Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our “2000 AD” weekly review column! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at Rebellion/2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment.
Before we get into this week’s Thrills, we here at Multiver-City One would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of longtime “2000 AD” artist Edmund Bagwell, who passed away yesterday from pancreatic cancer at the all-too-young age of 50. You can find out more about Bagwell here.
Judge Dredd: Sons of Booth, Part 2
Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Nick Dyer (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Matiasevich: ‘Sons of Booth’ part two shows us a Kelvin Sprayy transformed from skeptic to full-on SoB Kool-Aid drinker. Armed with hours of vid-ucation, some technical know-how, and a willingness to do his part and more for cause and country, Kelvin seeks to catapult him and his brothers from small-time to the big leagues.
Nick Dyer continues to press all the right buttons with his art on this strip. Clear storytelling is a must when you only get five or six pages per installment, and he pulls that off like a veteran art droid. But on top of that, what else do we look for in our Dredd artists? Character designs and settings are important, and something Dyer continues to do well. Texture is something more essential some weeks than others, but for these grittier stories set primarily in the citi-blocs, it really helps make it clear this future has a history. A few extra lines here and there can do a whole lot to sell that idea, and Dyer does more with less.
Two other things he and colorist Chris Blythe did this week that I liked: the Judge helmets in the Booth vid are era-appropriate to when he would have been impeached. At the time, the Justice Department wasn’t the megalithic entity it is today, and their uniform was much more one-step-above-riot-gear than the sculpted, calculated, fascistic garb they wear today (or tomorrow, if you like). Nice touch, that.
The other bit, which I’m sure was mentioned in Eglinton’s script but still needed to be pulled off by the art team, was the decor change in Sprayy’s bedroom. Starting to watch the SoB propaganda vids on page 1, he’s flanked by Mega-City One posters and Justice Department figurines. But the last page, all that has been replaced by SoB paraphernalia. Setting emphasizing and reinforcing character is always the sign of a creative team working to a common purpose.
As for last week’s claim from one of the SoB members that Booth was still alive? I think it’s highly unlikely we’ll see the actual return of Robert L. Booth, especially with Eglinton having Sprayy consider Booth’s actual survival as almost beside the point. But it is worth noting that the propaganda vid’s claim this week that Booth had been released from cryosleep and was living out in the Cursed Earth is actually true. As we see in the ‘Origins’ arc, Booth’s cryotube did malfunction and he did start building up a “New Mutant Army” out in the Cursed Earth to take out the Justice Department and reclaim his presidency. Obviously that did not happen, and in the interest of avoiding spoilers (even for a 10-year-old story), let me just say that he’s probably not showing up in the flesh any time soon.
Although, when it comes to Tharg and surprises, one never really knows…
Defoe: Diehards, Part 6
Credits: Pat Mills (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Ryan Perry: This is the second week in a row where the story starts off without giving the reader any clue as to where or when the story takes place. There’s even a cue later that says “Now,” which means the events in the beginning of the book must’ve taken place at another time. The story again covers the ground of our three possible suspects, while only truly developing one of those suspects. It also introduces a new suspect who it pretty blatantly makes out to be a possible suspect. I don’t know whether it’s a really heavy handed misdirect or a really heavy handed clue as to who it is. This means though that in its heavy handedness it actually has me interested in who it might be. I’m not sure, even though I feel like I should be. So while Pat Mills continually gives a frustrating read, it is one that keeps you coming back.
Continued belowI don’t know how much I can say about the art that I haven’t said before. It’s still the same style that works better in darkness and action scenes. I’d say that the art doesn’t really help the issue of not knowing when and where the beginning of the issue takes place. There is no distinct artistic difference between time periods or tone. This is where the lack of color isn’t the best feature, as color is usually used to differentiate time. There isn’t anything really special about the art in this issue.
Brink: Skeleton Life, Part 9
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), INJ Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Alice W. Castle: Aw beans, now this is more like it! I am 100% back on board with “Brink: Skeleton Life” with this chapter. I know, I know, I’ve whinged and moaned about how slow it’s been and how the five page chapters have felt like the story’s been curtailed by the format, but this chapter not only pushes the story forward in a big way, but is a reminder of how these short chapters can work effectively.
Let’s skip to the good bit and work backwards, shall we? The big thing about this chapter is the discovery of what is possibly a sect hiding out in Galina Habitat in the bowels of the still-in-construction space station. That, in and of itself, is a big moment for the story and is hopefully a turning point in Kurtis’s investigation. However, what makes this chapter so effective is Dan Abnett and INJ Culbard’s build-up to that moment. The first two pages are fairly dialogue heavy as Gibrani confronts Kurtis on the possible Sect symbols and vocabulary found on the walls of the habitat. It doubles as a way of showing that the character is frightened by the possibility of these sects hiding out on the habitat while also giving a fresher on what the sects are to readers.
Then, Culbard takes over in the storytelling as Kurtis and Gibrani delve deeper in the construction zone. The use of perspective, of closed off angles that focus of Gibrani and Kurtis that hide most of the area to the reader, as well as the dark lighting with only a limited palette of blues and browns and blacks begin to ratchet up the tension. As they begin to suspect they’re not alone, Abnett’s dialogue becomes more sparse and Culbard’s visual storytelling comes to the fore. As they delve deeper into the ship, Culbard introduces warmer lighting gradually until the final pages has the discovery of a group of people living in the habitat. It’s a release of the building tension that makes for a hell of a last page.
I cannot wait to see where this story goes next.
Scarlet Traces: Cold War – Book Two, Part 9
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), D’Israeli (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Rowan Grover: Part 9 is an interesting exploration of trust between Ahron and Iykarus as well as an intense self-destruct type scene. You can feel the tension and pressure dripping from every panel, especially as Ahron’s head is invaded by telepathic attacks. The pacing is a little off here compared to recent chapters, however. It takes most of the chapter for the two protagonists to actually escape, but a growth of connection between the two characters is shown as they’re depicted looking out for each other, especially as Iykarus tries to persuade Ahron from following Sohna’s instructions.
D’Israeli works with the H.G. Wells aesthetic well here, with fleshy looking pipes during the opening pages and that orange/green colour scheme for the outer warfare at the end. Combined with Edginton’s dialogue, we get pulpy SciFi setting with English Spy flavoured wit rapped over the top, as the bleeding eyed android refers to a dead body as having ‘Terminal Obsolescence’. I do love D’Israeli’s facial work as always, which peaks in this issue when Ahron and Iykarus visually are astounded that Sohna’s escape method worked.
Unfortunately this still remains one of the slower chapters in the overarching story, but it’s still intriguing to deconstruct and wonder at these subtleties Edginton, D’Israeli and Parkhouse use. Hopefully we’ll follow the usual patterns and be given an especially killer chapter next week, but this still remains a solid entry in a great psuedo War of the Worlds sequel.
Continued belowCursed: The Fall of Deadworld, Part 9
Credits: Kek-W (script), Dave Kendall (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: Coming out of the dire events of last weeks invasion and growing body count Kek-W and Dave Kendall worked some kind of magic with this week as I’m left with a sense of hope. Perhaps I was too influenced by my memories of the original “Judge Death” story from John Wagner and Brian Bolland to initially give into the chosen one prophecy that has been woven into the story about Jess Childs till now. Prophecy is a big part of this weeks chapter. From one Prophet we get a humorously drug induced reminder that Jess Childs has a significant part to play opposing Sidney De’Ath and from one of the possessed in the opening monologue we get a dismal view of the future of Deadworld. That is not to say that things are at all going well.
Dave Kendall tells a very well paced and structured story of the resistance Turner and his irregulars mount after their initial surprise. He does a marvelous job of showing the resistance having to fight off not only Psirens’ forces but also those possessed by the death fluids. The stars of many of the panels are the silent glowing skull faced Deadheads that steal the scenes and the focus where they appear. As often has been the case the art shines when Mr Kendall gets to show off the otherworldly wether it be the appearances of dark spirits of in this strip the singular appearance of a spirit of hope.
We still know where things are headed but for once I was able to see beyond that and was with the characters as they are still fighting to survive as they fight against a bleakness they don’t know is on the horizon.
That’s gonna do it for us this week! “2000 AD” Prog 2031 is on sale this week and available from:
- The 2000 AD Newsstand app for iPad and iPhone,
- The 2000 AD app for Android devices,
- 2000ADonline.com in print or DRM-free PDF and CBZ formats, and
- Finer comic shops everywhere
So as Tharg the Mighty himself would say, “Splundig vur thrigg!”
