Judge Dredd: Flames & White Phosphorous
- Annie Parkhouse (Letterer)
- Paul Marshall (Artist)
- T.C. Eglington (Writer)
- Quinton Winter (Colourer)
‘Flames & White Phosphorous’ is a change of pace after the face-kicking (And removing) action of last issue. That’s not a criticism of either story, and the change of pace benefits both of them. T.C. Eglington’s script is measured and unfolds at a constant, deliberate pace that sets the stakes very well. Paul Marshall’s art too, along with Quinton Winter’s colours and the always excellent Parkhouse give us a fragile, tense Mega City 1 from the ground up not the top down. This one also feels like Dredd tackling the Epsten files or something like it and, thank the fucking LORD, it’s not being the ‘Figel Narage’ school of satire that drove me screaming from 2000AD in the early ’00s. A great start to what looks to be a very grim story.
Helium: Red October
- Annie Parkhouse (Letterer)
- D’Israeli (Artist)
- Ian Edginton (Writer)
Ian Edginton and D’Israeli are back! Along with Annie Parkhouse on lettering once again. Hodge and Grimsby are a pair of steampunk detectives being set up and they know it. And they go anyway. That’s always a set up I’m a sucker for and D’Israeli’s brilliantly balanced combination of normal and extreme character design fits this like a glove. Grimsby is an amiable Northern chunk with metal limbs and Hodge is a small, fiercely determined cop. They’re honest with each other, terrified of the job they’re doing and they’re not alone. Edginton’s script cleverly sets up a fun, mulit-tiered world and gives our heroes a co conspirator. They’re being sent into a underground city to gather intelligence and aren’t epected to return and that’s even before the aerial jellyfish attacks. Big on jeopardy, character, ideas and great sound effects. This one’s a belter, so much so I got everything I needed despite this being my first time with this world.
Red Dragon: The Llangenech Incident
- Dylan Teague (Colourer)
- Patrick Goddard (Artist)
- Rob Williams (Writer)
- Simon Bowland (Letterer)
- Steve Yeowell (Artist)
I’ve not hit any of the Rob Williams scripted Zenith pre/sidequels yet but Williams is always fun and Siadwel Rhys, the doomed Welsh superhero, is a great character. Any story that opens with a group of worried para hunting someone in the Welsh valleys is off to the sort of start my Edge of Darkness loving ass responds to and this is GREAT. Patrick Goddard & Steve Yeowel do great double duty on art too and combined with Simon Bowland’s letters and the paned, faded 1980s colours of Dylan Teague, the atmosphere is off the charts on this one.
But the script is what hits me square on. The idea of a Tory government hunting down a Welshman to ‘fix’ him as the only superhuman weapon the country has is the delicious sort of alt history I love. The contrast of the line ‘ A weapon for the brighter Britain to come’ with a weapon being cocked and a terrified man running down a dingy street is playing my tune in every possible way. Siadwel is as tragi as he is abjectly terrifying and the closing sequence here when he cuts loose is as disturbing as anything in Zenith. Plus the visual gag of doing the ‘HERO NO MORE’ style cover with his smoking helmet lying on a Welsh street and him, terrified, bedraggled and walking barefoot into the distance is PERFECT. Plus like all good short stories it knows when, and how, to end.
Brink: The Call of the Void
- Dan Abnett (Writer)
- INJ Culbard (Artist)
- Simon Bowland (Letterer)
In comparison with all of this, it’d be easy to view another measured part of Brink as a bit of a come down and it’s not. The scale of the story is revealed now as we follow three threads of the four so far across the surface of the Moon. Security trying to understand the shape of the cults talking themselves into existence, the cults stalking a freelance agent, the growing sense of menace and something almost manifesting. It’s skin-crawlingly tense, has some of the best art in an issue full of it and drives the story along. No weak points here, but lots of menace.
Rogue Trooper: Enemy Mined
- Karl Richardson (Artist)
- Andi Ewington (Writer)
- Rob Steen (Letterer)
‘Enemy Mined’ by Friend of the lid Andi Ewington is next and it’s always fun to see Rogue Trooper. Karl Richardson’s art is the exact level of burly required and the terrible, chem smog of Nu Earth looks great here. The tactical displays and different perspectives are neatly depicted by Rob Steen’s letters too.
This is a TIGHT, fun story too, with Rogue helping repair a Nort weapon and the two created beings finding common ground as only Rogue can; grumpily and with automatic gunfire. Rogue Trooper at it’s best always has pathos, character and enormous badass action and this has all three. Great work from a great team and I’d love to see them, and Rogue’s new ‘friend’ return.