Get your head out of the appendix, man

Small confession. Some of these 'Soft bodies' scans are not presented in the order they originally appeared. Given that I'm focussing on how confusing that series was, this might seem unfair. Be assured - it makes no difference whatsoever...

So, when we left, our new friends Fervent and Lobe were hiding inside a clone body that they had been pumping for information. I think Tyranny was in there with them, but she seems to have found alternative arrangements to escape.


This is a classic 2000 AD panel. However confusing and pretentious T. Rex could be, it certainly fits right into its surroundings.

After a bit more pumping, the clone finally yields some answers.

When I say 'answers', there's nothing exactly explicit in this confession. Extrapolating, and taking things as literally as possible (often a safe bet with 2000 A.D.), here's an idea about what the hell this clone is describing:

Various people have bought/stolen/kidnapped Tyranny's art ( which I may remind you are in-fact plastic-y clone bodies that she has 'sculpted'). Some people decided to eat these works, possibly to destroy them, but perhaps out of a desire to attempt cannibalism without having to eat an actual human, but reasoning that these clones probably taste the same. (It is of course not unusual for art lovers in any age to decide to try such a thing, doubly so in the future).

What they didn't anticipate is that these plastic clone-creations are still morphically able to control themselves, even after having been cut up into little pieces. This enterprising clone decided to rearrange himself into Donny Osmond (Tyranny's clones have a penchant for 20th Century popsters), and promptly caused an upset stomach to his would-be digesters.

The ensuing question - was this an act of art, terrorism, or art-terrorism? Does Tyranny care about her clones, or does she just not want her art to be abused? H'mmm.

So, any more answers forthcoming?




Well, we are still waiting for evil villain guy to stumble upon Fervent, Lobe and Tyranny, aren't we. Tyranny doesn't seem to concerned. She seems to be talking about the possible identity of said villains, when something odd happens - a voice from outside the panel...

Yes, at last, the mystery is revealed. This isn't as such an episode from Tyranny's life, it's an extract from a film about said episode. It's deliberately full of weird jumps and narrative non-sequitors because the avant-garde filmmaker is going for a mood piece, not a straight action adventure. Or something. As plot twists go, it has more than little of 'and then I woke up' about it. But somehow it manages to be quite endearing at the same time.

It is soon revealed that no-one really knows much about Tyranny Rex, except that she ends up as a nun. To my mind, this is yet another parallel with Halo Jones. A much celebrated independent woman of the future, who has led several lives that others only speculate on. Of course, it could just be symptomatic of Smith getting bored of his creation and deciding to hide her away for a bit. (She would return to 2000 AD some four or five years later).

Anyway, there you have it - the most confusing series to come out of the galaxy's greatest comic - although there's definitely a case for Danzig's Inferno...