ABC Warriors: The Meknificent Seven Graphic Novel

2000 AD is fast becoming my favorite foreign publisher, and for surprising reasons. While I enjoy Judge Dredd, my personal favorite hero is surely Johnny Alpha, AKA Strontium Dog. Nostalgia aside, it s a complete wondrous book of compelling artwork and true storytelling.

2000 AD? They're actually quite the publisher from over the seas, bringing in talents like Alan Moore and Garth Ennis (who published some of their early works with the British publisher). Also, some guy named Judge Dredd was created here.

But ABC Warriors? The cover of Meknificient Seven is promising: it shows a big robot you may remember appearing in the flawed Judge Dredd film starring Sylvester Stallone. If only the artwork on the outside looked as cool on the inside. But this is classic 1980s 2000 AD stuff.

The story? It seems dated, with ideas on mecha and robots often used in films and anime. We have a team of odd robots, built like video game world would build them, complete with defenses against Atomic, Bacterial, and Chemical attack. There is the war vet Hammerstein, the amusing named character Joe Pineapple, and many more robotic oddities.

I am not a big fan of Pat Mills storytelling, especially his early work with 2000 AD. In Slaine he had this cool "Conan-like" idea, but twisted. Slaine seems to be one of his most popular series, and is also proof that writers, especially comic writers, sometimes take time to evolve. Pat Mills later works are often incredible, but many of his early work is quite meandering and slow. Mills was instrumental in editing many of the top 2000 AD titles many of us know and love as well, since he worked as an editor at the British publisher.

One character says that, "The enemy is still the Vulgars, but now we're winning, because we're better than them." The simple storytelling is mutated by the early British super hero comic art, looking somewhat like those old Transformer comics you bought because Optimus Prime looked cool. Well, the cover to this one looked cool too, but once you open it The Meknificent Seven looks quite dated and more nostalgic than cool.

Pat Mulls creates an intense world, where robots do all the heavy lifting. Mills using some science fiction elements to add some color to the story, like having machines able to hear human thoughts.

Well, the true test of 2000 AD stories in this era isn't about creating Eisner stories, but how each one shows of a flood of action packed, bloody artwork, and a ton of crazy ideas. Science fiction is strong in ABC Warriors, and with some flashy artwork done, and interesting ideas on the future by Pat Mills, it might win you over. Still, this is a pass unless you got into the later ABC Warriors stories.