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: The Citadel 07
Credits: John Wagner (script) Dan Cornwall (art) Dylan Teague (colors) Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Matthew Blair: It’s been several weeks of seeing Dredd sneak through sewers, force a disparate group of ragtag survivors to work together, survive against the seemingly invincible Sov war machine, and hide in the shadows like a coward. Now it’s time for some righteous payback against the vile Sov bastards as Dredd and his group of survivors unleash hell against the Sovs.
Here we get to see Dredd in all his righteous fury, fighting like a bat out of hell. It’s funny, the way he fights it almost makes you wish there were more of him.
Hmmmmm…
“Judge Dredd: The Citadel 07” does a very good job of reminding the reader that this story is actually being told in the present timeline of Mega City One, and goes a long way to show the fear and admiration that everyone in the city has for Dredd. Writer John Wagner crafts a brutal and incredibly violent action scene here, where Dredd and his gang’s callous disregard for human life is matched only by the Sovs’ penchant for torture and violence. It’s a brief moment of triumph for our heroes that only leads to more questions at the end, questions that make a lot of sense if you’re familiar with the lore of Dredd and Mega City One, but questions that are still interesting to ponder.
“Judge Dredd: the Citadel 07” has some of Dan Cornwall’s bloodiest and most violent artwork to date, which goes a long way towards enhancing the story and getting the reader pumped up for what comes next. Cornwall keeps the energy of Dredd’s assault on the Sov prison high, and the frequent use of blood splatter and gunshot wounds shows just how nasty close quarters gun fights can be. The artwork doesn’t pull any of its punches and does a great job of juxtaposing the reality of violence with mythic storytelling.
“Judge Dredd: The Citadel 07” is a whirlwind of violence and terror as Dredd and company do what they do best and strike back against the Sovs. However, once the question of fighting back is settled it keeps the momentum of the story going with a new mystery that should be familiar to long time readers of Dredd while still being intriguing.
Hope: In The Shadows – Reel One
Credits: Guy Davis (Script), Jimmy Broxton (Art), Jim Campbell (Letters)
Christopher Egan: In an alternate reality, it’s the 1940s and World War II is already over thanks to supernatural means via occultists. Mallory Hope is one of the top private investigators that deals in the other-worldly. During this odd and dark time in history, the production of horror films hasn’t slowed down. Davis and Broxton give us a fun and beautifully detailed behind-the-scenes look at one of these movies.
As of yet this darkly humorous, yet earnest look at a version of Boris Karloff and Co, has little to do with propelling the plot after the opening murder on set. Though, the quick and shocking conclusion to this opening chapter makes it clear that the movie is thoroughly important.
Broxton’s stylized, but realistic renditions of the characters and environments are gorgeous. They’re perfect eye candy for the cinephile and horror aficionados out there. While some of the details may be lost on those unfamiliar with classic Hollywood, it’s still a fun and spooky opener to this strip.
Davis’s script tries to get right to the point, but is a bit too light, even with the brevity of the chapter. A few more details would have helped make it a tad stronger, but this is a really enjoyable first chapter.
Intestinauts: Rise of the Impactors Pt 2
Credits: Arthur Wyatt (Script), Pye Parr (Art and Letters)
Greg Lincoln: Arthur Wyatt and Pye Parr hit just the right mix of humor and horror with this clever little story. Despite the foulness of the setting the plight of the Intestinauts stick on a fatberg in the sewer the overall story feels very much like an epic fantasy quest. That overall impression is driven more by the fantastic art by Pye Parr.
The chapter opens as I-R-404 climbs to get an arial view and to map a potential route to the uplink point. The two page spread that Part created for the next few pages is actually a joy to peruse and explore. Wyatt and Parr together create a brilliant world that practically asks your to imagine the potential adventures the Intestinauts might have to get home. Parr’s art hints at how well these characters work together and the snarky dialogue tells you just how well they all get along. 404 is cleverly carrying the eye of 360 along with them. That’s just one of the details the art shows that goes unnarated.
They also introduce the antagonists, the frightening Impactors. Wyatt and Parr both show us how brutal they are and tells us in no uncertain terms about how aggressive they can be. The campfire/ghost story gathering like ending is very clever, funny and scary if you identify with our heroes.
Fiends of the Eastern Front: 1963, Part 4
Credits: Ian Edginton (script), Tiernen Trevallion (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Michael Mazzacane: I’ve often wondered how the nature of the page allows for comics to often feel so hyper compressed, or conversely decompressed to some. By their nature Prog strips are often a strange mix of episodic with noticeable gaps in the narrative between episodes or very linear. The previous three entries of “Fiends” have fit more into the latter narrative flow as it procedurally works through a spy yarn, but this fourth entry is the most compressed temporal unit. It is essentially maybe a 3 minute conversation that artist Tiernen Trvallion brings every drop of tension and horror out of.
Blame John Wick but I’m somewhat bummed that the consistently great Annie Parkhouse didn’t put the name “Baba Yaga” in bold italicized font with a small neon back light. Instead, they letter the nursery rhyme as one would expect working in consort with Travallion’s delicate line work as Yaga’s hands sew Constanta’s head back onto his body. The opening page hiding everything but just the hands in a tight close up before suddenly pulling out on “awake” is just really good management of tone and mood.
This strip of “Fiends of the Eastern Front” is just a really good exercise in tone management as the strip goes from horror to something akin to the Pit of Despair sequence from Princess Bride. Before going into yet another even more comedic turn at the revelation that our American spy was the meat suit for a ghost. It’s strange to see a somewhat comedic depiction of bodily possession and horror juxtaposed so closely to the century and a day style servitude that Yaga is after. Trevallion does a good job of juxtaposing the freedom and energy of the spirit with long unbroken lines opposed to the disheveled makeup of everyone else.
The appearance of the spirit sends the strip into its cliff hanger and we are left with the promise of more action. This is a well-done strip that captures a variety of tones in a super compressed space and makes it all work, mostly. From a plot perspective barely anything happens and yet as a narrative unit it was satisfy
Brink: Mercury Retrograde Part 7
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), INJ Culbard (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: This installment of “Brink” focuses the attention squarely on Maz who is continuing to dig, and is trying to connect the dots for his story in a way that makes sense, though he’s only marginally successful in doing so. He is finding new connections to draw on, but they aren’t leading anywhere just yet. We get a little bit of action towards the end, when we see Maz set off to meet Bardot, a friend of his uncle’s. This is the first bit of Maz’s story in weeks that doesn’t just involve him talking to people or doing research, and so on that hand this is a nice change of pace. Also, giving the entire strip to one story allows this to dig a little deeper into Maz’s mindset, as well as connect his story to his girlfriend’s a little, so that she doesn’t just seem like the doubting partner, putting up with her boyfriend’s obsessions.
If “Brink: Mercury Retrograde” was a novel or a television series, the pacing would be more enjoyable than what we are getting here. I love a story that builds and grows, but the relatively benign location, mixed with the talking heads-heavy story just leads to the book feeling slow and unsatisfactory. I understand what Abnett and Culbard are going for, and I think they are more or less getting there, but I can’t help but think just how much more engaging this would be if there was something to visually sink our teeth into. It isn’t that all comics need guns or capes or monsters, but the conversations are often happening when the characters are reading, or eating, or on a computer, and so they are not exactly dramatic, or even given much opportunity for growth and depth.
The story itself is there, and Culbard’s art is quite good, but the tempo just isn’t flowing like it could.
