Tyranny Rex

There I was moaning about the lack of 2000 AD reprints and I completely forgot that while trades of the more obscure stuff don't exist, you can still sample a selection of the best bits in 2000AD Extreme.

The stories in the latest issue are all a bit late for my liking, but it's worth getting the magazine for The Dead which features some classic Belardinelli art, and "Danger! Genius at Work!" an early Grant Morrison story from prog 479.

I'm less convinced by the other featured reprint: Tyranny Rex, which to be honest is a bit of a brain fart from the rear end of the 80's.

Others no doubt cherish her memory, but I think Tyranny Rex is a pooey character. A messy cross between Halo Jones and Babarella she's a "Sexpot" artist with a dinosaur tail who pays for her paintbrushes through various acts of future crime. Here she is knocking out the artist formerly known as Prince...


I admit that's sort of cool and to be fair the first three parts which revolve around Tyranny Rex's illegal cloning of 80's musicians are actually quite entertaining. There are even flashes of weird brilliance like this...


You can't go wrong with goo covered clones of Mel & Kim, Holly Johnson, Bono and Grace Jones, but once Steve Dillon's art ends the whole thing starts to fall apart and ploughing through it reminded me why I stopped buying 2000 AD in the first place.

Seriously I don't mind nonsensical comics, but they have to look nice and this one just doesn't...



Not a patch on the Steve Dillon stuff eh? I know Will Simpson is a really good artist, but his work on Tyranny Rex isn't much different to that of Earthlet A James, and he got a Rigelian hotshot for his troubles.

It's still worth a look for curiosity value, but I can't see myself tracking down any of Tyranny's other adventures.