Reviewer: Will Cooling
Editor: Matt Smith
Publisher: Rebellion
Just before I start let me say that this review almost didn’t happen as I along with many English men (yes even fairies like myself) contemplated suicide after the way we lost to the F—ING FRENCH! I mean really who likes the over-hyped, greasy, garlic ridden, horsed-faced, frog eating, wine-guzzling, surrender monkeys anyway?
Man I wish I had voted United Kingdom Independence Party
P.S. If your wondering why your getting all this its because I really want to rant and rave about the defeat over in Black, but I’ve got exams all week and my local Gay Pride on Saturday (first ever-so can’t wait!), so I’m too busy to write it. But you just wait until next Wednesday then I’ll give the diving frogs and the biased Kraut refs their due.
P.P.S At least Chirac and Schroeder got stuffed on Sunday in the Euro elections (I’ll rant about them next week too)
Judge Dredd
Title: Terror: Pt. 2
Written by: John Wagner
Art by: Colin MacNeil
Lettered by: Tom Frame
Last week, in this sort of sequel to the Wagner/MacNeil classic America, an agent of Total War successfully committed a terrorist attack against a bar known to be popular and cater for the Big Meg’s equivalent of skinheads; who delighted in watching reruns of the Judges brutal suppression of the Democratic match over a decade ago. However, to complicate matters, he had been kinda chatted up by a young woman politics student and didn’t have the heart to leave her to fry along with the numbskulls; therefore, as the device is about to blow, he pulls her out the bar. Now, the two of them are running from the scene as the Judges pour in to secure the area as the student realises the awful situation she’s been dragged into.
Okay surprise, surprise: this rocks. Wagner employs much of the tone and style that made America such a groundbreaking story. There’s the same emphasis on supporting characters, with Dredd very nearly relegated to a supporting character save some straight-to-camera monologues that detail his thoughts on the system he’s sworn to protect. What’s interesting is that it maintains the growing bias against the democracy movement that was first developed in the sequel to America: Fading of the Light. As in the aforementioned story, here they are presented not as desperate idealists but utterly twisted, with a poor regard for human life due to their obsession with overthrowing the Judges. Now the question is what point is Wagner trying to make? To be honest, it’s difficult to tell. If you take Fading of the Light as an example its message of glasnost over revolution was only revealed at the very end and with the deliberate pacing that Wagner’s taking here, I’m guessing this story will be very much the same.
As for MacNeil’s art, well what can you say but that he’s simply the best painter in Anglophone comics today. With a wonderfully subtle, delicate and naturalistic style his linework is far superior to the hordes of photo-referencers so popular across the pond with the stiffness present in so much of that style, thankfully, absent here. His paints are just as good! His palette is less dark and metallic than is popular in America, which greatly adds to the visibility of his work. A wonderful artist who always hits top form when asked to bring his paintbrush to the scripts of Wagner.
An excellent story.
Savage
Title: Book One ~ Taking Liberties 7
Written by: Robert Kilroy-Silk
Art by: Charlie Adlard
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
There now follows a Party Political Broadcast for the Patriotic Majority Tangent…
Are you sickened by bloody faggot rapists leering at good to honest East End lads like their slabs of meet?
Doesn’t it anger you that bloody women are just eager to be raped by a passing soldier? I mean sure we all know that when they say no they really mean yes but an f’ing foreigner?
Are you outraged by the treachery of mealy-mouth middle class teachers bending over to Europe and perverting the education system by teaching stuff about the importance of Europe in the modern world, European History and foreign languages (I mean what’s the bloody point-everyone speaks English anyway)?
Are you fed up of hordes of no good Johnny foreigners flooding this honest country, taking home what is meant for our own kind and then not paying the bloody rent?
Are you disgusted at the thought of your children and your children’s children looking at leading members of the community such as politicians and not seeing people to respect, but sexual perverts?
And are you sick to the back teeth of the mentally “less able†having jobs and generally getting in the way of real men?
If you are, then I, Pat Mills, want your vote!
Together we can take our country back and make her great once more!
A.H.A.B
Title: Untitled: Pt.7
Written by: Nigel Kitching
Art by: Richard Elson
Lettered by: Annie Parkhouse
Last week A.H.A.B died…then rose to life again; this occurrence suggests that Nigel Kitching is an X-Men editor on crack. You see, A.H.A.B allowed the mutinous Tashtego to kill him because he had a back up body/convenient plot device. So, by coming back to life he’d seem even more powerful and will be able to intimidate Tashtego’s former followers instead of having to kill them. He also revealed his mission, which is REVENGE (!!!) against the super-duper Kohenyu that killed his previous incarnation, Captain Cornelius, and destroyed his ship. This week we see him tighten his grip in the ship and increase his efforts to locate the Kohenyu with the help of a surprising ally. In the meantime Ishmael is forced to adapt to the new status quo especially when Kohenyu turns his attentions to her.
Man this is getting good. It seems to becoming a constant of 2000AD to have one solid, sci-fi story in each line-up, and this is one of the better ones. Kitching has carefully developed the mystery and is now revealing the answers thick and fast, thereby, suddenly developing the core characters all of whom are developing fuller and more engaging characters with each passing page. A.H.A.B is undoubtedly the star with his despotism being more enjoyable and effective now that we have the rationale behind them.
The art is excellent as well with Elson, an artist I’d often dismissed as overly generic delivering some great work with his particularly gruesome ¾ page panel of the hung Tashtego being particularly effective.
All in all, good stuff that is building to a hell of a climax.
Low Life
Title: Paranoia: Pt.7
Written by: Rob Williams
Art by: Henry Flint
Lettered by: Ellie De Ville
So, last week the Mr. Evil style villain explained to Aimee how she was doomed, doomed because the evil people he worked for (don’t who though) had framed her…for several killings and were now wiping out all her associates. Of course Aimee’s no fool, not for her to fly to Cuba and a life on her 2mil back account…oh no…she’s a Judge dammit and she’ll fight to the bitter end. She goes off to meet up with Dirty Frank only to find this week that’s he’s dead and there’s a Judge behind her demanding she identify herself…and then things get really bad.
Not really much I can add synopsis wise without this becoming a spoiler-fest but this is certainly maintaining its hitherto excellent standards. Rob Williams is an excellent detective-story writer fulfilling the promise of his flawed-but-good Meg crime story Family a while back with a story that has plenty of twist of turns and a real sense of mystery as to the identity of the villain and their motivation. His characterisation is great with all the character’s being recognisable and interesting. With Aimee he has what he didn’t with Family, namely an interesting and empathetic character to hang his mystery on and so give us a hook into the story. The fact that he’s coupled with Henry Flint the quality of whose art is beyond words obviously helps.
Bloody Good Stuff!!!
Chopper
Title: The Big Meg: Pt. 7
Written by: John Wagner
Pencilled by: Patrick Goodard
Inked by: Dylan Teague
Coloured by: Chris Blythe
Lettered by: Tom Frame
I’ve realised that this story can be divided into three very distinct sections which are:
1) Cool sky-surf action scenes
2) Character scenes involving Dredd
3) Character scenes not involving Dredd
The first two are ace, even when allowing for Teague’s inks slightly dominating Goodard’s pencils and so losing a lot of the Hitch-like bigness that made his work so appealing. The two of them are delivering the money with the fast and furious sky-surf scenes as Chopper attempts to escape the clutches of the Judges.
Wagner is also on form here; managing to write Chopper with the charm and verve that made him so great. The character scenes involving Dredd are great also; Wagner has the knack of showing just how offensive he finds Chopper even if there’s that nagging doubt at the back of his mind that this persistent and unapologetic lawbreaker is actually quite a good kid…something that only makes Dredd hate him more!
Luckily this part focuses a lot on these two elements meaning that its one of the better parts of this good-but-disappointing series. The reason of course is the poor characterisation of the characters around him, with last week’s part revealing that Calista was indeed using Chopper-what he had stolen was not incriminating material being used by the boss of Cola to blackmail her into sexual acts, but instead the secret Cola formula. I know I am both shocked and surprised at this news too, so let’s pray that Wagner has some sort of twist/development planned otherwise this is going to have a damp squib of an ending.
