Reviewer: William Cooling
Editor: Matt Smith
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Title: Brothers of the Blood Pt. 1
Written by: John Wagner
Art by: Carlos Ezquerra
Lettered by: Tom Frame
Okay, imagine you had the genes of the best sportsmen, or statesmen or writer; wouldn’t the temptation be to clone them and create a production line of mini-mes, all with the aim to meet their “parent’s†achievements? Of course, the question must then be asked, what would the child think knowing that far from being a human being borne from love he was a commodity bred for a particular? With this opening part, Wagner poses both questions in what may be the perfect setting- Dredd’s Mega City One.
You see Dredd has through almost fifty years (what?) of selfless and dedicated service become the personification of Justice to the 400 million citizens of Mega City One. To not have a Judge Dredd on the streets would be a disaster for public order so with more and more signs that the old man is nearing the end of his tenure a replacement must be found! As luck would have it, Mega City One has advanced cloning techniques; indeed it was these that produced Dredd from the genes of the first Chief Judge.
However, there has until recently been caution in exploiting these highly gifted genes due to the flaws within them, flaws that had led to two of their number- Dredd’s “brother†Rico and Kraken betraying the law. Despite this caution there have been successful procedures and the first clone on the streets Judge Rico has been a success yet the doubts remain as he is called in to see Cadet (trainee Judge) Dolman.
Cadet Dolman is another Dredd clone. Yet unlike the others who had enthusiastically accepted the lineage and the duty, Dolman has been developing doubts. Not major political doubts over the legitimacy of the Judges system, but doubts over his role in life and his desire to be a Judge. To have any Cadet indicate they don’t want to be a Judge is a blow to the almost religious nature of the Academy, but to have a “Dredd†say it, is catastrophic. Something that Wagner beautifully shows in the outrage of Dolman’s Principal, something only equalled by his desperation to keep him in. To this aim, he has brought in Rico; the nearest Dolman has to a family member, a connection that developed when they were both together at the Academy. The use of Rico in this story is inspired, as he is able to sympathise with both sides of the argument sharing both the Principal’s disbelief at Dolman not wanting to be a Judge and an appreciation of how tough it is to be a baby Dredd.
In addition, Wagner, by showing the relationship Rico and Dolman have, softens the character and shows him not just to be Dredd 45 years younger. What is also noticeable about Wagner’s writing is that once again he shows how versatile he is with this part being all dialogue and characterisation, which is a change from his usual action/comedy based approach. What makes the writing all the better is that this most compressed of writers is able to convey the depth in characterisation that the likes of Bendis achieve with a quarter of their pagers.
The legendary Carlos Ezquerra, whose cartoony style is as pleasing on the eye as always, joins Wagner on art. Despite the lack of action, he is able to develop excellent looking pages with his characterisation, especially facial characterisation being simple, yet effective. Judging from this opening part, Ezquerra and Wagner are showing the same sort of synergy that made such Dredd-opera classics like “The Pit†or “Sector House†such excellent reads. If they can maintain then we could have a mini-classic on our hands.
Valkyries
Title: Untitled Pt. 2
Written by: Steve Moore
Art by: John Lucas
Colour by: Len O’Grady
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
Last week in our introduction to the decadent, sex mad culture of The Ring (Earth), we saw young noblewomen Kara kidnapped by male freedom fighters who claimed to want to stop The Ring’s hated enemies the Ragnarok. In aid of this, their leader, Egil, inserted his personality into her and now is in a position to give her advice, especially after she agreed to help him. At the end of last issue, we saw Kara rescued by the crew of the Shield Maiden, however to their surprise Kara invoked her higher class to assume command.
This week, we see Kara get used to her new surroundings and begin a campaign against the radical male terrorists (Ragnarok). Steve Moore is obviously taking the mick with this story with a very tongue in cheek approach adopted for everything from plot to characterisation. While its not as funny as Moore obviously thinks it is, its still perfectly readable if a trifle silly in places.
The strength of the writing is its ridiculousness with Kara’s attempts to gain control being absurd, indeed to me there are very few obvious jokes contained in the script just a general feeling of farce. In addition, as the story is now far away from the interestingly decadent culture of The Ring, the story loses any burlesque edge it had with the Carry On side now dominant. The art mirrors this well, as Lucas’ simple and expressive cartooning is infinitely more suited to such farce than anything with any edge to it.
This is a readable, but not spectacular story, helped in regards of pacing by being given 10 pages.
The Red Seas
Title: Twilight of the Idols Pt. 9
Written by: Ian Edginton
Art by: Steve Yeowell
Lettered by: Annie Parkhouse
Last week, after Dancer’s successful reading of the map, we finally saw our first glimpse of Laputa. This week, Aladdin and his Djinn manage to escape onto the island just before their foes were able to stop them. Yet, Dancer and his crew are still on board, and they face a reckoning, as we learn more about the true nature of Aladdin.
This series really does get better and better. This part is an excellent piece of writing; Edginton manages to make, what is virtually a three-page monologue by the women captain (Sarita) of Aladdin’s enemies, interesting and visual exciting. He does this by ensuring she retains an individual character instead of becoming a straight narrator, and also due to the fact that the twists and surprises she has in store are genuinely interesting and well thought through. Edginton really is showing himself to be excellent with these mythical stories, doing a similar job to Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman with far more aplomb. In addition he never loses sight of the character’s with the likes of Aladdin, Dancer and Sarita all being fully rounded and vital characters.
Of course, he is most ably assisted by the ever excellent Steve Yeowell’s art. Yeowell’s clear, simple style is able to not only convey the correct tone of the story (think the pirate comic in Watchmen), but also superb characterisation with his facial characterisation alone giving Sarita a certain smouldering attractiveness. Another excellent part of what has been an excellent series.
The VCs
Title: Book III Pt. 9 ~ Iced
Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Anthony Williams
Lettered by: Annie Parkhouse
Last week’s transitional part, focused on the Ryx/Linfu relationship and the two VC teams getting towards their target, with Jupe and Keege achieving this at the end of Part 8 when they rescued an almost broken Smith. Now, this week, we see Jupe, Smith and Keege fight their way out of the prison while Kali’s team tries to locate the mining station. This really is back to basics, space-soldier action after five weeks of a more characterisation and dialogue focused style. This approach is fine by me as I enjoy this type of stuff.
It also helps that Abnett is extremely good at managing to devise enjoyable battle sequences and balance it with enjoyable and at times revealing dialogue. The fact that he manages to maintain the characterisation of the likes of Jupe, Keege, Smith, Kali and Veto, despite their being non-descript under the same uniform, is a testament to the quality of his dialogue.
Slightly less successful is the art, which while still good does in some places seem to have lost the “bigness†that made it so appealing. Still it’s only in places and even when its quality does dip it doesn’t detract from the story, which is full of old school action with a kicker of an ending.
