2018: Fourth QuarterA selection of stories from progs 2100 to 2110, in order of most to least ghafflebette...
Brink: High Society [part 1](2018: progs 2100-2110)
S: Dan Abnett, A: INJ Culbard, L: Simon BowlandBrink makes such a dense narrative impact that this feels as if we're much further along than just a third series. First, there were hints of a murderous cult, then came the revelation that they were organized enough to alter the geography of new build infrastructure in an attempt to accelerate the awakening of some kind of dark god. The trail has led the main character (Kurtis) to go undercover in an elite corporation.
Despite some clunky, distracting storytelling choices (research narrative cluttering up the frames and black-box censored real-world swearing), the rest of the story is so superbly realized that those are forgiven as the tension ramps up towards murder and disaster. The foreshadowing is masterful (an early corporate shooting pays off twice) and, as we reach the halfway point, everything has slotted into place to leave our protagonist in deep do-do.
The only slight logical flub is the idea that the same people who feel secure talking in private if the staff are behind a hologram then themselves hide behind holograms to overhear people. So: the holograms aren't soundproof. Everyone should behave as if they have that knowledge.
This seems like it could (should) be a television series - with most of it set indoors (despite the space setting), there's every sense that it would be manageable on a (relatively) modest budget.
Kingdom: Alpha and Omega(2018: progs 2100-2110)
S: Dan Abnett, A: Richard Elson, C: Abigail Bulmer, L: Ellie De VilleThis eighth series of Kingdom doesn't mess around with distractions and dives straight ahead with the main thrust of the plot. It does feel odd that the build up of Clara Bow and the pups was just ended off screen while Gene was messing around up in space. Talking of space - how do the masters deal with the need for water and oxygen up there?
What began as Masters vs. Them has morphed as the series has gone on: now the factions bleed into one another, and there are Masters (in space or planet-bound survivors), Aux (pure bloods and not, loyal or not), Them, Augmented-Tick-Them and finally Original-Tick-Infested (including humans, Aux and Them).
Gene tries to remain neutral - sick of being tasked with choosing a side. The end of this sequence suggests that it might be the last for a while. Gene walks off into the sunset and is given a coda. The eternal war of evolution and species carries on, with the final frame mirroring the opening of the first series: a small squad of warriors, equipped for battle, defeats their enemy in close combat. Only now it's super-evolved Them rather than pure-blood Aux.
The art style seems to have gone through an ink-splatter filter, which has the effect of making it look like something went wrong at the printers but (I assume) was meant to provide a patina of grit.
Tharg's 3rillers: Infestinauts Are Go!(2018: progs 2106-2108)
S: Arthur Wyatt, A: Pye Parr, L: Pye ParrSpinning off from the first Regened issue (which was FCBD 2018), this takes the one-page Intestinauts, puts them into (relatively) giant combat mech suits and has them go to battle against acid-spitting skin lice.
This is all highly entertaining and should win some kind of Kevin O'Neill award for the most disturbingly 2000 AD-like thing in the prog for 2018. Like an insane mash-up of the hair-dwelling sub-plot from early Shakara (recall the horror of the "pubic depths") and Banzai Battalion, it's running on the same fuel as The Young Ones. Funny but smelly.
Looking forward to the scratch 'n' sniff sequel: I could see this as a short-form hit in the same structural vein as Captain Klep.
Fiends of the Eastern Front: 1812(2018: progs 2100-2105)
S: Ian Edginton, A: Dave Taylor, L: Annie ParkhouseThe original Fiends (1980: progs 152-161) was a masterclass in horror comics from Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra: relocating European vampires to the warzone of World War II. In 2006 they were resurrected (in the Meg) by David Bishop and Colin McNeil, shifting us over to Stalingrad. And 2016 saw a one-off arise in the FCBD, where Fodder took the metaphor of blood-sucking to war-torn Vietnam.
1812 (naturally) takes us back in time, to where a youthful Constanta is involved in Napolean's failed invasion of Russia. As a premise, it's super-exciting, but it becomes problematic as an episode in the wider series when it mashes its myths together (a la Hellboy) and introduces zombies and Baba Yaga. Not that we shouldn't have a story that blends these myths - but it wasn't what this series did, so it feels out place.
For all that, this is highly entertaining and incredibly well produced, and has researched the strategic aspects of the war impeccably.
Judge Dredd: The Small House(2018: progs 2100-2109)
S: Rob Williams, A: Henry Flint, C: Chris Blythe, L: Annie ParkhouseThe Low Life Dreddverse is an odd place that sits alongside the other versions but doesn't integrate well. There are cool set-pieces, gritty dialogue and inventive, interesting concepts - and great art - but it's just not really Judge Dredd (he's overly emotional and too heroic), and the central plot is flawed and retconny.
Smiley asks too much of us: he's a character brought in from British spy thrillers (like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and desposited here with his little tea set, magic room and department within a department that's become a Dredd-world trope and cliche. For a master manipulator who's lasted this long, he, in the end, is egotistical, lacking in foresight and far, far too hands-on.
File under: fun, but flawed. I don't believe that dead character is really dead, either.
Sinister Dexter: The Sea Beneath the City(2018: progs 2109-2110)
S: Dan Abnett, A: Steve Yeowell, C: John Charles, L: Ellie De VilleAn entertaining "What if Sinister Dexter were Bond?" that could sit almost anywhere in the timeline without disrupting anything else. Ridiculous 70s robots alongside a villain who's part-Nemo, part-Goldfinger give us the backdrop for some great setups, which somehow include a workers' revolt sparked off by a plight-of-the-everyman conversation between two minor employees of the resident megalomaniac.
Skip Tracer: Legion(2018: progs 2100-2108)
S: James Peaty, A: Colin MacNeil, C: Dylan Teague, L: Ellie De VilleTurgid weak-sauce that turns all the lights to amber on the dull-ometer. Somehow, even maestro MacNeil on art duties can't enliven this macho libre ham-fest of overwrought melodrama dressed up as cyberpunk. It's missing the punk, is the problem. It's cybercorporate by way of jocksville, as brooding muscle-man with special "get away from me" powers does no skip tracing whatsoever and instead goes to psychic war with his equally brooding muscle-man brother. (Except they're all being exploited by the Associament. Sorry, the Governiety. The Fellowgarchy. Something.)
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