Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our monthly look at the “Judge Dredd Megazine!” Let’s get right to it.
Judge Dredd: Destiny’s Child
Credits: Kenneth Niemand (Script), Simon Coleby (Art), Len O’Grady (Colours), Annie Parkhouse (Letters)
Christopher Egan: This month’s “Judge Dredd” is both sad and darkly funny. Following a woman named Apocalypta Freely, who believes she has a special connection with the titular Judge, keeps finding ways to get in touch with him, and ending up in the Cubes multiple times after each encounter.
Niemand’s writing is full or desperation and a bleak sense of humor that steadily and purposefully spirals downward. It’s a silly plot that feels familiar, but still keeps things interesting and thought provoking to the very last panel.
Coleby’s artwork is stunning. Like the writing, if captures an all-encompassing style of Judge Dredd and Mega City One, feeling right at home in any era of the comics. O’Grady’s colours are spot on, accentuating the artwork’s finest details and adding to the bleak tone of it all. It’s gritty and textured.
The dark humor, satirical plotting, and abrupt violence are all things true to Dredd, and this strip is a great one-off that really works and achieves everything it set out to do. A quick, funny, and deeply sad read.
Megatropolis, Part Seven
Credits: Kenneth Niemand (script), Dave Taylor (art), Jim Campbell(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: “Megatropolis” enters the end game with its seventh entry. It isn’t the most purposive set of pages in this story, but they are still well done and set the table nicely. This strip also does something the previous ones haven’t: show us daylight in Megatropolis. This strip has been a rain-soaked noir from the start, lit with pale artificial lights.
Jara is off hunting a lead on Fargo’s son, taking her outside the city to the Spoils. As far as the Cursed Earth go this doesn’t look so bad. It’s dustbowl for miles. Whoever did the placement for the series title did a wonderful job putting the ‘M’ right where Taylor’s vanishing point is which heightens the monotonous feeling of the first panel. Niemand’s composition is helped by a subtle play of pale browns slowly receding into what can only be described as California Smog color. The upper half of the page is setup to contrast with the bottom half, wherein Jara’s partner Rico takes a meeting with Madam Cassandra.
The decor in Cassandra’s apartment, with all of its maroons and oranges heightens the blinding light that is shining through the apartment windows. As Cassandra gets closer and closer to the glass it threatens to overwrite all detail in the line work, enveloping her in an angelic halo effect to a degree. This creates very bright spots on the page that could’ve muddled the image if everything around it wasn’t built to help turn it down. The playful shadowing across Rico’s face doesn’t go the full Double Indemnity, but it acts as an effective noir homage that also potentially represents Rico’s Manichean view of morality.
All of that bright, natural, light is contrasted with Jara’s sequence and the pale green light of medical equipment. Around the edges Niemand and Taylor have hinted at the steampunk body horror potential of “Megatropolis” and finally pay it off with what Jara discovers. The way Taylor balances the light in the image of who she discovers makes it an effective moment.
The final three pages is where the party begins and sets up the final batch of strips. Creating life in a party sequence is hard, despite copious skylights and detailed crowdwork it reads as lifeless. It’s not the worst thing, but that quality just made me focus on Dave Taylor is drawing Richard Nixon and Glenn Close as Dredd adjacent characters.
There’s a lot to appreciate technically in this strip even if the narrative isn’t the most outwardly exciting.
Devlin Waugh: A Question of Trust, Part 1
Credits: Aleš Kot (script), Mike Dowling (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: Not many stories begin with a dinner party involving a dildo infused with a demon, but that’s how ‘A Question of Trust’ kicks off Devlin Waugh’s return to the pages of the Megazine. The dildemon (© 2021, Salvatore), who calls himself Titvillius, is decked out in a tuxedo, replete with wine glass, charming Devlin and co. with tales of hell and its inhabitants. However, he may not be what he says, and Devlin is attempting to suss out just who this creature is.
Continued belowMike Dowling’s art does an incredible balancing act between presenting classy settings – dinner parties, art galleries – and having an anatomically correct sex toy just chilling out. There are occasional trips to hell, which Dowling manages to make both aesthetically fit in with the tone of the strip and also frightening and dark. It’s a real balancing act, but Downling and Aleš Kot make it work. Kot, one of the finest writers in all of comics, continues to impress as he manages to sell out neither tone, silly nor scary, throughout, and adds genuine mystery and intrigue to the strip.
Even though “Titvillius” has shed his dildo, he still looks to be attempting to screw Devlin and co. somehow. I can’t wait to find out how.
The Returners: Heartswood Part 7
Credits: Si Spencer (script), Nicolo Assirelli (art), Eva de la Cruz (Simon Bowland (letters)
Matthew Blair: “The Returners: Heartswood Part 7” opens with the group attempting to escape their house of horrors, which is currently under the control of a lost and desperate spirit. While the group may be violent and dysfunctional, they must find a way to use the power of love and forgiveness to save the day and themselves.
“The Returners: Heartswood” Part 7 is a short part of the story and writer Si Spencer wastes very little time getting to the point. Since the characters and conflict have already been established it’s time for the emotional payoff to the whole situation and Spencer does a very good job giving both the main characters and the ghosts that have trapped them a solid emotional payoff. Everyone gets a cathartic moment of forgiveness and realization that is very sweet, touching, and calming. Of course, the story isn’t over but it was a nice moment while it lasted.
The art of “The Returners: Heartswood” Part 7 continues to be excellent with Nicolo Assirelli’s pencils allowing for a ton of great facial expressions and really enhancing the emotional core of the story. We get to see the two spirits reunited for the first time in centuries as their bodies are briefly returned to their mortal forms before they move on into the afterlife. But the real star of the show once again is de la Cruz’s colors which give the whole story a massive epic feel with sprawling oranges, purples, and beautiful flame effects.
“The Returners: Heartswood” Part 7 is a sweet, touching, and emotional ending to the saga of two ghosts finally reunited and who find peace in the afterlife. Unfortunately, things are not over for the group of main characters, who are cast into parts unknown.
The Dark Judges: Deliverance, Part Seven
Credits: David Hine (script), Nick Percival (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Rowan Grover: “Deliverance” seems to still be idling towards its climax which is something of a shame given the nature of its monthly release. This chapter in particular seems to be a little more focused on delivering big, fan service-type moments, especially with finally seeing the Judges reborn in new bodies. It’s a cathartic and exciting moment for sure but in this context doesn’t have any real narrative weight because the Judges essentially tell Kalula to come back later as they’re not quite ready yet. The fear is a little bit more palpable when we hit the scene with the Wild Kids, especially as they start to realize how out of their depth they are even with an otherworldly foreseeing god in tow. Another interesting part is seeing the unwilling participants come to grips with their fate in the Death cult, especially since so far it’s seemed like everyone’s been really down with Judge Death’s ideals to this point. What’s sadly missing in this chapter, however, is the glib sense of humor that worked so well in previous progs, and you can feel its absence slow the pace down here.
Percival plays really nicely with lighting in this chapter. There’s some great work with this on the first page when Kalula opens the door to the Judges’ room. A bright, orange light trickles out almost as if to suggest something holy and glorious is behind it, making the reveal that it’s actually the grim and disfigured bodies of the Dark Judges really make an impact. Even in the Wild Kids scene, lighting is used well as it gets sucked slowly from being vibrant to a colder, desaturated light as we realize that Rosco isn’t willing to help them. Percival has a lot of fun with the Judge Whisper scene also, posing the newly blooming Judge like a messianic figure, only for them to merely state they were out here because they were thirsty. The final sequence seems to be gearing up to a climax next prog hopefully because Percival renders this all in a burning, apocalyptic red tinge.
“Deliverance” has some interesting plot developments and character moments but ultimately feels like it’s slowed down significantly in the latest installment. Let’s hope it can pick it back up for the finale.
