Cover: Toby Willsmer
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dan Cornwell
Colours: Chris Blythe
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
As it dawns on Dredd, who runs The Oubliette, we flash back and see how he got there: he was killed in Alientown and cast into “the forgotten place.” The last page reveals the comeback of an old character.
Now it makes sense why there are so many references to The Judge Child Saga. In the Judge Child saga, Murd the Oppressor says that Oracle Spice takes ten thousand years to understand, so now that Dredd may have spent that long in The Oubliette, maybe he’s cracked it?
The Oubliette has been a nice run along memory lane, but I’m ready for some shorter, self-contained Dredd tales now. Solely reading the prog, I find the story too fragmented to really enjoy. For example, in the last prog, the Judda Castellan was distracted by events seen in the Megazine, which, as a prog reader, was unsatisfying.
Brink
Script: Dan Abnett
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
In an intense interrogation, with Kurtis, Bonner, Leeden and Cutwell present, we find that Leeden’s handler has probably been dead for four years. Leeden drugged the crew of BRV 1, which led to a murder on board. That leads me to wonder what the Thereshare creature is which Kurtis saw a few progs ago.
Leeden is just a deranged killer with a lethal array of skills, not a mastermind super spy. He’s no less terrifying, but it twists the narrative, given that we’ve seen his dispatches to a man who has likely been dead for years, so Leeden has been wreaking havoc under nothing more than obsolete orders and an ideology. As Brink progresses, the disconnect between the Sect storyline and the Mercury Incident widens, which I don’t say as a criticism, because I love that the universe is becoming ever less explicable. It’s just humans doing horribly human things to each other, while the unknowable universe unwittingly throws up more obstacles and catastrophes for us to suffer.
The Fall of Deadworld
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dave Kendall
Letters: Simon Bowland
While young Jessica tries to go along on the mission with Biggs, and while they reject her, Byke gets possessed by Killfist. He breaks out of his cell and causes chaos.
There’s a lovely panel in there where Jess is comforted by Arthur. In the chaotic, demonic world of Deadworld, it feels right to have a moment of comfort before everything kicks off again, but of course, if there is a pleasant moment in Deadworld, it’s only to kick you in the teeth in the last panel.
Nightmare New York
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dave Roach
Colours: Jim Boswell
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Lil’s rat Selene lies dead, releasing Mary Crich, the banfhadh, giving Lil power over the chill wind of winter. Lil breaks her bonds and turns the tables on Praetorian, but inadvertently opens a gate to Hell in the process. Meanwhile, the Fodors and the Shevet deal with Praetorian’s goons.
Lil is special because of what she IS, not what she DOES. She contributed nothing to her own escape, so this chapter highlights how passive she is. She didn’t rescue herself. She was rescued by a rat and then some chilly witch, where her B team of rescuers never even see her, so their storyline doesn’t collide with Lil’s satisfyingly. I enjoy the strangeness of the characters, but in my opinion, they don’t come together in an interesting way, but I hope they do so in book 3.
Future Shocks: And Now the Fireworks
Script: James Peaty
Art: Steve Yeowell
Letters: Rob Steen
Agent Target desperately wants to be part of the security team for a diplomat’s visit, but Director Hand sends him on a mission to observe Jeb Bowen, a known comrade of a terrorist. It turns out that the terrorist was brainwashed into it by Bowen, who was acting under orders from Director Hand. The target is then brainwashed and made to carry out the attack.
Blimey, that was complicated. Steve Yeowell’s art tells the story well, as always, successfully delivering vast amounts of information, but I found the script to be too complicated to be enjoyable. I was too busy working out what was going on to feel anything for Agent Target, whose only crime was doing his job too well, and it turns out that he never had a chance at getting what he wanted anyway, as Director Hand was pulling the strings the whole time.
This Future Shock was not for me.
Young Death
Script: Kek-W
Art: Sedat Oezgen
Colours: John Charles
Letters: Rob Steen
Sidney De’Ath enlists the Mortician to help him break into prison to unearth his dead father.
This feels long. At 12 pages, it’s shorter than a standard American comic, and yet it feels longer, and I think it’s because we spend 8 pages in the prison. Don’t get me wrong, breaking INTO prison is an interesting premise, and as an objective, Sidney’s father’s corpse is an interesting one, but we don’t find out why he wanted it. Was it just to test the serum? Each episode of Young Death follows on from the other, so maybe things will become clear next time.
Judge Rico
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Jake Lynch
Colours: Emily Roach
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The Finders Fargo, Locke, Jeremiah and Giant are separated, and we see the former three on their own private ordeal. Jeremiah doesn’t break through, but Fargo and Locke do, and they see Dredd fighting in the Oubliette.
It’s always a treat to see Lynch’s art, but I’m tired of these characters. Their mission doesn’t feel important to me. Dredd’s pretty much sorted himself out, and the Black Tower has been demolished, so why is it that they need to find Dredd?
Maybe I’d be more invested if I’d read Iron Teeth and The Shift.
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/
