2000AD Prog 2070 (e-comic review).
‘Judge Dredd: Live Evil (part two)’ opens this issue of ‘2000AD’ which is always nice as he is the star of the comic. The script is by Ian Edginton, who seems to write nearly everything in here nowadays and the art is by Dave Taylor using a limited palette, deliberately one presumes. This is part two and I’ve not read part one. It’s obviously not far into the story but I wasn’t clear what was going on. A Judge Miryam Lamia is lying dead when a bald female, maybe a spirit, asks her if she wants to live. There will be a price. In the next scene, the bald female is a Judge and with Dredd. She sees hordes of ghosts. Perhaps it will make more sense as it proceeds.
Another old favourite after Dredd with ‘ABC Warriors: Fallout (part 10)’. The ABCs seem to have ganged up on Blackblood and decided it’s time to kill him. He pleads that the stories about him are all fake news from Thoughtbook. The art was colourful and dynamic. There always seems to be great art on ABC Warriors but the stories don’t move me as I can’t seem to identify with the characters.
‘Brass Sun: Engine Summer’ has a script by Ian Edginton and art by Inj Culbard. I’ve read some ‘Brass Sun’ in the past so I have some notion of the setting. I never finished it because the free review copies ceased and I wasn’t keen enough to buy it. Anyway, Wren, the female lead, seems to have given up on trying to save the sun and tried to settle down with Septimus, the former monk. It didn’t work out. I’ll never be a huge fan of Culbard’s art but it kind of suits some things and has the virtue of clarity. You can always see what’s going on. This might be one to watch.
Next, ‘Savage: The Thousand Year Stare (part 10)’, also an on-going story. This features a big destructive robot or a brain-powered robot suit. The script is by founding father Pat Mills and the very good black and white art by Patrick Goddard. ‘Savage’ is set in a Dystopian future where Volgans (aka Russians) invaded a Thatcherite version of Britain. Lots of derring-do here and I would like to see what happens next.
Last and most colourful is ‘Bad Company: Terrorists (part 10)’. War and surgery have made Bad Company into monsters but they retain some humanity. Hooray! More action and, again, I came in too late. It’s probably unusual to pick up an issue with nearly all the stories far advanced but can happen with an anthology comic. I am like the man who walks in half-way through a film and annoys everybody by asking what’s going on and who’s she?
I’ll need to give ‘2000AD’ a chance by reading a few more issues so that I’m au courant with the continuity. All in all, I wasn’t hugely impressed with this issue but it’s not fair to judge stories by episodes near the end. I dread judging like that. Art can be assessed at first glance and in this issue, it was varied, as usual, but ‘Savage’ and ‘ABC Warriors’ had good visuals.
I read this is a digital edition which can be yours for just £1.99 and can be had even cheaper if you get a subscription. The glossy paper print edition is £2.75 with free UK postage, for now. This digital discount is a lot better than you get off some book publishers. Bearing in mind that Rebellion has to pay the writers, artists and everybody else, it’s not bad.
Eamonn Murphy
March 2018
(pub: Rebellion, 28th February, 2018. 32 page digital magazine: £ 1.99 (UK))
check out website: http://2000ad.com/
