3 out of 5

Many progs! Surprisingly not much happening?

We kick a lot off with a big ol’ Xmas issue for 2312, featuring a hilarious tour of the past in the Dredd slot from Niemand and Lee Carter, plus an additional tribute to Alan Grant as a separate Dredd thrill – appropriately silly and sweet. Some other surprises in this ish, though nothing too super great on its own: a Rogue Trooper, a Bonjo from Beyond the Stars, an Ace Trucking; besides the Grant tribute, this really just slots in as the beginning point for many of the longer running thrills: The Out, Joe Pineapples, and Proteus Vex.

So let’s talk about those longer thrills.

Joe Pineapples: woof, I don’t really know what this was. It’s an ABC Warriors post-script, featuring the titular character and Ro-Jaws, the former having some memories of his girlfriend and past battles. Bisley frikkin’ kicks this strip off!… before handing over to Clint Langley, whose overly digital art isn’t as appealing, and doesn’t quite work as well, narratively, but it’s a fair enough proxy for the most part. I also liked the black-and-white for flashbacks, even if I’m still not totally sold on Langley’s storytelling prowess. But the story itself… Well, look, I don’t know much about this title beyond a few snippets, and I’m frankly not a fan of Mills’ modern day writing, plus he’s been mostly absent from the progs for several years now. I wasn’t alone, based on the forums, in not being clear what the deal was here, if he made a request to close out ABC Warriors, and because it’s Mills the answer was Yes…? Regardless, I really got zero out of this, but I could bounce along with the art.

The Out: I should be adoring this book. I did, at the start, and think the way Abnett is pushing the story along – there was kind of a big break in the narrative, when the Tankinar war kicked off, and we flash-forward to find out that Cyd was, like, mind-wiped and reconstructed and used as a weapon during the war, and now she’s trying to find out exactly how that happened… – this direction is completely unexpected, and a fascinating way to expand the scope. But, man, Harrison’s art is just entirely inconsistent. It kind of worked for the way the story started, but as it’s become less of a travelogue and more linear – as there’s been more need for storytelling and not spectacle – being able to discern background from foreground, and actually be able to understand what’s a character and not scenery – it’s become less and less readable. Cyd also looks like a different person every other panel, Harrison perhaps using photo reference on occasion, then freehanding others, and the variability between all of these just kills the immersion. I’m struggling. Conceptually I’m on board, and, again, Mark was a great fit at the start (and mostly worked for me on Grey Area), but this is where I’m splitting with the forums, which are generally all about this strip.

Proteus Vex: meanwhile, an example of a story that confuses the fug out of me, but I love it anyway. This gigantic space war of vengeance and power plays and double-crosses is an insane amount of fun for exactly that adjective: it’s gigantic, and it feels that way. Michael Carroll and Jake Lynch have succeeded in making the alien world of Proteus massive, and impactful, such that my feeling somewhat lost feels appropriate. It’s an exciting affect, kind of reminding me of The Expanse: the sense that, when I take the time to revisit, and better appreciate the inner-workings, it will just take off; but even without that deeper grasp, the drama and action still resonates.

We also get the last run of The Order: Heart of Darkness. I’ve voiced my overall wishy-washy feelings on this strip during its various appearances, but John Burns’ art seems especially dialed in here, and while I feel like Kek-W’s writing makes a lot of the previous complexities moderately irrelevant – boiling this down to some final battles – that distilling does make this outing pretty fun. Can I explain who-comes-from-what-time and who’s a worm? Heck no, but this was an enjoyable romp.

The Dredd spot is a mixed bag. Ken Niemand and Nicolo Assirelli kick things off exceedingly well: Assirelli’s progress has been phenomenal, as the artist really shines in these rather noir setups, and Niemand’s theme of past ills haunting the present keeps bearing very impressive fruit. ‘The Night Shifter’ is an exciting, and sad, bit of political intrigue. Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt, Paul Marshall on art, then step in for ‘The Hagger They Fall,’ resurrecting Keeper Hag for a Cursed Earth perp hunt. Williams / Wyatt try way too hard to make a smoking, talking cat into a cool-ass character, and that part flops for me, but the overall “plan” for Joe to throw himself into the line of fire in order to get Keeper is exciting. We get a middling one-shot from Niemand and McKeown (an artist who I’m not sure is a good match for Ken’s tone on Dredd) – it’s an interesting idea, tracking Joe’s history via the amount of doors he’s kicked in – but kind of doesn’t land, and then what should be a fun riff on corporate head-hunting, with vying members killing for the top spot, in the Leonardo Manco-illustrated ‘Succession,’ but that narrative on this one jumps around too much to make it feel as consequential as its tone suggests it should be. That might also be a mismatch with Manco’s art, which has a severe edge to it, while the dialogue / narration perhaps has more punch.