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
Cadet Dredd: Red Medicine
Credits: James Petty (script), Luke Horsman (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Christopher Egan: This month’s “Cadet Dredd” tackles some big ideas for being an all ages strip. Socioeconomic commentary focusing on class, income, medical care, and more as cadets Dredd and Rico are taken out on patrol with their supervising Judge. The story, as well as the characters, begins to investigate the domino effect of someone giving out free medical supplies to low income citizens could spin out of control into various criminal issues.
As with all political threads pulled in the dystopia of Mega City One, the points being made lean solely to the worst side of things through a conservative fascist lens. Seeing a young Joe Dredd look at the citizens of Mega City One simply as people and not just potential criminals was both surprising and heartbreaking as both his supervisor and Rico immediately crush his opinion and push him in the direction that we know will be his future outcome. Dredd is surprised, but understands the good being done in the instance, unfortunately the law of the Judges follows a different set of rules.
During the confrontation with the perp handing out the drugs there’s a little bit of quick action and violence, but the story quickly boomerangs back to a quiet and more contemplative tone. This gives Dredd time to discover there’s more to this situation than initially thought and leads to twist. Whether that twist feels fully earned, or even makes sense, is up to you.
The world of “Judge Dredd” has always taken a satirical stance on politics and society, and while it’s never really been subtle about it, this entry of “Cadet Dredd” is nicely overt in the story it is telling without hiding its intentions in dialogue. It’s all out there for you to read clearly whether you agree with its message or not, that you can decide for yourself.
Lowborn High
Credits: David Barnett (script), Anna Morozova (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Greg Lincoln: “Lowborn High” is a bit predictable as far as modern fantasy teen dramas go, but it’s a good start and lays some promising foundation for a continuing story. The main draw is the sharp, appealing art, designs, and concepts that Anna Morozova created on the page. Even the characters that appeared in passing on the opening page hint at their own stories. She also colored her own pages and that singular approach let her really define the look and texture of this story. Though the story went to predictable places with the high school gang hazing, intimidation, and our hero joining the geekier kids, Morozova’s art made it a pleasant trip.
David Barnett’s story might be well trod but there are fun and interesting elements that come out that make me want more if this. The fact that Andy took his place in the highborn school for granted makes him, if not likable, very human. It’s Maison and Drill from the Deadbeats, the school group that helps and accepts him in the end, that are most personable and compelling. The stories hinted at for Masiy, Drill and the mystery behind what happened to “Andy’s” sister and parents make this otherwise a bit too familiar story worth a followup. I’d never pass up a chance to see Anna Morozova draw more pretty and expressive characters.
Future Shocks: Smart Home
Credits: Honor Vincent (script), VV Glass (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Matthew Blair: “Future Shocks: Smart Home” is about a Roomba-esque vacuum that becomes self aware and struggles to discover the meaning behind its existence as it fulfills its owner’s commands and watches as the rest of the house becomes self aware. The thing is, while this kind of story is certainly nothing new in science fiction, it presents the usual tropes in a way that is interesting, fascinating, and only a teeny bit terrifying.
Continued below“Future Shocks: Smart Home” is written by a newcomer to the world of 2000AD named Honor Vincent and it is a fantastic debut. While the physical stakes are comparatively small–the robot has no ambition to take over the world or kill all humans–Vincent does give the reader plenty of emotional tragedy for the reader to ponder. All the robot wants to do is understand why it exists, but all it can do is fulfill its creator’s commands and hope. At the same time, while it’s easy to sympathize with the robot, the humans get some emotional consideration too. It’s not that the robot’s creators are monsters, it’s just that they can’t see what’s going on and they’re too busy trying to get what they want to notice what’s really happening. It’s a more introspective take on artificial intelligence, and it would be really awesome if this story could be expanded into something bigger.
The art for “Future Shocks: Smart Home” is provided by VV Glass and it compliments the writing very well while making the story easy to understand. Glass draws the robots and appliances with clear, crisp lines and realistic bits while the humans are drawn with a slightly exaggerated cartoon style that makes them look expressive with just a hint of realism. It’s a very good art style for a children’s story and it’s all tied together with a rich color palette that makes the whole comic look amazing.
“Future Shocks: Smart Home” is an interesting take on artificial intelligence that isn’t violent or apocalyptic. Instead, it tells the story of a small robot just looking for its place in the world and trying to deal with the whims and ignorance of its human overlords.
The Unteachables
Credits: Karl Stock (script) Eulia Vicente(art) Matt Soffe(colours)Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: School’s back in session for “The Unteachables” after the second most dreaded thing to Judge Dredd appears, a Substitute Teacher! The creative team of Karl Stock, Eulia Vicente, and Matt Soffe on colors, have a lot of fun with this strip. Vicente’s art turns it into an anime inspired post post-apocalyptic aesthetic, but their smooth gentle line workplaces it closer to shojo manga than say “Fist of the Northstar”. The sort of “Fist” scenario is what is being activated on the first page as Miss Hitts gets ready for her day putting on her battle gear and staring at a wall of weapons. She sneaks around the derelict city streets full of “dangerous” but also rather cute looking individuals. It’s the kind of strange mixing that works in a 2000 AD strip.
Matt Soffe coloring also adds to that sense of anachronism. While some of their blending and color choices are not correct their palette evokes comic art from the 70s. Lots of bold colors with little rendering, the kind of large splashes of color that work because it balances the page versus individual items. These aren’t bold bright colors, they are fairly muted and further run through some static texturing that creates a dissonant feeling of “old” to the images.
Vicente’s command of action is apparent in this strip though there is one panel that is jarring as it exists just to set up a page turn reveal. There’s some really solid physical comedy in this strip as Miss Hitts takes command of the classroom. All of these moments have a verve to them which makes the verbal and visual comedy of the 7th page land so well, even subverting expectations for something that reinforces the strange sense of warmth in this strip.
This is the kind of strip I wish 2000 AD would do more of outside the “Regened” specials. They aren’t really equipped to make the turn to YA publishing like other houses, but this is the kind of gimmick that is the foundation of solid YA comics.
Chopper: What Goes Up
Credits: David Barnett (script), Nick Roche (art), John Charles (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: Chopper is one of the most established 2000 AD characters, and this trip back to his youth is fun, if a little slight. The whole ‘street surfing’ concept is one of my favorite elements of Mega-City One, in part because, like in Judge Dredd Megazine‘s current “Surfer” story, it allows artists to explore the setting in new and dynamic ways. This strip, however, doesn’t really do too much surfing, instead focusing on ‘Boinging,’ which is a combination of base jumping and those balls that Wayne Coyne rolls over crowds in.
This, unfortunately, doesn’t allow Nick Roche to do some of the more fun surfing-style artwork, aside from one panel of the ‘Palais de Boing,’ which is a fun, hamster-playground style design. But overall, Roche is more focused on character work, which is incredibly expressive and fun, and works for the kids that star in this strip. There is still some fun action, but the highs or previous surfing stories make it a little hard to live up to, unfortunately.
The story itself is simple, and features Chopper walking the line between ‘criminal’ (surfer) and ‘hero’ (lifesaver/kidnapped rescuer). The last line of the strip, uttered by a Judge, reinforces this concept. Chopper is a great character to get that point across via, and while this is far from the best Chopper story, it is still a fun introduction to the character for new readers.
