Reviewer: Will Cooling
Editor: Matt Smith
Publisher: Rebellion
Judge Dredd
Title: Tempus Fugitive
Written by: Ian Edginton
Art by: D’Israeli
Coloured by: Len O’Grady
Lettered by: Tom Frame
Last year, Ian Edginton and D’Israeli masterful pondering of the consequences of a British Empire victory over the Martians as depicted in HG Wells’ War of the Worlds got the US release it so richly deserved. Now this most delightful duo return to the theme with the inventor from The Time Machine mistakenly ending up in Mega City One and so inevitably ending up on wrong side of Judge Dredd. This is an excellent Dredd one-parter with Edginton producing an enjoyable script that mixes his HG Wells interest with excellent characterisation of Dredd at his nasty best. The HG Wells’ stuff is very well done with a sly dig at its basic storyline, which certainly adds to your enjoyment of the story if you get it.
However, the star of the story has to be D’Israeli’s art something that is an utter joy to see. After a kinda shaky (by his standards) Dredd debut this seems him getting it dead right with some bloody effective panels not only of the futuristic weird stuff that is his natural forte but also a fantastic panel of Dredd shouting-great stuff. A round of applause should also go to Len O’Grady who does a much better job than Chris Blythe (who is usually God) in bringing out the best in the art with less garish colour scheme and a willingness to use white.
All in all a fantastic Dredd one-parter that emphasises the versatility of this most two-dimensional character in both stories and looks.
Savage
Title: Book One ~ Taking Liberties: Pt 4
Written by: Pat Mills
Art by: Charlie Adlard
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
After last week’s episode, we’re finally up to what appears to be real time following a fractured narrative these past few weeks. The hopes expressed at the end of the first series that America would invade to save us have been dashed. Instead they have sent Savage back with funds to carry out his war. In addition, they have paid to have him undergo plastic surgery and now look like his late brother Jack. Bill has taken Jack’s identity and is using his brother-in-law’s er naïve and innocent nature to help in his attempts to resist Volgan rule.
This really is an excellent series combining quite realistic and mature characterisation when dealing with civilians coping with living in an occupied country. There’s some top quality espionage action as seen especially with the sheer nastiness of Savage towards his simple brother-in-law Noddy. Hell at the end we even get some violence and shooting action, which is very tastily done.
All of which is brilliantly captured by Charlie Adlard’s artwork; which with its atmospheric use of shadow, detailed linework and tight grid structure captures the pervading feeling of oppression better than any other comic since V for Vendetta.
All in all great action especially as Savage gets to use a (not the as some people have mistakenly said) SHOOTAH!!!
A.H.A.B
Title: Untitled: Pt 4
Written by: Nigel Kitching
Art by: Richard Elson
Lettered by: Annie Parkhouse
Hmm, interesting. Very interesting.
Oh sorry didn’t see you there I’m just pondering what to say about this story. You see it’s all very competently written with solid dialogue, plausible scenarios and a reasonably engaging mystery wrapped around the motives of A.H.A.B. It also has very pleasurable art that makes good use of the page offering some ¾ spreads and features some good design work even if it can be a bit generic. The plot is not bad either; with the crew coming to terms with the death of the old captain and the announcement of his replacement, while tensions grow between some of the alien and human crew, all while A.H.A.B plots. But there’s something missing, it doesn’t really grab you as the best stories do yet I can’t really say what it misses. Hmm, let’s say it’s a sound comic and an enjoyable read, but by no means a classic that will be remembered long after its run has finished.
Low Life
Title: Paranoia: Pt. 4
Written by: Rob Williams
Art by: Henry Flint
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
Now this is getting enjoyably weird! We are seeing Aimee Nixon come to terms with being brainwashed to commit a murder at the end of part 3/beginning of this week’s part after going into Ragnarock to investigate a hunch on a murder (now that’s irony). Williams does a very good job showing the hallucination in a very trippy yet eerie manner that suits the tone of the story. In addition, his characterisation of Aimee is great as she tries to fathom what she’s done and whose f*cking with her mind.
All of which is masterfully depicted by Henry Flint whose brilliance is at times beyond words. So, instead of lavishing him with yet more sickly praise, I’ll instead take the mick out of the cover he did for this, which is a shockingly bad drawing of Aimee that looks like its been coloured by someone who’s colour-blind…whilst drunk. Just terrible and the complete opposite of his godly work for the interior pages.
Chopper
Title: The Big Meg: Pt 4
Written by: John Wagner
Pencilled by: Patrick Goodard
Inked by: Dylan Teague
Lettered by: Tom Frame
Last week, after organising Jug’s funeral, Chopper hung out with Jug’s daughter, who had came from the Meg to pay her last respects to her estranged daddy. However, when she made the obligatory call home she was horrified at the man’s voice, hearing her mum scream and then the line goes dead. Naturally, Chopper being a good bloke and all, he offers to take her back to Big Meg to check up on the Mum, which neatly gets us out of fractured narrative and into linear progression. We see Chopper and Merci enter Merci’s house only to see her mum standing there as right as rain.
This week, Chopper and the mum (Calista) get close as he stays until they can think up a plan to get him out of town. Despite the cosy image Calista portrays we do see a darker side to her life, which suggests that Chopper and Merci were right to return. And all this time Dredd is searching like a mad man trying to find Chopper and finally bring him to justice.
Oh god! I’m torn on this story, in part it’s not bad with a nice mystery being developed centring on Calista, her boss and her interest in Chopper. There is also some good characterisation with an enjoyable, determined Dredd trying to organise his usual OTT effort to arrest Chopper for what are relatively minor crimes. However, sometimes the dialogue doesn’t quite ring true (can’t believe I’m saying that about a Wagner comic), and I’m still unsure about the art that seems to be missing something compared to the team’s previous work. It’s still more than readable and offers plenty of potential for an upturn in quality but it really needs to move up a gear as its current dialogue heavy, characterisation focused approach doesn’t really suit 2000AD or the character of Chopper.
