Cover: Joe Currie
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Nick Dyer
Colours: John Charles
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
After robbing a store, the perp stashes his weapon in a mannequin’s backside. But it’s not a mannequin, it’s a man who’s been taxidermied. We see the story from his perspective. He watches as Dredd comes and goes and misses the weapon, but by sheer force of will, he forces himself to topple, presenting the gun stashed in his crack.
Despite his assistance, the taxidermied cit is disposed of, sent straight to the incinerator. It just goes to show that no matter how much you cheer for the Judges, they are not on your side.
Pretty fun! I’m a big fan of stories told from strange perspectives, so this scratches that itch, and it’s always nice to see some humour in Dredd strips for a palate cleanser.
Brink
Script: Dan Abnett
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Kurtis tells Bonner that the BRV-1 staff feel that there’s someone else aboard who shouldn’t be.
When Kurtis investigates, there’s real tension as repeated panels invite us to look closer, and that pays off when we see a shadow through a window. But Kurtis doesn’t see it.
It’s good to see Kurtis actually poking around and investigating, being a detective, rather than arguing in offices. To me, it feels like Brink is building up to a revelation.
Silver
Script: Mike Carroll
Art: Joe Currie
Letters: Simon Bowland
Alain and Baroness DeSilva take shelter in an old windmill, and she must defend them from Sepsis rejects, bipedal boar-like creatures who roam the countryside. She wins, but she’s badly wounded, and night is falling.
Tremendous bit of action this prog. I’m always impressed when there’s such good action in such a small space, since it risks making the story feel like a light meal, but Carroll cleverly layers the dialogue from the next scene onto the action so it doesn’t feel like you’re wasting your pocket money. It’s a clever technical flourish that makes me love Silver.
Tharg’s 3rillers: Poster Girl
Script: Paul Starkey
Art: Paul Marshall
Colours: Dylan Teague
Letters: Rob Steen
Journalists Jenna, Dev and Nic venture off to find Peggy, a poster girl assumed to be dead. At first, it’s unclear why they want to find her, but she was part of the Avalon Project, which seems to have been making super soldiers.
It’s futuristic, but in the most dire way possible, referencing Oracle instead of Google, and how the NHS was privatised, which feels very of the moment. It sets up so much, like what was the aim of the Avalon Project? What happened to Britain? Where is Peggy now?
Helium
Script: Ian Edginton
Art: D’Israeli
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
It’s a dark episode of Helium, this prog. Francis the butler tells Constable Hodge that she’s to be the mother of the monarch’s children, whether she likes it or not. The casual way he smiles is chilling. Meeting His Majesty convinces her no further, and by the end, she’s unconscious again and on her way to surgery to get a crude lobotomy.
Week after week, Helium impresses. The page count is so low, but every time it leaves me hungry for more, like a Ferrero Rocher.
Overall: 9/10
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/
