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. Let’s get right to it!
THIS WEEK IN 2000AD
Judge Dredd: The Citadel 02
Credits: John Wagner (script) Dan Cornwall (art) Dylan Teague (colors) Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Matthew Blair: The Apocalypse War was one of the biggest and most terrifying events in the long history of the Judge Dredd comic. The city of East Meg One, also known as the Sovs and former chief rival to Mega City One, launched an all out nuclear strike on Dredd’s home and basically succeeded. It was only due to the brave efforts of Judge Dredd and a desperate guerilla war that allowed the city to beat back the invaders and defeat the Sovs once and for all.
Now, it looks like something happened during this massive war that didn’t make it into the history books, and the only person who knows is a former Judge making a final confession just before his execution.
Since “Judge Dredd: The Citadel 02” is written by John Wagner, the co-creator of the entire universe, it is allowed to do almost whatever it wants with the story and it’s characters. Wagner starts relatively small by having Dredd rescue a group of young Judges in training from a massive ground assault. Wagner does an amazing job of condensing everything that Dredd is into a few pages. In this part of the story we see Dredd as an incredibly capable warrior, an inspiration to those around him, and a cold hearted bastard who isn’t afraid to sacrifice others for a greater cause. It’s classic Dredd and it will be interesting to see what secrets Dredd is holding on to in the end.
Dan Cornwall’s artwork in “Judge Dredd: the Citadel 02” is relatively unassuming and seems to favor functionality and realistic appearances rather than trying something radical or different. Cornwall has a solid art style that has a great sense of motion and energy and the surrounding blasted hellscape is a great place for a firefight. The best part of the story are Dylan Teague’s colors, which make the laser beams look great and the explosions are gorgeous. It’s an art style that is designed to focus on the story, and it does it very well.
“Judge Dredd: The Citadel 02” is the opening salvo in a much larger story that shows how amazing Judge Dredd can really be to the reader, to those around him, and to the people he is willing to leave behind and sacrifice for the greater good.
Proteus Vex: Desire Paths, Part 10
Credits: Mike Carroll (script), Jake Lynch (art), Jim Boswell (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln: The place that Vex finds himself in has gone from bad to worse to stuck in what looks like the beginning of a brand new war. The revelation that the imperium has kept secrets from the Scorches – in addition to their manipulation of them in the Obdurate War – looks like it will blow up in their faces. It also looks like the leader of the Scorchers is fully intent on blaming the new conflict on Vex himself. All the historical notes in this part have hinted at something big and terrible coming out of Vex’s search; this seems to be born out as true.
Jake Lynch handles the escalation of the tension in this part quite well and, as usual, adds to the story in ways the narration doesn’t express. The art clearly shows the self preservation in Vex’s escape as they help no one else present. It displays the chaos visually in the imperium fleet as the Scorchers build up to the devastating attack that ends this chapter. Among the other details, the art shows agent Mayday and the other surviving Imperium agents evading the Scorches as Vex escapes. They might not live long as their fleet seems to be facing impending doom but it’s at least good to know they are alive as the chapter ends.
Continued below
The Order: Fantastic Voyage, Part 10
Credits Kek-W (script) John Burns(art) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: There comes a point in the latter portion of the tenth entry in ‘The Fantastic Voyage’ where Kohl astutely recognizes that the battle between the ship, le Victorie, and the shadow monster mirrors the battle going on inside Benjamin Franklin. As above and below as they say. That sort of fractal approach is taken a step further as this strip sets up the convergence between our two wondering parties. Time and space are weird in this realm and it turns out the Reef of Lost Automata is floating above the island of death meaning our two parties are just a parachute or space whale ride away from seeing one another. Is that all an incredible coincidence? Yes, but it works as the creative team reinforces the sentimental aspects that bind this weird mélange into an enjoyable strip.
John Bruns page designs help to further this mirrored motif as most pages begin to replicate one another, for the most part, after Cass nearly falls off the edge of the island. The following page is a 4-panel page, but the use of a large angular cut to one panel extends it out and gives it the rough geometry of the previous page. This angular panel also features a falling action in reverse of the previous page. This device is employed again as we go onto le Victorie and inside the guts of Benjamin Franklin. It’s at once subtle and obvious formalism, but it also doesn’t get in the way of the pacing of this strip. For all the stylistic flourishes Burns continues to produce plainly functional visual storytelling that lacks any of the high mindedness these flourishes evoke.
Yet for all this talk of pacing and storytelling, the moment that stays with me most is the second page and the six panels of remembrance it affords to everyone they’ve lost along the way. It is a sweet tender moment with the kind of Three Musketeers sort of imagery that is immediately understandable, and yet another literary reference in a strip full of them.
Kingmaker: Falls The Shadow. Part Eight
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Christopher Egan: As most of the chapters have done up to this point, this week’s moves the action away from where we were last time. Taking a break from the ground battle Edginton returns us to space, staring into the dark, dead eyes of the Wraith King.
Upon learning that his fleet survived by simply fleeing the battle, the King is disgusted by their cowardice and rather than having the pilots return for their debriefing, he orders them to destroy each other. He also calls for the execution of any soldier who disagrees with his orders. The entire sequence tells of a mad power who uses fear and death to stay in control, even if that means depleting his armies. It makes little sense, but he is unable to see that his grip is already failing.
The plot moves back to Crixus and company planning their next attack. Knowing that now is the time to strike, Crixus makes an insane play for the Wraith King. It’s here that the pacing and action falter in service of getting the lead hero and villain face to face. Humor falls flat and any real power in the storytelling also comes to a halt. The final moments feel rushed and confusing. Hopefully part nine will give the clarity that this week’s entry is so obviously lacking.
Brink: Mercury Retrograde Part 2
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Inj Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: This chapter does a nice job of setting up the status quo of “Brink” for those who may be unfamiliar, without bogging it down in so much exposition that it can’t have a story of its own. The twin stories – a new union member arriving and the continued angle of the press – dovetail nicely, giving a little bit of a history of the Brink, while also setting up what the thrust of this arc is looking to be.
Inj Culbard’s clean linework works really well on any story set in space, as the design and symmetry of the Brink really come alive with his pencils. This chapter doesn’t have a ton going on, visually, but Culbard makes little details like the scaffolding at the Gentau site or the living quarters on the Brink explode with small detail, while still keeping the minimalist aesthetic.
Dan Abnett, by digging more into the history of the Brink itself, is doing world-building with a purpose, and while I hope that the strip doesn’t take too much longer to advance this chapter’s plot and, judging by the last panel, it appears I’m worrying for nothing. While “Brink” hasn’t been full of much action yet, I trust in Abnett and Culbard to make the story engaging, with or without big set pieces.
