Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our monthly look at the “Judge Dredd Megazine!” Let’s get right to it.
Judge Dredd: Return to Billy Carter
Credits: Ken Niemand(script) Nick Percival(art) Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Matthew Blair: The year is 2106, two years after the Apocalypse War decimated Mega City One. Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson have been called back to the Billy Carter Block by a mysterious stranger who demonstrates incredible psychic abilities and has reached out to them with a dire warning.
You see, the Billy Carter Block was once home to the Four Dark Judges, twisted parodies of Dredd with incredible powers and who were determined to punish the living through death. Dredd beat them once, but they cannot die and always come back. However, this time something bigger and nastier has awakened, and it’s going to require the efforts of some of Mega City One’s worst judges turned criminals to fix it.
“Judge Dredd: Return to Billy Carter” is written by long time Dredd writer Ken Niemand, and it’s basically a one shot set up for something even bigger and darker. Niemand does a very good job of showcasing just how mysterious, terrifying, and grand the monsters of Deadworld can be with Dredd and Anderson very much in over their heads and only being rescued by the mysterious stranger spouting weird prophecies and utilizing incredible power. It’s a display of the cosmic horror side of Mega City One, and Niemand does a great job of reminding readers of the stakes, and setting up future stories that promise to be a lot of fun.
The artwork of “Judge Dredd: Return to Billy Carter” is provided by Nick Percival and it really helps the story lean into the horror and terror that is the Dark Judges. Percival has an extremely realistic style that can venture into the realm of the uncanny valley a bit and make the human characters look a little bit off. However, it really comes into its own when it’s time to show off the monsters and the terrors of Deadworld. On top of that, the colors have an ephemeral and paint-like quality that looks and feels haunting and beautiful at that same time. It all comes together in a dream like tableau that feels distant but terrifying at the same time.
“Judge Dredd: Return to Billy Carter” is a classic case of cosmic horror Judge Dredd style. The threat may be large, terrifying, and seemingly insurmountable, but the Judges of Mega City One are on the case, which means humanity will give the threat a run for its money and either succeed and live to fight another day…or die fighting it off.
Anderson Psi Division: The Wolf & The Dragon
Credits: Alec Worley(script) Patrick Goddard(art) Jim Boswell (colors)Jim Campbell(letters)
Matthew Blair: While Dredd is busy with the creeps and criminals of Mega City One, Judge Anderson handles the weird and peculiar cases that involve psychic beings and strange archana. Today, she’s facing off against a psychic entity known as “the Wolf” who has created a hivemind of Mega City One criminals. She must also face off against a stranger who seems to be possessed by two spirits that grant him mysterious kung-fu powers.
Is this stranger friend or foe? Read on to find out!
“Anderson Psi Division: The Wolf & The Dragon” is written by Alec Worley. While Anderson doesn’t have Dredd’s single minded determination, she still cares for Mega City One and will fight to protect it. The case is laid out in a simple and efficient way, and Worley does a great job of muddying the waters and making the reader guess who is friend and who is foe. The psychic abilities on display are interesting enough to be unique, but not weird enough to overwhelm the story and Worley does a great job of keeping the script focused on the characters and not getting lost in showing off. It’s a fun, engaging story that lays the foundation for more crossovers in the future, and it will be fun to see where they pop up next.
The artwork for “Anderson Psi Division: The Wolf and the Dragon” is provided by Patrick Goddard and it’s a style reminiscent of a high quality modern Marvel book. Goddard provides enough realism to show the reader what everything looks like and where everyone is, but injects enough cartoon elements to avoid hyper realism and avoid the uncanny valley. Since the story is action heavy it’s good to have an art style that is clear, easy to understand, and is able to deliver great dynamic poses and shows the impact of each hit and the weird psychic effects. It’s a solid art style that does its job and does it well.
Continued below“Anderson Psi Division: The Wolf & The Dragon” is a fun, well written, and well drawn kung fu story that has a great Mega City One twist and introduces a new character that will certainly be welcome in future Anderson stories.
Spector: Incorruptible Part 6
Credits: John Wagner (script), Dan Cornwell (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Jim Campbell (letters)
Greg Lincoln: Spector and his partner find just enough clues this month at the house of their current suspect the bomb maker, Mickelson. Along with his tortured remains, which Dan Cornell makes look convincingly harrowed, they discover cigar remains and some grey hairs. Within the dialogue we learn that tobacco has been illegal for a while and the province of corrupt cops as well as see how inconsistent Spectors programming is. The men who made him included the dry wit of the noir detective and the need to drop the occasional quip but they left out colloquialisms and idioms. It lends credibility to his character as its a cultural thing that you wouldn’t necessarily consider programming. John Wagner shows his wit, too, when the local cops from Hixville show up. Their chat with Spector is pretty hilarious; it’s all well played, neat, characterful and makes him more real. The corrupt cops conspicuous incriminating evidence rings true in the script, their lax habits lead them to be careless as Wagner says as much through Spector and his partner.
Dan Cornwall’s art brings the world to life. He handles the crime scene investigation really well, hitting story beats with closeups and filling the talking heads scenes with richly detailed back grounds. The opening pages are chock full of so much artist effort and skill they alone are worth spending time exploring in detail. His sense of design and really brings life to this future noir landscape originally conceived by Carlos Esquerra. There may have been a little stillness in the action of the climax of this chapter but it’s momentary. The characters, whether heel or hero, come across with flair and style that define the world.
Lawless: Most Wanted 05
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Phil Winslade (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: The Western soap opera continues, with this month’s installment split between two stories: Metta’s continued descent into the underworld and Nerys being trapped by Hancock. These stories intersect with the closing of the pub and a brief appearance from Archie, both of which help the story’s continued connectivity seep through. The soap opera nature of this story, mixed with the abject violence, continue to give “Lawless” a vibe unlike any other story in either 2000 AD or the Megazine.
Phil Winslade’s artwork continues to be dense and detailed, with every crossbar odf the dozens of rat cages seemingly rendered and every crease in every article of clothing accounted for. In the near riot scene, Winslade gives every single character something unique to help the crowd not just seem massive, but distinct. There’s so much to take in on every panel, and it allows Dan Abnett’s script to be almost skeletal. That combination makes the story seem simpler than it really is, which makes each turn even more interesting and unexpected.
Dreadnoughts: The March of Progress – Part Six
Credits: Mike Carroll(script) John Higgins(art) Sally Hurst(colours) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: The sixth entry in ‘The March of Progress’ is a straightforward action strip. It is both what the plot called for given the previous episode and after six months of tense action with momentary flare ups, sometimes you just need a release of pure action. Describing it as “all action” does not mean this is a breezy 10 pages to read. Mike Carroll and Simon Bowland manage the pace by inserting Judge Glover’s retrospective (potentially her final report) to narrate the action. While Carroll’s dialogue scripting cues up the reader for the relative geography of the area, over the hills and through the woods there’s an abandoned construction facility, it is this retrospective narration that helps to really cohere everything. Sometimes this narration can maybe speak to John Higgins art too much, but most of the time it strikes the right balance. Judge Braun’s last stand on the fourth page wouldn’t land nearly as well if the narration wasn’t there to underline the finality of that final panel.
Continued belowAs this strip started, I wasn’t sure how John Higgins coloring would play with the dense chaotic action in these pages. The field of play in this strip is more dispersed compared to the initial assault on the precinct. To keep things clear Higgins plays with light a lot, emphasizing a single bright color like a muzzle flash or the sun peeking through the trees to ground all these pages of violence. The shift in colors toward the end of the strip into more of a turquoise and purple space was a surprise and effective.
While the chase and gunfights are a constant, Carroll adds further tension to the piece by policing his brass. He establishes that Glover only has 16 bullets, well 15 considering the last one will be for her prisoner. I did a rough count and when Glover says she is out, Higgins appears to have shown about 16 bullets fired. This isn’t a Last Man Standing infinite ammo situation.
There is one thing that is worth noting that just adds to the sort of retro sci-fi dystopian tone of this Dredd prequel. They just already have chain swords! That is some stuff out of Warhammer 40k and it just so casually appears in this, and that’s how you know things are on the wrong track.
This edition of “Dreadnoughts” is a plainly well put together action strip that pushes the plot forward and sets up yet another tense stand off next month.
