Bravo Tharg!

Ah cross-over events. A marketing ploy to lure in the readers with an enormous story contrived to be filled with as many characters as they can, or a regular reader delight when all the pieces come together and the parts make a spectacular whole? Obviously publishers would like it to be something between the two but with all the hints, sneak peeks, leaks, banners and (most dreaded of all) tie-ins it's difficult not to be a touch cynical. Last year 2000AD treated regular readers to a proper chill down the spine moment when it suddenly became apparent that those apparently fragmented, tonally different stories were actually starting to build a bigger picture. I know our Jason came flying down from the comic department like Chazz Palminteri at the end of Usual Suspects when he started seeing the links. Obviously the fact that 2000AD features several stories each week gives it an in-built advantage in terms of crossing over between stories but it was still a masterclass in slow burn and planning. ComicsAlliance have run a lovely piece explaining what went down and singing 2000AD's praise (see here).