Judge Dredd: Climate Crisis
- Annie Parkhouse (Letterer)
- Rob Williams (Writer)
- P.J. Holden (Artist)
- Ned Hartley (Writer)
- Jack Davies (Colourer)
The weather control systems above Mega-City 1 have been hijacked and the forecast calls for Dredd. There are a thousand opening lines I could have gone for here (Heavy rain! Everywhere you go, always arrest the weather with you!) because this is exactly my sort of story. Dredd’s always big fun when it embraces enormous science fiction concepts and we get two or three in quick succession with a fun new (?) villain, the weather tech and Holden and Davies’ brilliantly burly technology and characters. I did a little cheer when I saw the Chief Judge has actual body fat but every character here is fun and feels lived in and real. Aside from Citizen Pond-Pond but honestly screw that guy, he’s an asshole.
Hartley and Williams are always top value and this is them turning in some of their best work. The big concepts all land but the ending, where it turns out Dredd is not in the genre he thinks he is, really knocked me sideways. There’s a nice line in world weary here too, as the exhausted dystopia of MC-1 fires up for it’s latest disaster. Great stuff, more please.
Herene & Shuck: Power Trip
- Annie Parkhouse (Letterer)
- Gary Caldwell (Colourer)
- David Barnett (Writer)
- Lee Milmore (Artist)
Herne meets King Arthur and he’s a dick. Jordy does some investigating. The two plot split works much better than a three-plot for this story and Milmore gets to flex some great character design muscles. Arthur as a barrel-chested Brian Blessed-alike is a great choice and ties in with Barnett’s rambunctious, arrogant (or is he?) characterisation. The theme of Herne’s tests has always been surprising and this one feels very similar. Or Herne’s just fucked up enormously.
Over in the B-plot, Jordy getting a lot to do is a nice touch and change of pace. Caldwell and Milmore excel at environmental spaces and the two places we visit this episode are wildly different and feel different too, locking in with the tone of the scenes. I’m still a little unsure about the St. Michael plot but this continues to be an issue highlight.
Judge Dee
- Simon Bowland (Letterer)
- Simon Coleby (Artist)
- Jack Davies (Colourer)
- Ben Wheatley (Writer)
Dee and Borley compare notes, the Sovs make their move and we hit a hiatus.
This is much more my speed than the last instalment. Bowland’s uneasy lettering is a great way of showing the different existences overlapping and Coleby’s brawny, imposing art style has a surprisingly great sense of character to it. The Borley/Dee confrontation especially is fantastic, two gifted outsiders conditioned to not trust anyone on their best days finding trust and common ground on one of their worst. Wheatley, like Hartley and Williams further up the issue, focuses on character not gimmick, using the former to focus in on the latter. It always works and it works very well here.
The hiatus (‘The story continues…soon!’) is a little surprising but Wheatley’s a busy guy so I’m guessing his next movie just moved up a gear. Regardless, it’ll be worth the wait.
Tharg’s Terror Tales: Fountain of Youth
- Andi Ewington (Writer)
- Rob Steen (Letterer)
- Mike Walters (Artist)
A young boy wishes he was older. It works.
Full disclosure: Andi’s a buddy, and we’ve worked together. He’s GREAT and this story embodies everything I like about his work. Where a lot of Future Shocks like to hit the sting with a ‘A-HA!’, Andi finds tremendous melancholy and horror in the premise. The ending is a double espresso shot of implied worldbuilding that suggests the nightmarish situation at it’s core is much more common than anyone knows, and that the main character makes a very dark choice. The fact he’s also a 2000AD fan, and a privileged white kid is that second shot. Andi simultaneously pointing out the roiling horror show of modern fandom and commenting on the importance of finding innocence and joy for as long as we can, without damaging others.
Steen’s lettering is great as always and Walters’ nervy, dark art and expressive lines fit and accentuate everything brilliantly. A real stand out in the issue and the format as a whole.
The Discarded
- Peter Milligan (Writer)
- Simon Bowland (Letterer)
- Jim Boswell (Colourer)
- Kieran McKeown (Artist)
Veera and Phedan come to an extremely violent arrangement.
My honest first response on finishing this was: ‘Come ON, man.’ We’re nine parts into this story now and the overwhelming majority of that time has been the same four beats ‘Veera doubts herself, Veera hates her dad, Veera meets some new people and they die, Veera moves on’ and that’s exactly what we get here. This time round though we get some really cheap tititllation and a piece of promised violence so horrific that some people will assume it’s satire. I just found it crushingly dull.
The single redeeming moment this instalment is Veera being called on being just like her dad and a pretty solid joke that lands following that. But that’s one joke in a multi-page instalment of a story that feels like it’s been running in place for a month. The last panel this week holds out some hope that maybe, JUST maybe something will actually progress next week. It needs to.