Cover: Mike Dowling
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Writer: Rob Williams
Art: Henry Flint
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Dredd nears the Northern wall of Mega City One, a wall breached during the events of Chaos Day. Psychic silence surrounds the nearby sector house, despite the town being occupied, which local boy Enoch explains is because of the worms. They block Anderson’s sixth sense.
Locals gather at the harbour for The Flensing, a local custom which is truly delightful, and nothing horrible happens. Despite all the flowers and rainbows, Flint’s art sells the creepy, cosmic horror of the strip. This chapter puts me in mind of John Carpenter’s Apocalypse trilogy. An unknowable evil lurks in Sector 108, and even though Anderson has gone to the dirt with Judge Death, this strip threatens to make its mark on her mind in a new way.
Red Dragon
Writer: Rob Williams
Art: Steve Yeowell & Patrick Goddard
Colours: Dylan Teague
Letters: Simon Bowland
Martin and the Dee, the documentary director go to Llangenech. Llangenech is closed off from the world, so it is the perfect mine for a documentary to excavate and begin their research in a burned-out house. On the interior of the remaining wall, the word Lloegr is painted, which can be interpreted as a region of South-East England, or as “The Lost Lands.” Exploring the two meanings could lead somewhere very interesting indeed.
In colour, Siadwel Rhys attends a photoshoot but receives ridicule when he quotes Dylan Thomas. Despite the insult, he still finds time on his return journey to stop off and rescue two kids from a house fire.
Unknown-to-me forces (two superpeople in a flat, who could be old characters from Zenith, but I have no idea) witness his good deed and speak ominously.
Red Dragon is an interesting mix so far. Rob Williams is obsessed with structure, so I’m very interested to see how the dual-protagonist, dual-time period intertwines. While the more colourful past appears to be a more optimistic time, we already know that Siadwel Rhys falls to alcoholism, so there’s this horrible contaminant diffusing at the bottom of the sweet and fruity drink.
Void Runners
Writer: David Hine
Art: Boo Cook
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
The Liberators react to the manjukak’s death. Their own subjugators can still mind-meld with the Federation subjugators, but choose not to in order to obscure their presence.
In Prima City, the Federation delay finishing negotiations until their virus has taken hold, at which point they offer a revised agreement in exchange for medical supplies.
The virus takes hold back at the Liberator camp around the same time. Will The Liberators secure medicine in time? Time will tell.
Brass Sun
Writer: Ian Edginton
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Septimus, all grown up, admires a model of the solar system while talking with his partner, Sybilla, who reveals to him that Wren is still alive. Years ago, Septimus and Wren were partners, but they may now find themselves in conflict.
I admire Brass Sun for alternating the pace with each episode. Extended, dialogue-heavy, expository parts follow fast-paced ones. If this rhythm keeps up, we may expect an action chapter next week.
Rogue Trooper
Writer: Alex De Campi
Art: Neil Edwards
Colours: Matt Soffe
Letters: Jim Campbell
Jock’s flashback continues, in which he helps Rogue immediately after the Quartz Zone Massacre.
In the present, Jock disembarks the ship and meets a starry-eyed recruit on the way, who has some Rogue merch. Nu Earth appears to be much safer than when Jock was last here, but when Jock pulls a gun on Lieutenant Nygaard and tells him to tell the truth, we find that there may be hidden dangers to be revealed.
Overall: 6/10
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/
