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: Guatamala Part 5
John Wagner(script), Colin McNeil(art), Chis Blythe(colors), Annie Parkhouse(letters)
Greg Lincoln: Oh my, this installment of Judge Dredd was one of the more disturbing chapters in a long while. While Judge Dredd is otherwise indisposed Judge America Beeny and the Mechanismo Judge, Ronald, get a real taste of the horrors that robotic indifference to suffering has lead to for the humans in their “care.” It couldn’t be more calculated in its cruelty, Beeny is faced with elders sent to die via menial labor, young women consigned to being baby factories to children that are mere commodities, with ample reminders of the organ and human slavery market. It’s a horror that is oh so palpable given the direction of several modern states IRL.
Colin McNeil and Chris Blythe approach scenery in a way similar to many great manga artists. In the opening panels there is a realism and solidity to their backgrounds that somehow match the very impressionistic, cartoonish approach to characters. That feeling adds to the depressing situation presents by the story. The desperate faces seem a bit more so with the impression of reality hinted at by the art around them. The deep despair and desperation in the eyes of Elinora Garcia, Hershey’s daughter. There is a lot of beauty in the art depicting the horrors of the robots.
Defoe: The Divisor Part 5
Credits Pat Mills(script) S.K. Moore(art) Ellie De Ville(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: The game is a foot for Defoe as the dark lord Irdonozur’s minions plot his resurrection and store him away to get him aboard the Dutch space craft. Thankfully Defoe is on their trail. S.K. Moore’s art really comes into its own as they pack the energy required to do action-chase sequences as well as moments of “ew” horror.
For the pages of chase, Moore does an excellent job balancing the black and white spaces of the page. These two colors make for natural positive and negative spaces which allows for their absence, and application, to work quickly and efficiently at giving the reader the sensation of speed. Take for example the three panels of Defoe galloping out of London on horseback on the fourth page. All three pages feature a soft brush application that blurs at the edges, giving him an ethereal quality and recall naturally occurring blurry pictures. The effect is there but not very pronounced on the first panel but by the third one, he appears to be a flashing blur which when mixed with the splatters of white rain and other textural work make for a very impressionistic image. A similar effect is used on the panel showing the damage of Defoe shooting out the stage coaches wheels. Not every page can be this way, more often Moore is using harsh lines of rain to act as visual guides for both the reader and to create tension in the image.
While this strip is surprisingly philosophical and satirical, the hilarity of single minded nationalism on display gives the strip a much needed comedic release, this is a strip featuring zombies. The opening page as his assistant describes how it went wrong at the mental hospital are effective fusions of Night of the Living Dead and Zack Snyder Dawn of the Dead, but the plainly ew factor of seeing zombies make out was horrifying. Moore does a good job of showing the undead in both various states of decay and style, some are more cartoony while others have that gritty detail. Everything is just coming together more effectively after a bit of a rough start.
Brink: Hate Box, Part Five
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Inj Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Rowan Grover: I will say it again: This now feels like the perfect part two to the story, I’m honestly not seeing anything that the first three parts gave us that wasn’t better implied in these last two progs. Bridget feels like a badass at her job here, staking out the scene with a novice ferocity that is regularly tempered by her boss, Adrienne. The dialogue is hard and fast, almost CSI-esque, with Bridget working well as a compellingly sharp lead, and Adrienne as her more objective yet witty counterpart, cracking wise at the most appropriately inappropriate times. The final scene is fast-paced and exciting too, making this prog the best of the lot with a classic but dynamite structure.
Continued belowCulbard does a much better job than usual in this issue. There’s a lot of good character work peppered throughout this, with great camera work, posing and emotional shots. The very first panel uses a great mouse-eye shot from a diagonal that shows Bridget and her company in an almost heroic pose that’s almost dripping with irony considering the character work in the preceding progs. Culbard also does a good, analytically constructed crime scene, where we get a shot of the room from diagonally above that gives us the complete detailing of the scene: with shelves, debris, and bodies that are both dead and alive. The action in the final scene is also tightly paced and exciting to behold. Culbard cleverly has Bridget pop out of the panel in the final shot of her running, giving the scene a sense of pace unlike anything before.
“Brink” is finally good again, doing some classic procedural detective fiction with a hint of sci-fi. The characters are sharp and interesting, and the art is detailed and well thought out.
Hope, Under Fire Part 5
Credits: Guy Adams (script), Jimmy Broxton (art), Ellie De Ville (letters)
Gustavo S. Lodi: The fifth part of the ‘Under Fire’ story for “Hope” is unfortunately an example of too much of a good thing overstaying it’s welcome. While the past entry showed the world being partially phased out by a drug trip gone terribly wrong, this new entry similarly tackles the same topics and, by doing so, fails to deliver at the same high level of quality readers have grown used to by this narrative.
“Hope” has excelled at mixing the crime-noir genre, from aesthetics to archetypical characters, with the fantasy world, most noticeably dark fantasy. That remains true on this chapter: the afore-mentioned hallucinogenic trip ties those elements very strongly from a visual perspective.
What is a bit off this time around is how little of plot evolution actually happens, and how little character development takes place, to justify those fantastic elements. While previous entries managed that balance remarkably well, here they take too much of a back seat to be relevant.
Still, there is certainly high expectations for what comes next. “Hope” has managed to create a compelling narrative in short order, with charismatic characters, good or evil. Mixed with a tremendous art style, that mashes the fantastic with the noir, this slower-paced issue should not be a detriment to the overall objectives and achievements.
The Fall of Deadworld: Doomed Part 5
Credits: Kek-W (script), Dave Kendall(art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Matthew Blair: The Sovs have landed and they are prepared to finally take over and rule this world like they have always dreamed of. Unfortunately, the dead are ready too.
Out of all the segments of this story, “The Fall of Deadworld: Doomed Part 5” is the most action packed so far. Writer Kek-W has been hyping and building towards this showdown since part 2 of this story and it pays off in wonderfully gory and violent fashion. Granted, the showdown is your basic military force vs. zombie hoard situation, but the creative team does a great job of finding new ways to pit undead soldiers too stupid to swing a weapon against highly trained elite military operatives.
Meanwhie, while the dead are focusing on the invading Sov force, the beleaguered Judges and natives from the Cursed Earth are gathering themselves and getting ready for a final showdown against their former lords and masters in the Justice Department, which appears to be setting up the story’s horrifying and inevitable conclusion.
An action heavy script deserves some action heavy art, and the art of “The Fall of Deadworld Part 5” continues to impress. Artist David Kendall trades the rot and sickly green setting for violent dismemberment and bright explosions. The Sov battle with the undead has a rapid fire quick pace to it and allows Kendall to showcase his ability to draw explosions, which I will insist are some of the prettiest in the business. At the same time, the section of the story with the Judges and Cursed Earth natives remains a bit darker and more muted, allowing for the story to calm down and deliver some great emotional moments.
“The Fall of Deadworld Part 5” provides a pretty satisfying resolution to the attempted Sov invasion of the Deadworld while setting the stage for the final showdown between the living and the dead. It’s a great story, even if we all know how it’s going to end.
