Multiver-City One: Judge Dredd Megazine 435 – Waugh in Hell!

Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our monthly look at the “Judge Dredd Megazine!” Let’s get right to it.

Cover by Alex Roland

Christopher Egan: This month’s chapter really hits the ground running, or rolling, on Dredd’s Lawmaster. Chapter 3 has McConville going light on the script, saving the dialogue for only necessary tidbits or important information pertaining to the overall plot. We are in full on high speed chase and explosive shootout territory here. It’s fun and exciting. It’s a great release for the built up tension of Dredd’s detective work and espionage scenes of the the last two chapters. While they dabbled in action sequences, this one gives us all what we needed.

Staz Johnson brings his style to the story. His work embraces a modern energy, but his style and details firmly embrace the work of the 80s and 90s. It’s a fun look that fully comes out in this month’s issue. Paired with Pippa Bowland’s stunning colors, that modern energy really comes through. For a chapter that ranges from fun and exciting to dark and bleak, their work really shines to convey these various emotions.

A fully engaging chapter that will appeal to fans of mysteries, conspiracies, and shoot ’em up action. There is very little to not like about this latest strip. It’s a combination of everything that’s made “Judge Dredd” such a long standing character.

Diamond Dogs II: Part 5
Credits: James Peaty(script), Warren Pleese (art), Simon Bowland (letters)

Matthew Blair:There are some pretty big revelations and moments in “Diamond Dogs II: Part 5”, and they all happen very quickly and under a great amount of stress and gunfire.

“Diamond Dogs II: Part 5” is a story with a lot of payoff and writer James Peaty does a very good job of creating a lot of intense action, plenty of life or death stakes, and enough twists and turns to keep the most jaded reader engaged. The main character’s entire world and reason for being has come crashing down around her, and while Peaty does allow for a brief moment of grief, he does a very good job writing a character who is able to piece things together and discover what’s really going on in a way that makes sense and doesn’t drag. A lot of previous storytelling choices make sense now and it will be very interesting to see where Peaty takes the story next.

Warren Pleese’s artwork continues to be a bit of a drag in “Diamond Dogs II: Part 5”, but while many of the original complaints exist about the quality of the artwork, it does a very good job of making the story clear and understandable. While it’s probably too late for the background and environment to become more exciting, Pleese does a very good job of making the action clear and understandable. The reader has a very good idea of what is going on, how the characters feel about current developments, and where everyone is in relation to each other. There are some moments where the action feels a bit stiff, but it happens so quickly that it’s easy to overlook.

“Diamond Dogs II: Part 5” is a solid action set piece with some great character work and one hell of a revelation at the end, and while certain details in the artwork are lacking, it is still an interesting story.

Brian Salvatore: This alternate Dredd-verse is a lot of fun to play around in but, as is always true with Elseworlds-styl stories, it’s always more fun when a familiar face shows up. The end of this strip introduces a very familiar visitor to “Angelic,” and despite it just being a one panel cameo for now, it instantly elevates the strip to something more.

That’s not to say that the story was suffering on its own. On the contrary, this story is a quiet, intense Western tale that is a nice change of pace from the other stories that populate the Megazine. This is part of a long line of such tales, in comics and otherwise, but that doesn’t lessen its impact. Helping its cause its Lee Carter’s art, which walks a tightrope between presenting a world that is recognizable as close to our own and one that has mutated creations walking among us. Carter’s characters all have humanity, even if they are stretched and smudged just enough to be disturbing. Whether it is “Two Nose Charlie” with his titular additional body part, or the slightly off hair and fashion styles, nothing seems as it should, but it’s not so far from normalcy that it loses its discomfort.

It would be understandable if some felt that Gordon Rennie’s script is taking too much time, but that seems like an example of Rennie playing with the form and genre. A super fast paced Western isn’t really a Western, after all.

Michael Mazzacane: The fourth part of ‘Amazonia’ sees Si Spencer and Nicolo Assirelli play on reader expectations, we all know something bad is going to happen in a twist. We just don’t know what. With those expectations clearly set it is the creative team’s job to lul the reader into a false sense of security, maybe the twist won’t happen until the next Megazine. Building that sense of security is a hard task in 9 pages and they mostly succeed at it.

First Spencer plays on the reader’s understanding of supposedly “savage” indigenous people by showing them to be the opposite. The strip starts with our gang tied up like a recently caught game, which is revealed to be the simple way they transported them. Spencer plays on some stereotypes by having the main villager speak in broken English and barely full sentences. Only To have him appear to state that they have eaten former Judge Mineiro . Nicolo Assirelli’s art doesn’t infantilize them, and they are always drawn in happy demeanors which could be read a certain way. Their depiction was better than I expected. There’s a fey quality to them by the end and the whole setting that works in their tonal favor.

The other way the creative team disarms the reader is by splitting the group up and giving each a scene with their doppleganger. It’s simple but creates the feeling of a completed episode that also reinforces the safety of it all. Eva De La Cruz’ coloring is the most vibrant it has been in these pages, which further adds to the sense of safety.

Once night falls and De La Cruz coloring goes back to the contextually toned-down palette, due to the extreme amount of black by Assirelli, the mood notably shifts and the reader is back on guard. Just what is Mapinguari? Well, they appear to be a giant monster of some sort that is fittingly given a single page spread. Assirelli uses Correira as scale in the foreground that helps to sell the monstrosity of it all. That final page between Assirelli and Eva De La Cruz reminds me of something Francesco Francavilla would draw in the best way.

The fourth part of “The Returners” setup the next chapter of the story as the hunt of the pyramid appears all but certain, if they can survive Mapinguari that is.

Brian Salvatore: Devlin is up to something, but Aleš Kot is working really hard to prevent the reader from figuring out what. Sure, we know that he’s stalling and avoiding thee sale of his soul, but it is unclear as of yet just exactly Devlin is going to weasel out of this. The appearance of the soccer team cum orgy participants just clarifies that our dear Titivilus was not sold out, but that there’s a plan at play here.

Unfortunately, this chapter feels a little slight when considering just how little was accomplished within. Reading this in a collection, the story would seem fine. But separated by a month, the short strip is not satisfactory from a ‘moving the story forward’ sense.

What is satisfactory, and then some, is Mike Dowling’s art. Downling’s Hell is both familiar and full of new visual wrinkles, and his mastery of drawing demons continues unchecked. Devlin cannot wipe the shit-eating grin off of his face, and Dowling draws him as smug and proud as can be, really hamming up all the attention he’s receiving from the owner of the fist of lies (read the strip, it’s a solid joke).