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: Kill Bloopy Part 1
Credits Kenneth Niemand (script) Dan Cornwell(art) Jim Boswell(colours)Annie Parkhouse(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: Dan Cornwell and Jim Boswell make a really nice Judge Dredd. Cornwell’s line work is lively and textured but not overdone. Boswell’s color palette is deceptively simple in appearance. It creates the right kind of cartooned but not cartoony sensibility for ‘Kill Bloopy’ a strip that sees our titular judge guarding Dr. Ditka, renowned scientist … and his imaginary friend, Bloopy. Their aesthetic is what allows the strip to earn the dedicating the lower third of the page to what would normally be a banal bust perspective of Dredd doing his best Clint Eastwood impression with his mouth. The extra line work that textures Dredd’s face, making him appear more alien and old compared to the cartoony and youthful, doesn’t read as out of place but the logical extreme of what the art team is capable of.
In terms of page design Cornwell keeps things simple. Other than the page working through how the residents of Mega City One have begun developing imaginary friends as coping mechanisms this strip is primarily a bunch of Judges standing around talking. That standard page design allows Cornwell to land the strips comedic beats. Either through mirroring Dredd on the second and third page or landing the awkward pause of Bloopy giving Dredd and Mandell info on who is trying to kill them. This is a ludicrous premise that is played just straight enough for it to be funny and not a joke that gets tired after two pages.
‘Kill Bloopy’ gets off to a solid start as Judge Dredd finds himself on the worst babysitting gig he could ever imagine.
Brink: Hate Box, Part Fourteen
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Inj Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Rowan Grover: “Brink” resumes the new decade in the middle of exposition and mystery. This chapter is interesting in that we get an alliance between Bridget and the gang boss she believes killed her father, but stands up as little more than revelations about the two of them and some speculation on the murder. We learn some interesting ideas that make the gang leader a much more grey character than he paints himself to be, making him much more likable and workable in a friendship with Bridget. The use of ‘Earth-Porn’ as the evil MacGuffin of this story is also a lot of fun as it still leaves a lot of mystery surrounding what this pornography could be, that drives a person mad upon watching. However, little more happens outside of this discourse between characters, and between the alls of text, it does make for the chapter to be a little more difficult to trudge through than usual.
Culbard does some excellent acting work in this issue as per usual but gets a lot more opportunity to go wild on just two characters. Culbard uses camera angles to great effect in this case, especially on the gang leader. Whenever the script calls for a more sinister look of the character, Culbard closes in on his face with a fishbowl-like effect that makes him much especially terrifying. However, Culbard also pulls back and normalizes his features to make him much more sympathetic at points. We get a little of this acting with Bridget, but it’s much less exaggerated. There’s a fun take on her on the first page where she references the fact that she’s not a dirty cop, with a downward, gleefully dark look on her face. For much of the rest of the comic, however, she’s relegated to the background with similar expressions of disappointment and disgruntlement throughout.
“Hate Box” is trundling towards its conclusion at a slow pace, but it does continue to make the ride interesting. Abnett establishes a good relationship with Bridget and the gang leader, and Culbard acts out their conversation in a super entertaining manner.
Continued below
Proteus Vex: Another Dawn Part 2
Michael Carroll (script), Henry Flint(art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln: It’s been a few weeks since the initial story of Proteus Vex and the strip is still brimming with potential. Michael Carroll drops lots more history and background for the complex, Machiavellian relationships that are at the core of this story in this second part. We learn just why the sentient energy race hates Vex so much and desire his violent end. Carrol introduces another tantalizingly interesting character with Vex’s superior, General Netores Edge. What this story sadly fails to do is make Vex a compelling character himself. He’s still a vibrantly detailed and illustrated viewpoint character investigating a disappearance but both him and his story we are not really involved in as much as we are getting a history lesson of the setting.
Given the narrative is a little on the dry side up till the final moment of this week it’s excellent that Henry Flint is providing the amazing pages. He does a marvelous job in creating the historical flashback that is the majority of this chapter. He gave plenty of lovely detail for he the storyline and created convincingly alien environments, creatures and characters to study as the tale unfolds. It’s a fascinating bit of world building that Carroll and Flint are involved in, I just want to connect with the characters more then just superficially at this point because they look and seem fascinating creations.
The Zaucer of Zilk: Part 2 – A Zaucerful of Secrets
Peter Hogan (Script), Brendan McCarthy (Art, Colors, & Story), Len O’Grady (Colors), Jim Campbell (Letters)
Christopher Egan: Part 2 opens back on Carnival Street just as the Tailor of Tales realizes he’s been robbed, robbed of plot threads! This intro is even shorter than part 1 as Hogan and McCarthy are anxious to get back to the main story of the Zaucer.
Tracking The Wanderer to the Shopper’s land of Shinyshallow, specifically to the Carnival of Light, the Zaucer begins to plan his capture. His main objective is to retrieve his stolen wand from the villain, but first he had a thing or two to learn about the carnival.
The script for this chapter is much lighter and action oriented than last time. It’s a different form of enjoyable. Where we got a heftier script that involved world building and series catching up, part 2 is moving full steam ahead. It isn’t concerned with giving answers just yet. It requires you to be on board for the ride.
McCarthy is having fun here. I particularly enjoyed the giant evil bell-bottoms with a face. We only get a few set pieces so he gets to play in them across the five pages of the strip. O’Grady’s colors are as wild as ever. Gorgeous rainbows of insanity cover every page.
While it takes the bonkers world it inhabits seriously, this chapter is definitely sillier and looser. It leans into the wild landscape and ideas it laid out for us in the last issue. It’s a more joyful and adventurous read.
Feral & Foe: Part Two
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Richard Ellson (art), Richard & Joe Ellson (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Christa Harader: Bode and Wrath are in even deeper trouble this week. They’ve made a deal with Huntsinger and have to make good, or it’s their lives on the line. Again. Still? Still.
Crackow’s none too pleased to see either of them, naturally. Abnett keeps the foul-mouthed Killchief talking while Ellson stacks measured, slender panels that obscure the first page, but otherwise create a good pace. Ellson’s angles aren’t too extreme to skew reality beyond comprehension, and there’s a nice inset as Bode heats up Crackow’s weapon. As for the color palette, the Ellsons do better with details when there’s some fire in the picture because the subtle textures and tones don’t track well in the establishing layout. Parkhouse adds some nice bubbly sound effects and a good “WUNCH!” to maximize the visceral impact of this installment’s climax, and keeps the balloons small. Wrath’s font and balloon styling is simple enough to add a touch of creativity to the page without going ornate or unreadable.
It’s hard to get the balance right with wry humor in fantasy without relying heavily on dialect or going too modern to put the tone and setting at odds. So far, Abnett and Ellson are hitting that balance and there’s an economy here both in the art and the storytelling that keeps “Feral and Foe” ticking along.
