Editor: Matt Smith
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Title: Master of Fear Pt. 1
Writer: Alan Grant
Artist: John Burns
Letterer: Tom Frame
A mysterious previous stalker of Dredd who possesses great power and a fetching skull head has returned to his former prey in Alan Grant’s and John Burns’ return to a character they created for a one off two years ago (this issue is dated Feb 04 04 his debut was dated Feb 06 02). In this opening episode we see Dredd being alerted to his return during the course of his everyday duties only to be beset by a gang of intelligent gangland monkeys.
Alan Grant, who co-wrote so many of Dredd’s Golden Age adventures with his creator John Wagner makes one of his customary fill in jobs when Wagner or Gordon Rennie are busy. Its no surprise given his experience that he writes Dredd managing to keep the character close to its Wagnerian template with his dialogue nor his characterisation falling foul of the agitprop leanings that have sometimes proving to be Grant’s nemesis on Dredd. Indeed, the story he develops is quite a traditional “superhero†style story that wouldn’t be all that different if he had written it for Batman, especially as the style of writing used is closer to his Batman scripts with a very straight script including of an extended fight sequence, a rare occurrence for Dredd. Where he fails is making us care about the villain, a failure that is marked in two ways. Firstly he simply doesn’t inform the reader of the character’s previous appearance effectively enough as instead of reminding us that he put Dredd in hospital we just see a flashback close up and a note to see the relevant Prog. Due to this we are left seeing this guy as villain of the week unless we are inclined and/or able to dig out the previous story. Secondly the villain is basically rubbish with poor visual design (ooh a skull) and even worse dialogue, which is a bizarre mixture of Claremont and Millar clichés. The character is also wafer thin with only current piece of characterisation being a motiveless desire to make Dredd be afraid.
Phew, I feel better after that. So Grant’s script largely sucks but Burns’ art doesn’t, which is some of his best work yet on Dredd. Burns is a classical painter who although his style is realistic never makes it “photo-realistic†in look and feel as the likes of Ross and Langely do. The fact that he does this story so well is surprising as his real strength is characterisation and dialogue panels, things that are lacking in this story. His action panels on the other hand usually look at bit off with his characters sometimes looking oddly proportioned, stiff and poorly detailed. However his panels are excellent especially during the monkey’s assault where he manages to convey the vicious and animalistic nature of their assault. His Dredd has improved over the past two years as well with a better characterisation and a more defined and consistent portrayal that often is quite close to Brian Bolland’s classic interpretation. Indeed, his art this week is so good that he actually manages to elevate what is at best a mediocre script into a satisfying read.
The Red Seas
Title: Twilight of the Idols Pt. 6
Writer: Ian Edington
Artist: Steve Yeowell
Letterer: Annie Parkhouse
Last week Dancer and co managed to bring the first half of the map of Laputa on board, however their aggressive bargaining upset their mystery benefactor, to the point when he was about to unleash some mass destruction Arab style! Luckily for our band of heroes he was compelled to stop by his master who was at the time living in side him. His master was revealed to be none other than Aladdin whilst the benefactor was his Shaitan (Genie). Aladdin claims to only what to get onto Laputa to have a final resting place for him and his Genie. This week we come to the ancient trade capital of Rhodes where beneath its waves is the second half of the map. However, the enemies of Aladdin are also here and are determined to stop Dancer and co getting their hands on it.
This is another excellent and reliable story with the emergence of Aladdin and Edginton’s excellent characterisation of him as a wizened, morally ambiguous old man is a joy to read and adds yet another dimension to his excellent story with this instalment like all the others being full of excellent humour, characterisation, dialogue and action all that is delivered in such a way to be enjoyed by all ages. Again as always Yeowell delivers some excellent art that perfectly captures the tone of the story. All in all another good instalment in what has been a ridiculously reliable and consistent series.
Slaine
Title: The Books of Invasions ~ Scota Pt 6
Writer: Pat Mills
Artist: Clint Langely
Letterer: Ellie De Ville
Last week saw the clash of the main armies in an amazing double spread after Gael defied his master Lord Odacon with a battle cry of “Death to the Demons†and so blessed the Celtic-Atlantean alliance. This week as the battle wages we see Odacon try and achieve the ultimate revenge on Gael by forcing to kill his wife Scota. In showing this Mills weaves a very simple and effective story with excellent characterisation between the four principles; Odacon, Gael, Scota and Slaine with Odacon once again standing out as a superb villain full of evil and malice wrapped in a sadistic thirst for the inflictions of pain. He also writes some superb scenes for the ever-amazing Langely to draw, including another excellent double spread at the beginning. Where he is slightly less successful is making every emotional punch pack its true weight. Don’t get me wrong everything in this part is well written but sometimes who feel that certain sections should’ve carried more emotional weight. Still it’s a minor complaint and the last page promises a terrific final part, next week.
NB I know I said the conclusion was this week, which was a quote from the solicitations, which showed this issue having only four stories (no Terror Tales) something that would have left Books of Invasions its traditional double-part ending.
Terror Tales
Title: Krypt
Writer: Nigel Kitching
Artist: Richard Elson
Letterer: Tom Frame
In what must be emergency filler we see a murdered wife return to kill her adulterous husband with the aid of a dead-to-living medium. The story is constructed well with everything building up to the twist even if some of the details seem a little confused. There’s of course next to no characterisation or depth but that’s to be expected. What’s more harmful there isn’t even the hint of any horror, which to be honest isn’t the fault of the writer but the artist. To be frank Elson doesn’t have a style suited to horror, its too generic action, too cartooney and his colouring is too bright. Now I must admit I’m slightly biased as I’m not a fan of his art anyway but there’s no escaping that his overly traditional, action style stops this moderately entertaining and gruesome story reaching its full potential. Overall, a good read but it could have done with a better artist.
The V.C.s
Title: Book III Pt. 6 ~ Needs Must
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Anthony Williams
Letterer: Ellie De Ville
Last issue Abnett finally explained away Part 1 and part of Part 4 where Smith and Geek were shown to be fighting together after the rest of the crew had died. The explanation was that this action had taken place in a Geek VR prison that was holding Smith whilst they tried to get him to tell them where the warning to earth about their weapon is. This issue we find out what happens to the VCs led by Jupe and Kali as they plough on through Charon.
After last week this series reads a lot better now that we know how the whole series hangs together, hopefully Abnett has no more narrative bending surprises up his sleeves. This week’s episodes centres around a big plot development, which I won’t spoil but I must note how Abnett has very effectively fleshed out the cast of this story with Jupe, Kali, Ryx and Linfu all joining Smith and Keege as fleshed out characters that we can recognise and relate to. In addition the narrative that he sets up promises an exciting home stretch for this story. There isn’t a lot of action and we are left with seeing lots of pages of characters talking without seeing their faces yet Williams does his customary job of bringing out the best in the strip with some his usual standard of art. Another good part of this readable if at times infuriating series.
This is another good issue with only a slight dip in form due to the substandard Dredd and a so-so Terror Tales. That said the other three stories are excellent with VCs showing some improvement now that it all makes sense (fingers crossed) while Red Seas manages to improve with the addition of Aladdin.
