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: Easy Money Part 1
Credits: Mike Carroll (Script), Simon Fraser (Art), Gary Caldwell (Colours), Annie Parkhouse (Letters)
Christopher Egan: This latest “Judge Dredd” strip mostly pivots away from the Judges and the Justice Department. We meet billionaire socialite Aldalisa Brown on the day following her parents’s accidental death.
With the turn of each page she goes through various stages of grieving and we learn more about her and her parents’s source of income.
Carroll writes a light but compelling introduction having us assume that Aldalisa is like any other silver spoon bratty child in an adult’s body. But through new knowledge and experiences we see a multi-faceted women who may not be as bad as she seems. At the very least she looks capable of becoming a better person; or much, much worse depending on how she decides to move her life forward.
Carroll’s writing is quick, to the point and readers will get a full understanding of who these characters are after just a few sentences. The build up to who Aldalisa’s parents really were and how she could navigate the rest of her life is interesting and engaging while still being light and fluffy in a good way.
Long time “Judge Dredd” artist Simon Fraser brings his signature fluid style of blending the necessary Judge and Mega City One designs.
Gary Caldwell’s bright and sunny palette gives an almost whimsical look upper crust side of the city. His version feels like LA without the smog. Money flows, the little people are pushed aside, but everything looks cheery. Even on this first day of mourning. The work of both artists gives the work both its sci-fi/fantasy nature and leans into the simple truth that even the worst days of your life can be sunny and beautiful.
‘Easy Money Part 1 is a solid introduction of Aldalisa and her rich pals and employees while setting up a connection to Dredd and the law coming down on them.
Thistlebone: Poison Roots, Part 11
Credits: T.C. Eglington (script), Simon Davis (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: For a story as deliberate and well-paced as “Thistlebone” has been over its 20+ chapters thus far, Chapter 11 of “Poison Roots” felt incredibly rushed. While there’s nothing that feels, tonally, out of place, the actions that make up the chapter feel like, if paced out a little bit differently, might have had a bigger impact.
The revelation that Martin is not working alone, but is part of a coven that includes the other camper that Seema interviewed, comes as a bit of a shock, but it happens only seconds before that coven turns on him. The impact of the betrayal is lessened due to the limited time that the reader has to soak in the information presented. If that had been revealed at an earlier time, it would have felt more significant.
Simon Davis has drawn some gruesome things in this strip thus far, but the snapping of Martin’s neck might be the most disturbing yet, both due to the cold, calculated nature of each participant, and also for how matter of fact it is. There’s no doubt when looking at the page what just happened, and the finality of the action haunts the reader long after the page is turned.
Intestinauts: Symbiotic Love Triangle, Part Two
Credits: Arthur Wyatt (script), Pye Parr (art and letters)
Rowan Grover: Wyatt wastes no time throwing our fledgling and unlikely heroes right into the fire with this middle chapter. There’s some light plot building in the background cleverly told via in-world advertisements, showing off the latest developments in symbiote tech. However, we don’t get a lot of personality from I-R-404 or V-3-0M in this chapter, they both seem to be stripped right down to their narrative drive for plot purposes. While it does make for fast-paced storytelling, it sacrifices some of the zanier antics that sprouted in the first issue between the two characters. A threat is quickly introduced, however, showing that the characters are definitely on the run, and a final spanner is thrown into the works once the pair reunite with Freddy, who has an unexpected guest. It’s clever, tight storytelling that isn’t particularly groundbreaking but works because of the bizarre concepts at play.
Continued belowParr is still clearly having a bunch of fun drawing this series with all the little noodling present on every page. Little details like a masked alien saddled up on a giant slug-looking creature on the opening panel ooze with charm. Our lead character too looks like they’re having a bunch of fun panel to panel. The symbiote-robot has a silver-age Kirby level of dynamism, constantly hunched forward and bounding from surface to surface in a way that really pushes the story onwards. There’s some clever visual storytelling on display here too with how Parr renders the symbiotic powers. Each time the goopy suit bubbles and stretches, it breaks out of the panel borders and gives a hypernatural visual sensation. It’s perhaps overplayed a little too much to grab as much attention as it should, but it’s a fun little detail.
“Intestinauts” has built a lot of interesting ideas in such a short amount of time. I only hope that it can satisfyingly wrap them all together by next week’s conclusion.
Future Shocks: Goodbye to Zane
Credits: John Tomlinson (script), Anna Morozova (art),, Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln This story coming on the heels of Elon Musk hosting Saturday Night Live is perhaps just an odd coincidence, but it’s a damn funny one given the general dislike most people have for him. The story focuses on the underhanded, criminal, immoral doings of a tech magnate named Cory Lisk and involves a one way space voyage, so Musk must have been on the mind of the writer John Tomlinson.
On page one we learn that the man is an entitled, rage filled, sexual obsessive who never progressed out of his teen years mentally. The story seems rather spot on in targeting all the assumed foibles of the ultra wealth stereotypes. None of the story dispels that and mainly just proves that Lisk is all that Zane Gray seems to think of him after “sharing his “mindware.” The opening panel kind of foreshadows that evil being perpetrated in the story and even kind of predicts that ending twist in a way. It’s the kind of story that explores in a roundabout way how the mega wealthy use the people around them and how they pretty much see us as theirs to do with as they wish. ‘Goodbye to Zane’ is the kind of one shot that works well, though it’s kind of predictable, there is a lot of philosophical meat to chew on after reading it.
The other thing the story has going for it is the fantastic, sexy art style of Anna Morozova. The pages are filled with style as well as pretty well conceived and kitchy storytelling. She uses large areas of flat black so well to create shapes and textures. She also has a deft ability to create flow in her sleek style, even if the figures are a bit too well posed, crafted, and the scenes a bit too strongly staged. It’s all so pretty it’s actually a bit ostentatious at times, but it’s a joy to look at.
Feral and Foe II: Part 8
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Richard Elson (art), Jim Campbell (lettering)
Matthew Blair The quest continues, making a quick stop at the ruins of a once great city that was destroyed during the war. Fortunately for our brave characters, it’s not overrun by terrifying monsters. Unfortunately, it is filled with lots of painful memories.
Writer Dan Abnett takes a step back from the humor in “Feral and Foe II: Part 8” and uses this portion of the story to show off his character development and world building skills. It’s nice to see Abnett explore something that isn’t often explored in fantasy stories: the trauma and mental strain of the survivors of a terrible war and the struggle to accept the new world order that is the ultimate end result of any conflict. Also, there’s something of a major twist revealed about their recently zombified teammate that promises to keep the story going in a very interesting direction, but no spoilers here.
Richard Elson’s artwork in “Feral and Foe II: Part 8” shifts from being about great monster design to great setting design. The former city the party has to walk through is properly ominous and there is a very real sense that something terrible happened here. You can tell that the place used to be great, with rising towers and busy streets, but they’re nothing but ruins and the people are either dead or long gone. It’s great artwork that properly enhances the theme and story.
“Feral and Foe II: Part 8” is a well done dramatic turn for our intrepid heroes, providing a solid bit of world building and emotional baggage that makes the story even better.
