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: Poison, part 1
Credits: Rob Williams (script), PJ Holden (art), (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln: PJ Holden’s art style comes alive in the sounds, smells and atmosphere in the scenes he creates. He brings to life the square near the Hershey statue on on the opening page and makes the loneliness of being Dredd really, deeply felt. If there was someone who Dredd could have called a friend it was Judge Hershey. Holden made the winds and atmosphere so Nubis felt loud, present and dangerous, even if as the narration says the pathogen that killed Hershey came from off world. He makes the assault on the doctor who claimed to have “killed” Hershey palpable. Simon Bowland’s lettering choices adds to that moment, the subtle use of red in one word ballon, though overt, isn’t really noticeable beyond the feeling it adds to scene.
Holden is a great pairing with writer Rob Williams. Even if you didn’t know who the character was before this story, the lack of her presence is felt in the tale. The shocking bit of the story comes as it’s revealed that the person behind her poisoning was from Mega-City One. “Poison, Part 1” may be a whole lot of recap and set up, but the story feels rich in detail.
Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg, Part 1
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Richard Elson (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Michael Mazzacane: Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind when I read the first entry in “Feral & Foe”, but this strip feels like a surprising misfire for Dan Abnett. The banter and comedy in this strip just all reads as obvious and lacking any commentary or bite, just surface level reflexive banter gags. The “Do you really want bring up Fantasy racial essentialism” line from the back half of the strip did land though.
Our titular heroes, Necromancer Bode and barbarian-like Wrath, slaughter some random fantasy creatures, complain about their working-class position, and get sent on a longer quest. As a strip and unit of storytelling Abnett’s use of these five pages is pretty good, but I’m also left with the feeling that “Skullkickers” and “Rat Queens” or another comedy fantasy adventure strip did the comedy stuff better. They at least had some feeling of identifiable style. Bode summoning the “Hand of Smacking” to explode Blade the Ballbag’s head lacks panache.
I don’t think my restless feelings are due to Richard Elson’s art. He delivers well put together pages with clean action and good pacing for the gags. The character design is solid, if sticking to the generic fantasy side of things. Elson draws the Wretchfinder General with the best strung out eyes. It’s moments like that, these small details that add life to the comic that then force into relief how much I did not care for the scripting.
Hopefully the next strip pushes things into less of a constant banter mode and more into fantasy adventure mode. You can see the ingredients of a solid strip in there from Elson’s composition to the way Abnett and Elson establish the dynamic between Bode and Wrath. It just never quite came together in a way that was satisfying for me this time around.
Helium: Scorched Earth Part 1
Credits: Ian Edington (script), D’Israeli (art) Simon Bowland (letters)
Matthew Blair: The City of Ris is a refuge for the last remnants of humanity. The Earth’s surface has been overcome by a massive cloud of toxic fumes and pathogens left over from the Great War. What war are they referring to exactly? Nobody knows, but the children if Ris’ royal family are busy learning their history.
Right before everything goes to hell in a handbasket and someone launches a coup.
Continued below“Helium: Scorched Earth Part 1” is written by Ian Edington and it is an extremely efficient script that does some very clever things. Right off the bat, Edington uses the children’s school lesson as a framing device so he can deliver exposition without awkward or boring captions that appear out of nowhere. Once that is out of the way, the story moves quickly in establishing the coup and generating a surprising amount of drama in such a limited amount of space. The only weird part of the script is the ending, which sets up a strange twist that is probably familiar to people who are more familiar with this universe, but is confusing to new readers.
The artwork for “Helium: Scorched Earth Part 1” is provided by D’Israeli and it is a treat to look at. The most noticeable thing about the artwork is the incredibly bright color palette that makes the whole story look bright, fascinating, and beautiful. Once you get closer you start seeing an interesting blend of styles and tropes. D’Israeli evokes the appearance of post WW1 Imperialist Russia, just before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1918, but with robots and domed cities. It looks very steampunk, but foregoes the usual trappings of Victorian England, which is certainly a welcome relief.
“Helium: Scorched Earth Part 1” is a solid introduction to this world that looks pretty, has some cool ideas, and isn’t afraid to jump right into the deep end and into some blood and violence. The ending is a bit strange, but hopefully we’ll find out what’s really happening in the next issue.
Judge Dredd vs Robo-Hunter
Credits: Garth Ennis (script), Henry Flint (art), Rob Steen (letters)
Brian Salvatore: It is very rare that a Dredd story doesn’t see the lawman not fire a single bullet or threaten someone’s life at the very least, but “Judge Dredd vs Robo-Hunter” is a rare tale. In this story, we see two hot-headed trigger fingers who seem to be on a collision course. The entire strip is a build up of tension before their meeting and, with the robot’s constant chattering, the anticipation reaches a fever pitch when Dredd and Slade meet face to face.
But Garth Ennis goes a totally different way. Ennis makes this all about paperwork, propriety, and professionalism. There’s no catharsis, there’s no battle, there’s not even a crossed word. This is two people doing their jobs and moving on with their lives.
Despite the very annoying robot, not helped by his totally unnecessary to the story speech impediment, everything else about the story is underplayed. His owner, a forgetful and also annoying character, seems nonplussed by the bullet in her robot. Henry Flint draws everyone more or less going about their day, drinking tea, filling out paperwork, on patrol, with Walter, the robot, the only anxiety present.
Flynn’s colors evoke an older story, and there’s a lot here that leans, visually, on classic Dredd tales, and Flint does really nice work both building the tension through panel construction and facial expressions and also giving the strip the grandeur that this crossover should evoke. And, like so many great Dredd stories, he turns out to be a prick in the end, but this time, instead of the reader being bothered by that, it is Walter who is annoyed. It’s a playful, fun one-shot that does all it needs to.
