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: End of Days, Part Two
Credits Rob Williams (script) Colin MacNeil (art), Chris Blythe (colours), Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: The second entry in Rob Williams new “Dredd” epic reads better than the first. The tone and verbiage used in their narration this time around is less dissonant when paired with Colin MacNeil and Chris Blythe’s art. Williams’ script was less playfully aware and more to the point as everything seems to be going to hell around Mega City One and the world.
MacNeil’s page designs strike an interesting balance of epic scale and size with the need to show multiple panels and the smallness of humanity. From a design standpoint this generally means building a page around a single large image, a missile silo or weather station going down. It isn’t too far off from how early Image books would tended to have some kind of large hero shot to anchor everything. Unlike those early books, MacNeil’s use of paneling in conjunction with Williams script paces everything so that the eye isn’t immediately drawn to the biggest thing but led to it. Once there it gives this page a sense of foreboding and dread.
I hadn’t realized it last week but the mysterious cowboy, Ichabod Azrael, is actually a version of a character Williams co-created in 2000AD years earlier. It adds a nice bit of texture to strip and help to give the supernatural and weird element as various PSI-Judges hemorrhage at trying to get the angelic head to talk. While the world of Dredd is vast and a hybrid it is largely understood as science fiction so mixing this supernatural element creates an interesting tension.
This strip again does a lot of mood setting with all the scenes of destruction and tension. It pulls itself together by the end though and we get the quest for Dredd to fullfil if he wants to save the world: Kill the Four Horseman. It is a simple but effective call to action and sets up the following chapters.
Sinister Dexter: Bulletopia – ‘Boys in the HUD’
Dan Abnett (Script), Steve Yeowell (Art), John Charles (Colors), Jim Campbell (Letters)
Christopher Egan: Tensions rise in the next chapter of Sinister Dexter. Awkward excuses for confusing revelations are a-plenty as stress goes through the roof and trust diminishes significantly. With the creation of this alternate timeline, out titular gunmen try to help the situation without giving away that they know more information than anyone could, or should, have. Fears of what the rogue A.I. can do are explained. With it rumored to have made the leap to ‘flesh platforms’, with some people referring to them as Creepfakes, Hosanna is concerned that Sinister and Dexter could be in the employ of this technological terror. However, it could be that someone else is already watching them and ready to strike.
Like last week’s opening installment, there is far more talk than action, but with how much has changed in the world of “Sinister Dexter” readers need a bit of catching up. We get a good helping of that here, as well as thought out moments of the characters coming together, kicking around ideas on how to proceed, and some interesting developments. With a cliffhanger ending that is sure to bring plenty of harrowing action next week, things are clearly ramping up.
‘Boys in the HUD’ Part Two digs deeper into the necessary exposition, but the tension throughout will keep readers on the edge of their seat waiting for what will surely be some bad times to come.
Full Tilt Boogie, Chapter 1
Credits: Alex De Campi (script) Eduardo Ocana (art) Simon Bowland (lettering)
Matthew Blair: “Full Tilt Boogie” Chapter 1 is a story that wastes no time setting up its universe, its conflict, and its characters. It’s a rapid fire, incredibly efficient bit of exposition and storytelling that doesn’t always work, but it’s still an intriguing set up and introduces a cast of characters that have a ton of potential
Continued below“Full Tilt Boogie” #1 comes courtesy of writer Alex De Campi and while she is a veteran comic book creator, it feels like the time and space constraints of the magazine the story is being published are taking a bit of a toll on quality. Right off the bat, the readers are thrown into a massive inter universal war between your standard factions of good and evil and there’s a rogue faction that seems to have a lot more history and a lot more potential than the five pages of space allow. Still, there’s quite a bit of potential here and the black clad super assassin known as The Black Dog that is introduced in the first two pages seems interesting to follow.
The art of “Full Tilt Boogie” comes courtesy of Eduardo Ocana and it’s an interesting blend of European and manga art styles. While the characters have the big eyes and small noses, the art has a very clean and nearly uniform line to it with some good colors and big blocks of shading. The universe itself has a pretty unique feel to it, and while there are some ruins and places with a deep sense of history to explore that don’t look as dirty or as run down as they probably should, it’s very clearly a unique universe that the creative team can call their own.
Chapter 1 is a rapid fire introduction to a story that feels like it should have more time and space to develop properly. However, it’s got some fun art, the characters are interesting and engaging, and it’s setting up certain things that look like they will be paying off in the future.
The Order: Land Of The Free, Part Two
Credits: KEK-W (script), John Burns (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Rowan Grover: The second installment of “Land Of The Free” flows very naturally from the first, with Benjamin Franklin boarding the dimension hopping train and taking in the magical sights of the wormhole portals and different earths. Having the gang get back together on the first page is a quick but touching moment, especially between Benjamin and Anton (I’m absolutely a mark for old men getting emotional). I also love how nicely the action fits into this comic. KEK-W is very aware of the page real estate they have to work with, and gives the fight between Belair and the robots a significant moment of gravitas before spiriting the gang away on the train. It feels like a fight for their lives more than ever, but it ends relatively quickly to leave more pages for other storytelling. That other storytelling occurs with the train hopping between worlds, which is just as exciting and enchanting as you would expect. Benjamin’s awe at the sights and the speed that they pass through them is infectious, and gives a sense of authenticity and good pacing to the prof.
Burns’ art is really solid as usual. There’s a general busy and crowded sense to the panel structure and composition that moves the story right along. It makes the fights feel claustrophobic and extra intense, especially when the gang are trying to fight robots from the back of a moving train. I also love that Burns does a clear stylistic shift when drawing the robots and other temporal anomalies in this comic. Everything that fits in with the 18th century setting looks like an oil painting, but Burns uses clear, crisp inks on the robots and technology to directly juxtapose the two. It looks especially good on the second page, where we see a robot barking orders take up nearly a whole panel, and Belair rendered in complete paint daub the next panel, giving us that immediate visual contrast. It also makes the dead earth that the train travels through extra exciting, as it pops with a crisp visual tone that we didn’t see in the past setting.
This comic continues to be a fun adventure story, and keeps taking us in places I wouldn’t have expected. I still can’t wait to see where it goes.
The Diaboliks: La Vita Malvagia, Part 2
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Don Reardon (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Greg Lincoln: Ok, the opening of this week’s chapter of “The Diaboliks” is really confusing. We jump right from the roadway confrontation to out “heroes” assaulting the forces that of Malleus. It was abrupt enough that checking to see if your reading the right chapter is not unlikely. We can only assume that the one they left alive lead them here. The best moments this week again revolve around the demon Jenny and her irritation that she has to cover up her true nature. The deal that is set up between the sorcerer his demon partner and the Malleus sounds really fair and one that you can see them agreeing to. Last week was more a action packed introduction to the characters but it seems this is the real set up. Jenny and Solomon’s deal to be hunters for the Malleus for the safety of their child feels like it is the premise for this strip.
Don Reardon shows he is very deft with depth and scenery this week. Though it’s only the first couple of pages his attention to small details of grand gothic scenery, the stairways, the railings , the arches, the statues give the impression of opulence and wealth. Though he’s left a lot of white space to allow his details to be clear there is the odd impression of a shadow filled space let by the demon and the. Various flame sources visiabe in the panels. Those medium and long shots leading up to the talking heads scenes linger in the imagination and flesh out the backgrounds later in the story. Black and white somehow suits crime noir stories especially when their have a touch or in this more then a touch of the supernatural or horror to them.
