Cover: Simon Davis
Published by: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: RM Guera
Colours: Giulia Brusco
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Dredd arrives at the dem hideout. Among the bodies, he finds a dying girl, and instead of giving her aid, he questions her. He delves deeper into the jungle to find Skowronski.
Interestingly, there’s a flashback to Rend & Tear with Tooth & Claw. As they build a fire in the snow, the outlaw asks Dredd why he wants to keep Cadet Moon alive. “Because you’re so old? Yeah, that’s it, isn’t it? You think she’s the future.” When Dredd finds the home of those who attacked the dems, Dredd sees a mutated watchman who appears to have Cadet Moon as his second head. Dredd still deals with his failure to save her.
The depiction of the tribe who attacked the dems makes me uncomfortable, as they’re drawn without pupils, are predominantly people of colour, wear rags and use spears and bows. Regular readers know that Dredd is a fascist, but if this were my first Dredd story, nothing in the strip humanises the group to show me that Dredd is anything but a dutiful servant of civilised society.
Maybe this is how Dredd sees everyone he’s come in contact with since he began the search in South America, but I think there are less offensive ways to get this across. Artists ought to be conscious of the ways in which they depict people of different cultures, and The Savage has been wielded by real fascists in the past.
The Ravilious Pact
Writer: T.C. Eglington
Artist: Steven Austin
Colours: John Charles
Letters: Simon Bowland
Lee pays back his lender, but the lender indicates that he wants Lee to do more dodgy deals. Lee has bigger problems, though, as he seems to have brought something back from the other side. Its dialogue is mirrored, so it’s legible, but is pretty annoying to read for more than a few sentences.
After the reveal of potential cancer in Jason, we see him in a nurse’s office taking a blood test before driving to an out-of-the-way warehouse. Inside, Todd Boucher asks Jason to prove his loyalty, which Jason refuses to do. It’s good to see Jason standing up for himself. Hopefully, we’ll see a more active Jason in future parts.
The last panel sheds new light on the previous part in which Billy revealed that couriers and hosts tend to develop cancer. We see Billy talking enigmatically with a woman whom we haven’t seen before, which makes me wonder if it was indeed a coincidence that Billy saw Jason in the hospital last part. I really want to be proven wrong about this strip, but with only a few parts to go, can the droids pull it off?
Azimuth
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Tazio Bettin
Colours: Matt Soffe
Letters: Jim Campbell
Azimuth kicks along at a good pace with a bridging chapter where our viewpoint characters meet, and they return to the Lords of the New Flesh. We get to see the Lords for the first time since I began reviewing 2000AD, so I get to drool again. Mimi Meme’s combination of design elements is insane. Prodigy haircut plus Bowie-style Union Jack pants plus wings of bifurcated cow. Jim Campbell sees the opportunity and makes sure to letter each Lord with their own style. To enter this world each week is an adventure and a pleasure.
The cliffhanger builds anticipation for Crazy Hate, now separate from the cadavatars. Where will she pop up next, and will she have mellowed out?
Scarlet Traces
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: D’Israeli
Letters: Jim Campbell
This week’s Scarlet Traces is a pulse pounder as the Martian war machine tears into the German spies. Bey and Stranks dive into danger to investigate.
The German captain takes cover in the defunct Martian War Machine, which the new Martian drags into the tunnel from whence it came. Bey can’t help himself and follows the machine, dragging Stranks into the pit with him.
Again, another quick read this week, but it’s a fantastic reminder of what makes the Martians so terrifying. They appear, wreak havoc, and disappear just as fast. I can’t wait to see more.
Nu Earth War Tales
Writer: Gordon Rennie
Artist: Peter Doherty
Letters: Peter Doherty
Triumphantly returning to the prog, Doherty draws and letters Winston Donne and his increasing isolation. The Southern base was hit by Nort chemicals, inducing “super-cabin fever,” which leads to madness, suicide and violence.
Donne’s descent into madness is an accurate metaphor for the UK over the last decade, with Brexit cutting us off from the EU and Covid scrambling all of our brains, leaving us susceptible to bad actors.
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/
