Free Comic Friday: The Best Comic Ever!!

2000 A.D. Regened: The Best Comic Ever!!
Scripts: Ramzee, Roger Langridge, Alex De Campi
Art: Korinna Mei Veropoulou, Brett Parson, Eduardo Ocana
Letters: James Taylor, Simon Bowland, Ellie De Ville
Cover: Neil Googe and Gary Caldwell
Released: May 6, 2023

It’s been a minute since I posted a #FreeComicFriday piece, so I figured a good way to return would be reading and writing about The Best Comic Ever.

Objectively, that is the title of this year’s 2000 A.D. Free Comic Book Day offering. Subjectively, I don't feel like it lives up to that ambitious title, but how does it fare as a free comic book?

The first story – by Ramzee, Veropoulou and Taylor – features the Harlem Heroes, an aeroball team in Mega City One, which even someone who has watched more Judge Dredd movies than he has read Judge Dredd comics* recognizes as the stomping grounds of one Judge Dredd. I never really thought about what sports would look like in Mega City One, but I did not expect it, or much of anything there, to be an all-ages friendly comedy.

The intro page does a decent job of setting the scene, but I am still a little confused. Is aeroball a professional sport? Are players like Gem Giant, who, on the cover looks more like a futuristic pope than a futuristic athlete, paid to play? Based on the offer from coach Bernie to buy them breakfast if they complete the rigorous training course known as the Crucible, I’m thinking maybe not?

The six-page tale shows the seven-member team working its way through various perils to earn that breakfast. I didn't get much of a feel for how aeroball works or who these characters are beyond Gem, with the hat he seems to have swiped from his holiness or possibly Immortus.** But I would be open to reading more about this team and their sport.

The second story – by Langridge, Parson and Bowland – had the most intriguing premise for me: Pandora Perfect is a thief in the future (maybe in Mega City One?). To complete her escape from prison, she has to steal the universal key to her explosive ankle monitor from the inventor’s home. She takes the place of his children’s nanny in an outfit that quite intentionally calls to mind one Mary Poppins. Instead of an umbrella, her main accessory is the infinity bag, an endless repository of tech, weapons and other stolen items. Robot servant Gort is her Dick Van Dyke/Lin-Manuel Miranda.***

The kids aren't fooled, recognizing her from the news but offering to help with her heist to get back at their parents for always leaving them behind when they go out.

It’s a fun twist on a familiar tale that manages to feel lighthearted in spite of the potentially dark subject matter. This eight-page entry had the feel of an origin story and enticed me enough to order the trade from my library. I’m curious to see what other trouble Pandora gets into.

The final entry is from a series called Full Tilt Boogie. By De Campi, Ocana and De Ville, it features a bounty hunter named Tee working alongside her grandmother and a cat that’s not Goose from the Captain Marvel movies but could pass for a flerken.

The story opens as Tee springs a young prince from a prison planet, but their escape goes awry, causing the group to crash on a mysterious planet. They're saved from the pursuing guards by a mysterious… thing? being? named Horus and a brutal, caped swordswoman.

It's offbeat enough but in a familiar way. It really didn't grab me until the final panel when Horus says, “Now, we take over the universe, yes?” So I ordered that one from the library too.

All three stories are part of Regened, which is apparently an all-ages imprint for what I always assumed was the more mature-skewing 2000 A.D. To be fair, this may be the first 2000 A.D. Book I've read. The line also includes a series called Cadet Dredd, with the odd-but-intriguing premise of young Judge Dredd adventures. I couldn't find any more of those collections through my library system, including any featuring the Harlem Heroes, but I was curious enough to look. And if a Free Comic Book Day issue makes someone want to read more, then I consider it a successful one, even if it's it not actually the best comic book ever.

* - That would be me.

** - Obligatory Marvel reference? Check.

*** - I’ve seen fewer movies featuring Mary Poppins than I have with Judge Dredd.