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 7
Credits: Rob Williams (script), PJ Holden (art), (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Greg Lincoln: Dredd has traveled a long way to find himself back in Mega-City One on the trail of the man who had Hershey killed. Rob Williams has taken Dredd from the space colonies to the Sov Block to the Cursed Earth to home. Graves, the Titan convict Dredd found in the Cursed Earth, gave up the one who hired him and it’s led Dredd to Sinfield, an ex-chief Judge. PJ Holden’s depiction of the state of the ex-Judge is unsettling in the way only comics can be. Much of this week’s chapter are panels of this strung up corpse-like figure that, if depicted realistically, would for sure be nightmare inducing.
Holden makes the most of the few characters he gets to draw this week. The trio of Dredd, Sinfield, and the jailer Wild all uniquely ugly in their own way. The faces he draws make no bones that there is enmity between and Wild. He also makes the once Chief Judge seem like a figure of pity until the sinister last panel. Both the narration and the art make him appear lost until clarity and menace hit big in the last panel. It’s the moment where this week’s strip becomes a real winner and sets its hooks in to make next week a must read.
Helium: Scorched Earth Part 7
Credits: Ian Edington (script), D’Israeli (art) Simon Bowland (letters)
Matthew Blair: It’s nice to have a moment or two of calm after an intense bout of violence. Unfortunately, these moments of calm are usually interrupted by the promise of even more violence.
In this case, our intrepid group of runaways have to contend with a massive warship from the city of Ris, and the kind of ultimatum that turns the people around from kind and polite, to viscous and desperate.
“Helium: Scorched Earth Part 7” kicks off this new round of action with a massive threat in the form of a warship named the Bellerophon, although writer Ian Edington doesn’t commit to extreme violence just yet. Edington does a great job of making the crew of the warship pretty considerate and almost fair when it comes to soldiers in possession of overwhelming firepower. The warship actually gives the townspeople a chance to turn the fugitives over peacefully and they will leave them alone…probably. It’s an interesting conundrum and Edington does a great job of showing how people can go from kind to violent in a heartbeat.
While we’ve already seen D’Israli’s artwork shine, “Helium: Scorched Earth Part 7” introduces a great sense of scale and menace to the story. Like most of the previous sections of the story, the artwork does a great job of using color to separate the various factions and groups of people, but this time we get to see the true power and scope of the Ris military. The few panels where the Bellerophon shows up over the city are truly awe inspiring and there is a very real sense of power and menace at the threat of incoming violence.
“Helium: Scorched Earth Part 7” creates a nearly impossible situation for our heroes to escape from. Between the toxic planet, the encroaching warship, and the now terrified populace it will be interesting to see what happens next.
The Devil’s Railroad, Part 6
Credits: Peter Milligan (script), Rufus Dayglo (art), Jose Villarrubia (colors), Jim Campbell (letters)
Brian Salvatore: With the two main characters still split up, “Devil’s Railroad” continues down the same path as last week, with the expected outcome of Constance’s privilege and the continued worry from Palamon. Peter Milligan’s script is giving us a couple of nuggets of information, but even they seem repetitive, and so the strip, which started out with such promise continues to languish and stall out. Even with the first overt reference to Earth not being the Eden the characters make it out to be, this still feels very expected.
Continued belowThat has now trickled down to the artwork, too. Rufus Dayglo is still churning out the weirdo aliens, but when almost every character is a temporary visitor, even the most unique and interesting designs don’t stand out too much. Couple that with the Devil’s Highway itself not being particularly visually interesting, and the strip is all sizzle and no steak on the art front.
This feels like a “3riller” that has gone on twice as long, and the end doesn’t appear to be in sight.
The Fall of Deadworld: Retribution – Part Six
Kek-W (script), Dave Kendall (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Christopher Egan: This week gives us more major turning points. Cassy Tweed is gone. Fear is gaining strength, knowing that eventually they’ll be able to share their power. Fear isn’t really making threats, but at the same time making their power and returning abilities known. Death is showing a brave face, but their weaknesses are getting the better of them. Which is evident in the over compensation of their threats.
This week’s chapter is all a power struggle as verbal threats and artillery fly. While it picks up directly after last week’s, moods have changed. The writing is to the point with nothing flowery. And Kendall’s art is as nasty as ever. The palette is brighter and even more full and varied than it has been. Gross and brutal with its stunning details.
With the showing of physical power, we are now seeing more of Deadworld’s wavering and toppling leadership. This realty isn’t so different than the world of the living. The satirical nature of this strip is one of its many strengths, but it never let’s that stand in the way of giving readers true horror and sweeping action. Never a dull moment, one of the best things about this story is that you are never left feeling like you know where it’s going as the narrative and twists are ever changing.
Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg, Part 7
Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Richard Elson (art), Jim Campbell (letters)
Michael Mazzacane: Boe and Wrath are in a stronghold of trouble. While the seventh entry of “Fearl & Foe” isn’t exactly a rip roaring return to form, it’s on the right track. Picking up from the last cliffhanger, the drama of Wrath being attacked by the bedeviled nursemaid is quickly dealt with. As it turns out, all that’s needed to resolve situations is a few tears and a good chat. There is something to the utter disregard for having a decently length tussle between Wrath and the nurse that I kind of like, though the sudden transition is jarring. The nurse just wanted to do her job and protect the honor of Sire Clumms.
It also turns out that Godsberg, despite the name and royal associations, is pretty much the house from Poltergeist. It’s just cursed and no one who’s been the head of this place has met a good end. Expositional as this is, Abnett gets to write some decently creative prose and the idea that the surrounding government never figured it out is a funny statement. Interestingly Abnett doesn’t insert snarky commentary by Bode, this whole sequence is played sincerely. I can’t say I am emotionally enthralled by it, but it’s an interesting note to play in this otherwise ironic strip.
Sire Clumms thought he was onto something, the source of the curse, before falling to it. Bode tries to decipher his notes but that’ll take time. So the rest of the party head down to the basement to deal with the jellified isohedron. Here Abnett and artist Richard Elson bring about the charm of the series as Tussk believes his chthonic sword, forged deep within the earth, will have the elemental attunement to pierce the wretch. That plan, as they so often do, goes awry almost immediately. Elson plays this moment of comedy perfectly because he doesn’t show the reader what actually happened. The final image is just the looks on everyone’s face as it all begins to go very very bad. Like I said they’re in a stronghold of trouble.
