Reviewer: William Cooling
Editor: Matt Smith
Publisher: Rebellion
Before we get into the review proper may I just warn that if I sound a little deliriously happy its because I’m writing this after watching England beat France at Rugby to book our place into the finals (fingers crossed come Saturday we’ll beat Australia (in Sydney) to win the thing).
On with the review…
Cover by Richard Elson
I rarely like Elson’s art as it usually has a safe, smooth, generic quality to it that I’ve never found appealing. His version of Dredd personifies this, which makes the choice of him to do the cover a big gamble. One that doesn’t pay off may I add as he delivers another generic Dredd cover and Lord knows we haven’t had enough off them.
Judge Dredd
(6 pages)
Title: Meatmonger Pt. 2
Written by: John Smith
Art by: Siku
Lettered by: Tom Frame
At the end of last issue the world-wide plague of the bright light kidnapper struck again as it captured pin up boy of the Justice Department – Judge Dredd.
Now Dredd finds himself in an alien place surrounding by brainwashed, vacant people queuing to their deaths. Of course being the hero, Dredd is above all that and has his wits about him and is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
John Smith develops the story well, creating a genuinely hellish prison for the “zombies†and Dredd. He once more shows his good grasp of Dredd’s character by having Joe play his classic role of an ass kicking tough guy with a neat line in one liners, all of which are delivered completely straight and unknowing I might add. He also shows his excellent grasp of Dredd’s history by referencing the fact that Dredd has bionic eyes. Unlike parts of the current Devlin Waugh story in the Meg, this story moves at a fast pace and captures the Action/B-Movie feel that Smith is aiming for.
This capturing of this feeling is also helped by the art by Siku. Whilst I prefer his painted work, the art makes up for what it lacks in detail and subtlety with a manic energy and some wonderfully inventive character design and action scenes. This type of hit ‘em fast, hit ‘em hard art is perfect for the story that Smith has written and results in the art matching the feel of the script far better than Devlin Waugh.
All round this is a good, frivolous, action movie of a strip with art that complements the script well.
Dead Man Walking
(5 pages)
Title: N/A
Written by: James Stevens
Art by: Boo Cook
Lettered by: Annie Parkhouse
Telephone Conversation
William: Hi, is that Jude?
Jude: I’M TOP BITCH NOW!
William: I’ll take that as a yes then. I’m just ringing to say that I may have been a bit hasty when I said that I’d rather sleep with Sarah Morris than you. You see I was superficial back then; all I looked at was your poor dialogue, inconsistent aims and the cliché life you lead. Yet I’ve since learnt there’s so much more to you…
Jude: Holy Shiv! What have you learnt?
William: That you’ve got a wonderful set of zombies! I mean look at them; all deformed, grotesque and blue with their mouths sown up. Their so captivating that I could look at them all day, what’s more there’s a mystery about them. I mean how did they get there? Has there been any surgery on them? It really makes me interested about you and has me wanting another date to find out, hell even if I don’t find out I wouldn’t mind just looking at them again.
Jude: Are we going to Vuck then?
William: Steady on girl (?) just because you’ve stopped me throwing up my lunch doesn’t make you hot stuff like Jennifer. Now there’s a girl who really rocks my world…
Caballistics Inc
(5 pages)
Title: Downtime Pt 4 ~ Jonathan & Jennifer
Written by: Gordon Rennie
Art by: Dom Reardon
Lettered by: Tom Frame
When Caballistics Inc. was formed out of the remnants of the Ministry of Defence’s occult division, Jonathan and Jennifer were the two MOD employees that came with the furniture. Although they share the same room no one is entirely sure whether their getting it on, but what we do know is that a demon is sharing Jennifer’s body.
Jonathan and Jennifer are great characters as (despite the demon squatter) they are normal characters who not only know the least about what they face, but deal with every situation in a wonderfully English, understated way.
Now Rennie has with these shorts taken us to a Lesbian Bar/S&M den, a French back alley, and a Civil Servant’s house (okay that’s not that scary but it did contain an escaped mental patient). That all has me guessing as to which diabolical, grotesque, gruesome scene of occult carnage he will send the Donnish Duo to in this episode?
If you said an old lady’s house then have a toffee.
Of course in light of the fact that Hannah wanted revenge on a fellow MiB who had ran when faced with a demon, that Paul wanted atonement for the damage to a child caused by his fight with a demon, and that Nessy wanted revenge for being locked up in a nut house, we can only imagine what dark, depraved, disgusting quest brings John and Jenny (full names are for wimps) to this house.
Well researching for a book is pretty hardcore (insert porn joke if smutty).
Of course there is something sinister about this house as this is the house of the only living relative of Department Q (the MOD Occult division) operative Cecilia, who fought in the Second World War. This of course gives us the chance to see some groovy flashbacks and to further investigate the nature of the occult in the world of Caballistics Inc as the relative gives us some of her own history.
The writing is of course fantastic, as Rennie develops the central contrast in these characters between their dull persona and the exciting lives they lead. He also turns an almost entirely dialogue based part on its head by delivering a gruesome yet ironic ending.
The art is as usual excellent and is closer to the grittier, dirtier feel that Reardon had at the beginning than the Jock inspired style he has developed over the course of this series.
This series is excellent and the only bad thing about this episode is that it only leaves us two more until its current run ends.
Synnamon
(5 pages)
Written by: Colin Clayton & Chris Dows
Pencilled by: Laurence Campbell
Inked by: Lee Townsend
Coloured by: Gary Caldwell
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
After confronting Macaulay (who has been turned into a computer thingy) and having something injected into her by him (what it is we don’t know), we see Synnamon go to what is believed to be the source of the virus.
The writers have constructed a very tight story so far and this is one no exception, with them blending action and exposition well. They have improved in the writing of action scenes with the fight between Synnamon and Macaulay being a wonderfully cinematic battle. They’ve also got over the glitch of the slightly ditzy characterisation that they had given Synnamon early on, as in this issue she is shown to be all business.
However, where this part really shines is in the excellent art. Campbell really hits his stride as he draws some excellent action images neatly presented in some innovative page layouts that fit in as much action as possible onto the page (27 panels in the first four pages) whilst never making the page seem crammed. As usual he fails to show Synnamon as a sex symbol but that is less an issue this issue, as for the most part she’s got her serious face on.
Also special credit must go to the colours of Caldwell who, with a direct and varied palette, brings the best out of the art. Special credit must go to his background colours, which convey the atmosphere of the scene.
All in all, a good part.
Durham Red
(6 pages)
Title: The Empty Suns: Book 1: Part 5
Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Mark Harrison
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
Hot ding the Bitch is back!
After weeks of me moaning about how boring this series had got without the sane, sassy and sexy Durham Red, we get her back. Its also obvious that not only I am happy to see her back but that Abnett is happy to be writing her again. His script has recovered a sparkle that it had been missing for the past few issues as Abnett shows Red to be as irreverent as we all remember her; in particular he so nails her character with the last few panels. Because of this I’ll forgive him for once again using an oh-so convenient sci-fi gizmo to write himself out of a corner.
Harrison also ups his game in this part as well delivering his best work of the series as he once more gets to draw a hot woman in leather rather than an insane one in her birthday suit. That said there are quibbles about his art, firstly why hasn’t Durham Red aged a day despite there being a hundred year gap? Secondly his portrayal of Durham Red wears even less clothes than usual which does bring the art uncomfortable close to fantasy-porn, which is not really what I want in my Prog. Still it all looks pretty and has regained a lot of the character and feel (if not the actual style) of the first two books.
As we see Durham Red be nurse back to health and told of her mission we see this book finally begin to live up to the standard set by its predecessors.
I don’t want to jinx it, but this issue could be the point where the Autumn Offensive starts to deliver. Durham Red seems to have recaptured the spirit of the previous book and so can take its pre-reserved place alongside Dredd and Caballistics Inc as the AAA stories of this line up. The newer stories are also finding their feet with Synnamon developing into an interesting storyline with some excellent art. Whilst Dead Men Walking is still one of the worst strips of the year, it does with this part offer some promise that Stevens is finding his feet and can deliver a readable (if incoherent) story.
