Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges review

Review by Steve Hargett

Writers:John Wagner & Alan Grant

Artists:Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson, Ron Smith

Letterers:
Tom Frame

Previously published in Progs 149-151, 224-228 & 416-427

The most widely known villains outside 2000AD fandom, Judge Death has been an inspiration for many things. Most notably Dredd and his deathly nemesis have appeared on many Anthrax albums and t-shirts.

This collection brings us the stories Judge Death, Judge Death Lives and Four Dark Judges. These stories are reprints so I am assuming most readers will be aware of the general thrust of the stories. There are spoilers below but due to the fact they are reprints I’m tagging them as light. If you have never read these stories maybe they are medium. There is only one heavy spoiler if you haven’t read Judge Death.

I’m reviewing the Kindle version of this book and all pages are black and white. It does suffer slightly from the fact that famous double spreads are cut in half. However the story is still easily read and brought back good memories.

Judge Death

As well as Judge Death this sory introduces us to Judge Anderson and the Psi Division.

Judge Death is an inter-planar travelling mass murderer  A Judge on his home world, where Judges were more brutal than they have been in Mega City One at all times other than perhaps Chief Judge Cal’s tenure of office. They were brutal in life but when Judge Death took charge of their world they descended into madness sentencing the whole planet to death.

Death is a psionically powered spirit creature  able to take possession of a living person or enter a specially prepared corpse to take physical form. His hand pass through flesh without damaging it, only to squeeze the heart within the chest cavity until it bursts. He is stronger than a living human and able to sustain a large amount of injury without affect.

His Judge uniform is a macabre version of Dredd’s own. We later see that is less different to the Judges of his own world in ‘Boyhood of a Superfiend’ (published in Judge Dredd Megazine first volume issues 1-19).

Death embarks on a rampage through the city and is ‘killed’ by Dredd. Anderson interrogates the corpse and is later possessed by possessed by his spirit but due to her own strong will is able to resist him enough to keep other Psi Judges aware of Death’s plans.

Anderson gives the Judges her own plan to defeat Death. Dredd and a team of Judges follow the information Anderson has managed to get to them without the knowledge of Judge Death. Death’s body destroyed, he re-enters Anderson and she sacrifices herself for the good of the city and was sealed in Boing! (see prog 136) and was put on display in the Justice Department Hall of Heroes for all to show their respects.

This story is well crafted and the creation of Judge Death is a masterstroke. Though he is later misused in some people’s opinion as a more comedic character this strip set him up as a very chilling creature.

The art of Brian Bolland is amazing and gives real menace to the villain and true charm to the heroine.

Judge Death Lives

The first episode shows a tourist in the Hall of Heroes leaving a tour and later cutting open the Boing! sarcophagus that housed Anderson and Death. Death possesses the man and he returns to his apartment where we find he had agreed to free Judge Death to safe his wife, though he had been double crossed and she was dead. Who had made this deal with him? Three allies of Judge Death.

Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis all drawn for the first time by Brian Bolland so there is a clear connection between the uniforms of these three and Death. Only Fear’s uniform is devoid of the pterodactyl, though Fire’s isn’t obvious in the picture opposite. I’ve always assumed this mean Fear was not a Street Judge on his home-world but that is mere speculation.

The three Dark Judges prepare their erstwhile Human accomplice and Judge Death again has physical form.

The four Dark Judge soon embark on a Judgement-spree. Killing all those that break their law; Life is a crime and the sentence is death. They seal themselves within a block with a psionic shield that fries anyone trying to cross it.

Anderson, freshly out of the Boing! sarcophagus warns Dredd that there are three others with Death. Anderson can get herself and Dredd through the shield but they have to destroy the shield generator to get more Judges inside.

Dredd famously resists the powers of Judge Fear and they destroy the generator. The Dark Judges retreat to their home-wold but with Fear’s body vacant his corpse is left behind and Anderson and Dredd can follow.

Reading this story in 1981 I was transfixed from Prog to Prog. The artwork again is very powerful. The script is excellent, it was a joy to read.

Four Dark Judges

This was the first strip to be given the title of Anderson Psi Division and was published in 1985. This was the last appearance of Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis until their return in Chaos Day.

The Dark Judges lure Anderson back to Deadworld and force her to help resurrect them using mummified Judges. Though she had been able to partly resist Judge Death’s control she was unable to fight the combined Psionic power of the four Dark Judges.

We learn that their Grand Hall of Justice had been re-named the Necropolis, Brett Ewins’ version of the building created a much more perverse structure than we had seen Bolland draw. Within that building they had access to all of their equipment and returned to Mega City One leaving Anderson presumed dead.

Anderson however had shielded herself from them enough to feign death and returns to the city. Chief Judge McGruder suspends her for unleashing the Dark Judges on Mega City One. Anderson considers her fate.

The Dark Judges again went on a killing spree. This time they had teleport devices so that they could leave any place where Judges were attacking them and continue their mission.

Again Anderson puts together a plan that sees the Dark Judges vanquished.

More to come…

Not part of this book but it has been revealed that Death is coming back…

Day of Chaos The Fourth Faction review

Review by Steve Hargett.

Previously published in progs 1700-1704, 1740-1751, 1753-1758 & Judge Dredd Megazine 307, 308, 310.

I picked this up in Travelling Man in Leeds. I missed Staz Johnson signing on Saturday 9th February due to work but Travelling Man hooked me up with a signed copy on the following Sunday.

There are spoilers below but as it is a reprint I’m saying they are medium as I expect most readers know something of the story. In more recent reviews of Judge Dredd reprints I’ve tried to keep the spoilers very light, this is because the stories, The Cursed Earth Saga andThe Day The Law Died are much older and new readers are perhaps less likely to know much about them. Of course if you haven’t previously heard anything about this story the spoilers are heavy; in fact they get that way in my intro in the second paragraph following this, so beware.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. It’s an old saying, much quoted. This is a cold day for Mega City One, or rather this is the start of the build up to a cold day.

This story has its roots in 1981 when John Wagner and Alan Grant decided Mega City One was just a bit too big. Starting with Block Mania in Progs 236-244 where East-Meg assassin Orlok poisoned the water supply to several citi-blocks turning them in to warring factions. Then we entered the Apocalypse War in progs 245-270 when East-Meg One invaded following the chaos their agent had caused. Seeing his city devastated, Dredd led a hand picked band of Judges and in the end wiped the enemy city from the Earth with its own missiles.

30 years later…

Here we have a slow increase of threat to the city. There has recently been a change in Chief Judge, the outgoing Sinfield. sentenced to life on the Titan penal colony. The incoming Chief Judge Francisco, returned to the post after being poisoned by Sinfield. Dredd has been forced to be on the Council of Five, to all intents and purposes not only the leaders of the Judges but the Government of Mega City One, their Mayor being a symbolic leader only.

In an attempt to avoid what Dredd sees as tedium in the Council of Five meetings he initiates a policy of Zero Tolerance and starts with a crackdown in Sector 50. in The Skinning Room. This episode doesn’t have a great deal of plot linked to the main story of revenge. However it is essential for background of what state the city is in at the time. Every spare Judge is drafted in to Sector 50 and senior Cadets are also put on the streets. There is an interesting new element of Justice Department are seen, specialist snipers with unique uniforms and hover bike as a platform. This story centres on a Resyk employee with a murderous intent. Watch out for a cheeky cameo of the Justice Department’s Eagle symbol in one picture involving a female Judge strapped to an operating table.

Hot Night in 95 sees the tension on the streets increase as terrorist attacks take place throughout Sector 95, Where Dredd is temporary Sector Chief. This story re-introduces Judge Logan, who previously worked with Dredd in The Satanist, Total War, Origins and Tour of Duty. It also re-introduces Judge Hershey, a very longstanding character first introduced on The Judge Child and later rising in the ranks to become Chief Judge, replaced by Judge Francisco in his first term.

The Further Dasterdly Deeds of PJ Maybe sees the serial killer, a fan favourite, locked up in a high security iso-cube. He had been hiding in plain sight as Mayor Ambrose, oddly the best Mayor the city had probably ever had, now publicly assumed to be dead. He was considered such a threat that his very existence was supposed to be secret. If you know PJ you can guess what happens…

Nadia is the next episode, named after  mysterious woman who has recently arrived in the city. Nadia meets with a sleeper cell to arrange something big. Dredd meanwhile is now avoiding his duties on the Council of Five by teaching at the Academy of Law three times a month, when able. A PSI Cadet, Hennessy, brings him details of her precognition that some dorm of devastation was going to hit the city on the day of the upcoming Mayoral Election, to replace the ‘dead’ Mayor Ambrose. Hennesy leads Dredd slowly towards Nadia. Nadia’s sleeper cell successfully kidnap a scientist from the city.

The Fourth Faction, the eponymous episode of this graphic novel, reveals the enemy to be East-Meg One survivors  led by Colonel Borisenko. The kidnapped scientist is a bio-engineer that had developed a deadly virus that he had refused to turn over to Mega City One’s Special Weapons Division. Now Borisenko wants the same organism.

The final episode in this graphic novel is Elusive. PJ Maybe gets revenge on political rivals as well as finding a new safe place to hide from the law.

There are continuity flaws in Judge Dredd if you look at it closely but to a greater degree the continuity is rather good given the 36 years the strip has been going, not only weekly in 2000AD but monthly (more or less) in the Megazine. And past stories can easily come back to haunt Mega City One.

As ever John Wagner has pulled together an interesting cast of characters, old and new. The wealth and depth of material in Dredd cannot be underestimated.

The artists all do wonderful work, with some interesting tweaks to many of the uniforms Judges other than Street Division wear. Interestingly the fact that the same colourist has worked on all the stories it gives this collection a uniform feel while still allowing each artist to use their own style. I really have nothing to criticise in the layout or delivery. Colin MacNeil sneaks in a visual reference to the Judge Dredd fan chat-room – Colin is often found in there, so am I.

Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died review

Review by Steve Hargett.

Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died graphic novel published by 2000AD

Writer:John Wagner

Artists:Mick McMahon, Ron Smith, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Brendan McCarthy, Brett Ewins, Garry Leach

Letterers:
Tom Frame, John Aldrich, Jack Potter, Peter Knight, Tom Knight, Dave Gibbons

Previously published in Progs 86 to 108 of 2000AD in October 1978 to April 1979

This story follows on straight after The Cursed Earth Saga and the first episode was in the first issue of 2000AD and Starlord following the merger of the two titles. There were four strips, Dredd leading supported by Ro-Busters, Flesh Book II  and Strontium Dog.

Dredd is given given a parade through the city to mark rescuing Mega City Two. Sat in the car with him is his mentor, Chief Judge Goodman, and the Deputy Chief Judge, Judge Cal. This is the first appearance of Cal and this story introduces the Special Judicial Squad, SJS. These Judges judge the Judges, they investigate and punish crimes committed by Judges. Judge Cal is clearly modeled upon Caligula, the third Emperor of Rome who history depicts as increasingly insane throughout his reign. There are subtle hints in the first part – during the parade Cal questions the cost of the mission Dredd had just been on; during a Triumph, a parade for a victorious General in Rome, someone stood behind the General would whisper that they are only human, to curb the General’s ego.

The SJS uniforms vary throughout the story, mostly due to the amount of artists involved. However it is also reasonable to accept that the uniforms do actually alter. The SJS are Cal’s men, as Deputy Chief Jusfe it seems he was also the Head of SJS. As such it is only reasonable o accept that as his ideas about himself become grander so his closest supporters would be affected.

There are some spoilers following, as this is a reprint I don’t think I am revealing much more than an active reader of 2000AD who hasn’t read this story before might realistically have come to know. I will try to keep the spoilers light.

Judge Cal frames Dredd and sent to the prison on Titan and has Chief Judge Goodman killed, seizing power for himself. Overwhelmingly the Judges of Mega City One support Cal, to the surprise of Dredd. Before his death Goodman gives Dredd a clue that the SJS are behind his murder, Dredd survives an assassination attempt only to be sentenced to death by Cal.

Dredd isn’t alone, however, and his one-time Rookie, Judge Giant, comes to his rescue. Together with Giant Dredd goes on to fight a guerilla war against Cal with a group of Judges mostly comprising Tutors from the Academy of Law.

Giant is the son of John ‘Giant’ Clay, captain of the Harlem Heroes jet-ball team from the strip of the same name. Not essential knowledge for this story but I’ll briefly give some more details, given that 2000AD doesn’t have one shared universe how this fact fits in with continuity. Harlem Heroes was set in a futuristic USA, sometime after 2050. In Prog 8 the home city of Harlem Heroes is referred to as Mega City One, where Artie Grubber is in intensive care (oh I loved Artie!). A sequel to Harlem Heroes, Inferno, was set in 2078, the year before Dredd graduated from the Academy of Law. One of the team members, Rip Venner, was an ex-Judge. So the links are clear and credible, indeed the current Judge Giant met his Great Grandpappy in ‘Whatever Happened to John ‘Giant’ Clay in the the Megazine, that story was set in 2126.

Back to the story in hand. This story introduces some other giants of Dredd continuity, pun intended, such as: Judge-Tutor Griffin; Fergee; the alien mercenaries race of Kleggs and also involves Walter the Wobot, Maria and Max Normal. Again, as in the Cursed Earth Saga an interesting cast of supporting characters.

Of these Fergee has proven to be hugely popular, a huge fellow with low intelligence many forget he isn’t a mutant or a Trog (a denizen of the Undercity). Fergee was born in Mega City One but by his own admission he did a few (well lots) of bad things. Given what seems to be his inate kindness one would assume that his enjoyment of violence was probably taken advantage of by some perp or other – but there are no explanations in the story. Fergee’s name was misappropriated in the Stallone film and used for the bumbling robotics expert who was a comedy sidekick for Dredd in that film. The 2012 Dredd 3D film makes mention of a riot in Fergee Memorial Park.

The fact that supporting characters like these become so important to the reader is a great reflection on the craftsmanship of the creators. Not only John Wagner but many of the script writers over the years.

Returning to Judge Cal and Caligula. There are so many comparisons it is easy to overlook them. Deputy Chief Judge Fish can be compared to Caligula making his horse a senator. Other comparisons include wild building projects and random death sentences. Bringing in the alien mercenaries, the Kleggs, could be compared to the barbarian mercenaries, Germans, that Caligula used as body guards. Oh and pickle jars, but I stray too near spoiler territory with this one.

This story reinforces the importance of Dredd in Mega City One. Even the experienced Judges that have become Tutors at the Academy of Law look to him for leadership. Of course he is a clone of the first Chief Judge, Fargo, and Judge Goodman had clearly been grooming him as a successor.

As noted earlier the amount of different artists on this story do give a lack of visual continuity. At times we see Dredd wearing  the more modern straight sided helmet and at other times the more rounded Ezquerra original. I don’t find that a distraction and as I said earlier the changes in SJS uniforms can easily be explained. You may note that only the head of the SJS, Judge Slocum, has the Deaths Head helmet insignia.

Interestingly this collection credits only John Wagner as writer but the creator panels show the names John Howard and T B Grover. These are pseudonyms that were used by John Wagner and Alan Grant when working in partnership. I assume as the credit here is for John Wagner alone that Alan Grant was either not involved or was involved only in part, perhaps talking through the plot. Certainly the plot is fluid and yet consistent.

A true classic, if you haven’t ever read this and still fail to… someone might have to get heavy with you.

Easy! The Ferg!

Coming soon: Nemesis the Warlock. The Deviant Edition

2000 AD is to collect the extremely rare coloured Nemesis the Warlock stories for the first time in September.
This special limited-edition hardback is the first ever collection of the Eagle Comics editions, with Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) colouring his original artwork. It will also include the very hard-to-find Nemesis Poster Prog strip, The Tomb of Torquemada.
Written by 2000 AD creator Pat Mills (Marshal Law) and also featuring artwork by Jesus Redondo (Star Trek: Voyager), the collection will be available in two editions - ‘Deviant’ and ‘Termight’, with the latter only available through the 2000ADonline.com online shop.
In the far future, Earth is known as Termight and it sits at the heart of a cruel galactic empire, its citizens living deep in the bowels of the Earth and in constant fear of their leader - the diabolically evil Torquemada. Determined to rid the universe of all ‘deviation’, the Grand Master and his army of Terminators slaughter alien life across the galaxy. But one being leads the resistance to Torquemada’s despotic rule - the legendary alien freedom fighter, Nemesis the Warlock.
Insane, visceral, mind-blowingly imaginative, political, satirical, and unlike any comic before or since - Nemesis the Warlock is one of 2000 AD’s most successful and famous characters by two of its greatest
creators.
Black-and-white bestsellers for decades, this colour limited-edition collection of the original Nemesis stories is an absolute must for new and old fans alike.

The Cursed Earth Saga review

Review by Steve Hargett.

Writers:
Pat Mills, John Wagner
Artists:
Mick McMahon, Brian Bolland
Letterers:
Tom Frame, Peter Knight, John Aldrich

Previously published in Progs 61 to 85 of 2000AD in April to October 1978

What hasn’t been said about this epic?

I’m reading this in Kindle, the version is manga sized and all black and white and available from Amazon, this edition is also available in paperback.

Before this the largest story had been Robot Wars in Prog 10 to 17, though the story followed directly on from Prog 9. The Cursed Earth is the first real epic for Judge Dredd and is rightly considered a classic. This story shows us the Cursed Earth in the greatest detail so far. We are introduced to a wide range of possibilities of what lies outside the confines of the great Mega City.

Anyone familiar with the printing history of this epic will be aware that there were copyright issues over the use of Ronald McDonald, Burger King, Jolly Green Giant and a number of other characters. Four parts of the epic have therefore never been reprinted. There is a synopsis of these episodes in the foreword of the graphic novel. You need Progs 71, 72, 77 & 78 to enjoy these parts of the story. I have them, but obviously can’t go in to further detail. I am displaying images from the saga, with kind permission from 2000AD PR Droid Molch-R, understandably no images from the embargoed parts.

If you haven’t read this story there are spoilers, I’m tagging this as ‘light’ as it is a reprint, but certainly I won’t be mentioning anything that will ruin your enjoyment if you have not read this wonderful saga before.

We are introduced to the story by Red, who we are told is an old friend of Judge Dredd. Red is a pilot that runs trips between the two big Mega Cities, Mega City One and Mega City Two. He is a Mega City One citizen and though it is never stated I would guess by the uniforms  Red and his men wear he could be an Auxiliary of some form certainly he is never referred to as a Judge. Red’s craft Strat Bat, has the Law Eagle on, this could denote a Mega City One registered ship but I think more likely backs up my theory that he is an Auxiliary.

This is the first mention of Mega City 2, sister city to Mega City One on the Western seaboard of USA. Ruled by its own ruling council of Judges. The uniforms are more or less identical in this story,  I think it is artistic licence that makes them seem a little lighter in colour.

Mega City Two is in the grip of a deadly plague, left over from the ‘Great Germ War’. The airports are all closed so the only way to get an antidote to Mega City Two is by land. Dredd is assigned t o lead the mission and is given a two-part armoured vehicle, comprising the personnel carrier Land Raider and the tank Killdozer. He is accompanied by three Judges, including Judge Jack who partnered him in the Robot Wars. Rounding off his crew is the convicted bike gang leader Spikes Harvey Rotten. It is not confirmed if this is the same character as the one of the same name from an earlier story Mega City 5000 from Progs 40 & 41. Due to lack of resemblance between the two and the earlier version being presumed dead (though he could just be unconscious) at the end of Prog 41 many assume the characters are not connected.

The journey between the Two Mega Cities shows us that the wasteland outside their walls is not devoid of life. In fact it is populated by a variety of people and creatures that rivals that within Mega City One. We are introduced to townships of un-mutated humans that for one reason or another live outside the supposed safety of the Mega Cities. There are mutant clans, Alien Slavers, deranged Robots, flying rats, dinosaurs… one could almost say ‘what isn’t in the Cursed Earth?’

The saga stretches the suspension of disbelief, but that is often when Dredd is at its best. Of course the other end of the spectrum, when Dredd gets close to reality, can also give us great stories.

The stories are varied and have the right mix of action, drama and of course dark humour. All aspects that have been seen throughout the history of 2000AD as much as the pages of Dredd alone. And as I said at the top of this article, this saga sets the scene for almost everything from Dredd stories in 2000AD or the Megazine when it comes to the Cursed Earth.

Pat Mills ties Judge Dredd to one of his creations, Flesh!, in part of the story, bringing us the genetically recreated Satanus, son of Old One Eye. 2000AD doesn’t have a shared universe, unlike other famous publishing companies. However Pat Mills often links his stories together. While some links have been more or less written off or forgotten Satanus is firmly embedded in Judge Dredd history.

For me it is as much the supporting cast as Dredd himself that makes this story thoroughly enjoyable. Spikes is a changed man at the end, he has grown through this hellish road-trip. Tweak, a rock eating alien, shows us more humanity than many humans have ever shown in the pages of Dredd. Both characters are still among my all time favourites, I’ll talk about another later this month when I review Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died.

Now as I said I have been reading the latest edition of this story on Kindle. I have also read the same version in paperback. The Kindle version didn’t work so well on my android phone but looks great on my PC. The pages have been reduced well, all the lettering is easy to read. Some lettering has been re-positioned where required. I’m not certain how technical it is to make the colour pages black and white but if I didn’t know what pages were affected I wouldn’t have known about the alteration.

As for the artwork, two of the series giants turned in these pages. They are as fine as anyone can expect to see. You won’t see the now famous chin, it wasn’t quite as defined as it is now. But Dredd is as obviously Dredd as ever in the history of the comic.

If you have never read this – get a copy. If you have read it but no longer have a copy – get a copy.

And just remember, Alex Garland planned to take us in to the Cursed Earth in a sequel to Dredd (2012). We may not get a chance to see that come about but the fan film Judge Minty does deliver on that.

'Zoo City' author Lauren Beukes pens new introduction to Halo Jones

I honestly do not think it is possible to exaggerate just how important to the medium the character Halo Jones is. The following is a press release from Rebellion about the forthcoming reissue of the book. You really should buy it, 

The author of the Clarke Award-winning novel Zoo City and the much anticipated The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes, has written a brand new introduction to a character she says was her “first love”.
The South African novelist and journalist, whose magical hardboiled thriller set in Johannesburg was a break-out hit in 2010, has penned the introduction for the new UK edition of The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson, due for release in May 2013.
Beukes cites the character as a major influence on her childhood: “She’s remarkable for being just a girl caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Halo is working class, she doesn’t have any superpowers, in her own words, she was ‘just there’.”
Dubbed “possibly the first feminist heroine in comics” by The Observer, the ground-breaking character from 2000 AD catapulted writer Moore to popular attention, helped in no small part by Gibson’s stunning SF artwork.

Moore introduced comic book readers familiar with macho ‘guns and gore’ male characters to the poignant, fascinating, and at times heartbreaking story of an ordinary woman who lives an extraordinary life.
Set in a future where the unemployed are herded into the Hoop, a floating ghetto off the coast of Manhattan, Halo is a young woman who dreams of escaping her boring life. When she gets the chance to do so aboard a luxury space cruiser as a hostess, it catapults her into an uncaring galaxy that will take her from the lap of luxury to a time-bending war of atrocity.
“It’s a story about choices and compromises, about defying expectations, about poverty, society, celebrity, identity, the toll of war, and also love, ambition, ambivalence and the places restless curiosity will take you,” says Beukes.
This new edition will be published in the UK and Ireland with the introduction from Lauren Beukes and a  rand new
design-led cover by 2000 AD head designer Simon Parr.

Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu earth 03

Review by Montynero

Popular opinion often has it that Rogue Trooper should have been killed off after he killed The Traitor General. ‘Tales of Nu Earth 03’ tells us what happened next (progs 410 to 603) – providing the perfect opportunity to question that theory.

‘Tales of Nu-Earth’ is a little misleading. This is a brand new mission on a brand new planet - finding the antigen on Horst to make Rogue's bio chipped buddies real men again. It’s a good premise and how much you enjoy it depends on your taste for Jose Ortiz’s elegant art and Gerry Finley-Day's old-school storytelling. Do you smile at the prospect of Alienesque crab combatants catching Rogue in a pincer movement, or revel in dialogue like "Keep firing, Gunnar. I'm going in PLASMA HANDED"? Personally, I love it.

Finley-Day explains the point and the status of his characters at the start of each episode, and wraps up a continuing tale with a cliff hanger designed to lure you back next week. It reads like an adrenaline shot to the neck – something many of today's writers could learn from.

Throughout the late eighties this type of storytelling was eroded by a desire for graphic novel respectability. The age of 2000ad’s readership rose and simple action stories became less popular. The nuclear arms race reaccelerated, neutering the apparent impact of a lone battlefield soldier. What to do with Rogue Trooper? One answer would be to continue the action but add deeper themes and some on-going emotional resonance. Unfortunately what follows is the beautifully drawn ‘Hit’ saga (prog 495–603) by Simon Geller and Steve Dillon. 

All sense of Rogue's motivation disappears as he becomes a confused and inept interstellar assassin. The ending to Finley-Day’s ‘Return to Millicom’ is retooled, at a stretch, to cast Rogue as an ultimate warrior trying to end all war on behalf of 'the power that binds the universe'. 2000ad’s editor Steve McManus was so convinced by the new direction he co-wrote the reboot intro, which trumpets much in the way of forthcoming excitement. Dillon’s visual storytelling throughout is fantastic - but the run and gun plotting is witless and empty. Rogue memorably gets knocked out by a cleaner with a mop at one point. It’s so narratively underwhelming that the planned thirteen hits peter out after just four.

Dillon writes two episodes himself, including ‘The Hit: Conclusion’ with art by Chris Weston. This attempts to wrap up the Hit saga in sixteen pages of the 2000ad Winter Special 1989. His script postulates that the dumb action he’s been asked to render for the last few years was part of an alien plan to numb Rogue of his reasoning and combat skills, something that’s only believable when you consider the alien in question was Tharg! It would take a better writer than Steve Dillon to pull this off convincingly, and Weston’s art – while detailed – is not his best. It’s a disappointing end to an ill-conceived arc.

What’s so striking about this collection is Rogue Trooper only makes sense as, well... a rogue trooper. If the war he’s fighting has no reliance on hand-to-hand fighting between infantry in combat then he becomes meaningless. He was designed as the sci-fi apotheosis of heroic Tommy’s fighting in the trenches, with the cool storytelling device of bickering digital comrades in his high tech equipment. Given the history of modern warfare, Rogue’s unique skills seem more relevant now than they did when he launched in the 80’s. Stories that embrace his essential raison d’etre are successful. Stories that don't, aren’t.

Rounding off the collection are seven short and peripheral tales from sci-fi specials (Grant Morrison and Pete Milligan provide the best of them), two Dice man episodes, and seven Rogue Trooper covers including a wonderful final painting by John Higgins.

Personally I'd buy this collection just for the art – but there's a good deal of fun and nostalgia in the Finley-Day scripts and some interesting curios too. With over 400 lovingly rendered pages, it’s well worth getting if you can.

I’ll sum up with a quote from Rogue Trooper prog 567 – ‘The Legend’:

“Cutting himself off from Souther command he roamed the battle scarred planet in his search for the traitor general. He found him…but success was hollow. Without that hatred to drive him on disillusionment set in..."

Quite.

Judge Dredd joins World Book Night

Rebellion Publishing is delighted to announce that one of 2000 AD’s titles has been chosen as the first ever graphic novel to be featured in World Book Night.

Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges is an all-time classic from the pages of the ongoing weekly British comic, and this pocket-size ‘B format’ reprint sees the ultimate lawman of the future encounter his deadliest foes - Judges from a dimension where even life itself is a crime!

It is the first time that a graphic novel has been featured in World Book Night, which aims to give away 500,000 books to promote and encourage reading. The BBC has returned as the charity’s media partner, with the book selection to feature on BBC1’s “The One Show” tonight (8 November), as well as tomorrow’s “Newsnight Review”.

Featuring some of the most iconic moments in the strip’s history, this volume includes the original Judge Death story, along with the sequels, Death Lives and The Dark Judges, and the Judge Anderson follow-up, Four Dark Judges.

“As one of the most iconic British brands in publishing we are absolutely delighted to be a part of World Book Night ,” said 2000 AD and Rebellion Publishing manager Ben Smith. “Not only is The Dark Judges a classic Judge Dredd story, but the role that comics can play in encouraging reading and boosting literacy is well known. I have no doubt that people who receive one of the free copies will discover a new world of amazing stories, and hopefully will develop an appetite for great British comics.”

Dredd 3D review

Okay, I suppose the first thing you want to know is: is it any good? Is it better than the ‘other’ one? Is it worth your money?
The answer to all of these questions is yes.
You can forget all about the Stallone travesty. And then there’s that other thing people keep talking about… The Raid. You can forget all about that too. I have seen the Raid, and while Dredd shares a broad similarity in basic plot, they are totally different beasts.
So, if you are a fan of the comics, there are a few things you will be expecting and I am happy to say that I think you will find them all present and correct here.
Let’s start with the main character. Mega City One. The movie opens with a jaw dropping shot as we glide across the Cursed Earth, over the West Wall and into the city itself. If you are one of the people who thinks that the only thing they got right in the Stallone movie was the city, then be prepared to be amazed, because this is a lot better.
As for Karl Urban. Well, he is Dredd. I cannot fault his performance at all, and the amount of information he manages to convey with only his mouth and chin to act with is very impressive. He, like writer Alex Garland and director Peter Travis, understands the character of Dredd. So much so that, to the delight of this fan at least, he doesn’t have anything approaching an emotional journey or character arc. He’s Dredd and the beginning, middle and end. Well… that’s not strictly true… there is perhaps a hint of glacial speed movement in there… perhaps.

Which brings us to Olivia Thriby, who as Cassandra Anderson, is very much the emotional core of the movie. Thirlby plays her wonderfully, and there is real emotion in her eyes at time, especially in one early-ish scene where Dredd, as the Judge assessing her on her final exam, has her pass sentence on a criminal. It’s a powerful scene and really brings home the brutality of the job these people do. Shout out too, to the depiction of Anderson’s psychic abilities, which are also realised in a very clever fashion.
The other character I found myself having sympathy for was, surprisingly, Lena Heady’s villain – Ma-Ma Madrigal. There’s much subtlety to her performance, and Ma-Ma comes across in the end as as much a victim as everyone else in the city.
As I said above, the thing that gratified me the most was just how everyone involved seems to understand and respect the source material. To give another example. In your standard action movie, any spectacular death is usually greeted with an hilarious one liner. Not so with Dredd. When he’s killing people, he’s a man doing his job, and this resulted in what are possibly my two favourite scenes in the movie.
As I’m am sure you have figured out by now, I liked this a lot. It’s a great action movie, but more importantly, it’s a great Dredd movie and deserves to do well at the box office.
Be warned though, it is bloody, it is sweary, it is very violent. But if you know Dredd, you’ll know that already.

THE DARK JUDGES

THE DARK JUDGES

Script: John Wagner, Alan Grant

Art: Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson, Robin Smith

Price: £6.99

ISBN: 978-1-78108-040-5

Published: 13th September

Market: UK and Ireland

The crime is life. The sentence .... is DEATH!

2000 AD continues its run of Manga-size reprints of Judge Dredd classics with the stories of Dredd’s ultimate foes!

They are the four grotesque lawmen of the Apocalypse: the chilling Judge Fear, the devastating Judge Fire, the terrifying Judge Mortis and their leader - JUDGE DEATH! Twisted alien super-fiends from another dimension where all life has been declared a crime. After wiping out their own world, they plan to bring that murderous mission to Mega-City One!

Judge Dredd and his wise-cracking psychic partner, Judge Anderson, must do everything they can to stop the fearsome foursome bringing their brand of justice to the city!

Featuring some of the most iconic moments in the strip’s history, this volume includes the original Judge Death story, along with the sequels, Death Lives and The Dark Judges, and the Judge Anderson follow-up, Four Dark Judges.

With incredible artwork by Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson, and Robin Smith, the latest in 2000 AD’s line of Dredd stories in B-format is an all-time classic, a must-have that will appeal to old readers and those unfamiliar with the world of Mega-City One.

Kingdom: Call of the Wild review

This is another in our exclusive range of Things We Should Have Reviewed Ages Ago But Are Only Getting To Now.
In the past few years there have been two genuinely classic creations. One is Ewing and Flint’s Zombo, and the other is Gene the Hackman.
This is the second collected volume of the series Kingdom, pulling together the third and fourth stories.
The first of these, Call of the Wild, sees our hero Gene and his young human companion Lizzie arrive at last in what is left of civilisation. Of course as is the way with these things, that is merely the beginning of their troubles and it is soon action all they way as Gene encounters another pack of Auxs, each with a spectacularly punny name in the way that only Dan Abnett can get away with.

This story ends on a bit of a downer, but thankfully with this being a GN, the reader doesn’t have to wait an entire year for the next series to find out what happens next.
And what does happen next is His Master's Voice. And boy… oh boy. There have been a lot of unanswered questions from the previous stores about Gene and his kind. Here is where we get the answers. And the thing is, we really do. Abnett doesn’t skirt around the edges of do it in a half-hearted way that says he didn’t really know in the first place – you know - like in Lost.
That is not to say that there are still not many questions to be answered. The Big Questions from Call of the Wild are still out there, and the ending of that story still needs to be resolved.
But His Master's Voice ends on a prefect note that in a way almost has Gene come full circle… but at the same time end up in a completely different place.
And before I go, I should really mention Richard Elson’s art. It is as you would expect, quite superb. His line work is magnificent, characters perfect and actions scenes kinetic and dynamic. This is helped along by seamless colouring from Abbey Ryder.
All in all this is a very good book, but it only leaves the reader wanting more, and there hasn’t been any new Kingdom  for quite a while. Fingers crossed we get some this year!

The Cursed Earth Saga review

This is another reprinting of the classic Judge Dredd series, this time it is in a smaller, pocket book size volume more akin to Manga books than the traditional 2000AD size.
Does it work? I shall get to that presently, but first, for those of you who don’t know, I’ll give a quick review of the story.
Mega City 2 has been hit by a terrible plague, and the inhabitants are turning into crazed cannibal creatures. It is up to Judge Dredd and a crack team of Judges to deliver the vaccine before time runs out!
To do this, they have to negotiate the ravaged radioactive hellhole that is the Cursed Earth – basically everything between the East and West coasts of the United States.
(The reason for not flying is given, but frankly, it is not a good one!)
This tale, mostly written by Pat Mills with a few episodes by John Wagner, contains a lot of iconic ideas and images. Everything from the classic toy tie-in Killdozer (I had one!) to Spikes Harvey Rotten. Mills even introduces us to hints of what the caused the US to become what it is in Dredd’s day – ideas that Wagner would return to years later what he wrote Origins.

But the greatest thing in this epic adventure has to be Satanus the dinosaur.
Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one: scientists figure out how to clone dinosaurs from DNA found in fossils, incubate them in eggs and when they hatch, they open an amusement park in which things go horribly wrong and the dinosaurs escape and start eating folks. Pat Mills wrote this in 1978. That’s all I’m saying…
So yes, the story is a cracking one and is held up as a classic for very good reasons.
But to come back to the question of it working at this size.

For the most part, yes it does. The reproduction of the art is crisp and clean, which is just as well as it contains some of the best art that Brian Bolland and Mike McMahon ever produced for the comic.
I found myself having to strain slightly a couple of times at the small writing, but on the whole it easy to read.
All in all, it’s a nice little volume, and I think I’m going to pass it on to my children, as I suspect this may serve as a great gateway drug into the Dreddiverse.

2000AD: Celebrating 35 Zarjaz Years!

In 1977, something amazing happened. All across the land the first issue of 2000 AD, dated 26th February, arrived in newsagents. And your world has never been the same since.
Thirty-five years on and The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic is still going strong, still packed with top-notch Thrills by some of the world’s greatest comic book artists and writers, and still bringing intense weekly bursts of Thrill-power to the starving masses.

To celebrate this milestone, this Wednesday sees the anniversary edition, Prog 1771, hits newsstands with the choice of two amazing variant covers - one by Chris Weston (The Filth, The Twelve), riffing on a classic image by Brian Bolland and showing some of the classic characters of the past 15 years. The second cover by 2000 AD legend Mick McMahon shows the alien editor, Tharg the Mighty, surrounded by his loyal editorial droids!


This week will also see 2000adonline.com give away some exclusive prizes to Squaxx Dek Thargo everywhere, including:
• copies of Kingdom: The Promised Land signed by New York Times bestselling writer Dan Abnett
• copies of dinosaurs-farmed-by-cowboys-from-the-future classic Flesh: The Dino Files signed by 2000 AD’s creator and first editor, Pat Mills
• copies of the hilarious mobster comedy Al’s Baby signed by Judge Dredd creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
Thanks to Planet Replicas, we’ll also be giving one lucky Earthlet the chance to get a custom made Judge badge – featuring their own surname! These high-quality fully licensed badges are a must for budding agents of the law, and the winner will get one embossed with their own name.

And as we head toward 2000 AD’s official birthday, we have the pièce de résistance – an exclusive Mongrol figure from Ashley Woods’ threeA Toys. That’s right, we’re GIVING AWAY one of the most hotly desired piece of 2000 AD merchandise in recent years. Standing over 11-inches high and over 13-inches wide, this fully articulated 1:6 scale figure has been drooled over by fans since its release last year and you’ll get the chance to try and win this stunning figure!
Keep your glues glued to 2000adonline.com, as well as our official Twitter and Facebook feeds, as we gear up to mark 35 years of Thrill-powered awesomeness!
Happy birthday, 2000 AD – it’s going to be a zarjaz week!
Links:
2000 AD on Twitter: http://twitter.com/2000AD 2000 AD on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/2000-AD/146588986365

Coming soon - Kingdom: Call of the Wild

Seriously folks, Kingdom is one of the best new comic strips in the past five years, we urge you to buy this book!
Now, here's the press release:

In the post-apocalyptic future, genetically-engineered animals fight giant insects to preserve the future of the world!
From the pages of legendary British comic book 2000 AD comes Gene the Hackman, the pack leader turned lone wolf who battles Them, in a new 144 page collection!
These gargantuan insects have swarmed across the planet and forced mankind into cryogenic slumber in the hope that their dog soldiers can fend off the invaders.
With his human companion, the young girl called Leezee Sower who he saved from certain death, Gene must now learn to survive in the kingdom of Auxtralia, where if Them don’t kill him, the ‘Wild Bunch’ might just!
In the sequel to the hit collection Kingdom: The Promised Land, New York Times bestseller Dan Abnett (Majestic, The Authority) again teams up with artist Richard Elson (Thor), for an explosive mix of hardcore action and dystopian sci-fi.

Dredd vs Zombies game review

Yes! We're spoiling you folks! After too long with no reviews, here's a second one for today!

Even though 2000AD, the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, is owned by Rebellion, a games company, there have been precious few games based on characters from the comic released.
Until now we have had the FPS Dredd Vs Death and the (I think it can be argued) criminally overlooked and possibly groundbreaking Rogue Trooper. Now though, we have another game to add to the list: Dredd Vs Zombies.
This is a budget iPhone release, and by budget we mean FREE, and what you get for your (no) money is really quite remarkable.

The story, for what there is of it, is about an outbreak of zombies in Mega City One, and Dredd has to get in there are sort them out. And by ‘sort them out’ I of course mean ‘shoot them with a variety of guns’, which is something he does very well, it has to be said. This is thanks to the rather nicely automatic aiming system in the game, so the player is not reduced to spinning on their heel in a circle frantically trying to hit something.
The levels are somewhat samey, but they include a nice range of different zombie types, some of which, like the fatty zombie, are uniquely Mega City One creations, and contain a nasty surprise for the unwary.
What is very impressive though is the learning curve in the game – it is pitched just about perfectly, well, for me at least. I found myself getting just that little bit further every time I tried a level, not so far as to make it feel easy, or not far enough to  make me want to give up.
The graphics are splendid too. They are crisp and clear and for a free game, impressively detailed.
There is some great fun to be had here, and each level has good replay value as you must return to gain that oh so important but elusive extra star so as to unlock some later level.
Just one thing though, Dredd. When you say, ‘No back-up required’, I feel that you’re being a tad over-confident, arrogant almost. There is a zombie invasion! Back-up would have been brilliant!

Legends of the law: 2000 AD creator interview ebook launche

2000 AD^® has launched its first ebook collection of interviews with some of the biggest names in the comic book industry.

This first collection includes a three-part interview with the co-creator of Judge Dredd, Carlos Ezquerra, as well as pieces on the creator of 2000 AD, Pat Mills, and two of the artists who fundamentally defined the look of Dredd – Mick McMahon and Ron Smith.

In a new experiment for 2000 AD, the series is being made available in ebook format only – available through Amazon for just £1.99.

These long-form interviews from the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine are a unique insight into the life and work of seminal figures in British comics history, covering everything from their childhoods, to their time with 2000 AD and their work elsewhere. Later volumes will include interviews with more top flight talent from the world of Tharg.

“These interviews are one of the highlights of the Judge Dredd Megazine and give unprecedented insights into the creative minds behind 2000 AD and its characters,” said Matt Smith, editor of 2000 AD. “Nowhere else will you find this long-running series of long-form interviews, and these collections will allow fans to get an in depth look at the people who made 2000 AD what it is today.”

Flesh The Dino Files review

               

This hefty collection contains the original series of Flesh, Book II and the recent revival series Texas, as well as a few extra that we shall come to presently.

So, we start off with something from the very first issue of 2000AD.

Reading this now as an adult, it is hard to imagine the impact it must have had on me at the time I first read it at the age of eight. The very fact that I can still remember it so clearly decades later says a lot about the powerful storytelling.

The first episode is nothing short of lunacy. It bombards the reader with an incredible amount of ideas and visceral imagery. In the six pages of the first episode we manage to get introduced to the main characters, have the premise of the story told to us, witness a herd of dinosaurs stampede over a cliff, see a man eaten by a giant crocodile and are treated to the brain searing sight of a headless T-Rex, blood spouting from the stump of its neck, trample to death a group of unlucky cowboys.

Of course this is merely a taster for what follows. We still have Claw Carver and Old One Eye to meet yet.

Flesh Book I is a brilliant slice of comics.

Such was the popularity of the first series, it was rather inevitable that a sequel would be along.

Book II is essentially the same thing as Book I, only the action has been shifted from the Creatatous Era to the Triassic and relocated from dry land to a massive factory rig in the middle of the prehistoric ocean.

This series is not as powerful as the first, mainly because it retreads a lot of the same ground plotwise and some plot points are nonsensical or even contradictory. But it does have a number of saving graces.

Chief amongst these is the art, which is provided in each episode except the final one (and even then, one of his panels is cut and pasted in) by fan favourite Massimo Belardinelli. His idiosyncratic art style is perfect for depicting the alien world that is the Triassic.

The other main saving grace is this:

Which is unquestionably one of the best comic book covers ever, and I am here to tell you that Beri’s giant scorpions truly are the stuff of nightmares.

Then we have a brief stop gap in the shape of the Claw Carver tale Hand of Glory. This was originally in prog 1526 and marked the return of Ramon Sola to comics after many decades away. It was received coolly at the time, but rereading it here, it is a very good tale, well told and not anywhere near Sola’s best, is still very good. It’s just a pity he didn’t continue to draw comic strips after the reception this one got.

Then comes Texas, in which writer Pat Mills cleverly harks back not only to the fairly recent Carver tale, but to the events in prog one over thirty years, or thirty million years, before, and does so seamlessly.

That’s not to say that this reboot does not have its problems.

Like most modern comic strips, it suffers too much from decompression. This may seem like a strange thing to be saying about a 2000AD strip, and it is – compared to American comics this is still a tale told at a break-neck pace - but compared to the pace of the original series, it is slow!

There are some strange ideas in here that don’t quite come off for me – like the paraoralophus having a cry that will kill everything around them. I can’t quite see how this would work from an evolutionary point of view.

However, this kind of issue is more than balanced out by the big bad dinosaur from this series: Gorehead.

Gorehead is a survivor of the events that took place in the original Flesh series and as a consequence has become unstable in time. Yes, that’s right. He is a giant, indestructible, time travelling T-Rex!

The art from newcomer James McKay is, for the most part, very good. He can certainly draw dinosaurs and he can certainly draw people. The dinos are realistic looking and the humans well realised.

What he can’t do as well though, is draw a comic strip. There are times that the inking is too thick and the panels too complicated, leaving the reader peering into a panel that at first looks like a collection of thick black lines.

The series ends on a nice cliffhanger, and I for one am looking forward to seeing it come back, and I’m confident that McKay will be a much more accomplished comic artist by then.

The rounded off with  stories from a couple of old 2000AD annuals. They are glaringly out of place in the Flesh universe and seem to have been written and drawn by a team with only a passing knowledge of the strip, but they are interesting for historical reasons.

And finally, there are a number of pages of James McKay’s character and dinosaur sketches. These are brilliant, and show what this artist can really do when he puts his mind to it!

Now, when’s Texas Book II coming?