Cover: Tazio Bettin
Published by: Rebellion
Artists have gone insane creating tarot decks, but Tazio Bettin casually designs 3 Major Arcana and card backs just for a cover. What a machine.
Judge Dredd
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: RM Guera
Colours: Giulia Brusco
Letters: Simon Bowland
Dredd pays a visit to Silva, a protected gangster in Ciudad Barranquilla, to find where Judge-killer Skowronski is hidden. Silva is a gangster-turned-informant who supplies local Judges with information about the cartels, which the cartels take umbrage with, so Silva’s stronghold is constantly under siege.
Despite this, Dredd quietly questions Silva in his cushy apartment. Silva strings Dredd along, thinking he has leverage to negotiate, until Dredd pulls his gun.
What’s so satisfying about this strip is that we know that Dredd is going to kick off; it’s just a question of when. Silva is a particularly hateable guy, so when I turned to page four, I was kicking my feet with glee to see Dredd do his Dreddful thing.
The Ravilious Pact
Writer: T.C. Eglington
Artist: Steven Austin
Colours: John Charles
Letters: Simon Bowland
The Boucher gang raid the port to find the artifact. This chapter begins with some exposition from Ba’Laal, who is currently possessing Jason’s brother-in-law, but the scene ends with little being exposed. By the end of the chapter, I could guess what the artifact was, but I found myself just kind of getting to the end, feeling no investment in if the plan goes ahead as planned or not. The stakes are indistinct. Why do they want it? What happens if they don’t get it? Could Jason Ravilious have been omitted from the scene without much changing? It seems so to me. He’s not a particularly active character just now, so I hope this story hooks me soon.
Thargs 3rillers: Relict: Part Three
Writer: Honor Vincent
Artist: Lee Millmore
Letters: Simon Bowland
Stephen and Clara bring the larvae back to the nest, only to find that Grizz flew back on a giant dragonfly, beat them there, and has wreaked revenge on the more gentle of the rat community.
Like last week, I found Relict hard to follow at times, but I love Stephen’s emotional arc. He began this 3riller trying to find a way to keep them all safe, but ended it by sequestering himself away, having subjected them all to the wrath of Grizz.
The conclusion to this 3riller satisfies, but I can totally see Stephen returning in future, and I look forward to it.
Azimuth
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Tazio Bettin
Colours: Matt Soffe
Letters: Jim Campbell
Azimuth briefly recaps where we left Ramone Dexter and Cassandra Anderson: they’re pitted against a ginormous fighter in a Faraday Box, which “damps all powers, exploits and tech to zero.” I must sound like an absolute smooth-brain, but when a week has passed and Azimuth is collected with four other stories, it’s nice when a page one re-orients the reader.
The fight spills over into next prog, but in the meanwhile, we cut to Suzi Nine, who closes in on Dexter and learns from Crazy Hate that she knew Dexter in her previous life. We get some nice exposition about how the N-tech works, how it reverses the cadavatars’ strongest emotion to control them.
Again, Azimuth is a highlight of the prog. It gives us some good action, some good intrigue, and I’m curious to find out what happens next time.
Scarlet Traces
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: D’Israeli
Letters: Jim Campbell
Last week, the Germans had an industrial accident with a Martian war machine, which sent a mighty OOOLLAHHH echoing through the streets of London.
Bey, Stranks and Penny seek the source of the Martian wail and sparks fly as they verbally spar. It’s clear that the sound has shaken them.
When Bey calls to a worker, who is really one of the Germans hiding the Martian war machine, the shooting starts.
Finally seeing the two viewpoints bump into each other is very satisfying, and I look forward to seeing the action unfold.
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/
