Cover art: Cliff Robinson
Cover Colours: Dylan Teague
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Rob Williams
Art: Henry Flint
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Skolex hits Mega City One.
The historical narration over Skolex’s attack gives the beast a grandiosity, a sense that Skolex and its children will have a lasting impact on the Meg.
Judge Tan heroically stops Skolex, which breaks the spell over Dredd. It’s like without the guiding intelligence, the worms are aimless, and to the sea return. The title graphic drops at the perfect moment, with the worms diving to escape the burning surface.
To the Judges, the worms are gone, but how can they ever know? They set fire to the infected sector, including the lighthouse guiding Skolex there. I wonder if we’ll ever see Enoch again, the off-putting mutant boy.
What lesson has Dredd learned from this?
“Build a bigger wall.”
It’s a spectacular finale for And To The Sea Return, by turns explosive and sombre. It raised pulses without revelling in Dredd’s victory. It’s clear that this is not a true victory; there was sacrifice and massive loss of life, and ultimately, the worms could return.
Red Dragon
Script: Rob Williams
Art: Steve Yeowell & Patrick Goddard
Colours: Dylan Teague
Letters: Simon Bowland
Zenith’s parents leave for their final trip and leave him in Dr Peyne’s care. Siadwell isn’t there to see them off, taking a train home, believing “nothing can hurt him,” while he takes a drink.
Perhaps Rhys didn’t say goodbye to Jenny out of guilt: the Shadowmen descend on White Heat and Dr Beat, which Siadwell may or may not be aware of. Longtime readers will remember that Dr Beat ends up attacking his own son later, as the cyborg Warhead. Did Siadwell doom him to this fate?
In the present, Llangenech’s villain emerges: David Williams, policeman of the town.
He is fantastically sinister, evoking the Lloigor from the original series. He’s almost nonchalant as he incinerates whatever he wants, which makes his massive power all the more chilling.
Patrick Goddard makes David feel so powerful and all-encompassing by breaking panel borders and going full bleed as the policeman runs rampant.
I’m actually sad that Red Dragon ends next prog. There’s so much more to dig into, and I hope that Llangenech gets fleshed out even more.
Void Runners
Script: David Hine
Art: Boo Cook
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
We begin in the future, where Moondog is in a hospice, telling Alice Shikari’s story to a nurse.
Alice gives a speech to her crew, rallying them to rebel against the Federation, assuring them of victory or glory, and off they go.
Moondog flashes forward again, and Rigel 16 is a slave world with Manjukaks in charge, not the Prima. He tells the nurse that he needs to rest, promising Shikari Strikes Back.
Admittedly, I hadn’t read book 1, so maybe I’m missing a lot of context, but I would have liked to see Alice doing more. In my opinion, she wasn’t particularly active. She spent a lot of time exposing the Manjukaks to drugs and kicking back while they had a revolution. The anthological nature of 2000AD means that not every story will be for everyone, and Void Runners was not for me.
Brass Sun
Script: Ian Edginton
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Wren lands on Hind Leg, where a talking polar bear threatens to shoot her.
Upon learning who she is, the polar bear named Two Sharks leads the pair to his base.
Wren is reluctant to get involved with another cause, but it’s not her choice. Whether she chooses to stay or not, the rebels are committed to fighting the good fight.
The group seem to be the clerics from prog 2450: a stilt-legged robot, a ten-foot-tall Jesus-like figure, a lantern-headed robot. Eagle eyed readers will spot some anthropomorphic red panda in the background. As the young panda from part 1 does not seem aware of Wren, are the pandas shown this part her ancestors in some way? Or am I just some red panda racist?
Rogue Trooper
Script: Alex De Campi
Art: Neil Edwards
Colours: Matt Soffe
Letters: Jim Campbell
Rogue company look down on a munitions mall belonging to Brass and Bland.
The squad are scooped up by balls and forced into a game in which they are all assigned points and hunted for sport. Of course, Rogue is assigned the most, so he is hunted most enthusiastically.
Bland turns up to claim his points using a mech which itself wears a bowler hat. Delightful, silly, bloody fun.
Rogue squad is rescued by Kip, who gathered a force and came back to the wasteland. Ghost Patrol puts me in mind of the Judge Child Saga, where anything could happen from week to week. This story re-introduces all the different factions interested in Nu Earth while driving us towards the ultimate goal: FOB Azure in the Scum Sea.
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/
