Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our “2000 AD” weekly review column! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at Rebellion/2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment. Let’s get right to it!

Judge Dredd: Sentientoid’s Big Idea Part 2 Credits: Rob Williams (script), Jake Lynch (art), Jim Boswell (colors), Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Greg Lincoln: Wow, ‘Sentientoid’s Big Idea’ part two relies a lot of exposition. There is a lot of story to be told and it is a testament to the entire creative team that this chapter still feels more show than tell. The Sentientoid, we learn, dates back to the time of Apocalypse War. Its recent awakening and sentience has left it feeling alone, lost, and adrift in the unfamiliar world of capitalism. It grasps for for something to center itself and movies fit the bill apparently. Rob Williams pulls from the Godfather – a movie so iconic that even if you have never seen it you know the big scenes and the overall thrust of the film – and throws in some homages to the movie throughout. He also tantalizingly lets us in on the Sov war machine’s big idea. It has bought into one of the seedier aspects of capitalism, killing for money. The classic film has gotten under its skin as it has gotten keen on becoming a made man.

The moment that does draw you into the story is that conspiratorial whisper we can’t read, the deal struck between the Sentientoid and the mob guy he spares. And at that moment, you are kind of there with it as it kills the Judge that rolls up. The rest of the strip sees Dredd and his partner Chase arriving to investigate, and their revelations are secondary. We are just curious now where the idea is going to take us. Williams killed it with the pacing as you never notice just how much work he gave to Annie Parkhouse with the lettering.

Jim Boswell made some really great tone and pallet choices for this. There is a coldness for the flashbacks and scenes where we kind of see the world through the Sentientoid eyes. Jake Lynch’s Godfather homages reinforce the noir, crime story tone set by cultural reference alone. The Sentientoid kills a good number of people on panel, but the way it’s drawn the only time Lynch makes you feel it is when it it takes out the Judge. It’s powerful and bright and violent compared to the earlier kills it racked up in the cold shadows of the other scenes.

Tharg’s 3rillers: The Crawly Man Credits: David Barnett (script), Lee Milmore (art), Quinton Winter (colors), Simon Bowland (leters)

Brian Salvatore: The second piece of ‘The Crawly Man’ does a really fine job, in just a few panels, of giving this strip an extra dose of heart. Not that seeing Caris kidnapped last week wasn’t a shock to the system, but her genuine fear and emotion – rendered stiffly but effectively by Lee Milmore – seep through these pages and make the story sing in a different way. The twist at the end of the strip further digs the knife in, allowing the entire tone of the strip to change into an even darker place.

Both the pieces with Caris and Herne feel a little more fleshed out than last chapter, and David Barnett’s script both gives the reader a little extra exposition and creates a world that feels full and rich, and would have without the added context. As mentioned last time, ‘The Crawly Man’ does a fine job in keeping with the pastoral British horror genre, and that shorthand worked wonders in the first chapter, but now is simply the foundation upon which the rest of the story builds. This allows the story to feel like it is both more complex and deep than its two installments have shown thus far.

As this is a “3riller,” it will wrap up next week, and unlike so many of these types of stories, this feels neither like a rush to the finish line nor a drawn-out one-shot. The art’s rigidity is the only part of this strip that isn’t quite living up to its potential, but the mood evoked by the lineart does help set the tone.

Skip Tracer: Valhalla Part Eleven Credits James Peaty (script), Paul Marshall (art), Dylan Teague (Colours), Simon Bowland(letters)

Michael Mazzacane: Now this was a surprising strip both in terms of content and how it moves the plot around. Prog strips don’t have the luxury of turning into an extended action set piece like “Naruto” and so on, so extended action sequences generally don’t happen. That functional knowledge doesn’t make the dissolution of Djinndorah satisfying. The effectively two pages but more like two panel showdown between the nihilistic demon and Eden wasn’t thrilling or exciting. As an example of what Eden’s power can be like it is perhaps the most functional and dramatic display, but even that didn’t have time to breathe. It all just feels rushed, especially when you have a single panel take up a third of the page on page three.

There is something thematically engaging about this showdown between a demonic force professing a nihilistic attitude and the lack of salvation and his foe being the antithesis of that, a character named after a mythic utopia. But any engagement with this battle of symbols is wiped away with the flick of a wrist.

The creative team doesn’t let anyone off the hook though, at least in this episode. Once Eden is returned Noland quickly ports back to the Cube and completes the mission. Paul Marshall shows his incineration as the ship goes into the Black Hole. It’s an honestly touching and effective moment. Those final two pages show the kind of measured pace that I would’ve liked to see the first three have. Obviously this is all building up to what will either be the finale or the start to the final act. What is Valhalla after several teases and a trip through a celestial entity? Can Eden even find Nolan and meet him there?

The eleventh entry in “Skip Tracer” does a whole bunch of stuff, maybe a little too fast. But there is also a commitment to characters and their own unflinching standards that is admirable. This is very much a downer ending … for now. I also just can’t help but wonder what if this strip was in an issue of the Megazine and they had twice the space to really make the drama land.

Dexter Bulletopia Chapter Eleven: The End of the Pier Show Part 2 Credits: Dan Abnett (script), Tazio Bettin (art), Matt Soffe (colors) Annie Parkhouse (letters)

Matthew Blair: With everything that’s been going on with Dexter and his crew it’s easy to forget that they’ve been fleeing for their lives against a massive, all consuming artificial intelligence that has been tracking and hunting them across Europe. Now things have come to a head, and the past has caught up to them in more ways than one.

Writer Dan Abnett does a good job of turning “Dexter Bulletopia Chapter 11 Part 2” into the set up for a brutal and long awaited confrontation between Dexter and the murderous AI, and while Abnett has a great track record of turning out some great stories, new readers might feel a bit lost here. It’s not that the comic itself is bad, it’s just that if you want to be able to fully appreciate what’s going on you have to be heavily invested in this series from the beginning. Abnett does a solid job of giving Dexter some quiet character moments and setting up a nail biter of an action sequence, but it doesn’t really feel special unless you really know what’s going on.

Steve Yeowell’s artwork for “Dexter Bulletopia Chapter 11 Part 1” shows that it’s functional and capable of telling an emotional story, but it’s also plain and runs a serious risk of coming across as boring. Yeowell’s simple art style does really shine when Dexter is having an emotional break down, but in a world of grime, poverty, high crime, and low morals he doesn’t do a very good job of showing just how grimy and lived in this world can be.

“Dexter Bulletopia Chapter 11 Part 2” is a great emotional journey and promises to have some great action in the future, but there are some world building problems that prevent the story from being as good as it could be.

Jaegir: Ferox Part Seven Credits: Gordon Rennie (Script), Simon Coleby (Art), Len O’Grady (Colors), Jim Campbell (Letters)

Christopher Egan: Giving us a little bit of a change in format, Rennie opens this chapter by taking us in years past to give us a glimpse at how these events spun out to the current storyline. The change is welcome, but not enough to warrant an extreme amount of praise. Overall, the script doesn’t do anything much different than any of the other chapters, but it does add a bit more character intrigue to a story that’s been sorely lacking any.

The art team does get to switch things up adding various color schemes to the story that, for some time, has looked generally the same week to week. It’s a good looking chapter and it does add enough changes to give readers something to look forward to and be a bit different. I do find myself wondering where this story is going, but I can’t decide if that’s out of actual interest or just waiting for the end to come.

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

Chris lives in New Jersey with his wife, daughter, two cats, and ever-growing comic book and film collection. He is an occasional guest on various podcasts, writes movie reviews on his own time, and enjoys trying new foods. He can be found on Instagram. if you want to see pictures of all that and more!

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Matthew Blair hails from Portland, Oregon by way of Attleboro, Massachusetts. He loves everything comic related, and will talk about it for hours if asked. He also writes a web comic about a family of super villains which can be found here: https://tapas.io/series/The-Secret-Lives-of-Villains

By Brian Salvatore, Christopher Egan, Michael Mazzacane, Matthew Blair and Greg Lincoln | Sep 1, 2022 | Columns

Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our “2000 AD” weekly review column! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at Rebellion/2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment. Let’s get right to it!THIS WEEK IN 2000ADJudge Dredd: Sentientoids Big Idea Part 1 Credits: Rob Williams (script), Jake Lynch (art), […]

By Brian Salvatore, Christopher Egan, Matthew Blair, Greg Lincoln and Michael Mazzacane | Aug 24, 2022 | Columns

Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our “2000 AD” weekly review column! Every Wednesday we examine the latest offerings from Tharg and the droids over at Rebellion/2000 AD, the galaxy’s leading producers of Thrill-Power entertainment. Let’s get right to it!THIS WEEK IN 2000ADCadet Dredd: Two TribesCredits: James Peaty (Script), Luke Horsman (Art & Colors), Annie Parkhouse […]

By Brian Salvatore, Christopher Egan and Matthew Blair | Aug 17, 2022 | Columns

Welcome, Earthlets, to Multiver-City One, our monthly look at the “Judge Dredd Megazine!” Let’s get right to it.Judge Dredd: Little Shop of TerrorsCredits: Ken Niemand (Script), Neil Googe (Art), Gary Caldwell (Colors), Annie Parkhouse (Letters)Christopher Egan: After raiding a Judge Death worshipping suicide cult, Judge Dredd finds a talking replica of the Death’s head. This […]

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