Judge Dredd Megazine 259 - 26 June 07

Cover by John Hicklenton & Clint Langley

RC: “Read me,” demands a slobbering demon. I like this, a real attention grabber.

AC: You know it’s Clint. You’ve seen enough of his work in Slaine to recognise that keen eye for the monstrous, even without the giveaway trademark photo-referencing. Except for this Meg cover he’s got art droid John Hicklenton on board, the controversial pen-jockey behind Blood of Satanus III. The influence is a positive one methinks, with Hicklenton’s full-on excesses smoothed out by Langley’s clean, computer aided solidarity.

Streetfighting Man - Part 2 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Henry Flint Colours: Chris Blythe Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dredd can't find the door...

Synopsis: The judges are after Lee Walker and the suspected killers of Luke Vendrell, whose gang, the Cobras, are holding Walker's wife and daughter hostage until the killers are dealt with - under the instructions of the incarcerated Ty Vendrell. Walker first kills his remaining targets, Skinner and then Chavez in front of his wife and daughter. He returns to the Cobras, while Dredd gets a lead on their location. Despite doing what they asked, the Cobras beat Lee Walker near to death until Dredd bursts in. A firefight ensues during which Walker's wife is killed and after which his daughter refuses to go near him. Walker is put into a justice department transfer vehicle - the same one transferring Ty Vendrell - so Walker kills him while Dredd appears to turn a blind eye...

RC: Wait a minute, have I read this right? Dredd deliberately locked Vendrell up with a man they knew would kill him? If I’ve misread, then sorry. If not: No. Drokking. Way! Doing a perp a favour by not blowing him away is one thing. Aiding and abetting homicide gets you twenty on Titan.

One shocking lapse in characterisation aside, Streetfighting Man has been a solid effort. I enjoyed the look into the Big Meg’s gang culture. This month Walker’s execution of the two gang members and Dredd’s climactic deus ex machina were standout action sequences. One controlled and chilling, the other with the raw thrill of chaos.

Flint’s artwork in these contrasting scenes is superb. Flint’s artwork is always superb. His Dredd work especially so.

I couldn’t help noticing how second episode kicks off with a quick plot summary. The Megazine’s four week time lapse is a real killer sometimes and I wouldn’t mind if other writers tried it. As long as it’s done as unobtrusively as this.

AC: Nikolai Dante’s Robbie Morrison brings this short, average Dredd tale to a close; ‘average’ may sound like a slight, but when you’re dealing with a strip in which simians run for office, mutant T-rexes have the run of the place and the weekly bodycount would make even the more industrious dictator’s weep into their cool facista uniforms, ‘average’takes on a slightly different meaning...

As our ‘hero’ of the moment throws his dreadlocked self across the Mega City buildings offing gangbangers to save his family, there’s a kind of ‘Sin City Lite’ thing going on. It’s a sturdy enough tale but can only really be appreciated on a technical level; emotional involvement is minimal and you know, you actually know as you’re reading it, that you won’t remember it this time next month. My personal preference for this kind of high drama and grit (of a sort) and Henry Flint’s stubborn refusal to be anyone but Henry
Flint will ensure a few more moments of fond recollection.

Big Robots - Part 3 Script: Alan Grant Art: Dave Taylor Letters: Ellie De Ville

Anderson takes charge...

Synopsis: Anderson jumps out of the way of the huge robotic foot crashing down on her and holds onto it - making her way up Karel Capek block. She discovers that Konik has stolen an experimental IQ decreaser and is threatening to let it loose on the city. Meanwhile, Konik has run into a serial killer who has been dismembering people in his apartment. The killer runs after him with an axe until Anderson heads him off. Konik shatters the canister containing the chemical and Anderson is forced to use an incendiary to destroy it (along with Konik and the killer). But the block is still walking...

RC: I’ve always found Anderson’s solo adventures a bit dull. She spends half her time in comas and the other half as Dredd in a dress. (Not literally, of course.) Here she’s doing the latter, casually torching a couple of perps in much the same way as Old Stony Face without so much a flicker of psychic shock. Let’s see more of what sets her apart: being a girly with super-powers.

That aside, this is eventful if not quite exciting. I loved the comments on the block’s residents. “56% of survivors pacified by television” and“APT 17B, occupants remain dismembered.”

Just a quick reminder that this is called Big Robots – plural – and it’s about time the others showed up.

Taylor’s artwork is efficient if unexciting. A bit bright for my tastes, too. In Mega City One, all the lights are on dimmer switches.

AC: The best thing about this latest series of psychical adventures is the, frankly, a-MEZZ-ing art from Dave Taylor, whose sense of scale and slightly twisted majesty bring a joyously cinematic quality to the story, the likes of which I’ve not seen from the Megazine since last year’s Regime Change (under the divine Miranda/De La Cruz team). Alan Grant’s script could use with a higher rate of incident (come on Al, we’ve gotta wait a whole month between each of these!), but makes good progress with the perps of Karel Capek’s misadventures and the death of the virus, and knows enough to let Taylor have his money shots (to reiterate, we’re talking about giant robots and not pornogrpahic materials. Okay?

Blood of Satanus 3 - The Tenth Circle 3: The 4th Particle Script: Pat Mills Art: Hicklenton Letters: Simon Bowland

Dredd displays his knowledge of ancient history...

Synopsis: Dredd fights a number of demons who have appeared from the rift. Later, he visits the apartment of Arkane, whose wife says he is not guilty of terrorism - and the press treat him as some kind of Robin Hood. Dredd manages to contact Arkane in Kaluza. Arkane agrees to help him as long has he gets a full pardon. Dredd initially refuses, but is later over-ruled by the Chief Judge and he then leads an expedition down into Kaluza - taking Arkane's wife with them.

RC: I actually quite liked episode one. The “diary of a mad citizen approach” was promising. Episode two was incomprehensible. And as for three…

Try this dialogue gem: “Sandcrete’s identification of exotic new subatomic articles in dark matter would indicate this.” This isn’t from the science bod; it’s Dredd! Perhaps they teach advanced theoretical cosmology at the Academy these days. Look, I’m a science fiction fan. I’ve read 2000AD for thirty years. I think I can say that I have as high a tolerance for pseudo-science bullshit as anyone but there’s a limit to how much I will swallow. (Not literally, of course.) I demand something in return, to be entertained.
This wouldn’t matter in the slightest if Blood of Satanus was enjoyable. Events this month include a press conference, a telephone call and several conversations. Admittedly, one was with a demon.

If Big Robots might as well be a Dredd story, this would perhaps have worked better with Anderson. Dredd belongs on the streets, or sometimes in a radioactive desert or very occasionally on the Moon but this dimension-hopping stuff should be left to Cassie.

Hicklenton’s art has split opinion. Now I’ve realised that it doesn’t represent an insane person’s damaged perception and it isn’t going to calm down after the first episode, I’m very much in the anti-camp. We must hope that it’s SUPPOSED to look badly drawn. The squashed heads and diamond-shaped badges really bug me.

Satanus is confusing. It’s talky. It’s not nice to look at. It has no dinosaurs in it. It’s a real chore to read. It’s torture to read twice.

AC: Again:”‘Marmite effect”? Years from now they’ll call it the “Blood of Satanus Book III effect”! I know, pithy. It’s hardly unusual for a Pat Mills creation to be attracting so much controversy, with the usual camps decrying him as a dated lunatic, lauding him as a true spirit of punk and of crazed mischief, or putting forward the feeble argument that he’s done a lot for the comic and should just, y’know, be allowed to do whatever. This time around though, the artist facilitating the insanity’s getting just as much stick from the readership!

On the former, I’d say it’s a moderate success for Mills, who manages to throw out some incredible concepts, and even some choice bits of dialogue, ranging from the twisted whimsy of the doctor’s consult last month, to the camp-as-frag-and-feels-so-good “Hell... welcome to Dredd!” this week. As ever though it doesn’t really hang together as a story (though I think Mills is banking on those enraptured pre-adolescent readers out there who don’t care about any of that). Hicklenton’s art, to my eye, perfectly compliments the wild and messy  qualities of the script. Read it a few times over and just take it as it comes.

Before They Wuz Dead - Part 2 Script: Simon Spurrier Art: Steve Roberts Letters: Ellie De Ville

Pa has some explanin' t' do...

Synopsis: The Angel gang are busting up a town, with the writer tied to Link's back. They are there to find a member of the brotherhood of trash. The writer explains that the final stash of Dil Grimczi was the very first issue of playboy magazine. The trashbrother confirms that Filmore Faro will pay a fortune for it. The Gang finally find the place where Grimczi stashed his loot - in a Gila Munja nest...

RC: This, on the other hand, a deceptively simple joy.

There’s no need to read the credits box to know who wrote it. First person narrative? You bet. In The Simping Detective, Spurrier took minor elements from the Dreddverse and expanded them in new and surprising directions. Here he has the added weapon of nostalgia and makes The Angel Gang as entertaining as their first outing all those years ago in The Judge Child saga. Although I do accept that knowing ALL the major
characters will avoid terminal mishaps deprives the story of dramatic tension.

This episode lacks a spectacular defining moment like Mean’s triceratops bokking last month but compensates with the inspired revelation that Link was the brains in the Gang all along.

Roberts’ art is exemplary. Junior looks crazy. Mean looks mean. Link looks exasperated. It’s funny artwork for a funny strip.

(Wait a minute; is Faro pronounced Pharaoh? Please don’t tell me it’s taken me twenty-six years to get a joke.)

AC: Reading the original Judge Child saga, the Angle Gang struck me as a rather needlessly cruel creation; the cartoonish, teeth grttingly violent maladjusts were imaginative creations, but my favourite Angel Gang moment is most definitely seeing them get kicked into a river of space lava.

Years down the line they’re back in a new series, and are still redoubtable psychopaths of the first order. Super-scribe Simon Spurrier (whose super special secret move is the Spurrian Syber Sprocket Shifter ) has however come at the more juvenile qualities of the characters with his typical (what’s the word?) perversity and, funnily enough, created something rather special. The shockingly graphic torture of the narrator last year was a real sucker punch, and (as with the dinosaur convoy of the previous instalment), Spurrier develops a world as rich and imaginative as it is extremely
dangerous, with a rich heritage in the Dredd comic of years past.

Reprint: Ro Jaws Robo Tales
Obituary - Massimo Belardinelli
History of Horror Comics
Kings of Cult - Alejandro Jodorowsky
Small Press - City of Secrets
Dredd Files
New Movies

RC: Wasted space: the Dredd Files drag on and on. New films.

Worth reading: Decent articles on the history of horror comics and bonkers film director Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Small press: Another mutant cannibal post-Apocalyptic desert thing. Printing a prologue seems a bit pointless to me and it doesn’t make me want to proceed to Chapter One.

Reprint: A Ro-Jaws Robo Tale? I remember this like it was yesterday. Despite the author, it was no good then, either.

Most importantly, a succinct and genuine tribute to Massimo Belardinelli. Sometimes calling an artist “unique” seems like faint praise but he truly was a one and only.

AC: This month’s bog reading material (as noble as the next thing, make no mistake) includes a touching and insightful tribute to 2000AD legend Massimo Belardinelli by Michael Molcher, our very own Byron’s take on the decidedly hit and miss world of horror comics, Alec Worley’s perceptive and enthusiastic take on a the surreal work of Alejandro Jodorowsky, and the now requisite film reviews (which are growing on me a little more every month, I’m forced to admit). Worley’s pro-Spider Man 3 helped me warm to the feature this week! Dredd Files continues pointless...

For the comics we have the nifty City of Secrets, a sophisticated beginning for a promising science fantasy series. The scripting is a bit stiff and conservative, with received pronunciation for the heroine and Hulk-style third person idiom from the mentally challenged sidekick, and could generally use with a touch more attitude but it’s definitely decent enough to support a story.  It’s the ART that makes this little doosie memorable, with a gorgeous, smoky quality and distinctive character designs; very fine work overall.

There’s a real jewel in amongst the regulars this month though; I turn to the reprint material, ready to unthinkingly skim through one of the old Ro-Jaws’ Robo-Tales, when I looked at the credit card and saw The Master’s name there inscribed! An early Alan Moore work, boasting a cheeky, intelligent swagger and meticulous internal logic (certainly for the era), and accomplishes the hardest task of all for these one-shots; to make us properly engage with characters we’ll only know for five (four!) pages and
are fairly sure will be dead by the end. The strip ends and you find yourself picturing the meeting set up at the end, the reactions of the characters, the possibility of a trademark unconventional romance (Halo and Luiz, Allan and Mina, Wulf and Steve, it goes on)... Masterful stuff.

RC: Despite a couple of major gripes, I’m quite enjoying the Megazine at the moment. The articles seem to be carrying their weight a little better. There’s a good mix of stories. It’s not keeping pace with the weekly just yet but perhaps I will renew my subscription after all. (Someone has to write the reviews.)

Best story: Angel Gang

AC: Strong performances on all fronts, with a slight ‘hmm’ for Blood of Satanus. I’m particularly impressed with the Angel Gang, and am tempted to actually give the ‘Best in Show’ prize to the reprint (that’s no slight on any of the others; they were just in the wrong company)! But no, the greatest impression left this week is by our Miss Anderson, with a script gaining momentum and awesome mad skillz on the doodle-pad from its artist. Until next month, then!

Best story: Anderson