Welcome back everyone! We’ve got a new “Judge Dredd” thriller kicking off this week, as well as the continuing domestic adventures of “Sinister Dexter.” Additionally, “Kingmaker,” “The Order” and “Kingdom” all break double-digits as they each enter their tenth installments. Let’s get right to it!
THIS WEEK IN 2000 AD
NEW THRILL!
Judge Dredd: Thick Skin, Part 1
Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Boo Cook (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Mike Romeo: A wealthy philanthropist and a talk show host both melt on live television, which earns them the attention of Judge Dredd himself.
After his stint drawing the off-planet “Blunt,” artist Boo Cook returns to “Judge Dredd” proper. I love everything about Cook’s style, from his design work to color choices. He’s the type of artist that has found a way to color in a way that is immediately recognizable, making his palettes inseperable from his work’s identity. His utilization of secondary colors gives his version of this world a sickly sweetness to it that compliments the line work nicely. Cook’s interpretation of Mega-City One has a roundedness to it, almost as if the entire cityscape bubbled up from the earth. This extends to the artist’s prop design as well, as can be seen in Dredd’s Lawmaster. It doesn’t look like Dredd is sitting on the bike so much as he is in it. He’s fully reclined with his feet mounted up at the same level as his waist, looking almost as if the great machine beneath him was fitted solely for his use.
Eglington’s story seems straight ahead at the start, harkening back to the sort of thinking that makes Judge Dredd so poignant. The crux of the story seems to be planted firmly in one of our most persistent societal foibles, just extended a thousand years into the future. I won’t spoil it for you, as it’s the final page reveal, but I will say that it looks to be an interesting avenue to explore in this future world.
CONTINUING IN PROG 2020
Sinister Dexter: Electric Landlady, Part 2
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Steve Yeowell (art), John Charles (color), Simon Bowland (letters)
Ryan Perry: I just noticed, but isn’t Finnigan kind of a stereotypical name for our Irish looking lead? Also, remember last week when I said Dan Abnett was doing good and laying off the made-up language? I take it back. It’s in extra-full force in this issue, but it’s made downright confusing by the mixing of made up words and real-life idioms. Abnett does manage to make the reader laugh this issue in a singular moment of genuine humor but that’s about the only saving grace for this story that just is not that good. This instillation is full of exposition which tells us things we already know. We’re retold who our main characters are, what their profession is, what the setting is and more in the place of enjoyable banter or simply new information in our exposition. Ramone Dexter also seems to develop character traits out of thin air. For example, last issue he was fine discussing how hot their robot A.I. was with his partner, yet in this issue he makes a random comment about how their situation is misogynistic and perpetuating the patriarchy. This is not to say that either opinion is right or wrong, simply that it’s wrong for a character to change without the reader being knowledgeable of the development or without their being any development. Finnigan Sinister on the other hand seems to be a very well-defined character, but he’s also a very boring character. He has an outdated look and sense of humor, and his perpetual cussing can’t even come across as real because the words are all made up.
Steve Yeowell’s art is the same as its been throughout the rest of this book: good enough to be enjoyable but not quite enough to be the saving grace for Abnett’s writing. I will say this issue does give Yeowell room to shine at what he does best, action and movement. The entire first half of the issue is a fight scene which hides the bland settings he draws and brings extra detail, through shadow and motion lines, to his characters. These sections also distract from Yeowell’s disparate proportions, such as when a lamp is drawn smaller than Dexter’s bicep but you don’t really notice it because you’re paying attention to the action. Speaking of Dexter, I’m not sure what ethnicity he is anymore. He seemed up to this point to be the stereotypical African American half of the Lethal Weapon-buddy cop archetype, however, Yeowell seems to be drawing him with the hair of an Arabian man and no definable African American features. I don’t really know if this ethnic ambiguity is a good or bad thing, or if I’m simply just seeing things.
Continued belowKingmaker, Part 10
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
MR: Dragons versus spaceships!
Good golly, Edginton laid out some big ideas for Gallagher to draw. there’s the aforementioned deacons and spaceships, but we’ve also got explosions, weather magic, and all the complicated hand motions that comics readers have come to expect of their sorcerers. The strip continues to look fantastic, but I was a little disappointed in the amount of digital effects at play here. They’re not awful, just a little too obvious against Gallagher’s lively line style. So the sequence with the cloud golem was a little rough, but it came in the middle of an otherwise stellar looking strip.
The strip is clearly ramping up to a conclusion, and I’m excited to see where it’s all going!
The Order: Wyrm War, Part 10
Credits: Kek-W (script), John Burns (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Liam Sunner: Setting the stage for the beginning of the end, Kek-W, slows the pace of the strip down fromthe hectic and bombastic assault of the last few strips. Rather than just stopping the pace dead, this interlude works well for two reasons, firstly the narrative requires some sort of re-adjustment of the situation for the characters, what they have just been through and what they will next face. As such, the slower conversational scene is expertly used as it doesn’t feel like a forced stop in the overall flow. Secondly, from a construction perspective, this change of pace allows the story to get all the piece set up for the climax rather than an abrupt andjarring deus ex machina or last minute exposition dump to explain why a character is present in the finale.
From the opening panel, John Burns is giving the readers a visual treat, from formerly golden city that is now a smoke-filled mess to the depths of the moon and beyond, the art is beautiful to take in. As this is a slow-paced strip, Burns can spend more time on close ups, really showing the emotion. The real stand out piece is how he was able to capture the sorrow and regret in the face of an iron mask. Burns achieves this through a brilliant use of posture, panel angles, and colour tone. Burns continues to make great use of colour in the last few pages, highlighting the depth of the unknown and the confined space of the iron john unit effortless.
Kingdom: As it is in Heaven, Part 10
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Richard Elson (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Bobby D.: Richard Elson’s art continues to impress me with his character design and detail. The line art for Pause is still the most impressive example in my opinion. Gene himself is drawn with a tense look. Despite his large build, he sneaks around the facility with precaution. As Gene the Hackman makes his way further into the human controlled zones, the environment becomes much more complex. Most the detail is used to draw the reader’s attention to Gene’s current position in each panel he appears in.
Speaking of the panel layout, while it’s still pretty much standard, there are some interesting ways that Elson places certain ones throughout the strip. Every overlapping panel has a thick black border and leads into events that are happening simultaneously or right after one another. The layout returns to normal near the end of the issue to slow down the pace of the strip and build up to a surprise twist at the end.
Dan Abnett sets a tense mood by having Pause be Gene’s guide via earpiece only to have their communication cut off once the masters catch on to them; Gene goes into stealth mode and taps into his inner Solid Snake as Pause directs him to the location of vital data files they will need to complete their mission. At the end of the issue, the strip sets up for a possible direct confrontation between Gene, the masters and a third party. It shows off a lot more of the master’s environment and seems like it will set up more exploration of Kingdom’s lore. While not as exciting or action packed as past installments, this did get me excited for what is to follow.
Continued belowThat’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” is sale today and available digitally worldwide via:
- The 2000AD app for Apple iOS,
- The 2000AD app for Android devices,
- The 2000AD app for Windows Mobile
- 2000ADonline.com in DRM-free PDF and CBZ formats.
They are available in print today from:
- 2000ADonline.com and
- Finer UK comic shops throughout the UK.
“2000AD” and “Judge Dredd Megazine” are available in print in North America one month after UK release from your local comic shop.
So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
