Cover: Jake Lynch
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Dan Cornwell
Colours: Chris Blythe
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
At last, Dredd arrives at the top of The Oubliette. Dyavol and Zmeya are quickly dispatched before Dredd and the Castellan throw down, in the process revealing that the Castellan is a Judda, a clone of Dredd. I must admit, “Judda” meant nothing to me at first, so I had to look it up. Anyway, the Castellan gets distracted, and Dredd wins, but he chucks himself over the edge. How strange! If it were me, I’d walk out, victorious, but that’s why Joe is a Judge, and I’m a comic writer.
Dan Cornwell’s art is great here. The chunky, believable figures, with distinct body language for each character, sell the action convincingly. Plenty of references in here, including a gaze into the fist of Dredd, Sagbelly the toad from the Judge Child, and likely others that I’m not catching.
Brink
Script: Dan Abnett
Art: INJ Culbard
Letters: Simon Bowland
Even worse than usual, Kurtis’ Thereshare connection fails completely, and it’ll be another hour before Harry can fix it. Meanwhile, Bonner interrogates Leeden, who is in custody, but doesn’t seem to care, as his true goal is to take out HSD.
This part feels claustrophobic, but who feels that claustrophobia flip-flops throughout. Leeden is so forthcoming before Kurtis enters the room, but after that, he declines to comment as INJ Culbard visually shifts the balance of power from Leeden to Kurtis. The way Leeden looks away from the camera is a lovely, subtle way of showing that Leeden is trying to evade questioning by avoiding both Kurtis’ and our gaze.
We can’t be far off the end of Brink’s current arc, and I promise to come to the next one forearmed.
The Fall of Deadworld
Script: Kek-W
Art: Dave Kendall
Letters: Simon Bowland
Death kills Eastwood. Fairfax gives up.
Kendall shows us the softer side of Eastwood as she dies. He turns up the warmth and allows Eastwood and Leigh to have a moment of connection in the chaos. In between two action scenes, this serene moment stands out, and if I were a longtime reader of Fall of Deadworld, I’m sure this would be a touching moment.
Nightmare New York
Script: Kek-W
Art: David Roach
Colours: Jim Boswell
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Lil’s rat Selene is dead, and Mose is absent; Lil is doomed. That is, until the Fodors turn up.
Praetorian’s ritual has been in progress for like 3 weeks now. Once again, he states his goal: to sell Lil to Asteroth in exchange for dominion over the physical realm, and that benefits new readers, but for regular readers it feels silly. In-universe, he’s stated his goal 3 times in 20 minutes.
Judge Rico
Script: Ken Niemand
Art: Jake Lynch
Colours: Emily Roach
Letters: Annie Parkhouse
Fargo, Locke, Jeremiah and Giant venture into a tunnel leading to The Oubliette. Judge Giant discovers that he is to be a favoured son.
Nothing unexpected happens in this episode. Though they may be split up, it doesn’t feel like their opposition is all that strong. Sure, there was a skirmish, but was there any doubt that the protagonists would win?
That being said, the mystery remains of Dredd’s entry to the Oubliette. How was he lured there, and by who?
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/
