Cover: Steven Austin
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Dan Cornwell
Colours: Chris Blythe
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Dredd tries to sneak through Sov territory of the tower, but he’s identified by his boots and captured. One sov in particular relishes the victory by unzipping and relieving himself on Dredd, but he’s killed by his gangmates, and Dredd is forced to collaborate with the sovs to escape the tower.
Dredd’s disguise is comical in how naff it is. Espionage is obviously not his strong suit, and he’s too proud of his status to just take his boots off, but maybe he’ll learn to leave his judge identity behind by the end of this story. Indeed, maybe he becomes a castellan by the end of this. Sarah Kopp comments that Dredd is learning the ways of the Oubliette, but to me, it feels like Dredd was meant for this world, a world of violence and infinite perps whom he can maim.
Brink
Script: Dan Abnett
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Kurtis and Bonner think through how BRV 1 crew may be influenced and take it up the ladder to a meeting with Cutwell present, who is sceptical about their theory, but it may turn out that the IIA may be responsible for the Mercury Event.
Though I miss Castanada, I can’t deny that this is an intriguing chapter of Brink. If I were more familiar with the backstory, I’m sure that this new theory would be interesting, but as a new reader, I’m lost. I find the threat to be inconcrete, so I have little to pin the drama on, beyond the friction between Kurtis and Cutwell.
The Fall of Deadworld
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dave Kendall
Letters: Simon Bowland
The tide is turning in Deadworld. The gang free Fairfax and Novachak, and Sov broadcasts propaganda to force the enemy conscripts to surrender. As hundreds of them pour in, there’s doomed romance between Lisa and Fairfax.
Coming in at this point in the story is still puzzling, but great, since it feels like I’m witnessing a huge moment in the war. Dave Kendall’s art excels at the large-scale conflict, wonderfully giving us the feeling of enormity, with the war roller crashing through the loading bay sign. The first panel establishes the enemy marching beneath the sign. The second panel tilts the camera and shows the sign plummeting onto the troops below.
The protagonists seem so successful at this point that I anticipate a massive pushback from the enemy, so I’m interested to see how the conflict escalates.
Nightmare New York
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dave Roach
Colours: Jim Boswell
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Mose, Lil’s love interest, is a man-shaped collection of ash on the floor. But he comes back. His eyes flare open, his body rejuvenates, and soon is reborn. Naked, Mose explains that fire drew him to it, so he joined the fire service, but he was kidnapped and turned into something which cannot die by fire. Those who cursed him used him for entertainment, setting fire to him on purpose, and taking bets on how long it would be before he screamed, but he escaped, and Lil was the only one he could turn to. Madame Fodor and her brother Gyorg are non-plussed by the story, as they are also magical folk.
It’s a top tale to get us into the story and to establish the stakes. Lil and Mose are a young couple at the mercy of an old order of magicians who are immensely powerful and ill-willed, so they have to either escape or strike back.
Lovely art with a new colourist this time, Jim Boswell, who brings the horror to Mose’s transformation. I loved his work on The Discarded, so I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Anderson, Psi Division
Script: Liam Johnson
Art: Rob Richardson
Letters: Rob Steen
Anderson helps another shift-affected cit, and Judge Nash tells Anderson she can’t go to Sector 43, where the tower is, but Anderson can’t ignore a cry for help, so she escapes Nash’s supervision and goes anyway.
A little slower than part 1, it still demonstrates what Anderson is willing to do to pursue what she thinks is right. She wants to get to the root of the problem rather than treating the symptoms.
Overall: 6/10
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/
