Cover: John McCrea & Mike Spicer
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: T.C. Eglington
Art: Paul Marshall
Colours: Quinton Winter
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Judge Barr ambushes Laura, but Sam saves her, and a chase begins.
Luckily, Dredd is also on the way to Laura’s apartment and shoots Barr. This sticks out as hasty to me. Dredd has no way of knowing that Barr is crooked, and for all he knows, Barr is legitimately chasing down a perp. Anyway, unbeknownst to Barr, his masters have a drone following him, which shoots him before he can inform.
Instead of chasing Laura and Sam, Dredd searches Laura’s apartment and finds Sam’s vlogs.
I enjoy Laura and Sam’s scenes the most. So far, my favourite episode of Flames and White Phosphorus was part 1, where we got to see their friendship in action, so I wish they had a bit more space to breathe. As it is, I find the constant viewpoint-switching to be jarring, since I never have time to settle into a character. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the Edisons in next week’s prog, which promises to be an explosive ending (hur hur).
Brink
Script: Dan Abnett
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
The chief tells Kurtis off for interviewing Holly. At first, I thought I had missed something, maybe skipped a prog, but no, we never saw Kurtis and Holly’s meeting. For a strip concerned with showing every administrative procedure in excruciating detail, the omission of Holly’s meeting strikes me strangely. I think something happened in that meeting which will come to light down the line. Maybe Cutwell actually revealed that the impostor is close to the chief? We have no way of knowing, so far.
Brink’s popularity puzzles me. So far, all the important stuff happens off-page. The BRV-1’s sabotage and Holly’s discovery that Kurtis is part of an internal review are scenes we never see, and we’re left to watch people discuss the aftermath. To me, nothing feels immediate or urgent.
Silver
Script: Mike Carroll
Art: Joe Currie
Letters: Simon Bowland
While Alain brings the Baroness’ blood, Procurator Morrison, a Sepsis leader, is threatened by the rest of his council. He reminds them that he is the most senior member for a reason, and they pipe down. The art here shows the power dynamics well, with Morrison dominating the council as a hologram, and the council appear powerless in the palm of his hand. At the end of the call, he casually orders the death of 8 prisoners.
The Resistance are in crisis, too, with some of them wanting to split into smaller cells. Now that all of the pieces are in place for Silver, I’m hoping to see some action next episode.
Future Shocks: The Vessel
Script: James Peaty
Art: Steve Yeowell
Colours: John Charles (the credits box says “Joh” in my copy. Poor John)
Letters: Rob Steen
Ben Case is a streamer, and Daisy is his camera operator. Eric, Founder, a professor-turned-informant, helps Daisy break into an army base to find the eponymous vessel: a UFO. It lashes out at Eric, and Daisy escapes.
After Daisy returns to the hotel, Ben loves the footage, but it turns out that Daisy is the vessel for an alien consciousness, and she kills Ben.
The twist in The Vessel does not disguise itself well. It’s obvious on the fourth page that Daisy is the real vessel. I also found that no characters stood out as a protagonist. Ben appears first and drives the story, but he’s demoted to an unseen getaway driver while the most interesting thing happens. In my opinion, if Eric were removed from the story, it would give Ben and Daisy more room to shine.
Helium
Script: Ian Edginton
Art: D’Israeli
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The module touches down in unknown territory, and despite surviving, Green freaks out. That being said, he recovers fairly quickly and cooks up a plan to get them back in the air, but before they can put it into action, they’re incapacitated.
I’m enjoying Green. He’s capable, but completely out of his depth. If I were a fortune teller, I’d proclaim that he’ll save the trio from certain doom at a pivotal moment.
Overall: 5/10
Tony Holdsworth is a comics writer based in Dundee, Scotland, who reviews 2000AD each week.
His comics can be found here: https://tonyholdsworth2.wordpress.com/category/portfolio/
