This is a great line-up of strips that bodes well for the next few weeks (though talking of Bode I presume Feral & Foe will be bowing out soon).
'Adios, Rowdy Yates': Great old-school knockabout stuff from the Weston brothers (what? oh) with some lovely touches like the dignitary taken out by the ricochet and Dredd's mangled respirator at the end. Would it be churlish to ask why Dredd thought he could survive the block's demolition? Probably.
Mechastopheles: Apart from his being generally brilliant, I've noticed that across all his strips, the Rennie droid really knows how to sell an opening instalment; and this is no exception, hurtling from the fantastic trio of imps, to the Broken Crowns, to a majestically rendered sea battle (Boo Cook was an inspired choice as replacement artist) and finally the titular mecha itself... and still finding a spare frame to fill in the backstory!
Exquisite... absolutely
exquisite.
Department K: I have to admit I didn't really pay this much attention on its Regened appearances, but I'm very much liking what I'm reading here. And let's face it, art courtesy of top-tier art droid Dan Cornwell is never gonna hold a strip back, is it. Although I don't think this is the first time the Staring Championships have been interrupted by a furry starfish...
Feral & Foe: One of the things I love about Dan Abnett's scripts is that even in a five-page instalment where not a great deal happens, there's still something worth reading in every frame. Just a little joke, or a turn of phrase, or something to give a character colour. They're never just treading water.
Chimpsky's Law: Freed of any need to crowbar Dredd into the story, this absolutely shines. Special mention to the gorgeous little tableaux of the run-down apartment interior on the third page.
I can honestly say that I'm really looking forward to the next instalments of all four back-up stories, and great as 2000 AD is, that's not always true. As the time-honoured phrase goes:
good proggage.
