4 out of 5

An off Future Shock, but otherwise a solid Regened.

Paul Starkey and Ben Willsher do a fun Cadet Dredd, striking that perfect balance in which we can see the Joe of the future, but that it’s not just him in a white helmet. We land on a punchline, like a classic Wagner setup, while the actual story – Joe goes chasing after Rico into the undercity – taps into modern teen-geared horror/sci-fi vibes slickly. This is exactly what I want from these Cadet strips, which, yeah, could almost be viewed as regular Dredds if Joe just lightened up a bit, but that undersells how tricky a tonal juggling act it is.

David Barnett’s Lowborn High finally, finally ends. I’m sorry, but this just never worked for me, bouncing between teen soap and Harry Potterisms, and struggling for an art style that excited, and tone that didn’t just read like a summary of fantasy bits and bobs. As we close out the end of the first arc, though, two things happen: Barnett is able to pull various plot strings together satisfyingly, suggesting this could’ve worked as a tighter-told tale (or maybe he would’ve approached it differently in weekly versus monthly installments?), and artist Mike Walters, though still lacking backgrounds and details, has continued to get better with each entry, suggesting this will be a solid pairing going forward. Basically: the waiting game of every single previous entry is allowed to move forward, and the strip develops a sense of identity and stakes. Special shoutout to colorist Pippa Bowland, who I do think is responsible for improving on Walters art by adding a lot of depth to it with very subtle color gradients.

Bladers: man, what an improvement. Peaty’s first go at this just read like a Mighty Ducks lift, no real zing to it, and Leigh Gallagher didn’t seem like a great fit for the tone. Here, we jump ahead to the team already being effective, and focus on a particular match with a historic rival whose coach is known to cheat. The emotional manipulations done to get the team working are not overwrought – Peaty doesn’t drag it out – and artist Mark Simmons gives the strip a sleeker but looser vibe that seems appropriate for a sports strip.

Lastly, the generally reliable Karl Stock’s Future Shock doesn’t tarnish that reliability, but he goes a bit too direct with his commentary on social media, which ends up affecting how effective the actual story is. Like, to the extent that it starts to lack a point, and is just saying “man, social media sure if omnipresent, ain’t it?” Joe Currie’s Quitely-esque linework (but with Stokoe-y busyness) is great fun still, and I hope we seem more of their work.