Cover by Mark Harrison

AC: This cover has a definite anarchic appeal and I can just picture the sort of maladjust who’ll pick it up to check out why this guy loves his nukes so much. Doesn’t really do anything for me on an aesthetic level, but them’s the brakes. 

MC: While there’s nothing wrong with this as such, being a lovely little painted jobby, the nuclear blast doesn’t really stand out from the back drop, and as such makes it look like a weirdly framed picture of a ranting man. Also, while ‘Go Atomic’ is okay as a slogan, the phrase ‘Lunacy Booth’, used in prog 2007 was much better. So there.

Origins - Part 15 - Return of the Hero Script: John Wagner Art: Carlos Ezquerra Letters: Annie Parkhouse

The Dredds meet their "dad"

Synopsis: Dredd’s story continues; as the young Dredd and Rico battle to reclaim the streets, high over their heads the Judge’s Council searches for hard evidence with which to prove Booth rigged the election. An illicit recording of a meeting between Booth and an advisor effectively shows him giving his consent, but not in explicitly worded terms. The Judges decide to act anyway, but Booth refuses their demands to step down, insisting on formal impeachment… in accordance with the law.

With Booth working to bring the judiciary system down in the interim, the Judges are forced to bring the (relatively stable) Judge Fargo back into play. Dredd and Rico are brought to meet him, as per his request, and become his aides as he convenes with the council. His proposal for action, he tells them, go against the grain of 300 years of American history… 

GH: Funny thing, it is… two extremes often combine to form “middling”. If a long awaited comics epic starts off by being all over the shop (thematically and dialogue-wise) and finishes by being a goliath future history, can it rise above the status of “middling”?

With John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra on board? Don’t count it out!

While I still blanch at the thought of returning to the Judicial ride-along, the fact remains that we’ve had a run of brilliant instalments. Case in point is Chief Judge Eustace Fargo. We’ve heard this man say all of ten lines… all spread out over a decade or so! And yet, he’s still a fascinating character; indeed this is perhaps because of the mystery that inevitable continues to hang around him in the face of Wagner’s compressional coup!

The ending to this instalment is the most drool-worthy little nugget offered up so far by this epic… I literally can’t conceive of a more perfect cliffhanger for this week’s episode than the tantalising line that leaves so much to wonder at, and has the added spice of relating to the real-life history of America.

Class. 

MC: Origins continues to be great, although Fargo sitting in his chair with his helmet on is somewhat tenuous. Could we not just have positioned the camera behind him or something? Beyond that, reviewing this in weekly instalments is increasingly pointless, and leaves nothing much to say other than ‘This continues to be of a consistently high standard which goes further distance to eradicating the bitter memory of this tale’s first few weeks.’ This is much like having to review Wildstorm’s Ex Machina for an America site. I know its great, you know it, what else is there to say? 

Mother London - Part 2 Script: Ian Edginton Art: D'israeli Letters: Ellie De Ville

Bey unveils his origins...

Synopsis: A train speeds through the countryside, bearing a hefty cargo of hydrochloric acid, and staffed by police officers. A cow appears on the tracks; the train crew are dismayed to learn it is actually an elaborate clockwork cow-bomb which derails the train and leaves its cargo open for theft by an unknown party.

Meanwhile, Bey makes his case to his commissioner for the continued pursual  of Stickleback. He is refused, and he and his subordinate retire to the pub, where Bey bemoans the foreign heritage that he believes holds him back professionally. Outside the pub, his troubles are added to when a macabre pair of creatures identify him, sedate him and carry him off into the shadows… 

AC: Curious one, this… still unclear what its angle it is. Some comedy alliteration (“Hence him hiding in that ghastly glasshouse to avoid the exotic executions…!”) seems to imply a pastiche, and the clockwork cow-bomb displays a certain flair for the macabre, but the strength of characterisation in the barroom scene hints at something deeper. Bey’s melancholy over his heritage is touching, and his assistant is perfectly realised, not wanting to make any waves with top brass.

This has still yet to make a definite impression with me, but I’m far from worried about its doing so eventually (sooner rather than later, if this week’s cliffhanger is anything to go by). 

MC: There used to be a little pond near where I grew up that had sticklebacks in it. My dad used to take me up after school and we’d catch them in a little net. Ah, happy days. This, on the other hand, promises to make the pairing’s previous works appear positively jovial. Steeped in mythology and the Victoriana that Edginton is increasingly making his own, this is yet to get going, but is of a high quality already. Also, the slight discussion of racial tensions lifts this into the ever decreasing circle of ‘2000AD strips with social commentary’. Which is nice.

The Volgan War - Vol 1, Part 2 Script: Pat Mills Art: Clint Langley Letters: Simon Bowland

Hammerstein needs a light...

Synopsis: At the behest of Volkhna, the Volg troops pour down upon Hammerstein and his troops. The situation seems desperate until a “Zippo” is drafted into Hammerstein’s forces. The napalm firing sentinel is procured a trashed car from which it can requisition the fuel, and unleashes a fiery counter-attack on the Volgan bots.

Back in Volkhan’s camp, a captured Hammerstein-bot is brutally sacrificed in the name of the Volgan cause by Volkhan himself, who then ruminates on the imminent arrival on the scene of battle of the nigh indestructible “Stalin” tanks. 

AC: Man, this stuff just comes to LIFE in Clint Langley’s hands. You’re looking at these CG’d depictions of giant battle bots going to war, and wondering if it might be prudent to throw yourself to the floor and hope a stray shell doesn’t land on your puny white ass. As ever, Pat Mills script will have you wondering if this guy is for real or not, with killer lines about war-droids coming out of their bubble-wrapping; one thing you can always say about this stalwart is that you can never tell if he’s serious.

After something close to three weeks worth of battle scenes (last month’s ABC was triple length), I’ve yet to tire of it in the slightest; bring on the Stalins!

Hmm. Never thought I’d say that… 

MC: After a promising first episode, Mills reverts to type. Trite dialogue, patchy narrative and ideas that jump between the genius and the dire with alarming speed all work together to add this to the list of Mills strips I won’t stay with till the end. I’ve been reading 2000AD for 4 years now and the only strips I’ve ever given up on are Black Siddah and Savage book 2. Add this to the list and you officially have a link between them. While I accept that some people slavishly love everything Pat Mills does, I continue to be frustrated by his attempts to be ‘clever’ without displaying the talent to do so that he showed so easily in the 1980s.

Part 2 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Richard Elson Letters: Ellie De Ville

Dogs of war ...

Synopsis: The pack is distressed to find the daily “urgings” that govern their lives are not forthcoming. Gene takes this as a sign that the pack should go back and inform their rulers that “Anarchticky” is no longer safe. Unfortunately, recent events have emboldened Tod (who thinks the pack should keep their routines until otherwise told) to make a play for the position of alpha male. The result is bloody as it is inevitable; Gene essentially comes out on top, but before any kill can be made, “Them” turn up and the pack is once again forced into action. 

AC: More interesting than last month’s opener, this benefits from having a good head for frame-to-frame transition, and for characterisation; it manages to make some essentially primitive minds seem really very compelling. Gene the Hackman, for all that he is effectively a caveman, has a certain magnetic quality to him. Your heart just goes out to him, for having lost his (figuratively speaking) beloved, and for being no less subject to the brutal tribalistic laws of his pack because of it.

And even with all this internal and external strife (“Them” continue to give Richard Elson room to freak out marvellously on paper), the old warhound still has the moxie with which to tough talk and kick-ass to the very end. If the rest of the characters are rather unlikeable (Maryan Faithful’s passive social climbing grinds the gears), apart from cool cat Old Man Gary, it STILL works, because it only serves to heighten the emphatic qualities of our protagonist.

I’m awaiting the next instalment much more eagerly. 

MC: Unlike the Warriors, this I like. Abnett & Elson could quite easily be linking this to Atavar and I’d never know. Hell, Gene The Hack-man could be the fever dream of Ramone Dexter and after Malone I wouldn’t rule it out as impossible. Anyway, until then I’m just enjoying the stripped down narrative and the chance for Richard Elson to draw something that doesn’t look like AHAB. There’s almost no content here, making it like an experiment on the part of the authors to remove as much of the conventional comic window dressing and see what story is left to tell. Slight, but good fun.

Deadlier than the Male - Part 1 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: John Burns Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dante makes an impression...

Synopsis: In the neo-feminist land of Amazonia, the warrior women are incensed to find sexist propaganda being distributed amongst their male slaves… propaganda that prominently features one Nikolai Dante. Fearing subversive actions from the Tsar, the fairly autonomous society is further enraged to find that Dante himself has been sent by the Tsar in an effort to introduce sexual equality by any means necessary. The Amazonians are less than pleased…

GH: Eesh... Dante’s enjoyed a good run recently, but this has had a lot to do with the twin fact that the plot’s been moving along after years of near-stasis, and that the dynamic Simon Fraser was back on art duties. On the latter count, John Burns is truly an incredible and unique artist… but Fraser is the co-creator of this character, and his style is perhaps more adapted to the medium of comics, with his work having more of a sense of “flow”; there’s really no competition!

On the former count, we find ourselves being diverted from the main plot, which was blistering hot I hasten to add, into this rather predictable Carry On Commissar side-story! Seriously, do these “Amazonians” strike you as having an more depth than a sparrow’s bathtub?

I reeeally don’t want for the strip to lose its newly found handhold and fall back to what it was this time last year… in the interests of this I won’t go off on one, stating simply that this was a bit of a nasty surprise. Hopefully it’ll end next prog. 

MC: Ah, more John Burns Dante art for me to find completely inappropriate to the light hearted writing style. While Burns is great on stuff like Tsar Wars, on these more throw away strips his work can seem a bit heavy, inhibiting the flow somewhat. In much the same way that you know a Sin/Dex story is important when Simon Davis paints it, the same import should be given to John Burns on Dante, with someone akin to Charlie Adlard drawing this type of tale. But he’s busy with Walking Dead, and Simon Fraser should be chained down and forced to draw every story anyway, redrawing the earlier tales he missed.

Story’s nice enough though, with an intriguing set up. I just hope we get more interaction between Dante & Jena soon.  

Best Story: Kingdom 

MC: 4 good strips and something by Pat Mills is enough to keep me warm on these long winter nights. While the new thrills are just getting going, Dredd consistently excellent and business as usual for Dante & the ABCs (whatever your opinion on them), this is a satisfying blend of the old & new that has something for everyone. Here’s to the start of a zarjaz new year!  

Best Story: Kingdom