Publisher: Rebellion
Cover: Mark Sexton
This prog is a jumping-on point where a tonne of stories start, so strap on your thrill goggles, Earthlets.
Judge Dredd
Writer: Rob Williams
Art: Henry Flint
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
A cargo ship’s crew spot a man overboard. Then more bodies surface.
When Justice Department investigates, they find that the bodies are all inmates from the barge, a prison ship which has gone missing.
Elsewhere, Alex Marx leaves a home and breaks down in front of Judge Anderson. He whispers to himself about the barge. Anderson enters the place and finds the residents butchered. When Anderson reads his mind, she finds something dark, so I can’t wait to see how Marx and the barge are related.
Henry Flint’s work is insane, as always, and perfectly suits the horror story. His scratchy linework and creative, fast-paced panelling bring a frantic madness to the strip.
Brass Sun
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Two red pandas walk through the wilderness. They are two members of a religious group on a pilgrimage, and the group settle for the night. The leader, Cleric Tulliver, tells the tale of Wren and Septimus, who went on a quest to restart the Sun at the centre of a mechanical Solar System.
The younger panda, Gladys, is almost as old as Wren was when she began her quest, so I look forward to seeing if she becomes the protagonist. What can I say, she’s a cutie.
Though there are two recaps, one being a wall of text before the strip begins, and the other being the strip itself, it’s not excessive, as I thought at first. There’s a lot of ground to cover, and the last time we saw Brass Sun was in 2018, so I’m glad of the reminder. It’s vital groundwork before we embark on another epic space opera.
Anderson: Psi Division
Writer: Alex De Campi
Artist: Rob Richardson
Letters: Simon Bowland
Inga 3, an android, is in love with a murderer. He has fallen out of love with her. She needs love not for the sheer joy it brings, but to subdue the vines she carries in her body, which will constrict her vital systems if they don’t receive love. To charm him, she attempts to steal a drive containing a trillion crypto credits, but, unlucky for her, Dredd and Anderson are on patrol in the area.
Inga throws a grenade containing gas, which makes people overly suggestible, but Anderson has experience with mind-altering baddies, and she shrugs off the suggestion to kill Dredd.
Dredd tackles Inga, and he quickly recovers the drive, but not before Inga passes her vines on to him. How will Dredd, one of the most unlovable guys in comics, get someone to love him? Will he even try?
It’s a fun, fast-paced strip, which succinctly manages to expose Anderson and Death’s history before using it in the next scene. I can totally see why this was included in the jumping-on prog.
The second part of this story is in Megazine #484, which lucky subscribers may have received a week early.
Thistlebone
Text and page design: T.C. Eglington
Painted art: Simon Davis
There’s a new boy in town, and he’s got no friends. This ominous folk tale tells the story of Murray Haresbrook, whom the butcher’s boy has it in for. The butcher’s boy leads the bullying campaign until the minister catches him, and while the telling-off works on the rest of the gang, the butcher’s boy has a vendetta.
The butcher’s boy invites Murray to play a game, though: Foxes and Hare. Murray, not being a stickler for grammar, doesn’t realise that there are many foxes and only one hare, so it is too late when he realises he is the sole prey.
It is a classic comeuppance tale punctuated by glorious art by Simon Davis.
Void Runners
Writer: David Hine
Art: Boo Cook
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The slaves of Rigel-16 are content. I remain wary of any narrative which has the old trope “they’re slaves, but they like it that way,” but at least The Liberators turn up and get them all high.
A bird’s eye view of the “Big Bong,” which the enslaved Manjukaks all smoke from, is accompanied by the explanation that The Liberators go from planet to planet, expanding the consciousness of the oppressed. A few Manjukaks throw up.
A second ship arrives, harbouring less goodwill than the first. When black-clad agents accompany a robot with a barrel full of toxic waste, one unlucky Manjukak greets them.
Rigel-16 gets some nice worldbuilding, and I look forward to seeing what part 2 brings.
Rogue Trooper: Ghost Patrol
Writer: Alex De Campi
Art: Neil Edwards
Colours: Matt Soffe
Letters: Jim Campbell
A general comes to the lab to inspect the gene soldiers. In the tube, the soldier experiences a cascade of images. Old mission reports, trauma, and technical reports download into him. He emerges, and we cut to Old Earth.
Veterans sit in a circle, talking through their trauma. One man stays behind. His name is Jock, and he receives an offer to find out what happened to his best pal.
The offer comes from Lieutenant Nygaard, who hangs around the meeting like a dealer around an addict meeting.
I’m amazed that there are any veterans from the war on Nu Earth, but here we are. The second half of the story, on Old Earth, slows down the pace, but it started with so much action that you can guarantee that this one will be a pulse-raiser.
Overall: 8/10
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/
