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 2000 AD
Judge Dredd: In the Event of my Untimely Demise: Part 2
Credits: Mike Carroll (script), Paul Marshall (art), Dylan Teague (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: Though not the full on solid hit that last week was, this week’s installment of “Judge Dredd” was still an interesting warren of secrets and lies. What is this covert off the books group Dredd has gathered? How long has this been a thing? That is the most successful part of this week’s story.
Mike Carroll juggles a lot of storytelling balls this week and, though much of the show is still solid, he fumbles a few in the complexity of his show. He hits the ground running right away, introducing Dredd’s growing off the books collection of Judges, which seems to be a rather larger group than what was initially hinted at. He then reveals that this group of loyal Judges are in the undetbasement for a much bigger purpose to go after the mob, but it’s what they are up to now. It is after this solid start that things get a little away from him, as he throws new mob families at us and a couple fast moving situations that needed more than a few pages to be clear.
Where this really become clear though is in the art. The opening moments, even with the roll call of Judges Carroll hit us with, is clearly told and engaging through Paul Marshall’s panels. The story though loses clarity as the mob figures start appearing. Things are most murky with the impressive group of Judges that collar one of Mother Earl’s men and the odd splattered windshield that closes that arc. It’s both obvious what happened and confusing how it happened. What follows is some dynamically drawn violence and some dimly lit crappy clandestine meetings. It’s well drawn and sets the scenes well but the narration spent for well and drops too many names to make easily follow. This lack of consistency breaks the story a bit, there is just a little bit too much going on for the page count to tell well.
Durham Red: Mad Dogs 08
Credits: Alec Worley (script) Ben Willsher (art) Simon Bowland (letters)
Michael Mazzacane: I love the opening two pages of ‘Mad Dogs’ part eight. It attempts to cohere the history of the character and “Durham Red” property in a way that hasn’t really been attempted since the reboot in 2014. The first is a splash page referencing the idea of Red’s childhood and adventures in the 90s, on the second page we see her history Kanaka is revealed further linking it to that earlier iteration of “Durham Red”. With these two pages, there is now a better sense of cohesion with the property and larger Dreddverse than I’d previously experienced. It also continues the trend from last week where Ben Willsher breaks from the artistic convention of the series. And once again I’m left wondering what could have been. It’s not that the series’ overall art style is poor, but the coloring in those first two pages, the affective blood reds that overtake Kanaka, is more effective than any of the rendering in previous strips.
This strip overall though is a bit of a villain monologue as Kanaka explains why Red is so important and why he needs her “neural code”. Without that mental code he won’t be able to unlock her genes and chromosomes fully … for reasons. Just go with it, his end game is to replicate Red’s vampiric thirst, viewing it as the key to making a truly addictive drug and with-it unlimited power. The blue lighting in these couple of pages is a nice contrast to the bright reds and green of the prior pages.
The strip ends on a dark promise of feeding into Red’s thirst. She is literally licking the glass separating her from a crowd of victims chemically induced to be in a state of constant fear. She is hypnotized by these mutant bodies.
Continued belowWhen taken as a whole and what this strip does for the narrative, it’s a good example of how to use flashbacks to make the exposition more visually interesting and still feed us our vegetables.
Enemy Earth Book 2: Part 8
Credits: Cavan Scott (script), Luke Horsman (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Matthew Blair: Across the width and breadth of human history, the ocean is something that has both fascinated us and terrified us at the same time. On one hand, we have a very deep (pun intended) and very human connection with the sea, it’s where we came from and it stirs our imagination. On the other hand, we can’t live there and there are so many weird and creepy things that live in its depths that it is also already the home to some of our worst made up nightmares.
Now we’re taking an adventure across the ocean on a planet that wants humans very much dead. Yikes.
“Enemy Earth Book 2: Part 8” is a short story and as a result, it doesn’t have a whole lot of character development or revelations for the reader to sink their teeth into. Instead, what writer Cavan Scott does is show just how out of their depth (pun intended) the main characters really are and how exponentially deadly this new world has made the ocean. It’s a portion of the story that delivers both a ton of action without a whole lot of action, if that makes any sense, and as per usual it’s done really well.
Luke Horsman’s artwork in “Enemy Earth Book 2: Part 8” takes the insanity and tension of the main characters being so far over their head it seems hopeless. The whole story has this energy to it that keeps the momentum going and doesn’t make the reader care that it’s just five pages of a single action scene. It’s chaotic, intense, and a very good demonstration of what it’s probably like being stuck out in the middle of a North Sea storm.
“Enemy Earth Book 2: Part 8” isn’t a very good character piece, but it is a demonstration of just how powerful and scary this new world can be, and just how everything is out of the character’s league. It does a great job of making everything feel hopeless and spiraling out of control and it will be very interesting to see how they get out of this particular mess.
The Out: Book Three, Chapter 16
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Mark Harrison (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: The third part of Cyd’s story comes to a close here, and it is easily the most emotional entry in ‘Book Three.’ Cyd and Joey, her daughter, are reunited when Joey stops the Tanikar and sends it back in time, essentially breaking every rule she’s been given by the Up. Not only is she interfering in her mother’s life, but she’s changing the course of the universe to save lives. Yes, her mother’s, but potentially all living things. It’s a huge decision she makes, and she knows that she’ll be punished for it. Joey is like her mother, though, and is more than happy to break a few eggs in order to make an omelette.
Dan Abnett really sticks the landing here, with also teasing where the fourth book will take place: a search for the Down, the mirror image of the Up. Cyd and Joey’s relationship is not a simple one, and is one that has so much hurt built into it, through the fault of neither party. In fact, we now learned that the Up took Joey to motivate Cyd to do all that she would do. It doesn’t make Joey’s disappearance hurt any less, but it gives some context to it and shows that Cyd’s journey isn’t so random after all.
Mark Harrison is tasked with making a chapter that feels both satisfying and chaotic, and he does it by setting the very human emotions, rendered cleanly and in contained panels, against flames and destruction. This entire chapter feels a bit like a scene in a film where the loud explosions give way to quiet conversation in slow motion. Harrison manages this very nicely, without giving too much in either direction. The emotional beats are what is important here, but without the insanity behind them, they lose their context.
Continued belowOverall, ‘Book Three’ has felt a little less revelatory than the first two pieces of “The Out,” but the last few weeks have made it feel more complete and like a fitting conclusion to the story so far. We know that ‘Book Four’ is on its way from a note in last week’s Tharg’s remarks, but it is likely some time away. Until then, we can hope that Cyd and Joey find each other sooner than later.
Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley, Part Six
Credits: Garth Ennis (script), Patrick Goddard (art), Rob Steen (letters)
Chris Egan: If you could feel the action and potential for mayhem ramping up in the last two chapters, here is your payoff. ‘Part Eight’ comes in hot with Rogue destroying the enemy as a one man wrecking crew. Bullets fly, bodies are broken, people freeze to death. Horrors of war coming at you at a lightning pace.
And then as the action hits a brick wall, we begin to get a reason for all of this, except the storytelling changes so abruptly that it feels like a printing mistake. Cutting directly away from the war, to Rogue and his fellow soldiers stuck in the Antarctic region of Nu Earth. It becomes cosmic. Teleportation this. Black hole war that. It’s everything and nothing. As the boys decide what’s next and they become accustomed to their new situation, moods lighten, and the conversation shifts to acceptance while still trying to find a way home.
Aside from the odd shift of time and place, this chapter is a prime example of great “Rogue Trooper” material. Someone like Ennis is going to bring the bizarre and fully recognizable to this odd sci-fi actioner. It’s miniscule and never ending, universe breaking stuff. And it’s a blast to read; so much better than just reading a basic war story set in the future. I can’t wait to find put how the boys get out of this one.
