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: Buratino Must Die, Part 1
Credits: Rob Williams (script), Flint Henry (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: With ‘Buratino Must Die’ Rob Williams and Henry return to a character and deli a they set up several years back in the “End of Days” story. This opening chapter effective related the fallout out of that tale for anyone who missed it and brings to the forefront the dilemma Dredd faces this time around with the ex-Sov Psi. The big issue here is can you trust a person who betrays his country for a greater good or to defeat a greater threat than they themselves represent. It’s an interesting twist that the story brings up in regards to psionics. Anderson can’t read Buratino and oddly Buratino can’t read Dredd. It’s a great bit of buildup of tension right at the opening of this story we can only hope has a long arc. The hints of the story to come dropped in this opening chapter could allude to anything as to the meaning behind the title and as to why Dredd is pointing his Lawgiver at Buratino’s back as we go into the flashback.
Flint Henry’s art is always a joy to see in “Judge Dredd.”His stylized pencils, inks and pale soft range of muted colors create a definite atmosphere and feeling. Henry captures with his clean yet loose line work a very classic Dredd comics look with out heavy inks. There is an ethereal and otherworldly tone to the images playing into the occult, magical, horror themes that follow out of the apocalyptic ‘End of Days’ story that involved the four horsemen.
Chimpskey’s Law: A Terrifically Disturbing Adventure, Part 3
Credits: Ken Niemand (script), PJ Holden (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Matthew Blair: The telepathic terror twins have made contact with Chimpsky and they would be ever so grateful if the chimp decided to drop everything he was doing and be their pet forever and ever.
Unfortunately, the twin’s psychic powers don’t seem to work on Chimpsky, which makes them confused and upset that they aren’t getting their way, and when the twins get upset…people die.
“Chimpksy’s Law Part 3” is the first meeting between the protagonists and antagonists of the story and writer Ken Niemand handles it very well. There’s a nice balance of humor and horror in the story with Chimpsky’s laid back, orderly do gooder attitude contrasting with the chaotic and selfish menace of the twins. Niemand does a great job of establishing the character’s relationship between each other and shows off Chimpsky’s skill and attitude while giving the twins plenty of motivation to be cruel and ugly.
PJ Holden’s artwork gets better and better with each story, and “Chimpsky’s Law Part 3” definitely has the most blood and violence. Holden doesn’t pull a lot of punches when showing the twins venting their frustration at their inability to get what they want and there is plenty of blood and violence to be had. The twins go from creepy to just plain violent, and it will be interesting to see what else they have in store for Chimpsky and his friends.
“Chimpsky’s Law Part 3” is the final set up of the story before the plot can happen. It does a great job of establishing the relationship between all of the main characters and giving them both the final motivation to face each other in a battle that will decide the fate of one of the nicest places to live in Mega City One.
Hope: In the Shadows Reel Two, Part Two
Credits: Guy Adams (script), Jimmy Broxton (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Christopher Egan: This new arc fully heads for its goal of blending meta with metaphysical. Broxton’s love of using the likenesses of Old Hollywood royalty paired with other names continues to make for a fun tongue in cheek tone that pairs beautifully with the surreal humor and true terror of this comic. As we seemingly move further away from what Reel One was all about, Reel Two goes full David Lynch, even bringing nuclear testing into the supernatural horror and brain twisting plot, never really giving any answers towards what is happening, but more-so purposefully building up the confusion.
Continued belowIt’s working quite well so far with each strip, though brief, the last two chapters have been page turners that beg for multiple readings. “Hope: In The Shadows” continues to be a fascinating horror series that feels completely accessible while still keeping readers at arm’s length as it takes its time to reveal its secrets to us. It’s almost as much a pleasure to read as it clearly has been for Adams to write it out. It’s one of the few 2000 AD strips that truly begs to be considered on various levels and continues to rattle around in my skull days after reading each installment.
Enemy Earth: Book One: Part Three
Credits: Cavan Scott (script), Luke Horsman (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Michael Mazzacane: This episode of “Enemy Earth” pulls off a lot in its few short pages. The emotional arc and realization Zoe goes through, from apathy justified through self loathing into action, is common and to be expected. The execution of that arc though in this strip, however, makes it work. It’s not that you know the music, it’s how you play it in the end.
Cavan Scott and Luke Horsman begin to meld past and present in the opening page after keeping past and present clearly separated in the previous strips. As the plants and nature attack Zoe and Jules in the present, Zoe, our POV character, can’t help but think about the events the day nature turned and the death of her brother Bobby. Horsman coding these mental flashbacks in pure green (greed and nature) is a smart call to make everything readable on the page, and allows for one trick on the second one.
Bobby died during the initial uprising and much as Zoe “blames” Bobby she really blames herself for failing to protect her brother. She’s a liability and not worthy of companionship, it’s a hard boiled defensive posture everyones seen before. It still doesn’t make the moment she tricks the nanni bot into revealing the exit, skipping the battle, sting any less. This moment forces of course the moment of recrimination and re-evaluation as Jules and their Robot are being overrun. In the center of the second page we see a boy calling out for Zoe and she isn’t there. On first glance it’s easy to assume that it is Jules, however it’s really the past haunting her. It’s all colored green. This trick is effective because Horsman drops out the background and what remains is primarily in that green to turquoise range, resulting in the middle panel passing as being in temporal continuity with their surroundings. And then you get to the end and you realize, as Zoe states, she’s never said her name to Jules or the Bot!
This strip went exactly where one would expect it to go and it should go, and that’s not a bad thing. “Enemy Earth” part three is a good example of how you do things is sometimes more important than what you do in the first place. Now we’re set up for a “Lone Wolf and Cub” or Last Of Us style survival adventure … if they can make it topside.
Hershey: The Cold in the Bones: Book One, Part Three
Credits: Rob Williams (script), Simon Fraser (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: The immediacy of Simon Fraser’s color work makes ‘Book One, Part Three’ jump off the page. When a Judge is hit with a bullet, the pale, monochromatic book turns bright red, and jolts the reader into paying attention. “Joy” has been established as a pretty serious drug, but this installment shows exactly what happens when you take it, and it isn’t pretty. Again, Fraser’s art has a kinetic energy to it that bursts forth in these scenes that take the desolate, cold setting and inject them with terror and life. The Joy-heads grow mantis-like legs and seem to be losing themselves to some other consciousness, and Fraser’s art perfectly shows this for the fight that it is.
Rob Williams is playing Hershey as coolly as possible, allowing her to never reveal too much about herself or her past. But here, she goes out of her way to offer assistance and give the Judges some backup. This is Hershey both doing what she knows and also doing it on her own terms. That’s not a story we often get to see Judges tell, so I am especially interested to see how she straddles the line between Judge and civilian.
