2000 AD Prog 2115 Featured Columns 

Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2115 – Next-Gen Policing

By , , , and | January 23rd, 2019
Posted in Columns | % Comments

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!

Cover by Cliff Robinson

THIS WEEK IN 2000AD

Judge Dredd: Machine Law, Part One
Credits: John Wagner (script), Colin MacNeil (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Rowan Grover: Wagner is back on “Judge Dredd” with this issue and we open with a scene that feels reflective of recent continuity whilst literally moving on to what future stories hold. I love that the Chief Judge acknowledges the Day of Chaos event from over five years ago, as it makes the universe feel old and storied. What’s important, however, is that this is being acknowledged while the setting and characters themselves are moving on in the long wake of the event. The city is filling up again, and the city is in need of more Judges. What I love about this is that Wagner gives us a portrayal of Dredd that feels like a natural progression from his more aggressive, younger self. Dredd is still cynical and quick to anger, yet he feels somber and wise from his years of experience. This book is back to delivering the core “Judge Dredd” story, and Wagner knows how to package it.

MacNeil renders a MegaCity One that is sprawling, shiny and beautiful. The opening half-page spread uses its real-estate to convey a crammed, busy feel to the city, yet uses its vertical structure well to give the skyline a superb sense of height. In terms of characters, MacNeil is an old hand at drawing Dredd, giving him the classic set-in-stone scowl. MacNeil cleverly uses panel angling to convey emotion from this relatively emotionless character, as a panel with a questioning, slightly hopeful Dredd has him looking up to the Chief Judge, while the following, mellow scenes are angled looking down on the character. This works the same with Dredd’s robot ‘successor’ Randy, who gets more upward, hopeful angles as he’s meant to portray the next generation for Dredd. Chris Blythe handles colors here as well, painting a beautifully textured dusk sky, with the city glowing vividly beneath it. I love every scene with Randy next to the fire, as Blythe makes the hot palette dance off his cool, metallic skin in a way that fits the more stylized tone yet still feels organic.

“Machine Law” feels like classic and modern “Judge Dredd” all at once, and that’s a good thing. Wagner is back on board to deliver an older and wiser protagonist, and MacNeil provides great character and setting work, with Blythe in tow to amp him up.

Brink: High Society Part 16
Credits Dan Abnett (scrip) Inj Culbard (art) Simon Bowland (letters)

Michael Mazzacane: Leave it to “Brink” to give me an interesting, but not utterly enthralling strip, and then just take a hard left turn to bananas ville. As Kurtis notes when one of the people try remove these inspectors for being on corporate property, they are “so past that.” “Brink” is so far removed from where things started.

The general arrangement of the sixteenth part of “Brink” is a semi-Mexican Standoff (since the other side lacks guns it isn’t a full.) Inj Culbard pulls from Sergio Leone, Tonino Delli Colli bag of tricks and keeps everything tightly framed, jumping from close ups, to mediums, with a few POV panels in there for good measure. It makes all the right moves but these four pages don’t read as tense enough, and just approaching languid. Culbard dose setup the moment the gun finally goes off well, pay attention to the background, but the moment dosen’t feel as cataclysmic as it should considering the final page.

The lack of tension makes sense considering what Tillerson has to say about the prospect of prison time. How is a jail sentence in a small cell all that different from the life they are currently living anyways?

Using a full page spread in this medium is a big ask, it’s something “Brink” hasn’t really done to my knowledge. That novelty and what is revealed, a monstrous eldritch looking horror mixed with Resident Evil design aesthetic, sends things out with a bang. This strip is so past corporate espionage.

Continued below

Skip Tracer: Louder than Bombs, Part 5
Credits: James Peaty (script), Paul Marshall (art), Quintin Winter (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters).

Tom Shapira: If there’s a sense that my reviews are becoming repetitive it’s only because the strip I’m reviewing feels repetitive. “Skip Tracer” is in a holding pattern since this serial had started – Blake doesn’t so much discover stuff has much as stuff just happens around him; which doesn’t help much with his rather blend personality.

It’s another mostly-talk chapter as Nolan Blake sets out to question the owner of a repair shop and gets lectured of the ethics (or lack thereof) of his employers. It feels less like a natural conversation than a strong case of infodump. The art team does what it can to liven-up the chat, shifting the angles, focusing in and out, but there’s not much for them to work with. I do enjoy the more naturalistic color work of Quintin Winter quite a bit.

There is some interest in the idea of the saboteurs as extremists who are justified in their anger towards the Consociation and its violent expansionist policies. But then the strip steps back and declares that civilian bombings are not “Orden’s style,” which takes away all the moral ambiguity of the story; it’s another good small group against evil corporation story. There are plenty of those and “Skip Tracer” needs to work harder if it wants to stick out amongst the horde.

Tharg’s 3Rillers Presents: Keeper of Secrets Part 1
Credits: Robert Murphy (script), Steven Austin (art), Pippa Mather (colors), Ellie De Ville (letters)

Greg Lincoln: ‘Keeper of Secrets’ part one shows the power of well crafted thriller horror. Effective horror stories don’t need much more then a few familiar elements and good foreshadowing to work. Robert Murphy take a few simple familiar horror tropes, a young awkward man,a mysterious woman and an ancient ancient artifact, are all that were necessary to create tension and a sense of dread. We know from the familiar set up that things will very soon go awry, and the introduction of the third character, Delphi, gives us all the hint we need that the supernatural is afoot. She is likely the one who will have to ‘clean’ things up before the story gets off too handedly bloody. It’s skillfully crafted storytelling and a second read reveals that Murphy’s more subtle a storyteller then he appears at first glance.

Despite some minor inconsistencies in the colors this story is rather well illustrated. From one page to the next Jemima’s hair goes from sort of brunette to kind of blonde and thou I can see it’s to simulate lighting differences it’s a bit too much. Beyond that though Austin and Mather are rather a good team. Their depictions of the “mundane” normal world are familiar and recognizable, they are places we kind of know from BBC television or our everyday lives. They kept visual drama to a minimum so in those few moments of tight perspective or the odd “special effect” the effect is felt and nearly heard if there had been a soundtrack. They also cleverly don’t show the damage done in this story, leaving the actual gore makes it just a bit worse. If nothing else the stories effect is what you want from a “thriller” horror, that sense of anticipation and twinge of dread.

Fiends of the Western Front, Part 5
Credits: Ian Edgington (script), Tiernan Trevallion (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Kent Falkenberg:These blood-sucking fiends bow out this week with the same infectious bite they blitzed in with. That’s right – we’re back to bi-planes versus man-bats.

At its heart, “Fiends of the Western Front” has been a frightfully, delightful fight comic. And iernan Trevallion’s art has made it feel much more substantial with a ghoulish aesthetic that perfectly pairs the grim reality of the Great War with the shadowed, expressionism of Nosferatu’s lore. A quick bit of bat-creature mythologizing notwithstanding, there haven’t been any particularly captivating turns of plot. In fact, Ian Edgington shows up this week to close out the script and you would barely even notice.

No, this strip as a whole has been carried by Trevallion. And he closes it out with ballistic panache. Gun barrels flare with maximum velocity. Bullets shred skin like Swiss cheese.Beating hearts are ripped through chests. All while these feral monstrosities remain airborne in the gradually fading night. It’s an action-packed sequence, and Trevallion takes care to ensure we’re always clear on who’s in control and where the next blow is coming from.

“Fiends of the Western Front” ends with a nod towards where the story will be heading next. And whether that scripting is carried on by Ian Edgington or Gordon Rennie, it matters not. As long as Trevallion is back to light the way, then this is definitely a strip to keep an eye on.


//TAGS | Multiver-City One

Rowan Grover

Rowan is from Sydney, Australia! Rowan writes about comics and reads the heck out of them, too. Talk to them on Twitter at @rowan_grover. You might just spur an insightful rant on what they're currently reading, but most likely, you'll just be interrupting a heated and intimate eating session.

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Kent Falkenberg

By day, a mild mannered technical writer in Canada. By night, a milder-mannered husband and father of two. By later that night, asleep - because all that's exhausting - dreaming of a comic stack I should have read and the hockey game I shouldn't have watched.

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Michael Mazzacane

Your Friendly Neighborhood Media & Cultural Studies-Man Twitter

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Greg Lincoln

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Tom Shapira

Writes for Multiversity, Sequart and Alilon. Author - "Curing the Postmodern Blues." Israel's number 1 comics critic. Number 347 globally. he / him.

EMAIL | ARTICLES


  • Columns
    Multiver-City One: Judge Dredd Megazine 466 – Shoot ‘Em Up!

    By , , , and | Mar 27, 2024 | Columns

    Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our monthly look at the “Judge Dredd Megazine!” Let’s get right to it.Judge Dredd: Ravenous Part 3Credits: Mike Carroll (script) Anthony Williams (art) Annie Parkhouse (letters)Matthew Blair: All seems lost for the heroes of Mega City One. They’re facing off against the perfect predator and nothing they have can stop […]

    MORE »
    Columns
    Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2375 – Bumper Issue!

    By , , , and | Mar 27, 2024 | Columns

    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 2000 AD Judge Dredd: Next Man Up Credits: Rob Williams (script), RM Guera (art), […]

    MORE »
    2000 AD Prog 2374 Featured Columns
    Multiver-City One: 2000 AD Prog 2374 – A World of His Making!

    By , , , and | Mar 20, 2024 | Columns

    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 2000 ADJudge Dredd: A Dimensional Travelers Guide to Mega City One Credits: Ken Neimand […]

    MORE »

    -->