|
|
 Cover
by Peter Doherty
MC:
At first glance I thought ‘nothing special, really’,
but on further analysis, there’s a lot going on here. We’ve got Dredd
(always a good idea for a Judge Dredd Megazine cover) looking stoic and taking
up the foreground of the shot, we’ve got Vienna over to the side, marginalised,
looking affectionately and with admiration at Dredd but with a body language
that stresses her disappointment at their relationship, and you’ve got
Dolman in the background in a mug-shot style pose, giving away the storyline,
but it’s actually his genetic background that is imprisoning him, rather
than an iso-cube. When I’ve really looked at this, I have to say, a truly
spectacularly structured cover and a credit to Peter Doherty to do so much with
one shot. Genius, and a cover of the year contender.
|
|
|
| Night School |
| Script: John
Wagner |
| Art: Peter Doherty |
| Letters:Peter
Doherty |
|
|
|
|
|
Dolman
gets the third degree... |
Synopsis:
On his way back from a course, Dolman (another Dredd
clone) witnesses a murder. He is attacked and defends himself, but one of the
muggers is killed after Dolman hits his head against a wall. Vienna, who he was
staying with, calls in Dredd for help when he doesn't return from his course
- and Dredd finds out he's under arrest for murder. The interrogating judge,
McGinn, believes that Dolman killed the perp on purpose and presents his case
to Dredd. Dredd later tells Vienna that he can't interfere - as it would be nepotism.
However, Vienna retorts with "you killed your own clone-brother - who's going
to accuse you of nepotism?" Dredd later meets with McGinn again, telling him
that it's the training that caused the murder, and warns him that he'd overturn
the case on appeal if it came to him. Dolman is released...
MC:
This
picks up where the cover leaves off, with a wonderful tale furthering the (often
neglected) Dredd family story. This harkens back to the Dredd story Blood & Duty
in which Dredd chooses the latter.
Here,
however, we see the ongoing ‘mellowing’ of
Dredd with him giving further fuel to the ‘maybe the law isn’t always
right’ argument developing post-Origins. The standout moment is the penultimate
page where we look down a stair well at Dredd as Vienna reminds him that “you
killed your own clone brother – who’s going to accuse you of nepotism?’.
It’s not often Dredd is drawn at such an angle to make him look small,
or vulnerable (as a person, rather than in comparison to some giant monster),
but this is one of those occasions, and it’s all the better for it.
I
loved this story, and it’s one of the few occasions I’ve reread something
as soon as I’ve finished it. I really think a Dredd strip will have to
go some way to bettering this any time soon. It’s tighter than ‘Mutants’ has
been so far, and is leaps ahead of Origins. Superb.
|
|
|
| Big Robots
- Part 3 |
| Script: Alan
Grant |
| Art: Dave
Taylor |
| Letters: Ellie
De Ville |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anderson
discovers the evil plan... |
Synopsis:
Karel Capek block stops walking as soon as it appears
that the judges are about to open fire on it. Anderson visits the architect,
Findhorn Gask, currently in cryogenic suspension and discovers that, after being
heavily taxed by the judges, built his cityblocks as robots who were programmed
to attack the city. his assistant killed him before he could put his plan in
motion, but now Karel Capek and 6 of the other 29 blocks are coming
to life. Anderson sentences him to death and switches off his life support.
Anderson heads out on the streets to try and stop the carnage...
MC: Ok,
so this has been stuck with a bad scheduling, and yes it’s not a bad
strip per se, but a large section of the city comes alive and starts kicking
the stomm out of the plain old static buildings, and I’m supposed to believe
that this wouldn’t be mentioned somewhere in a Dredd story? I’m not
buying it. You just get the feeling that the reset button will get pushed and
all of this will go away. Although I’d settle for not having to look at
the double page spread again. Lets just say ‘sky: too busy’ and leave
it at that, shall we?
|
|
|
| Blood of Satanus 3 - The Tenth Circle 4: Hungry Jacko |
| Script: Pat
Mills |
| Art: Hicklenton |
| Letters: Simon
Bowland |
|
|
|
|
|
Synopsis:
Dredd and the judges head into the first circle of
hell where they meet a huge bloated beast called the "hungry jacko". Dredd destroys
it by zipping its mouth up and letting it choke on its on vomit. The 2000AD
Review editor can't believe just he had to write that...
MC: Was
it Alan Barnes who said ‘Blood of Satanus 2 was a success. So much so that
we’re doing book 3?’. What he seemingly meant was ‘we’re
doing book 3, but I’m leaving and this is my punishment for all of you
for giving me a hard time mwahahahahaha’. This is like some joke strip
that got through. I bet you that if I’d submitted this it would have been
rejected faster than Wally West on his way to the bathroom the morning after
a particularly spicy curry. I don’t like this and I want it to stop.
|
|
 |
| Before They
Wuz Dead - Part 3 |
| Script: Simon
Spurrier |
| Art: Steve
Roberts |
| Letters: Ellie
De Ville |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creating
family tensions... |
Synopsis:
While the rest of the Angel gang is wreaking havoc
in a nearby town, and taking hostages the writer tries to turn Link to his cause
my making him feel left out. The gang uses the hostages to test the defenses
on the Gila Munja mound while Pa is in town suggesting that the Cursed Earth
gangs join up to retrieve the prize. Meanwhile, Link is asleep and the writer
tries to escape, but is poisoned by the returning Fink Angel...
MC: After
a particularly strong first episode this has weakened somewhat, but remains of
a particularly high quality. I don’t always agree with Simon Spurrier’s
shoehorning in of a first person perspective narration, but it just about works
here, and the prospect of some hardcore Fink action keeps me waiting for next
month. And after all these years, a rat in a bowler hat is still an instant crowd
pleaser.
|
|
 Reprint:
The Godfish
Interrogation: Carl Critchlow
History of Horror Comics
New Comics
Small Press - Freak Show
Dredd Files
New Movies
MC: An
interesting small press with shades of Dom Reardon in the art and a non Dredd
reprint I’d never read before add value to the ‘comic’ section
of the meg, while the articles on British Horror Comics and the second wave of
British creators ‘invading’ American comics are a nice read, although
I’m not convinced Grant Morrison & Garth Ennis, given focus by the
pictures in the article, weren’t part of the first invasion, and perhaps
the cover of Gutsville would’ve been more appropriate?.
A Carl Critchlow
interview, some more Dredd files (surely redundant now the Case Files books are
out?) and the film reviews finish this off, leaving the Megazine feeling very
good value for money indeed, although with nearly 20 pages of features not comics
I’m not sure what exactly I’m buying any more.
But such is life.
|
|
 |
MC: Worth £2.99
just for Dredd, which is just as well because there’s only that & Angel
Gang of the new material really worth reading.
Best story: Dredd, given that it’ll probably
end up best story of the year for me.
|
|
Give
your own comments about this week's issue in the review
forum
Want to write a
review? Let
us know. |
|
