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: Carry the Nine, Part 2
Credits: Rob Williams & Arthur Wyatt (script), Boo Cook (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Noel Thorne: In the aftermath of Mega-City One’s latest riot, Judge Accountant heads to the office to prepare her earth-shattering report on solving crime – but, with assassins coming out of the woodwork, will she live long enough to present it? Meanwhile juvie criminal Jojo leads a gang to a vulnerable Sector House and Dredd stands around looking imposing!
Good Grudd this series is boring! “Carry the Nine, Part 1” established that Judge Accountant had a plan to magically disappear all crime and “Part 2” simply reiterates that! Dredd continues to not have anything to do besides react to incidental crime, though he’s probably tied into Jojo the juvie’s storyline and is waiting for her to do something so he can shoot her.
All Jojo does is take the head off a feeble judge droid who was about as effective as the droid soldiers from The Phantom Menace and begs the same question: why use them then?! The one semi-interesting thing that happened – the attempted assassination – doesn’t have anything to do with anything. “Carry the Nine, Part 2” is completely irrelevant and only highlights how little there is to this story.
The case studies Judge Accountant’s put together for her report are as enthralling to read as you’d expect for research for a financial report. And has it really never occurred to anybody before to focus on education and opportunity as a means to counter crime??
Boo Cook’s art remains the one bright spot in the series. Jojo taking the head off the judge droid shows very convincing kinetic action and I love the way the scene is coloured to emphasise the subterranean atmosphere. Dredd himself looks spectacular in his entrance – statuesque, cool, imposing, with the barest sliver of a lip curl; it’s as good a character portrait as he’s ever had. The close-up of Maitland in the final panel shows Cook’s talent at drawing detailed human faces and I liked the way the blue luminescent screen colours her face too.
It’s a well-drawn series, as you’d expect to see in 2000AD’s marquee character, but “Carry the Nine, Part 2” is a dreary continuation of a dull premise, doing nothing more than carrying the can for one more prog. Disappointing stuff.
Stickleback: New Jerusalem, Part Two
Credits Ian Edginton (script) D’Israeli (art) Jim Cambell(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: There are Eldritch horrors going on outside in “Stickleback,” but that’s Ok as Ian Edginton makes a “bigger on the inside” joke. The fact he follows that bit of Doctor Who humor up with an explanation on why it appears as such, in a rather Jonathan Hickman and Kirby particles manner, just kind seals this entry in ‘New Jerusalem’ as a solid table setting second entry. It’s the second episode which means it is time to begin setting the table of plot so that it may be gorged upon in subsequent entries.
These sort of strips can be a bit dry and rote as it goes through the motions. This isn’t an inherently bad thing, just a nature of being a long term reader and seeing the narrative patterns at work. To this particular strip’s credit, D’Israeli’s art makes every page visually interesting. As Stickleback is given a guided tour of the Brotherhood of the Book’s library, D’Israeli anchors each page on one large overriding image. These large images help to give a sense of scale, and earn the “bigger on the inside” reference, but also make the exposition about the Brotherhood, Three Sisters, etc. interesting.
The subterranean setting doesn’t hinder D’Israeli’s black and white art. Instead it offers new challenges and opportunities to use bursts of pure white and shades of grey to create texture and capture where the light is coming from. The way grey is used to capture the texture of the walls or subtle musical note tattooing is excellent, they create depth to an image without overdoing it.
Continued belowThis sort of consistent artificial lighting allows for the pages cliffhanger and psychedelic effect to land as a noticeable change. Once the magic mushrooms are being felt the solid line work evaporates into a series of images as if greys and white light are just shot through one another creating an ethereal, phantasmic image. This fugue state is dreamlike but also fittingly nightmarish.
Skip Tracer: Hyperballad Part Two
Credits: James Peaty (script), Paul Marshall (art), Dylan Teague (colours) Simon Bowland (letters)
Ryan Pond: Nolan is once again doing what he needs to keep the lights on, but a disrespectful teen superstar likes to make the job difficult. Nolan isn’t even sure who he is supposed to be protecting her from, when a room service droid attacks and he tosses it out of the window. It was supposed to be a covert mission, but this might make the news.
Peaty introduces us to India Sumner in this prog, and she is every bit the entitled brat we expected. The dialogue exchange here sounds just like a TV argument, but having Nolan react to the ‘between the lines’ ageism is a lot of fun. Teague does a great job of directing emotions with orange backgrounds on panels with a lot of tension balanced against calmer blue backgrounds for the rest of the panels.
Pop Superstar India Sumner doesn’t have the most respectful personality, and Nolan really isn’t into the job either. But when the room service android kicks in the door, his quick thinking saves her life and puts them on everyone’s radar.
Fiends of the Eastern Front: Constanta Part 1
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Tiernen Trevallion (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: ‘Constanta’ Part One feels like a lot of set up for what is to come, and is deftly done. Ian Edginton’s script and Tiernan Trevallion’s art tell you everything you need to know here, even if you missed the earlier story arc. They set the scene for a classic gothic horror so bloody well. The opening hits us with a beleaguered foreigner in a setting, seemingly out of the last century seeking something possibly long dead. The art and colors, though bright and lush, seem to hide something spookier just below their surface and I have no idea how the Trevallion achieved it.
Our “hero,” WW1 airman Tom Wilson, is a figure that Trevallion makes seem weighed down with secrets. In some panels, he implies darker things about him. The script openly speaks of the supernatural and everything in the art seems to hint at something deeper. The faces he draws seem lived in and wanting to tell their tale. For what is possibly just a framing sequence before the real tale to start next week, there is a lot in here that beg for you to ask about them. The wrinkled or scarred faces, the antiquated or fancy clothing, the hints at other possible tales of, say, the priest or the bartender, all hint there is more to learn here. The panels are deep and rich with detail promising so much.
We know from the text and images what we can expect to come is a vampire origin story, but the creators make it feel like more is there. The final panels tell us little other then the high beginnings of the Constanza and hint at some great tragedy. They craftily set the stage for a tale of hope, blood, and revenge. The pages were lively, colorful and a joy to look at. Trevallion’s art style, craggy and idiosyncratic, captured such a perfect emotional feeling for the story being told. They promise a lot and have whet out appetites in these few pages for horror. We can only hope that what they offer up delivers as much as the preface promised.
Hook-Jaw: Two
Credits: Alex Worley (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Jacob Cordas: Welcome back to what I hope will be the finest shark monster horror story since Sweetheart. Here in part two, “Hook-Jaw” slows down but maintains a steady stream of tension.
This chapter is far more focused on establishing our true protagonist. We are given short insight into key moments rounding out the character’s needs and wants. He can’t help but remember when he wasn’t enough for the man who raised him. He can’t help but pick a fight to try to prove he cares when he couldn’t show it before. And he can’t help but slip into a depression that weighs downs every inch of his face.
Continued belowOh, and there’s a gruesome murder on a fishing boat meeting the minimum number of corpses required per chapter.
Gallagher’s art maintains the ugliness further elaborating the tone. The wrinkles and lines help elaborate on our hero’s sense of loss and failure. The art perfectly reflects the tone with the coloring highlighting the stress. And once we are finally treated to our legally mandated body count, the viscerality hangs over the ending.
It fulfills all of the requirements of a second issue. It progresses the world and characters giving us lots of interesting nooks and crannies for blood splatter. If it can maintain what it’s been building so far, we may have the best shark monster story since Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus. I can’t imagine higher praise than that.
