2000 AD: The Ultimate Collection #127. Originally serialised in 2000 AD Progs 928-937, 940-949 & 991-999.

It’s February 1995. Finn’s second life after hopping from the pages of Crisis to 2000 AD wraps up in this second collection. Finn: Volume One risked just being “Sláine in modern times”, but managed to find a bit more to say than just that. Cab driver turned witch and eco-terrorist Finn has some more mystical battles to fight before wrapping up in time for Prog’s 1000th in this second and final Volume.

Mid-90s 2000 AD may not always be characterised by high-quality comics storytelling, but it is at least filled with wild swings, bizarre choices, and odd detours. Finn is an interesting example of this, spinning off from Third World War in another publication entirely, picking up well-explored themes in another series by the same writer, and filling the pages with a lots of New Age and social conspiracy hangups from the 1980s.

Interventions (1995) focuses on the overall story of the alien Newts, their human agents the Shining Ones, and humanity’s place in cosmic millennia-long alien battles. At 20 episodes it’s a proper epic, taking in the Moon, alien starships, and the return of Eve from Third World War as a main character (ish). On one level it’s energetic nonsense, smashing together a whole bunch of mystical stuff (including dragons and unicorns!) and stringing it out over five months of publication. But writer Pat Mills does definitely know how to write to the Prog’s format and it is propulsive storytelling.

Season of the Witch (1996) acts as an epilogue of sort to Interventions, wrapping up a few of the loose ends while also setting Finn up for different kinds of stories. It’s got a very basic checklist narrative (Finn has to find four bad guys to represent the elements and ritually sacrifice them), but does get into Finn’s character and world a bit. It’s not new, even by this stage of his writing for 2000 AD, but Mills’s willingness to play with ambiguity and shades of grey works well here in this slightly slower paced tale.

Looked at all together I’d say this collection is a bit of a step up from the first, with a clearer and more straightforward narrative anchoring all the out-there craziness. Mills is also a little more pointed with his satire, with lizards-footed Freemariners performing mad handshakes while secretly manipulating the world’s contact with aliens. He always tends towards portraying nature-based beliefs in a positive light, but even here there’s some tongue-in-cheek approaches and undercutting (high priestess Mandy is the main exemplar of this, often proving laid back meta observations on the story).

Paul Staples takes over on art duties for the whole collection, and very much fits into the mould of 90s painted works. As a main character Finn has a great look, with the animal-influenced gask mask fusing technology and nature, and Staples does a good job with the action scenes as Finn takes down various humans and aliens. The more emotional character work isn’t quite as good for me, and it’s clear that Staples is still getting to grips with the painted style. I would have loved to see this in the black and white linework that he preferred, according to the behind the scenes material.

I wasn’t quite sure what I expected from Finn, but it was enjoyable enough without really getting into classic territory – either for Pat Mills or 2000 AD. The idea of an eco-terrorist playing around in morally dubious violence has some legs, but the stories gathered across the two collections don’t really do enough with it. But it has a bit more going for it than a lot of other strips coming out at this time, and has enough bizarre moments and visuals to make a readthrough good fun.

Next time: All the Dogs have their Days in Strontium Dogs: Volume Three.