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: Fit For Purpose Part 2
Credits Rob Williams(script), Chris Weston(art), Dylan Teague(colors), Annie Parkhouse(letters)
Greg Lincoln: ‘Fit For Purpose’ it seems is about far more than just the question of Gerhart’s fitness for SJS service. Williams’s script hints at a much bigger story as the inquest plays out in this weeks conclusion. SJS Pin directly challenges Dredd’s assertion he trusts Gerhart. She openly questions the idea that anyone could should trust an SJS Judge, find one to be an ally or worst yet find one a friend. She further calls into question the history of Judge Dredd’s interactions with SJS Gerhart and openly is suspicions of what she called a “private investigation.” Her in depth knowledge of their contacts and her accusations are largely confirmed by Dredd’s interior monologue.
There is a level of paranoia that is set up in ‘Fit For Purpose’ that even Gerhart falling on his sword and admitting his unfitness doesn’t really dispel. The revelation that SJS Pin sees humanity and empathy as a mark of unfitness is telling. It fits into a lot of the modern criticisms of policing and leaves much on which to think. Williams is clever not to comment openly. He just leaves it as a mark of cruelty and criminality as seen from Dredd’s point of view.
Weston’s and Teague’s pages are a rich with detail and expression as you’d like. They give great stony expressions for Dredd and his fellow Judges. They make Pin a bitter, imperious presence as she interrogates and attempts to intimidate Dredd. Their treatment of Gerhart, his ‘retirement’ and taking the last walk really shine on the page. There is a kind of reverence in their art showing that ritualized moment of farewell. The panels in that sequence show a lot of effort and attention in both inks and colors. The final panel is a good parting to a character that has been a recurring part of the “Judge Dredd” Story for a good several years showing him ‘save’, in a way, Dredd one more time.
Jaegir: In The Realm of Pyrrhus, Part 2
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Simon Coleby (art), Len O’Grady (colours), Ellie de Ville (letters)
Kent Falkenberg: Across the razed surface of war-ravaged Nu Earth, Gordon Rennie and Simon Coleby paint the contrast between the battle-hardened and the unbloodied. ‘In The Realm of Pyrrhus, Part 2’ opens with Kapiten Jaegir and Korporal Heize sprinting over the wastelands towards a friendly trench.
“Incoming southers! They’re mine..” volleys an overzealous, green recruit.
“Hold your fire, you mother damned idiot!” stays a commanding officer. “They shouldn’t even let you whelps off the transport until you can tell our suits from theirs.”
Coleby’s framing is slightly off kilter with his figurework jutting though the panels at irregular angles. It injects a healthy dose of energy and urgency to the artwork as it plays out atop sickly whorls of the poisoned smolder and smog of combat. His choice, soon after, to let a Souther tank dominate three-quarters of a page makes the opposing soldiers feel miniscule in comparison, and by extension, seemingly reduces the human toll within the conflict to something equally insignificant. It’s a cynical purview. And Rennie keeps pace, as we flashback to see the political machinations of the Norts war machine that ground Jaegir back down to a foot soldier on Nu Earth’s neverending frontlines. And as comfortable as she may be in the thick of the conflict, Coleby manages to obscure her face throughout the exchange so we’re never entirely certain whether she’s taking the assignment on glady or whether she’s disillusioned.
“In The Realm of Pyrrhus, Part 2” is confident second step by Rennie and Coleby. They still haven’t truly established the scope of this arc. But for now, we’re in tight with the world and its people.
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Sinister Dexter – Night Class
Credits: Dan Abnett(script) Steve Yeowell(art) John Charles(colors) Ellie De Ville(letters)
Michael Mazzacane After last week’s existentially tinged strip, I was wondering if Dan Abnett might be taking this run of “Sinister Dexter” in that direction. That is not the case, as Sinister and Dexter are back to their old episodic hijinks. It appears that gun-sharking doesn’t pay as well as one would expect, or maybe Sinister has a sense of civic-duty, as he finds himself teaching intermediate gun-sharking. Abnett and artist Steve Yeowell build this strip around Sinister doing the equivalent of a gun-shark prop comedy routine as he teaches the tools of the trade.
I call this prop comedy and not just pure gaggery due to the multiple objects used and the fact they build off one another. This isn’t just a sight gag, like Joker with a “BANG” gun. Prop comedy involves using/interacting the object, which is somewhat hard to replicate via art. Overall I think Yeowell gets the timing of everything about as right as can be expected in this strip. He smartly hides the actual interaction and transformation bits, using the classroom setting for good cut aways. One bit involving the modification of cartoonish sci-fi guns into equally cartoonish looking guns is surprisingly effective in how obviously slap dash it is. With this having so much comedy, talking about the jokes isn’t really “fair,” just know they got me to chuckle pretty much every time.
It’s worth considering how Abnett and Yeowell create a sense of timing for the humor and actual narrative of the strip. This is “funny” but it is also structurally sound in a lot of commendable ways. The panel and page designs in this strip all have an easy flow, that allow the dialectic and visual humor to play off one another instead of it being an either or situation. In particular how they setup a page turn for the final page of the strip, and how that act of turning that page shifts everything. With a classroom being such a confined space, Yeowell doesn’t do the action dynamism, but with smart paneling and a speech bubble proclaiming “ker-blooey,” he manages to get a rise and make this presentation lively enough.
Anderson: Psi Division: Undertow, Part Two
Credits: Emma Beeby (script), David Roach (art), Jose Villarrubia (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Rowan Grover: Beeby inspires more fear in her script by having Anderson approach another unknown and terrifying horror in part two of “Undertow”. For people not as hugely versed in this lore, such as myself, the story becomes even more effective by bringing all these elements to the table that readers aren’t entirely sure are foreign or familiar elements. Anderson is encountering threats we’re not sure about, like the mysterious Lucifer looking spirit that seems to invade her out on patrol, or the chained up body of Karyn on the last page. It keeps tension high which seems to be exactly the mood being channelled in this overall story, keeping action to a minimum which makes “Anderson: Psi Division” unique to the usual “Judge Dredd” stories.
David Roach’s art doesn’t directly inspire fear, it has more of a complex feel not unlike fellow prog artist Chris Weston. But it’s in this direct and plain approach that can serve to make the book tonally more stark and intense. For instance, when we see Anderson psychically transmit her essence to the crime scene, Roach renders the hanging bodies of the psi-judges as straightforward as he renders the architecture of Mega City One later in the issue. One thing that does feel intentional, and executes well, is in the last sequence with Anderson visiting the containment building. As we approach the cell holding Karyn, Roach slowly depicts the walls of the place with more building grit and dirtiness, subtly taking readers to a more visually uncomfortable environment that contrasts the clean buildings that spot Roach’s streets outside.
The creative team are all working together here to establish a heavy mystery and suspense tone, which is a great break from the normal hard sci-fi of “Judge Dredd” books. “Undertow” is definitely a story to keep an eye on for fans of something a little darker.
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Strontium Dog: The Son, Part 2
Credits: John Wagner (script), Carlos Ezquerra (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Tom Shapira: After a rather slow start last week “The Son” jumps into high gear. As Johnny Alpha and Kenton Sternhammer set out for their first joint assignment John Wagner balances out personal drama (as Johnny battles the memories of his dead partner), character interaction (Alpha and Sternhammer feeling out each other) and his typical humor (a bunch of aliens that are too nice to hurt anybody and are forced to farm out their violence). All of that in just seven short pages, shows why this writer-artist team are still the rightful kings of 2000AD.
Speaking of the art, this week also sees Carlos Ezquerra reaching for his bag for the single page violence montage, a technique he used for a great effect in the original “Strontium Dog” Run. It works just as well here, a superbly melodramatic moment of red hot pain starched across an entire page. Likewise, the understated reaction shot that closes this chapter – such a fine touch for a character known for his impeccability. Ezquerra just makes these characters, this setting, sing. Top notch thrill power.
