Reviewer: William Cooling
Cover by: Mark Harrison
Editor: Matt Smith
Publisher: Rebellion
Hmm, I’m sure I’ve seen this cover before. Of course it’s a brilliant depiction of Durham Red in all her sci-fi-fantasy-porn glory by the man who has made the character his. That said, it does add to everyone’s bafflement at how she’s managed not to age in a hundred years.
Judge Dredd
(6 pages)
Story title: Meatmonger Pt. 3
Written by: John Smith
Art by: Siku
Lettered by: Tom Frame
After the two parts of b-movie sci-fi where we saw people be abducted and taken to a place where they would be processed we get to see some action as Dredd and his criminal buddy try to take the fight to shadowy rulers of the…er…place. However, to do that they have to escape their holding pen, which is where their troubles start.
Smith’s writing is efficient and compressed, which is vital to establish the action movie feel of the story. He deftly and quickly moves the two protagonists onto the next challenge climaxing with THE cliché cliffhanger. He also includes some good dialogue, including good banter between Dredd and his criminal buddy (even if Dredd forming an uneasy alliance with a criminal is something we’ve all seen before). Also Smith has obviously been flicking through his A-Z of Judge Dredd as he includes some Easter Egg cameos for a number of older Dredd characters.
Siku’s eccentric art is perfectly suited to this script with his inventive layouts and stylised drawings a good match for Smith’s script. Whilst it’s true that his Dredd is somewhat lacking in detail (and has a chin drawn with a ruler) the depiction suits the art in the rest of the story.
A wild part with Smith and Siku conspiring to bring some excellent images to the page whilst progressing the story on nicely.
This section will contain SPOILERS
Dead Man Walking
(5 pages)
Story title: Untitled Pt. 6
Written by: James Stevens
Art by: Boo Cook
Lettered by: Annie Parkhouse
Last issue we saw an improvement in Dead Men Walking as Stevens developed what is probably the most interesting strand of the series-namely the zombies. The new development is that they may not be brainless as we previously thought as shown by lab results and some of them almost having a conversation with Jude. He also killed off the idiotic clichés of talking black buddy (turned into a zombie) and prison kingpin (warden turned on him and he’s now became a lab rat). As we left last issue we saw Jude confront Morgan who had been turned into a zombie…
The scenes with Morgan come across badly because of the writer’s lifeless dialogue and that Stevens never gave the reader a reason to care about Morgan due to the abrupt way he introduced him. Due to this lack of emotional connection with the character we must ask why should we care about his current plight?
Where it does succeed is as a hint of what is to come when Morgan joins the discarded zombies outside the prison wall. As we learn from Proctor (the doctor) the zombies are becoming organised and regaining their intelligence. Best of all they are gathering outside the prison walls, which promises a major zombie onslaught that might make this series worthwhile.
However, these scenes show what a waist the central plot has been. Stevens obviously has some good sci-fi ideas and has created a fairly interesting world, but the convict wanting to escape plot (even if handled well) does not explore this well, because the convict will have the same shocked, horrified reaction to everything.
Stevens obviously agrees with me as he proceeds to offer us a twist at the end when he reveals that Jude is in fact an undercover cop. Now at first glance this is an interesting twist that might explain why her dialogue is so forced. However, if you think it through this twist (or swerve might be a better word) makes no sense as Jude told us in an inner monologue that she was a convict and wanted to escape, who was she trying to fool with “thinking†that? It couldn’t have been telepathic guards as that would have stopped her sending reports back to headquarters, so you have to conclude that Stevens was clumsily trying to convince us that she was a convict to make his twist shocking. The problem with this is that it turns her monologue into nothing more than a lazy plot device as it cannot possible have any relevance to the character as the character has no reason to think those thoughts. It also must be noted that this is a FOURTH change in character motivation in 30 pages of story, how on earth are we meant to care about a character when she is constently changing her aim?
The writing has been more enjoyable in these last two parts but it is still extremely lazy and flawed with a twist that whilst superficial exciting personifies the problems with Stevens’ writing.
Caballistics Inc
(5 pages)
Story title: Downtime Pt 5 ~ Ravne
Written by: Gordon Rennie
Art by: Dom Reardon
Lettered by: Tom Frame
Ravne is the most mysterious of the member of Caballistics Inc due to his questionable background. He is an extremely powerful and knowledgeable occultist but recently his past has been threatening to catch up with him as the Israelis have launched an investigation into his time as a Nazi in WW2.
In this part Rennie offers a tantalising glimpse into Ravne past that suggests he may be even less normal than we had hitherto thought. The flashback is wonderfully ambiguous with no narrative to place it in context for us like the other four, because of this we are not completely sure whether we are seeing Ravne or just an old relative. This is completely in keeping with the character of Ravne who is the poster boy of ambiguity and mystery.
In the contemporary scenes we get to see more foreshadowing for the climatic battle between the Israelis and Caballistics Inc with the first prophecy of the death that Rennie has heavily trailed to take place in the Prog 2004 10-page story.
Reardon’s art is as usual excellent and like last week has regained its old, distinctive style instead of being Jock-esque.
This is an another excellent (is it me or do I use that word too much?) part in what has been an awesome (there you go) series, it’s just a shame its ending next week.
Synnamon
(5 pages)
Story title: Facing Mecha Pt. 6
Written by: Colin Clayton & Chris Dows
Pencilled by: Laurence Campbell
Inked by: Lee Townsend
Coloured by: Gary Caldwell
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
A ho hum part this week as the writers go through motions of a planet wide battle to get to a predictable climax. What’s more they don’t really write any of the battle scenes that allow Campbell to be as creative as he was last issue where he really fuse space sci-fi with an almost pop art design. Don’t get me wrong Campbell draws the stuff well but none of it really lets him soar.
Not really much more to add about this part save emphasising that whilst this is a passable read the content is boring.
Durham Red
(6 pages)
Story title: The Empty Suns: Book 1: Part 6
Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Mark Harrison
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
Last week Red got her groove back as she regained her long lost sanity…and her clothes (well some of them) and is informed of the need to seek and destroy the Offspring. This issue, Abnett quickens the pace as he reintroduces us to the ass kicking side of Durham Red, who indulges in a five-page rampage in the headquarters of one of the Offspring’s henchmen, which is reminiscent of some of the best “storming the baddies’ building†scenes in the Matrix.
This is a clever detour by Abnett that whilst reminding us of how dangerous and fearsome Red is, also introduces us to how society is run on the eve of the extinction of the human race. He also uses the reactions of Godolkin and co (who are watching from afar) to reinforce the bad ass image he’s given her.
More interesting still is the hints he gives of Red following her own mission instead of following the search/destroy mission given to her by Godolkin and the humans. He does this through her inner narrative, which allows the character of Durham Red to dominate the story-just as it should!
The art has improved as well with Harrison’s colouring more reminiscent of the earlier CG/painted books than the earlier parts of this book. However, the costume is pathetic, with what amounts to a thong for trousers and his Durham Red is far too young for how old she is (although I smell an Abnett sci-fi gizmo to keep Durham Red at her most marketable age).
Still a good part with Abnett changing gears to deliver a largely action based part with Harrison producing some of his best work in this book.
A good issue with every single story enjoyable to read even if Dead Men Walking and Synnamon have underlying problems. The three established stories are all incredibly strong this Prog, with Caballistics Inc by far the best story in the Prog and Durham Red making it two strong parts in a row
