Cover: Cliff Robinson & Dylan Teague
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Rob Williams & Ned Hartley
Art: PJ Holden
Colours: Jack Davies
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Weather control goes mad in Mega City One. Total system failure.
Renfro Adams leads the Tek Judges in a shuttle up to the station. They survive a lightning strike, dock with the satellite, and proceed to kill every crew member but Miles, who works for them. Adams is really Facechanger, the leader of their gang. Safely in control of the station, they ransom Mega City One, and the upper class are happy to pay, but we know that the Justice Department does not capitulate to terrorist demands.
So they send up Dredd.
I’m eager to find out why Facechanger needs to be aboard, because I can’t quite fathom why Miles needed extra hands on deck. Nevertheless, it’s a fun threat to the Meg, and it’s drawn with the appropriate level of chaos by PJ Holden.
Herne & Shuck
Script: David Barnett
Art: Lee Milmore
Colours: Gary Caldwell
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Herne is transported to where he needs to be. An old man with a stick, who looks suspiciously like Merlin, leads Herne to the door to knock on.
There King Arthur Pendragon holds up a rock, which he tricks Herne into taking from him.
Jordy confronts Alex (the MP who we’ve seen liaising with St Michael), who says he’s found god and he’s trying to stop St Michael, them being against God and all, when in fact, the reader sees that Alex is still possessed by a demon.
Again, Herne gets led around, showing no growth and taking no lessons from his trials. Jordy shows no urgency to find Ceris.
Judge Dee
Script: Ben Wheatley
Art: Simon Coleby
Colours: Jack Davies
Letters: Simon Bowland
Dee robs a psionic amplifier from the evidence locker. Borley, her superior, catches her, and they hatch a plan to play Blavatsky. Almost immediately, Dee confesses to Blavatsky that Borley waits outside.
Routing the power through Dee and Klatu’s souls, Blavatsky broadcasts Tamerlain across the meg, sending citizens into a bloodlust.
Judge Dee has become quite exposition-heavy for my taste, but the cliffhanger promises to return with a bang, whenever it comes back.
Terror Tales: Fountain of Youth
Script: Andi Ewington
Art: Mike Walters
Letters: Rob Steen
After being told he’s too young to see Dredd 2, Zack wishes he were older. An old woman grabs his arm to steady herself.
When he wakes up, he is older, and like any newly-aged child would, he tries to buy beer, but without an ID, his plan falls apart. Robbed of the one benefit of getting older, the drawbacks quickly kick in, and he wishes he were young again, whereupon a young girl turns up to explain to him how the curse works: you have to pass it on to a child who wishes they were older, aloud.
Zack quickly finds another victim to pass it onto.
It’s a fun premise and payoff. Given how quickly he appears to age, it makes me chuckle to think of how many cursed kids must be rapidly ageing and de-ageing in that neighbourhood. If they were organised, they could arrange to rapidly age one child, get alcohol, and then pass the ageing to the next child forever.
Anyway, I’m a sucker for cyclical short stories, so this tickled me pink.
The Discarded
Script: Peter Milligan
Art: Kieran McKeown
Colours: Jim Boswell
Letters: Simon Bowland
Veera’s held at gunpoint by Phedan, whom she arrested.
They’re about to give her the gut choir, a grisly punishment which consists of cutting the victim’s belly open and pulling out their intestines.
Cornered, Veera lies and tells Phedan that Aaxon mentioned him. That may be a lie, but it’s true that she’s Aaxon’s daughter, and this bewitches the Ark builders. Noah lets her go, but Phedan follows her.
After a brawl, Veera stands over Phedan’s unconscious corpse, but Chain, the assassin, looms over Veera.
It’s refreshing to see Veera walking away from people this time, not corpses. It makes me wonder when Noah and his Ark builders might return, how they might play a role in future, and if they will rescue her from Chain.
Overall: 5/10
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/
