether, and with Pete’s penchant for affectedly tossed-off, pun-heavy writing and McCarthy’s homemade niche of Rorschach pop-culture psychedelica, whenever the combo would pair up – which was often – it was easy to “feel” like you were getting that same anarchy.  But: ‘Twas generally a lie.  This might make Milligan ironically happy, since much of his identity-obsessed writing has been concerned with chasing idealized ghosts of the past, and it used to make comic-reading me happy as well, but I think because I chanced across the best versions of that theme in Pete’s oeuvre first.  When you spread out and observe it in the various books and crannies of his career, it’s not as fresh, and his lampshading, lapsed-punk voice is especially questionable when he tries to make a point.

Sooner or Later was undeniably an original 2000 AD inclusion, if only for appearing as singles on the back cover, a spot which had before then never been occupied by a strip.  And Millie, in seeming full-on nonsense mode plus McCarthy’s (with, here and there, Riot) eye-popping surreal colors just scream for attention.  I can imagine week-to-week the strip being a welcome madcap conclusion.  But when you string it together it becomes less wild; Milligan keeps trying to make a point, and clumped behind his dumb puns and clumsy metaphors, the tone ends up feeling at odds with itself.  It started earnestly enough, with a typical, regular length strip featuring self-obsessed layabout (Milligan loves self-obsessed layabouts) Swifty trying to get a job, and being told – taken from a real statement in response to the UK’s then-employment crisis – to “get on yer bike.” Instead, Swifty’s gets swept into he future as part of a hip future adoption program, only to give the finger to that, and be left jobless in the 31st century as well.  It’s pure Milligan “we’re all fukked so you can fuck right off” silliness, the kind of stuff that fueled Johnny Nemo, and drawn with, of course, imaginative energy from McCarthy.  But right after that we go to the one-pagers, and god bless Pete for trying to expand on his humorous concept to wrap in commentary on society at large, and frustrated at being unable to eloquently or cleverly do so, proceeds to lampshade and awful pun his way about.  Again, week to week, I can see how this would work for a yuk.  Altogether, it’s visually fascinating but a bit obnoxious story-wise.

Even worse is the return to the tale with Jamie Hewlett on ‘Swifty’s Return,’ which has our lead doing just that to a party in the 31st century and then episodic jumping to various other time periods.  This reads like a contractual return – Milligan hardly seems interested in writing it, slipping in and out of 4th wall hijinks to force his way through and, again, trying to shove in some lazy commentary along the way that almost offends for being short-sighted.  Hewlett tries to bring the zany, but there’s not a lot of character or story to work with, so the tale ends up reading as an embarrassment.

Also included are some Pete and Brendan Future Shocks, 2 of which were already includes in the All-Star collection.  Oh well.