Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our monthly look at the “Judge Dredd Megazine!” Let’s get right to it.
Judge Dredd: The Red Queen’s Gambit 4
Credits: Arthur Wyatt (script), Jake Lynch (art), John Charles (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)
Christa Harader: All’s well that ends well, and considering almost no one’s dead, it’s a very good ending for Dredd and the crew in this finale.
Heston, Dredd and the rest of our illustrious cast headbutt their way to victory through some good, if crowded, action thanks to Lynch’s detail. There are almost no gutters to be seen in this book, which means unified backgrounds but a lack of time passing that feels a little cramped after a few pages. The panel layouts also feel unbalanced, with a lot of real estate given to the bottom strip or half of the page and some more intricate moments jammed into medium or wide perspectives above. However, it’s an entertaining story and we get some good crashing, smashing and flinging in our finale to justify some of the blur. Charles goes for the same mix of pops for Dredd, Heston and Orlok and more subdued backgrounds for the ship. This palette works pretty well to distinguish Dredd from the uniform landscape and for the comedy moments in the finale, but a little more zaniness or pumping up the moody shadows would also do well here. Parkhouse’s lettering is good, and Wyatt has a lighter touch on the dialogue as we wrap.
Overall, this Dredd story was a bit of a bait and switch, with the Red Queen remaining largely offscreen as a threat. However, Serpico’s on the loose again and he’s none too pleased with being used as a pawn, and that means exciting stuff to come.
2000 AD DeMarco, PI: An Eye Part Three
Laura Bailey (Script), Paul Williams (Art), Ellie De Ville (Letters)
Christopher Egan: The last two chapters of “DeMarco, PI: An Eye” were steeped in deep conversation, a wide range of emotions, and a murder mystery. Just as part two moved into a more emotional direction and delved into exploratory detective work; part three jumps right into brutal terror where Galen’s detective skills led her. The first half of this chapter is all fight and action, with Bailey saving the bulk of the dialogue for the second half.
Once the script really comes in to play, we and Charlu get a lot of the answers we’ve been seeking since the beginning. How and why Pawla was murdered comes into full light and those behind the ghastly crime are revealed. The mixture of action, high emotions, and dark cop story is an excellent culmination of everything laid out in the last two chapters. Tough decisions make up this story, and not all results will be satisfying, but they are understandable and true to the plot. This chapter also perfectly focuses on the the dangers that had been previously promised, gross out gags, and exactly what type of people the characters we’ve been following are.
While the action and character interactions are perfectly drawn in the stark black and white illustrations of Paul Williams, some of the gore feels lacking and cartoonish because of the lack of great detail and color. However, his use of black for blood is outstanding and it only makes me wonder why those inking skills weren’t put to use for some of the other grisly aspects of this story. I love the stark contrast of this series and Williams’s work is gorgeous.
“Demarco, PI: An Eye Part Three” is an ending that gives the important answers we need, but also allows us to sit back and mull over the characters’s motivations and decisions after you’ve read the final page.
Diamond Dogs, Part Four
Credits: James Peaty (script), Warren Pleece (art), Simon Bowland (letters)
Rowan Grover: The latest installment of “Diamond Dogs” is a great showcase of how much of a badass Nia can be. We learn just enough of her backstory to expand on her personal history somewhat, and the backstory gives us information that makes her actions in the prog feasible. Nia’s Dad was something of a rebel and bad boy back in the day, and the same attitude has seeped into her daughter, especially with talking sharp with adversaries. What I love is that Peaty gives us a good sense of character with how matter-of-fact and detached Nia is when describing the death of her father. It’s good to see the contrast between the fond memories she had for him as a kid, and the difference in finding out his death when she was older, showing how the city has affected her disposition and attitude.
Continued belowPleece’s art here is solid as usual and does a good job of rendering the seedier parts of Nia’s city. The opening pages establish this well, with walls splattered with graffiti and debris, and a bar lit up by a seedy neon sign, accompanied by a creepy picture of an old white guy, to boot. Pleece also uses colors well to portray this, especially within the bar scenes. The ceilings are an uncomfortable purple color and the city palette is an off-green that oozes uneasiness. My only qualm is that the bar is too brightly lit, or at the very least, lit like a normal room, to feel to seedy. Pleece’s character work is also solid, with Nia holding onto a stoic face even in the most intense of situations, whilst still having a degree of innocence that works with her motivations.
“Diamond Dogs” continues to be a great look into another seedy section of the “Judge Dredd” world, and Nia continues to evolve in interesting ways. Pleece is as solid a collaborator as ever, and I’m keen to see how the story progresses between the both of them.
The Returners: Chandhu Part 4
Credits: Si Spencer (script), Nicolo Assirelli (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors), Simon Bowland (letters)
Brian Salvatore: One of the hard parts of reviewing serialized content with any consistency is finding new things to say about each installment. “The Returners: Chandhu” hasn’t really changed or grown or adapted over its five parts thus far. Yet, when trying to articulate why the strip isn’t working for me, I find myself relying on the same comments I’ve made for the previous three installments.
The one real change in this chapter is that something kind of sort of happens: there is now a MacGuffin and some mysterious new characters to add some intrigue to the story. There’s been a simmering layer of distrust and lies thus far, but this is the first time that it really comes to a head. We see one faction go to blows, the other joining in a lie, and both questioning their mission somewhat.
Artistically, Assirelli continues to do the best with what she’s given, but this strip has been an awful lot of standing around and talking. Her facial work is expressive and fun, but there’s just not enough for her to do. Part of the joy of reading a sci-fi comic is the ability to differentiate the fictional world from the real world and, with very few exceptions, there is nothing special or unique about what Assirelli has to draw. Here’s hoping the back end of this strip adds some intrigue.
Anderson Psi Division: The Dead Run Part Three
Credits Maura McHugh(script) Patrick Goddard(art) Pippa Mather(colors) Annie Parkhouse(letters)
Michael Mazzacane: When we last left off, the Hot Dog run looked like it was on fire as cadets tried to play hero and cracked a little under pressure. Patrick Goddard and Pippa Mather’s art does a good job of capturing that manic on fire quality. It isn’t overly crowded in terms of panel count, at six, or dialog but they throw a lot of visual information at you. Tamara Hill blasts psychic spells and her would be attacker who is dispatched in blood spurting fashion. This first page is a lot to take in and walks the fine line between being too much and just right.
McHugh and Goddard do a good job of using their page space this has shown through in terms of the strips structure and pace, but their ability to use the page to craft good self-contained scenes comes through in this third entry. The squads adventure in the bloody valley is wrapped up in two pages, with a little hint at what their larger mission really is. But night is falling and it is time for a debrief. Similar to the start, this debrief-make camp sequence is a nicely done two pager. McHugh’s script is efficient and biting as Anderson and Corann verbally lash their young charges. All it takes is three word balloons and sentences from Corann to set the tone. Psi-Div isn’t like other parts of the Justice System, you’re in until you age out and even than you’re not really out. Goddard framing for the fourth panel as Corann tells them in no uncertain terms they will “serve” lets that sentence and what their lives mean now just hang. On some level it’s telling a spooky story around a campfire, but instead it is cold hard Dredd truth. This tongue lashing makes the dialog boxes that explains what the young cadets do to make camp more effective due to this context.
Things take a surprising, emotional, turn in the following pages. I’m no well read expert on “Dredd” or “Anderson Psi Division,” though I am working through the “Anderson” case files and listening to Drokk. I have no real knowledge of Judge Corann, but McHugh uses that characters history and the more fungible aspects of “Psi Division” to land this poignant moment. Corann is haunted by the spectral presence of her friend Judge Lesley. How Goddard and Mather realize this ethereal quality is beautiful, essentially inverting normal black and white line work so that Lesley is this being of overpowering light on the page. She brings this emotive, lively, contrast to the more stoic Corann who doesn’t like the reminder of what her life has become. This being a Dredd strip, Lesley’s ethereal cuddling is about the closest thing to a relationship ever in these strips. I know nothing about these two characters, but this page and quarter of storytelling told me all I need to know about them and Corann’s character.
As the strip comes to a close things tease out and end on a dramatic moment. It’s a surprisingly hopeful image of the Cadets unleashing their psychic powers on their attackers. The art team make them look like “New Mutants” in a traditional superhero pose to lead readers out. ‘The Dead Run’ continues to be a plainly well considered and assembled strip.
