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 Working Girl: Part 1
Credits: Ken Niemand (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Annie Parkhouse (lettering)
Matthew Blair: The world of Judge Dredd is absolutely massive and filled with plenty of diverse and fascinating opportunities for great stories and fascinating characters. This time around we’re introduced to Mona Plankhurst, a resident of Mega City One that makes a living working as a courier who flies around on a hovering surfboard. Plankhurst is an upstanding citizen of Mega City One who is good at her job, but has the rotten luck of having everything in her life go wrong all at once. Fortunately for her, she has a friend who has an off the books job that pays really well. Unfortunately for her, it’s less than legal work that has drawn the attention of Judge Dredd.
The script for “Judge Dredd Working Girl: Part 1” is provided by Ken Niemand, who does a very good job of quickly and efficiently introducing the main character of the story and making the audience sympathetic to her plight. It’s very easy to see why Plankhurst is driven to a life of crime with everything piling up on her all at once and at the same time it’s easy to see that she’s not really a criminal and she just wants to look after her family. It’s well trodden ground for storytelling, but Niemand does an excellent job of presenting it clearly and in an emotionally relatable way.
Patrick Goddard and Dylan Teague provide the artwork and colors for “Judge Dredd Working Girl Part 1” and it’s a fantastic choice. Goddard presents the reader with a Mega City One that is filled with all sorts of cool technology but is also oppressive and cramped while Teague’s colors make the whole thing look washed out and depressing. On top of that, Goddard does a great job on the micro level as well, showcasing a great understanding of human emotion and realistic anatomy. It’s high quality art that should prove to be the highlight of the story.
“Judge Dredd Working Girl Part 1” is an emotional and tragic introduction to a character who is simply forced into a life of crime and is destined to come face to face with the unrelenting boot-heel of the law. It’s a solid script with amazing artwork and should be a treat to read.
Proteus Vex: Desire Paths Part 2
Credits: Mike Carroll (script), Jake Lynch (art), Jim Boswell (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln: We join Proteus Vex facing a bizarre half dozen of bounty hunters. Mike Carroll tells this tale very cleverly using the scant five pages to both show us how this trap goes awry and how Vex and his new partner plan for what is an obvious trap. We are treated to flashbacks to the planning as we watch the local primitive militia surrounding the bounty hunters, surrounding Vex. It’s effective, clever, and humorously executed. Nearly all of the combat is barely shown but between the art and the storytelling your mind fills in the violence that the story hints at. The fallout of the story, Vex and Ko saving several captured flesh pilots, spark another hidden memory Vex’s flesh pilot took way back the first story. It’s a set up for something else the Chancellor had hidden away from the universe.
The art from Lynch and Boswell really capture a feeling of gritty “old west” frontier, even though they use little in the way of grit or background. It’s more arrows and spears then six shooters in the fight but the flavor is very gunfight at the OK Corral. Boswell’s subtle changes in tones nicely cues the flashback scenes and the art amusingly sets up the ambush even if the text doesn’t point it out.
The Order: Fantastic Voyage, Part 2
Credits Kek-W (script) John Burns(art) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: The peculiar joys of “The Order” continue as writer Kek-W gives us the immortal line “We’ll make a pirate of you yet, Ben Franklin.” The Decembrists and Lin Manuel Miranda can eat their hearts out.
The surreal art of John Burns continues to be the driving force for the weirdness of this series as the crew find themselves in the eye of the dimensional storm. Within this nexus of space and time the crew interact with phantasmic wraiths the crew the thousand other lost ships in this storm. Some of them are more material than others. Burns slightly modifies their techniques to represent these wraiths by contrasting the corporal watercolors of the embodied with the plain line art of the wraiths. This establishes a clear contrast between the living and the damned. It also allows him to overlap and disregard the normally strict panel borders that define “The Order.” Breaking the panels in this way helps to heighten the action and create a strong reading line but also further represent the weird rules breaking that this dimension exhibits.
As per usual Burns also shows a strong use of color to clearly block out space and make larger macro images.
This is a normal length strip and Kek-W speedily moves things along in a way that feels more fitting the adventure narrative it is homaging compared to the somewhat tedious first strip.
Kingmaker: Falls the Shadow: Part Two
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Christopher Egan:In the aftermath of the battle in part 1, Crixus and Princess Yarrow are coming to grips with Ablard’s death and the return of the Wraith King. This clearly and succinctly deals with how the world of the Nine Kingdoms is changing and that the next great war may be fought very differently than those of the past. Especially with the Wraith King coming to power once again. As the story moves away from the land to outer space, an alliance of villainy begins to form. The script is conversational and flows quite well, but is definitely heavier than the opening entry that focused more on action than consequences.
The change in artwork between the land scenes and those in space is the kind of shift that rarely happens in comics, and it is more than welcome. Moving from something akin to Warcraft or Lord of the Rings to a futuristic sci-fi world that fits in somewhere between H.R. Giger and Mass Effect 3. The blending of genres is one of the best things about this title and this chapter should have readers really looking forward to how the creators blow things open while playing within both worlds.
Edginton and Gallagher use the blending of fantasy and science fiction to great effect once again, allowing for “Kingmaker” to continue to be a more compelling story than any run of the mill fantasy story.
The Out: Book Two, Part 13
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Brian Salvatore: There’s a fine line in art of any kind where the creator straddles the line between living up to expectation and subverting it. Often times, pleasure comes from the degree of subversion, allowing the reader/listener/viewer to get something unexpected, but not unpleasant from the reveal, the prestige, the chorus, whatever you want to call it. But other times, the writing is on the wall, and there’s joy in the fulfillment of a hinted at promise.
“The Out: Book Two, Part 13” gives you exactly what “Part 12” said it would. Cyd has been contaminated, and so was to become part of the Tankinar, but this seemed like too bleak of a place to bring the series in its penultimate chapter. But Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison had already plotted this course, and were committed to seeing it through. And, while the fate of Cyd seems unlikely to be as a killing-obsessed automaton, this chapter fully commits to that reality, at least in the short term.
Harrison does a really fine job of drawing Cyd as spectral prisoner inside a Tankinar, while her new body goes ape on the population. She is genuinely appalled at what she has become, but has no recourse. Abnett does a great job crafting a script that shows us her despair and her desire to change, but Harrison’s art shows you that for all the willpower in the world, that’s not happening. She is part of the hive of fellow captives, batteries powering these death machines toward survivors. It’s a bleak way to lead into the final chapter of this book, but I am fascinated to see what is next.
Continued below
THIS WEEK IN 2000AD
Judge Dredd Working Girl: Part 2
Credits: Ken Niemand (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Annie Parkhouse (lettering)
Matthew Blair: Our protagonist Plankhurst agreed to do one small transport job for some criminal elements in order to raise enough money to take care of her family. Unfortunately, she and the group of sky surfers she’s working with have been discovered by Judge Dredd, who has brought the full fury of the Justice Department to bear against her and the gang. It’s a race through the skies and streets of Mega City One with their freedom at stake…and it turns out that the client asking them to transport the goods has other plans in mind.
“Judge Dredd Working Girl Part 2” is essentially one long action sequence penned by writer Ken Niemand, and it continues to maintain the level of solid storytelling that was established in the first part of the story. Niemand understands that simply having a bunch of action in a story is boring, and goes to great lengths to create ebbs and flows in the script that help maintain the reader’s interest. Also, he introduces a killer (pun intended) twist that elevates the story from a typical run of the mill chase scene into something really engaging.
Goddard’s art continues to be excellent and well suited for a story like “Judge Dredd Working Girl Part 2”. His use of motion lines gives the chase scene a great sense of momentum while his use of weird angles and camera placement allow the story to look incredibly dynamic and cool. On top of that, Goddard gives all of the characters terrified expressions, showing how the situation is an insane mess that is quickly spiraling out of control. Even Judge Dredd seems to be a bit overwhelmed with his lower jaw snarling as he barks orders in a desperate attempt to maintain order amid the chaos.
“Judge Dredd Working Girl Part 2” ramps up the stakes and tension in another fantastic installment showing a few desperate people trying to maintain control as everything around them falls to pieces.
Proteus Vex: Desire Paths Part 3
Credits: Mike Carroll (script), Jake Lynch (art), Jim Boswell (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln: Leading right out of ‘Desire Path Part 2,’ we pick up as Vex runs from yet more pursuers, including a surviving cloned bounty Hunter. Mike Carroll takes us back to a suspiciously familiar neutral space station and some familiar insectoid faces. Though there are some flashy space fights and flights, most of this chapter is a talking heads scene. Carroll is good at making you feel like everyone in the scene has a story, even if we are privy to only a small part of it. Some of these feeling come from the way he uses the narration boxes to hint at the future parts of the tale that we may never see.
Jake Lynch and Jim Boswellhad their hands full with reminding us of the creative swath of the Proteus Vex universe. They remind us of how amazing Vex’s ship the Farrago is supposed to be, and how big and diverse this pace is supposed to be. Simon Bowland had his hands full in this chapter, as there was a lot of narration to fit in and not detract from the scenes even if they were just characters conversing. The amount of text was likely a challenge to incorporate into both of these detail heavy stories. They do a brilliant job, but it takes attention to really get the most out of them as a reader.
The Order: Fantastic Voyage, Part 3
Credits Kek-W (script) John Burns(art) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: When we last left off, we were promised an isle of the dead. That will have to wait as Kek-W and John Burns shift to the story of Cassiopeia. I wouldn’t say this is a strip to just show anyone to get them into “The Order,” well there is a certain B-film quality to the ending. However, it is an excellent showcase for the work of John Burns and how he can compose and capture scenes with depth and vibrancy. The first two pages of this strip are just plainly well done as they sell the relationship and love between this mother and child. Before page three happens and you forget this is a “2000 AD” strip and there is only 5 pages of real estate.
Continued belowThe attack by the Red Riders isn’t as bright and punchy as you would expect with such an alliterative name. The low color value of their red cloaks however works on the page overall as it drives the readers to the light in the bottom of the page.
The shift in page three pushes the narrative into its final two pages and the Night of the Living Dead ending. This shift is maybe a little rough in how sudden it all is, but they feel this way more due to the tranquil quality of the opening pages. It may not be the most new reader friendly entry in the series but this is a good example to show people the kind of stuff published in 2000 AD.
Kingmaker: Falls the Shadow: Part Three
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Leigh Gallagher (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Christopher Egan: Chapter 3 plays with expectations as those we trusted to be on the side of the Wraith King may, in fact, have no want of his return. With most of the Lords and Generals having aligned with Duke Eschatus to protect their worlds and families, they have no desire to join this re-birthed Wraith King who has possessed the Duke. The Wraith King explains how he was able to come back and with little thought or care, the King calls for them to be wiped out, knowing that a continued alliance is probably not going to happen. As the intense battle is quickly over, Lord Tycho makes his way to his shuttle and prepares to take off amidst the destruction and death.
Halfway through Edginton’s dialogue takes a back seat, allowing for Gallagher’s art to take the wheel and give us compelling action to propel things ahead. The final sequence of Tycho attempting to make his escape and head for the planet with his ship critically damaged is a beautiful and cinematic piece of art that gives you all the action and movement you could ask for. You can almost hear the explosions and failing console all around you as he makes planetfall.
With Part 3 taking place completely within the sci-fi side of this world, it’s going to be fascinating and exciting to see how Tycho deals with being on the ground with the fantastical creatures and people who live there, if he survives the crash.
The Out: Book Two, Part 14
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Brian Salvatore: Last Prog saw Cyd being conscripted into the killing corps of the Tankinar, with an air of inevitability sinking in all around her. Cyd, fully inside her head, is greeted again by her daughter, only we know that it can’t really be her daughter. Joey is likely either a manifestation of her desires, a gift from her pop star/magician/lover, or some combination of bot, but Cyd listens to Joey. And, despite her unknown status as real or not, Joey gives Cyd great advice: you must destroy, but you get to choose what you destroy.
It’s an elegant and simple solution to the issue at hand, and allows Cyd to be both heroic and true to her new programing. It’s the type of solution that Dan Abnett seems to always have up his sleeve. Why Cyd was ejected from the Tankinar body is a little more suspect (something something last of the breed, probably), but works just fine for the context of the story. There is also a payoff for all the ABBA talk over the past few weeks, and I’m not going to spoil it here.
Mark Harrison, for the first time in awhile, gets to draw tranquility in all but one page. While Cyd’s mind is at peace, Harrison gets to get all THX 1138 and draw the characters in white nothingness. Later, when the world is mostly destroyed, Harrison gets to draw a different sort of tranquility. But for the one page where he gets to let loose, Harrison makes it count, drawing destruction and light fractured through destruction. It is chaotic, but confident, like so much of Harrison’s best work.
While this is the end of “The Out” for awhile, it’s amazing how much Abnett and Harrison packed into these chapters, and how fundamentally different the book feels here than it did when it returned four months ago. Here’s to ‘Book Three’ being just as transformative, whenever we get it.
