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
Credits: John Wagner (script), John Higgins (art), Sally Hurst (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Christopher Egan: A much clearer picture begins to form in this week’s Prog. We are shown the connection between Justice Watch and the death of Judge Milkin at the end of part 1; as well as the ever-growing list of Judges getting killed whose escapades have appeared on the new hit show.
Someone is targeting the Judges in a wide array of attacks, each seemingly untraceable, though not especially elaborate or unique. Wagner writes this story in waves. The calm of it are the moments with Judge Dredd learning about the deaths and their connections to the show. Some look like accidents, some more like dying in the line of duty. The waves build and crash with each flash of a death and the moments leading to it. This is where we get the action sequences and the more bombastic moments.
John Higgins draws this chapter out with a specific purpose, matching Wagner’s words exactly. Dredd gets the info on the deaths from another Judge in a dark, shadowy room. The only light is from the monitors in front of them. It’s quiet and feels upsetting. The calm and control coming from Dredd as he begins to see the truth of these cases keeps the pace rolling along.
Sally Hurst’s colors are what really brings the entire mood together. Keeping the colors low and muted for Dredd’s scenes. Then, giving them just enough power for the death scenes to show different settings, but staying true to this particular story is perfect. It allows for that unity to come through on every page. No overpowering from one scene to the next. She also keeps Higgins’s details and grittiness fully intact. The strip looks great throughout. Easy to notice even as you’re pulled into the script.
A stoic and truly engaging second chapter, it allows the mystery to grow and change at a perfectly timed pace.
Credits: James Peaty (script), Paul Marshall (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Jim Campbell (lettering)
Matthew Blair: Skip Tracer is simultaneously having the best day of his life and the worst day of his life in “Skip Tracer Eden: Part 5”. On one hand, he gets to experience the joys of a family he never knew he had. On the other hand, said family is being hunted by powerful and terrifying forces from his past…and it’s all his fault this is happening.
In most stories where the main hero has to rescue his loved ones from some sort of threat there’s usually a substantial amount of build up before the climactic showdown. James Peaty doesn’t really do that with “Skip Tracer Eden: Part 5” which is either an impressive bucking of trend or an editorial necessity due to time and page constraints. Despite the rapid pace, Peaty does a very good job of establishing the roles and capabilities of each character and hinting how they will act in upcoming sections. Special mention deserves to go to the villain of the story, an alien who also has psychic powers that are probably better than Skip’s and who has the right mix of wicked cunning and thirst for revenge against Skip to make him a terrifying threat.
Artist Paul Marshall sets a tone of grim determination in “Skip Tracer Eden: Part 5” complimenting the brave and stoic dialogue of the characters with stern expressions and hunched posture. Marshall makes it very clear that while Skip is still processing what has happened, he is determined to not let any harm come to his new family. This determination moves on to a quick but effective action scene where Marshall and Teague rely on the color scheme to show who is doing what and what is going on. It’s an effective use of color and dynamic action and does a good job of taking a quick action scene and giving it the necessary emotional weight.
Continued below“Skip Tracer Eden: Part 5” is the opening salvo of what should be a very action packed series of story installments filled with violence, psychic powers, and the highest and most terrifying stakes imaginable for our intrepid hero. At a glance, it doesn’t seem like everyone will survive this.
Credits: Rory McConville (script), Dan Cornwell (art), Len O’Grady (colors), Simon Bowlnad (letters)
Brian Salvatore: After a few weeks of pussyfooting around the actual plot, “Department K: Cosmic Chaos” gets down to brass tacks. The aliens that killed the Locust are part of a cult/group called the Valox, which is set on hastening the destruction of the multiverse, so that they can rebuild it into something better. They appear uninterested in the K-ers, aside from stopping them from taking the core of the Locust, which they need for their giant weapon.
The downside of the increased plot is the somewhat diminished opportunity for innovative art from Dan Cornwell. The few panel of action are some of his best work yet, both the panel highlighted above and one where a shot is fired to start the showdown between the Valox and Department K are dynamic and powerful. Cornwell does really well when drawing action, and so while there’s less of that here, he makes every panel count.
Overall, this strip is going interesting places, but just took too long to get there. While readers who stuck it out are rewarded with this chapter, it’s hard to blame anyone for checking out in the constant cliffhanger cycle. Hopefully, as the strip moves towards its conclusion, the balance of action and plot can reach a level ground, and let the strip live up to its potential.
Credits Dan Abnett (script) Steve Yeowell(art) John Charles(colours) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: Picking up where the previous “Sinister Dexter” left off Dan Abnett and Steve Yeowell return with “Sinister” and no Dexter. The rogue A.I. at the heart of this series has rebuilt Finn because it has a job for its newest tool. The particulars of that job aren’t explained in this strip, instead the creative team give us solid five-page meditation on being freshly reborn and the relative nature of pants.
Steve Yeowell’s environmental design and John Charles coloring read like a parody of an Apple commercial. That’s what it seems like Finn has woken up into. Outside of the establishing shot on the first panel the environments in this strip quickly devolve into abstract chromatics with only the figures of Finn and Tracy as only representational figures in panels. That abstraction doesn’t go away even as Yeowell adds more to the environments with rooms turning into geometric patterns that do not connote a functionality. All of these lines are still set against Charles’ various tones of grey. It isn’t much to look at but it makes for an oddly peaceful reading experience as well as one that reinforces the groggy confusion Finn is going through.
The whole strip is a tonal play on how to be mysterious. Simon Bowland’s lettering for the A.I. helps with that by always placing their boxes in a corner. Their dialogue is just off to the side, around a corner, or in a character’s head, making their holographic reveal on the final page rather effective.
This strip isn’t the easiest jumping on place but it also does a good enough job setting up what it’s going to be about for readers just coming to the story.
Credits: Gordon Rennie (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: The Greek and Roman myths provide fertile playground for storytelling. Despite the familiarity of the myths in western comics, it’s still a thrilling surprise to see a herd of centaurs be the deus ex machina that arrives to help our heroes cross the field of endless battles that they face. Patrick Goddard and Dylan Teague’s designs make these familiar creatures even more interesting and new than we could even imagine. Using them feels like a distinct deus ex machina moment, even if they did extract a hefty price for their service from one of Aquila’s “friends.” Their sudden appearance also adds the sense that this was the easy way to get around a hefty obstacle.
Crossing the plane of battle brings our heroes to yet another river and to the gates of Tartarus. Gordon Rennie’s script throughout the series tells the tale of Aquila’s trip through Hades by hitting all the high points of the story – – and this chapter is no exception. As Lady Cruciata arrives to plague our heroes, she summons something ancient massive and impressive: Chronos, the father of the gods. It all feels a bit much, as it implies the first of four simultaneous storylines, leaving me wondering how the scripts plans for this titanic Kaiju-like opponent in the future. And while the strip stretches, the bounds of the storytelling the images remain really impressive.
