Judge Dredd Megazine 271 - 27 May 08

Cover by Steve Yeowell and Chris Blythe

Martin Charlton: I don’t like this. At all. Steve Yeowell, while a more than capable interiors artist (as his fairly recent work on The Red Seas proves), seems to struggle with the process of making covers dynamic. Perhaps there just isn’t enough detail, perhaps there isn’t enough going on in this stock image, perhaps it doesn’t look sufficiently like Aimee Nixon to have an immediate selling point, or perhaps the colours are as flat as can be. Must try harder.

Alex Frith: Well, it ticks the box of futuristic noir, but I'm not overly taken with the image myself. I think Yeowell has made Aimee Nixon too pretty, perhaps? On the other hand, it's a Picasso-like masterpiece next to the tagline, which is not only vapid and weak - it doesn't even make sense! I suppose I might buy the comic if I was dead keen on a free copy of GTA IV (which I'm not). 

Red Handed - part 2 Script: Simon Spurrier Art: Paul Marshall Colours: Len O Grady Letters:Annie Parkhouse

Dredd relaxes with some extreme sports...

Synopsis: Dredd recovers Walt from the ledge and also orders the other judges to bring in Havlatz for obstruction of justice - since the reward is preventing them from doing their jobs. He discovers that Havlatz's wife lived with Walt for a year until she was bitten by a radrat. She succumbed to redrot and was fed to the worms when she died, to hide the body. It turns out that she ran from Havlatz when she unearthed his vid collection, discovering his perverted tastes and realising she had to hide her son from him. Walt used the hand to help him sleep at night, so Dredd tells him where he can clone one and that he can adopt the son - but only when he's released from the cubes...

MC: A fairly standard Dredd, which will probably never be reprinted, and has no impact on the character or the meta-plot. As such, it’s easy to write this off as filler. Which I’m more than happy to do. Nice art though.  

AF: Decent, timeless Dredd. There seems to be a feeling lately that if a Dredd story doesn't tie into the ongoing question of Dredd's life or city continuity that it isn't quite as important as those tales. Frankly this is missing the point entirely - what made Dredd great, and gave those 'continuity' stories emotional heft, was the sheer number of brilliant one-off tales. And here, Spurrier and Marshall serve up a lovely example of that. I'm not a massive fan of Marshall's style, but he isn't half a good storyteller. The details of the story don't matter - suffice to say that there are weirdos and twists in it, and Dredd is both heroic and mean. 

War without Bloodshed - Part 1 Script: Rob Williams Art: Rufus Dayglo Letters: Ellie De Ville

Nixon relaxes...

Synopsis: Down at the Low Life docks, union leader Bernie orders warehouse owner Sam to offload half of his robot workers and replace them with humans or be towed out into the Black Atlantic by an automated ship. Sam eventually concedes...

Meanwhile, undercover judge Aimee Nixon corners her snitch McReady and gets both info about a pro-democracy movement at the docks and some sex out of him. She goes down to the docks and sees a hardy drunkard called Naz daring anyone to knock him from his perch on a crane for a hundred creds. Nixon sees this as a chance to get an in - and takes the challenge...

MC: Now this, I like. Although it feels somewhat relegated moving into the Megazine, Low Life responds with the best intro to a story since ‘Paranoia’. I absolutely adored that story (especially revisiting it recently in Mega City Undercover) and was dismayed by the recent Dirty Frank tales. Rob Williams has been one of my favourite authors since Cla$$war and this is a perfect example of him firing on all cylinders. It’s also a welcome change from Armitage.

And as far as the art goes, Rufus: I love you.

AF: Reading the interview with scripter Rob Williams had put me in the mood to enjoy this return to Low Life. I'd been pretty lukewarm to the series over in 2000 A.D., so that was a good start. I think taking it back to the darker days was a smart move, and I'm already engaged with goings on here. I still have a problem with the Wally Squad trope that these undercover Judges all have a bit of a death wish, not to mention uncontrollable addictions to various vices. I know it's part of the point of noir in general - and LowLife in particular, but it gets me down is all.

Luckily, this week it's submerged behind sharp scripting and twisty plotting by Williams, and, better yet, behind the delightful inks of Rufus Dayglo, who really puts the grime back into Aimee Nixon.

Here Comes Trouble - Part 6 Script: Al Ewing Art: Jon Davis-Hunt Letters: Simon Bowland

Tempest shows his hand...

Synopsis: Tempest fights with Nero Narcos's bomb droid while Johnny completes the transfer of the funds to his account. However, Nicky Scandalous re-appears and shoots Johnny in the leg just after the transfer is complete. Tempest kills Scandalous and reveals to Johnny that he knows his account password - and leaves him to die as the bomb droid explodes. He calls the bank, only to find out that he cannot withdraw the funds without Johnny's correct voiceprint.

"Oh well. These things happen."

MC: This seems to have gone over well with the fans, but like the rest of Al Ewing’s work I’m left thinking ‘I don’t get the appeal of this’. It’s not bad, and I can imagine the appeal for others. But to me, it just seems to add random elements without thinking whether the story actually needs them. Maybe I’m just waiting for the right story of his, but this wasn’t it. Sorry.

Art was nice, but in a way it felt like looking at screen caps from a Ninja turtle cartoon. Which was weird. 

AF: I've really enjoyed this new series. Jon Davis-Hunt in particular has given us a style which reminds me of Frank Quitely's early efforts on Missionary Man. It's beautifully clear, and sensationally dramatic - the page of Johnny Kierkegaard going up in smoke is spectacular. That said, the story as a whole was never quite as fun as the bits that went in it. And I'm not sure how much I like Tempest as a character - I think I'd like it better if he turned out to be delusional, and all that bollocks about him being the ultimate villain was a yarn he spun for kicks. We shall see.

As Megazine debuts go, I'd say Tempest is on a par with Harmony - lovely art, some intriguing ideas, but not a stone cold classic - yet. 

Bob The Galactic Bum
Rob Williams Interview
Neil Marshall Interview
New Comics
New Movies

MC: Bob the Galactic Bum continues to prove that not everything Wagner & Grant write and Ezquerra draws is magic. Rob Williams seems to be a good fellow with a strong love of the medium. Getting his opinion on his work (which he’s refreshingly candid about) is the very point of these interviews and his lack of cynicism deserves a medal. Bulletproof looks interesting enough and I’ll never read it, and Neil Marshall does a decent enough job of hyping up Doomsday only for the film reviews to then cut it in half in about 12 words.  

AF: Bob the Bum is getting a bit better. It's now bad, as opposed to being awful. Still, if you'd asked me if I wanted the Meg to reprint a story by Wagner, Grant and Ezquerra that I'd never heard of, I'd have said "oh hell yes". Can't win 'em all. 

I'm pretty sure the Meg ran an interview with Rob Williams not all that long ago. He came across well, though, and in the end the article made me look forward to reading the new Low Life, so I guess that's the main thing. I'd don;t think I'll buy the Indiana Jones comic, although that's no comment on Williams, who I'm sure will do a sterling job.

The Neil Marshall interview is more my sort of thing - exactly the kind of director Rebellion should be a) touting and b) courting. And I think by now regular readers know my opinion of Worley's film reviews (I like them).

I'm always pleased to see the Meg giving space to talk about rival British comics, and Bulletproof looks good. Credit also to reviewer Badham, who makes the comic sound appealing enough to support, but is honest enough to point out that it's not spectacular.

MC: While there’s nothing wrong with any of the strips here, I struggled to remember the previous episode of the two continuing stories. Low Life stands head and shoulders above the rest, as it did in 2000AD when it first started. Hopefully Anderson won’t become a comedy strip with Boo Cook on duties, but as long as Williams & Dayglo contribute to the Megazine and there’s nothing by Pat Mills, I’m happy. 

Best story: Low Life

AF: Not the best Megazine I've read, but everything's ticking along nicely. Boo Cook's Anderson teaser has me salivating for next month, however... 

Best story: Despite my misgivings about the lead character, for pure adrenalin and insanity, it has to be Tempest.