Cover: Nick Percival
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Nick Percival
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
In six pages of Dredd, four threads begin across a five-hundred-year period. Will Niemand, Percival and Parkhouse pull it off?
In 1650, British settlers discover that a family has disappeared.
In 2147, Dredd discovers a shooting. He hears a voice, advising him that the killers aren’t far away, and he finds that the informant is Sarah Kopp, who escaped The Shift, only to be killed by an agent of The Fathers. A medical tool still protrudes from her eye socket.
Judge Giant and Rico discover Merlin Kozaks, a porn addict-turned-killer, whose spree began after the Elisa Lam incident.
And in The Undercity, Iron Teeth is discovered by the servant of The Fathers.
It’s daring to change viewpoint and time period so many times in so few pages, but I’m compelled to read on. It’s as though each thread is so different that I need to know how it all comes together. The threads are united by Nick Percival, whose art is otherworldly and dripping with texture, making the judges cold and shiny and The Shift and the Undercity slimy.
Messengers has started strong, and I hope it keeps the quality high throughout.
Rogue Trooper
Script: Alex De Campi
Art: Neil Roberts
Colours: Matt Soffe
Letters: Jim Campbell
Rogue, Nygaard and Jock fly over the scum sea, certain that FOB Azure is within 100 kilometres of their current position.
Before they can narrow down its whereabouts, the Sun Legion attacks, casting off their paragliders to set foot on Rogue’s ship. Rogue plunges the plane into the scum sea to escape, melting the helpless Nort troopers, but not before one of them cracks the plane’s window.
To add insult to injury, a deep-sea light draws them into danger.
This chapter is a pulse-raiser, briskly carrying us through the strip to a gripping cliffhanger. Its unusual placement between Dredd and Brass Sun is masterful, as both of those are slower-paced parts.
Brass Sun
Script: Ian Edginton
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
At the camp, Wren hears of how the Inquisitors were once Conductors who, in their zeal, sought to save The Wheel by harvesting anyone who has the potential to lead them to The Maker. Despite the organisational shift, there are still Inquisitors who are Conductors at heart. Undercover Conductors gave Ariel a data package, only to find that it wasn’t what they expected.
The data package makes me deeply suspicious of Ariel. As a skilled smuggler, I believe she would have checked her cargo before bringing it to their camp, unless she’s actually working for the other side.
It’s all a nice fleshing-out of the world, just enough information to get us to the next action-packed instalment.
Red Dragon
Script: Rob Williams
Art: Steve Yeowell & Patrick Goddard
Colours: Dylan Teague
Letters: Simon Bowland
Red Dragon ends in fireworks.
This will not be a recap, but my thoughts on how things ended.
I feel for Martin. After the death of his wife, he returned to his greatest success, Flying High, and went to Llangenech. I read it as his quest for nostalgia, only to find evidence of gods scattered throughout the land, with no magical whimsy attached to their existence. Instead of childlike wonder, he finds terrified awe, and he is forced to face the real world and his ordinary life.
Ruined by the experience, Dee from the production company obsesses over what happened. You would too, if your friend was killed by a psychopathic, superpowered policeman. Tanya died off-page, so we’re right there with Dee, feeling her lack of closure. Red Dragon resembles what would really happen if a cosmic horror visited us. We would never find peace if we learned such things shared our planet.
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/
