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: A Fallen Man, Part 2
Credits: Ken Neimand (script), Tom Foster (art), Chris Blythe (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Greg Lincoln: ‘A Fallen Man Part 2’ presents two parallel tales that show who Asher and Dredd are at their core. Theses stories are presented in stellar fashion through Tom Foster’s illustrations and Chris Blythe’s colors. The opening page sets up the dichotomy that weaves through the story with the mostly cold pallet of tones with spotlights of subtle warm tones drawing the eye to the center. It’s a clever way to spotlight where Asher is looking for the targets for the night. Foster creates some fun fashions and for Asher and his quarry, whlile lavishly populating the pages. The depth and detail continues through Dredd’s perp stop, filling out the scene beyond the old lady and her corpse companion. Foster’s characters art still homely and a little off putting but they fit the tone of the tale.
Ken Neimand may have peppered this story with hints of satire, dry humor, and an overall uneasy feeling.
It’s the interplay between Asher letting one of the men on the list scamper off and paying him to do so, compared to Dredd’s strict adherence to the law in punishing the elder taking her preserved husband for an illicit ride that leaves you wondering. Niemand is clearly showing the essence of Dredd with his cold, uncaring application of justice and Asher, though a killer and working for a crime-cynd, comes off as more compassionate. He plays these off against one another to great affect. Both men have been trained to be judge, jury, and, in most cases, executioner, and Neimand cleverly is showing the clear differences between them without overtly siding with either.
Portals and Black Goo: Night Shift, Chapter 3
John Tomlinson (script), Eoin Coveney (art), Jim Boswell (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Chris Egan: This week’s entry is a hodge podge of horror influences and really leans in the fun and gory details. Falling somewhere in the middle of a Hammer horror flick, J-Horror, Supernatural, and Fright Night this chapter is nice and bloody with a lot chuckle-worthy moments between the spooky and nasty bits. The framing device of telling a story works really well this time allowing for the balance of levity and melancholy to work hand in hand. When a horror story can take a character who can use humor as a coping mechanism while also fully respecting and understanding the danger coming for them and others, it just really works for me.
Coveney’s art is full of movement and scary goings-on. The influences I mentioned are fully at play here because of his work on this series. The detailing is wonderful and has a completely modern style while still calling back to older stuff like the work found in EC Comics. The work isn’t ground breaking or game changing, but it’s all really well done and fully captures the perfect mood for this story. It also feels more like a classic horror comic than the typical 2000AD blending of supernatural and sci-fi that was so heavily played upon in the first two chapters. It’s delightful and hits the exact right tone. Boswell’s colors are full while still using shadows heavily to evoke the uncomfortable vibe of death being all around these characters.
At first, while still enjoying this strip for the last few weeks, I really didn’t know who this was made for; the tone and ideas were varied. Now I can see it is speaking directly to fans of the macabre and cheesy. It is now all starting to come together while still keeping the overall plot at arm’s length. This feels like it’s going to be fun from start to finish.
Void Runners: Part 8
Credits: David Hine (script), Boo Cook (art), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Brian Salvatore: There’s nothing more disappointing than a story which begins with hints of nuance eventually becoming a throbbing cliché. And while “Void Runners” was never going to exactly be my cup of tea, David Hine has turned the finale of this first book into something that is absolutely dissatisfying. In certain circles (mainly me and my friend Vince Ostrowski), we call this kind of ending the ‘Landfill,’ referencing a plot point from Broken Lizard’s Beer Fest. This type of story allows the creators to get a big, emotional reaction from the reader, but not actually do anything of substance with the story. That is exactly what happens here: the Plemora apparently sacrifices itself, only to find out that it is now bound to the characters, including ones previously killed off, and everyone lives happily ever after. Even with the final page “twist,” it still can be hard to see this as anything other than a total copout of an ending.
Boo Cook doubles down on making the Moondog character look like the musician of the same name, but otherwise, is given precious little to do in this final chapter as well. The ‘resurrection’ scene has some nice visuals, but overall this chapter is so cynical and frustrating that it extends to ever bit of the story. The mostly blank page that leads up to the reveal makes story sense, but is still super frustrating when considered alongside the rest of the chapter.
Overall, this book has been a serious disappointment, and with this final chapter, has solidified itself as one of the least satisfying 2000 AD stories of recent memory.
Hershey: The Cold in the Bones Book 2, Part 2
Credits Rob Williams(script) Simon Fraser(art) Simon Bowland(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: In the previous strip, I focused on how Simon Fraser’s art played into the environments. That skill set is still in the background, but from the first page Fraser lands a perfect bit of character-based comedy. Rob Williams’ script sets up the moment, it plays on everyone’s fears as they go under anesthesia: what if it doesn’t put you all the way under? His dialogue hangs the beat on a single word, “largely.” What does that even mean, are we talking 55% or 85%? Fraser’s expression work, however, is what makes the moment land as funny, with Dirty Frank’s one good eye fully opened in shock and horror at the specific vagueness of “largely.”
Fraser’s character work continues on the following page as Hershey inserts herself into the operating room. He captures the weight of history between the two as they say goodbye for most likely the final time. Alas, duty calls Hershey to Antarctic City and avert the coming disaster. Because of the art working on page 2, it allows Williams melodramatic inner monologue on page 4 to land better than it normally would. It’s the kind of sappy, sentimental dialogue that is at once antithetical to Dredd-verse but also fitting the type of old gunfighter story “Hershey” is rooted in. Without those relationships and the weight of history, it would come off as hollow rather than from the heart.
The limited color pallet comes through in the final pages as the Joy infection begins to break free, bursting forth in ruby red detail. The tentacles are just hair darker than the blood that follows their violent birth. It’s a jarring moment that sets up Hershey’s only real next option: start shooting.
Normally I wouldn’t like to end on a full single-page spread. However, there’s something kind of heretical-religious about the way Fraser draws the full pinup body of Dirty Frank as the tentacles are pushed from his body. The way his lithe body struggles with tension compared to the frenetic tentacles is a wonderful and horrifying image. Simon Bowland’s lettering in the negative space of the lights also just helps to frame everything with that mixture of terror and promise.
Azimuth: The Stranger Part 1
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Tazio Bettin (art), Matt Soffe (colors) Jim Campbell (letters)
Matthew Blair: It’s the start of a new adventure with a new cast of characters in the digital city of Azimuth where data is king and those who control it, control Azimuth. At the end of the last adventure it was revealed that something big was coming to Azimuth and it’s certainly revealed here.
Continued belowIt’s a heck of a twist that I don’t want to spoil here, but it’s also on the cover of the prog so…do with that what you will.
“Azimuth: The Stranger Part 1” is a complete and total paradigm shift of what the story means to the characters involved and what it means to the reader. Writer Dan Abnett introduces two of his very familiar characters here with an explosive and incredibly violent action scene that is well plotted and well paced. However, the biggest revelation is that Azimuth isn’t a new thing or a new idea. In fact, long time readers of 2000AD will recognize who these characters are, and when these characters reveal what Azimuth actually is, Abnett does a brilliant shift in writing: taking this from a cool, new, and interesting story to something that will elicit a lot of memories and just a bit of fear.
“Azimuth: The Stranger Part 1” is an extended action scene, and as a result artist Tazio Bettin has the job of crafting violence that is both visceral and easy to comprehend. Bettin does his job beautifully, showing gun play and blood splatter in his usual, brightly colored, and borderline realistic way that makes the story shine. If you want to get nitpicky, you could complain that the comic falls into the somewhat annoying trope of having the character deliver exposition while fighting, but it’s useful information and it all comes together naturally.
“Azimuth: The Stranger Part 1” is a well written, well choreographed, and well delivered story that delivers one heck of a paradigm shift and changes the stakes of the story–and the attitudes of the reader–completely. It will be very interesting to see what happens next.
