Cover: Dave Kendall (after Frazetta)
Publisher: Rebellion
What a cool, demonic twist on Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer.
Judge Dredd
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Dan Cornwell
Colours: Chris Blythe
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Dredd assists one sov gang to kill another, and they ascend another level, but to get any further, they’ll need firepower, and the only ones who have that are Norts and Southers from Rogue Trooper.
Dyavol and Zmeya see Dredd talking to Sarah Kopp, the ghost, but they don’t see Sarah herself, so everyone’s uneasy about the alliance.
I’m not sure how I feel about Norts and Sovs in the Oubliette. Throughout The Oubliette we’ve seen characters from across 2000AD’s stable, so it could be distracting, but a new reader could follow the story without prior knowledge too. For now, the story is a decent hit of weekly action, so I’m happy to keep up with it.
Brink
Script: Dan Abnett
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Kurtis wonders aloud whether The Sect is a real entity or if it’s a convenient lie to manipulate citizens of the Brink, who experienced a collective trauma when The Mercury Event occurred.
It’s an interesting theory, and it’s a brave choice to use a whole part for essentially a monologue. The twist spins us into a new direction and throws up a load of questions like, if this is true, how do they stop it? How do you cure corporate greed? Do you introduce a counter-psy-op? Time will tell.
I have begun my Brink journey from volume 1, and I must say that I’m enjoying it more in collected form. Ludmilla, from the first story, is mentioned in this prog, so it obviously relies on a deep knowledge of the subject matter. Maybe that’s why I’ve been so hard on it. In the preface to the first volume, Abnett states the mystery underpinning the drama: where do ideas come from? In this late stage of the story, six volumes in, it’s like ideas are much closer to the surface now in the form of pure conversation and reference to events past. It’s impenetrable to new readers like myself, but I have to say, it’s an interesting way to write a story. I’m due a re-reader of volume 6 when I work my way up to it.
The Fall of Deadworld
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dave Kendall
Letters: Simon Bowland
Ava Eastwood takes the long walk, along the way barely managing to fight off a monstrous giant head with fingers for legs. She’s feeling the weight of her age, and as she turns inwards, she reflects on her early days at the sector house, when her attraction to her female colleague Leigh emerged. On the last page, however, we see that Judge Fear has found her.
I love when larger, sprawling stories have micro stories within them. I can read this as a completely fresh reader and feel the drama. The art is pitch perfect too, the colour palette easily switching from the present to the past, skilfully using a page turn to disguise the transition, then gradually adding more red as Fear finds her in the present.
I’m loving The Fall of Deadworld so far, but the full read-through will follow my Brink one, so I’m hoping to build my background knowledge of this soon.
Nightmare New York
Script: Kek-W
Art: David Roach
Colours: Jim Boswell
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
“PLEASE TELL YOUR…LITTLE SAUSAGE MEAT-MAN TO STOP ANNOYING MY RAT”
-Lil asking Gyorg to chill out his gömböc.
I love attention-grabbing lines like that.
Lil and Mose leave Fodor and Gyorg’s bakery, which Gyorg doesn’t mind, having foreseen grim portents about Lil. Lil gets Mose to take her to his torturers, Orlac, Charlie and Denham, who see Lil and Mose coming and prepare a Golem.
Really lovely episode. Again, the art is gorgeous, baking in hints about how the magic works. The skull on the last page has kabbalistic symbols for the elements which seem to light up as their bearers approach. The skull is covered in symbols, so I’m interested to see just how many magicians turn up.
Anderson, Psi-Division
Script: Liam Johnson
Art: Rob Richardson
Letters: Rob Steen
Anderson arrives at Sector 43, drawn by a psychic distress call, but she’s attacked by a rabid dog. Judge Nash turns up in the nick of time to help fight it off. In the aftermath, they discover that the call came from a child.
The tower turns ordinary people into violent, psychologically scrambled husks, and yet a young…boy? Does not succumb to its effects. It makes me wonder what’s special about the boy and what the tower may do to Nash, who, as far as I know, has no psychic powers or shielding.
Though I am enjoying this strip, I’m hoping for it to up the pace. It’s part 3 of a story, and we’re not into the conflict proper yet, so hopefully the next part will drop us into the deep end.
Overall: 7/10
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/
