What They Say:
Mega-City One, 2130 AD. This vast urban nightmare on the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America is home to 400 million citizens, every one a potential criminal. With lawlessness rife, only the Judges can prevent total anarchy. These future lawmen are judge, jury and executioner. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the Law!
The Review: (please note that content portions of review may contain spoilers)
Judge Heller has found himself in the ultimate pinch as what he thought was a new lease on life was turned against him when the former street walker he saved was kidnapped to get him to murder Mega-City One’s most feared Judge- and now Heller is discovering that Dredd already knows the set up he is in. With the jig up, is Heller going to have the ability to pull the trigger on his colleague- and even if he does can he trust any of the people who hold his new passion in life in their hands? In Mega-City One nothing is what it seems or is to be relied on- except that crossing Judge Dredd is a very dangerous proposition.
In Savage the war is well and truly joined as the allies have launched their new war robots to give the British resistance a fighting chance against the Volgans’ forces and to keep the Volgons from destroying the British oil refineries and making the victory a Pyrrhic one for the insurgents when they lose. With many of the Volgons’ mighty war machines occupied fighting on the front line it leaves the resistance fighters in a position where they are matching up (mostly) against flesh and blood opponents and letting their strength, knowledge, determination and luck decide just who will carry the day…but is luck going to be enough to carry the one man who can unite all the various factions of resistance together when he doesn’t particularly recognize his importance or feel his worth and act accordingly?
Ampney Crucis meanwhile discovers that the presence of a Martian ambassador isn’t the most incredible thing he is going to encounter as the being has an ability far beyond even the norm of his people and he can see the worlds that aren’t but maybe should be and knows that Crucis is at the center of it. But the ambassador also imparts a dire warning, something Crucis himself perhaps should have realized- whoever changed time and reality went to a great deal of effort to do so and they very likely aren’t going to sit back and watch someone try to undo that work- but will that warning come in time or will the mysterious power make the first move?
The Red Seas has Captain Jack Dancer facing off against a being that claims to be The Lightbringer and who certainly looks the part- but with all he has seen and done, is that enough to impress the captain or has he come to a greater understanding of the cosmos…or perhaps he may just a lack of concern for who creatures claim to be (and maybe really are) as a result of his adventures. With a battle ready to begin his opponent has his troops at hand but will Captain Dancer’s arrive in time? In Strontium Dog things aren’t much different as Johnny Alpha is slowly trying to get the word out for the second mutant war to begin but things aren’t going to be easy as not every mutant is on his side or wants to follow his path. This creates a path that is fraught with betrayal and danger as the men at the very top of the conspiracy calmly plan to bury the truth until the public has forgotten what the question ever was. When two powerful forces set to pit against each other will there be any winner as the world seems to crackle with tension around them?
Prog 1815 wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter as Dredd confronts a Judge who has lost his way and is now finding out that rather than The Law he has always declared himself to be as part of a mantra The Law is in fact catching up to him in the form of both those who police the Judges and probably the best example of the most merciless yet fair (by their standards anyway) Judge ever. But when the two butt heads and only one comes out standing…and what happens if there is still no victory to be found after throwing everything away? In Savage readers get both a bit of political thought provoking material as Britain’s people get a chance to win their freedom and even further are rewarded with glorious eye candy in the form of the sheer power to be found in the stunning depictions of the urban guerilla warfare that Savage is operating in that is almost as powerful as watching the man seem to throw his life away with abandon to fight his enemy.
Ampney Crucis meanwhile continues to astound with its inventive new world laid over the bones of the old as the investigator has to deal with far more than he ever bargained for if he has any hope of ever seeing his true home- and meeting a Martian ambassador still may not be the strangest thing to have happened to him that day. The Red Seas comes a few steps closer to winning me over as the subtle (and blatant) humor and devil may care attitude that is starting to mix with a fanciful world to create characters that appeal to me, even if I still feel more than a little lost trying to figure out references to a decade’s worth of stories. Finally Strontium Dog continues to build on its pace as Johnny Alpha experiences both some minor victories and sizable betrayals but shows through it all that this is one mutant who is not going to take extinction lying down and will use every breath in his body to make sure that those who have brought about an end to his people find that they won’t be around to celebrate the inevitable dying out of the mutant race. With so much going on AD 2000’s Prog continues to be one of the most predictably enjoyable comics I can recall reading in quite some time and again it shows that one need not stick with home grown entertainment to find some truly special stories.
In Summary:
Conclusions and continuations are the theme of the day as one story arc comes to a close in one of the titles while the others heat up and move forward with a pace that brings a crushing feel of momentum with them as powerful forces set themselves up for a seemingly investable clash. With one issue containing so much material a comic book fan definitely owes it to themselves to give it a look.
Grade: A-
