2000AD - ABC Warriors: The Black Hole

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For other recent 2000AD storytimes, see
Dreams of Deadworld and The Fall of Deadworld: >>54051703 >>54077830
Sinister Dexter: >>54133945 >>54142109

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A short history lesson to get new readers up to speed.

The Black Hole Bypass is the means by which humans acheieve intersteller travel. It relies on arcane machinery built into the former Emperor's tomb, and takes the form of a series of tubes spreading out in an inter-dimensional web.

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Who could that mysterious biker lurking in the shadows be?

The art for this story was provided by a young Simon Bisley, who would go on carve out a very profitable niche for himself as one of the most influential comics artists of the 90s. Bisley at this time had almost no experience working in comics, most of his work having come from heavy metal album covers and a t-shirt design for Kerrang.

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Fun fact: While he was designing and sculpting the Vindicare Assassin for Games Workshop, Jes Goodwin had a poster of super sniper Joe Pineapples in his room. The poster was very likely based on the bottom left panel

Rumour has it that back in the day, long before the move to Nottingham and the company became an international concern, the Games Workshop and 2000AD staff all drank in the same local pub.

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Oh dear.

This reveal makes much less sense if you've been following along from the start. Deadlock is an ancient robot knight and Khaos sorcerer who long predates the Termite Empire and the rise of Torquemada. After a lifetime of study he was able to summon and become one with Nemesis, >>54200781, which is how the Warlock was able to convince the Warriors to join him in the first place - they're supposedly the same person!

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Blackblood (the one eyed robot in the sweet hat) losing his leg becomes slightly important later.

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However, while he was sill a student, he sent a painting of a menacing robot holding a baby to the 2000AD office, where it was seen by Pat Mills. Mills was so impressed that it inspired him to relaunch the ABC Warriors strip as distinct from Nemesis the Warlock, with Bisley as artist, in 1987. The painting became the basis for this scene.

Bisley would work with Mills again on the seminal Slaine story The Horned God. Bisley also painted the intercompany crossover Judge Dredd and Batman, Judgement on Gotham.

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Sorry that last paragraph should link up to >>54248669. I forgot to rewrite it properly.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkysjcs5vFU

Joe Pineapple a cute.

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>>54248953
He is, fabulously so he said knowingly. Bisley actually redesigned him for the Black Hole, as previously he tended to have a much more contemporary, real-world sniper soldier style design.

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Thank you also for commenting >>54248953, I can't bump the thread on my own and its always nice to know people are reading along.

An artist going by the name SMS (or "Smuzz" alternates art duties with Simon Bisley on The Black Hole. Where Bisley has a flowing, exaggerated style that shows the influence of Kevin O'Neil and a love of the grotesque, SMS is more restrained and semi-realistic.

While this was one of the only things SMS did for 2000AD, he has done quite a bit of illustration work over the years, including some for Games Workshop
http://www.smuzz.org.uk/

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This is a callback to Nemesis >>54214308

Finally! I was getting worried.

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>>54249161
Sorry, had some real life issues. Still, only missed a day!

Deadlock's referring to chakras here.

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>>54248749
I think I've seen that pose somewhere before... Can't put my finger on it, though.

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>And felt Deadlock’s Ace of Swords between my ribs before.
This is a reference to the first ABC Warriors story featuring Deadlock, which ends with Hammerstein recruiting the wizard after allowing himself through by ten magical swords.

>>54249191
I know, there's just... something about it.

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>>54249205
>recruiting the wizard after allowing himself TO BE RUN through by ten magical swords.

I'm clearly going blind, I thought I'd proofread that.

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Yep, that's yer basic Christ-like imagery, right down to the crown of thorns.

This era was revisited in the recent-ish series Savage.

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The Marvin Award is based on the costume for Marvin the Paranoid Android from the 1981 BBC adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

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Back to the Biz for this bit.

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>>54249113
I understood that reference...

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End of Part One

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http://www.mediafire.com/file/sl4z9dksb3m61b6/01_-_The_A.B.C._Warriors_-_The_Black_Hole_%28Part_1%29.cbr

I think this might have been the painting Bisley sent Mills, or at least another version of it.>>54248867

>>54249298
Do not cuck the robot.

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PART TWO

In an earlier thread, one anon mentioned how well the ABC Warriors would suit "a DM of the Rings" style rewrite as a group of bickering players. The next part has a very obvious PC Plan.

>>54249883
Worked though!

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More backstory and worldbuilding.

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"Agartha" is a legendary city at the earth's core which is frequently confused with Shamballa. Its a popular subject in occultism and esotericism.

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Deadlock is riffing on the biblical Book of Revelation, 18:10.

It may not have been immediately clear, but while story started in the era of Nemesis the Warlock and Torquemada's empire, but in their travels through the time wastes the warriors have gone back to an era long before Torquemada's rise in order to fix the Black Hole generator. This page shows us what Terra looked like before their society collapsed to what we see in the first few books of Nemesis, where a mere look outside your window can drive you completely insane.

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Anti-nuclear protests by groups like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) were very common in the 1980s. The arguments on this page would have been very familiar to a contemporary reader.

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Revelation 9:11

>9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

>7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

>>54248602
>>54248611
And this kids is what Games Workshop would 'borrow' for background to their sci-fi game, a game that eventually became known as Warhammer 40.000.

>>54248611
Speaking of, when did old Torq take over? I mean, in the very fest installment, he was just the chief of tube police. I don't remember any reference of him also being the supreme ruler of Termight.

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Oh God, more of the Word According to Pat Mills.

So Pat Mills writes another series called Slaine, which is about a celtic barbarian and champion of the Earth Goddess. Slaine's tribe, the Sessair, worship the Earth/Moon Goddess Danu and the Sun God Lug. In a story which would be published a few years after this one Danu crowned Slaine as her Horned God, the incarnation of Lug, her husband and the Male Principle in general. Put simplistically in Millsworld theology the male is strong and brutish, a doer and destroyer, and must be matched by the gentler, kinder female principle. When either one goes out of whack the universe as a whole suffers.

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See the horned face on the centre slab? That's clearly intended to be the Horned God's helmet in its future incarnation of the Earth/Worm Goddess's champion. Another 90s Mills series, Finn, was revealed to be about a contemporary champion of the Earth Goddess / eco-terrorist / alien-hunter, and he too had a similar kind of helmet. Throughout all this there's a remarkably consistent line of neo-pagan feminist weirdness, so its clearly deliberate. It is, however, always matched with good old-fashioned ultraviolence so that's alright then.

The Tau symbol on Torquemada and his Terminators gets explained as developing from this. A lot of people have pointed out that its very similar to the Eldar Craftworld Biel Tan's logo, which simply replaces the dot for a heart. Its possible that they're both riffing off the same occult/esoteric symbol, but I've never been able to pin it down exactly. Its worth mentioning, however, that Biel Tan's symbol has always been said to mean "rebirth of ancient days", which would tie in quite well to the way its presented here.

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>>54250345
Its never explicitly shown, but there's bits and pieces like this page. I suspect Tomas got retconned into being supreme overlord of earth once Nemesis spun off into its own series after Comic Rock died a death and the audience really responded to him and his catchphrase. The Black Hole is the first time that any of the Pre-Termite history of the setting is shown, and Nemesis had been running for at least seven years at this point.

Its a bit like the Star Wars prequels to me - creating the backstory to the events we've already seen seems to telescope how long it should have taken for the society to change so dramatically. That said, we know Torq had access to the Exosyst and body hopping technology from an early point, so its quite possible he's been 'alive' for a lot longer than the average Termite.

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I love me some Escher stairs I do.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTVOz-RnUAw

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>Inspired by Genius...
>Ruined by Morons.

>>54250624
>be firm
>be strong
>belong

Man loves his catchphrases...

I never remembered to ask, was the Arch-Bigot a parody of someone? His speech seemed like it was referencing something.

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>>54250762
Not 100% sure, but probably the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISPGFn4yzpY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqcFfr5gdxo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aWfeZ4xRhc

>>54250707
Perfect.

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Just spotted something in >>54250808
Deadlock's book, DOOM! is written by one P. Mills. And apparently one of the Knights Martial is a mouseketeer.

Its the little jokes I like in the Bisley bits of Black Hole.

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gurps-vs-freeform-rp.jpg

If you look closely Deadlock is so beyond rules that he can't even be confined by the borders of the panels.

>>54250747
Oh god, it's TOO REAL! MAKE IT STOP!

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Joe has... issues.

Any guesses to his musical weapon of choice? Other than Weapon of Choice, I mean.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl8OUZX-7KA

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptA39Awo0FE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJY8jJkDoMY

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Gasp! Can Hammerstein reach his love in time?

I sense PC plans incoming

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itAOGRiYRLI

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJxCdh1Ps48

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Revelation 6:15
>The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains

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>The memories are mostly references to the original ABC Warrior stories.

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Oh Blackblood, you're the best.

If you look carefully Joe is reading another Mills comic, Marshal Law, about a violent superhero hunter.

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THE ABC WARRIORS WILL RETURN IN...

THE KHRONICLES OF KHAOS!

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(but probably not today)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/cbm8y78vgwkju2u/02_-_The_A.B.C._Warriors_-_The_Black_Hole_%28Part_2%29.cbr

>>54251122
Blackblood a best.

>>54249260
Savage is that rarest of creatures, a sequel thats better than it's original

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Simon Pegg's character in Spaced is a comic artist named Tim Bisley. Just one of several 2000ad references in the show.
Also when we see samples of Tim's art it is by different 2000ad artist Boo Cook

>>54249072
>The Monad
A monster made from Leibniz's philosophy is a horrifying thing indeed.

>>54249099
You're heading for /d/-territory Hammerstein.

>>54249158
>That possessed bio-demon Hammerstein

Fucking hell, this is why I love 2000AD.

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>>54249205
>This is a reference to the first ABC Warriors story featuring Deadlock, which ends with Hammerstein recruiting the wizard after allowing himself through by ten magical swords.

Reminds me of Odin in Scandinavian Myth; Hung himself dead from a tree for nine days with a spear in his side to acquire the secret runes of magic, empowering him to WAKE HIMSELF UP FROM THE DEAD and pull the spear out.

I could imagine Pat Mills reading a shit load of myths while getting himself high enough to write this script.

>>54249293
>The Marvin Award is based on the costume for Marvin the Paranoid Android from the 1981 BBC adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Funny, my first thought was the fetich from the Tintin comic 'The Broken Ear'.

>>54250555
I'm really digging your commentary OP, learning a lot I did not know.

>>54255288
Upon his shoulders perch two ravens, Hugin and Munin.
They circle the earth by day seeing all, at night they report to him the world's tidings.
He wears a golden helmet and a golden ring, at his side sit two wolves.
His weapons a magic sword and a spear called Gungnir, they are carved with runes.
His eight legged horse Sleipnir carries him over land, sea and air,
the bringer of the valiant dead, the einherjar,
from the battlefield across the rainbow bridge to Valhalla.

For a single drink of the enchanted water he paid with one eye, he was granted supreme wisdom.
He is the god of poetry, sorcery, and death.
Wounded, pierced by a spear he hung upside down for nine days.
Fasting and agony he made of himself a sacrifice to himself.
Given no bread nor mead he looked down, and with a loud cry fell screaming from the world tree.
In a flash of insight the secret magic of the runes was revealed to him.
He took up the runes and mastered them, eighteen powerful charms for protection,
success in battle, lovemaking, healing and the power to bring back the dead.

His sacred blood mixed with black wind and rain wept down from the world tree deep into the earth.
He commanded the earth to crack open and to spew forth the strongest of the strong!

On this day he did bestow unto the world the sons of Odin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTbRqCdbps

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Hi everyone, thank you for keeping the thread alive.

>>54254791
The Black Hole has finished for now, and the Khronicles of Khaos was some way off. However, as I am a forward thinking soul, I have already uploaded it for your perusal.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/7144y3d8g3l9s/Book_06_-_Khronicles_of_Khaos

It's possibly the first ABC Warriors story I ever read and still one of my favourites.

Khaos willing I'll be able to do at least one more book of Nemesis the Warlock (Purity's Story) tonight, which then only leaves two major books of the saga to go - the one in the alternate 1980s and the last one on Termite. Nearly there!

>>54254857
The first book, 'Taking Liberties', is fantastic stuff but I was less struck by later outings, particularly once it gets stuck into the Pat Mills Chronology Project.

>>54255186
Its pages like that which make me question why they never brought back SMS more often. The transformation looks so painful but its still recognisably Hammerstein.

>>54255288
In the original story its based more on the Tarot symbolism Deadlock is closely associated with, but Mills definitely has read widely on a huge variety of different myths and legends alongside occult traditions. Slaine in particular has a lot of Celtic and early Anglo-Saxon mythology, and I think there was some Norse stuff in a later book.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2zs67wgzsz3ts5x/06_-_The_A.B.C._Warriors_-_The_Order_of_Knights_Martial.cbr

>>54255385
It does rather look like the idol, doesn't it? Its definitely Marvin though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0yBf1JKTw8

>>54255693
Thanks! Hopefully I'm getting the balance right between being informative and not being too distracting, and the odd joke doesn't fall too flat.

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As promised, Nemesis the Warlock Book Eight: Purity's Story is starting here
>>54258293
>>54258293
>>54258293

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Bedtime bump.

>>54250808
>judging all of humanity
>sentencing all of humanity to death
So, he'd get along great with Judge Death, then?

>>54250831
Wait is Khaos behind Dark judges as well?