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Anderson
Judge
Anderson - Anderson Psi Division
by John
Wagner, Alan Grant, Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson, Barry
Kitson, Will Simpson
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What to Expect:
Straight forward action and adventure, with a smattering of disrespect for
authority. And a handful of psychic phenomena to round it all off.
Review by Alex
Frith
26th February 06
‘The Gargarax Gap’
was one of the first thrills I read week by week as a young squaxx, and it’s
always been dear to my heart. I remember it being a fun adventure full of one-liners,
guns and hard decisions, kind of like a John Carpenter movie. Thankfully, it still
feels exactly like that, and so do the other two tales herein. But what I didn’t
notice as an 8-year old was the sheer amount of cheesecake going on all around
the action! Anderson is a female judge, and by God do the artists here go to great
lengths to remind us of the fact. Or maybe it’s just that the figure-hugging
Judge suit doesn’t bring out Dredd’s assets quite as snugly…
As well as the
long legs and tight leather, all three of these early adventures share an uncomplicated
feel to them, especially compared to Anderson’s more recent outings. I’m
tempted to pin this down to Wagner’s involvement in the writing, but perhaps
it’s simply because these three adventures are more about telling a tale
with Anderson as the hero (á la Dredd), rather than developing her character
too much, as Grant soon began doing when he was the solo writer.
There’s a
bit of a formula at work in this collection: Anderson is disrespectful of authority;
Anderson makes light of a dark situation; Anderson makes errors of judgement;
Anderson is a Hot Babe™. In fact, this formula lends itself well to the
ethos of 2000 AD: no easy solutions and no neat, happy endings, but plenty of
kick-arse action scenes. Which occasionally revolve around using telepathy, predictive
dreams and the like. I found myself surprised at how often these ‘psi’
elements show up – nearly every episode. Of course, the series is called
Anderson Psi Division, which should be a giveaway, but I feel that lately Anderson
hasn’t been using her special abilities much. ‘Hour of the Wolf’
features a villainous Psi, leading to all sorts of psi battles, psi traps and
the like. Again, nothing flashy or particularly inventive about this, but it is
handled very effectively and at times dramatically.
Storywise, ‘The
Four Dark Judges’ is the least satisfying. It’s mostly an excuse to
pit Anderson against her (at the time) only known nemeses. I can’t deny
the fun in seeing Cliff Robinson drawing Death and co dispatching cits left and
right, but the whole thing lacks the tightness of your typical Wagner/Grant plot.
I suppose it does sow the seeds of self-doubt that has come to be a large part
of Anderson’s persona. Luckily, by the end of this volume Anderson is set
up with a new foil, setting up a more exciting saga than the Death cycle. It’s
just possible that someone out there doesn’t know who I mean, and I remember
the thrill of the reveal well enough first time around not to want to spoil it.
For anyone who only knows
Anderson through Arthur Ranson’s work, the art in these early stories might
come as a bit of a shock. I’m a big fan of Ewins, but it’s very blocky
and in your face compared to Ranson’s more fluid realism. Kitson and in
particular Simpson begin the move towards gritty by the end of ‘Hour of
the Wolf’, but these early episodes of Anderson Psi Division are visually
a very different reading experience from her later exploits. On the other hand,
we get a number of nifty killings from the four dark judges, and some crazy character
and atmosphere ideas all through the Gargarax Gap.
If you’re a fan of
action films, Cassandra Anderson, or simply a fan of way-out visual imagery, don’t
miss out on this collection!
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