Cover by Leigh Gallagher

Alex Frith: Somehow functional rather than spectacular, this cover. I do like Gallagher’s werewolf design, though. The wristguard really ties the look together.

Alex Frith : There’s a story in here somewhere, but frankly as I was reading I was more distracted by the sight of the slightly-too-craggy Dredd chin (not to my taste) and the multitude of werewolves (generally more exciting).

As I often find with Morrison Dredds, they’re perfectly good but I feel I’d get more out of them if I was new to the world of Dredd. Still, he’s set up a neat character in Quantrill, and I wouldn’t mind seeing her and the railroad again. No offence to Abigail Ryder, whose colouring work was absolutely right for the setting, but I wonder if Gallagher’s art isn’t better suited to black and white?

Alex Frith : A typically action-packed twisted tale from the latest master of silent comics. Sixteen panels per page! That’s British comics in the classic tradition if ever I’ve seen it. Giant insects, robot suits and tragic accidents are not new themes for Byrne (go read Mr Ampersand for more of this if you liked it), but it’s a nice piece, and as ever the facial expressions make the whole thing work beyond mere plot progression.

Alex Frith : I find that Tempest is coasting a little with this series, relying on the charm of the character and the weirdness of ideas like Stan Lee’s Black Chi to disguise the fact that the whole thing is, well, silly. Not silly in terms of the concept, but more in terms of the plot mechanics and the frustration of having not one, not two but THREE essentially unstoppable characters sticking it to the supposedly elite Justice Dept of Mega City 1. But, it’s fun enough.

Very interesting to read this after the Davis-Hunt interview. You can see him here trying to liven up his work by adding in a variety of angles, working on the expressions and playing with the colour schemes. Definitely an improvement on his Stalag 666 work, he’s on the way to becoming a 2000 AD great – but not there yet. 

Alex Frith: Now this, this is the stuff. David Roach pours the detail into every panel of this muted strip, wringing out every drop of emotion from Grant’s script. I don’t know what it is that makes the sentimental side of this strip work, but for me it really does. Not so much the child in the robot part as the story of a little MC1 grocery store, and the panel of Judge Dredd frozen in thought, on the verge of pulling his trigger.

In the end, I think it’s the art that makes this story sing, but it’s a return to his form on his old Judge Anderson work for Alan Grant, too.

Breathing Space Collection
Jon Davis-Hunt interview
Sean Phillips interview
Werewolf comics
Hellblazer article
New Movies

Alex Frith:

Sean Philips interview – interesting to read that someone so associated (in my mind, anyway) with less mainstream work is a massive superhero fan.

Jon Davis-Hunt interview – very honest words; I’m glad he was happy to talk about the much-reviled Stalag 666, and to admit that he liked it (well it did have good things about it, it just didn’t end up being good).

Hellblazer – have barely read any Hellblazer comics, but it’s clearly material worthy of an in depth article.

Film reviews – keep ‘em coming

History of werewolf comics – this, and the interviews, are the sort of material that I just wouldn’t know where else to find, and for that I thank Matt Smith. If anything, I would have like this article to be a bit longer, as it didn’t have much room to develop the idea of werewolf themes, which sounded really interesting.

Breathing Space – I remember liking this story for the atmosphere, but couldn’t work up the enthusiasm to re-read it. The Mark Millar story was silly but in a harmless fun way. 

Alex Frith: Do you know, I’m increasingly enjoying the Megazine for the articles. But the current line-up of strips is great, too. But I’m mostly anticipating a return of Devlin Waugh and Insurrection. I hope not in vain!

Best Story: Lost Cases