4 out of 5

Cliffhangers!  New Dan Abnett sci-fi!  Rennie overload!  ‘Twas a good month.

In Dredd’s Grindstone Cowboys, which, interestingly, crosses directly over with JD Meg #371 before a new branch of the storyline (with PJ Holden art, whoop whoop) kicks off in #1978, the Judges are spread dangerously thin protecting outposts in the Cursed Earth, as told by the lately-frequent duo of Michael Carroll and Colin MacNeil.  Mike and Colin have been carving out an interesting corner of the Dreddverse, dwindling in Judge Joyce’s family background, and now having established the character they can write him on his own, away from JD.  …Which proves important for a truly great cliffhanger that has me eager to see where this is all going, especially given 1978’s step across the pond into Brit-Cit.

Eddie Robson finishes up another solid but brief 3riller entry, although Jake Lynch’s art was way too loose to sell the creepy edge this haunted house tale needed.  A killer Future Shocks by Rory McConville and Joshua George takes place in 1976, with a lotta-hoopla-over-an-amusing-distraction Tharg-centered ep filling the spot in 1977 (…the year the mag appeared, hence the build-up), before Abnett / Culbard’s space police tale Brink starts in 1978.  Abnett has been a good guide for Culbard’s artistic limitations on Wild’s End, so I’m definitely looking forward to this.

Rennie / Beeby / Googe’s Survival Geeks.  The geeks meet their gender-swapped variation and survive an attack by anthropomorphic rodents.  Howard Cthulhu’s about with a vacuum.  If you’ve loved this trio’s reference heavy antics, there’s only infinitely more to love here, and the followup arc with hypnotist-Kevin promises to be just as fun.

Rennie also gives us more Aquila brutalism, with somewhat incongruously comical art by Paul Davidson, but it ends up being the right fit for all the stitched-together beasties “Tortrix the Necromancer” produces, whom Aquila has tracked down in order to glean some more info on Ammit’s location.  The storyline admittedly feels like a bit of stalling, more an excuse for bloodletting and monsters than moving the narrative forward, but its final chapter more than makes up for it with a ridiculously amusing way to get us back on track for whenever the next installment happens.

The only downside throughout is Tainted, Kek-W and Dave Kendall’s Deadworld followup.  I think we’re all pretending to dig this because Kendall’s painted stills are amazing and who wouldn’t want a Deadworld origin story, but Kek-W has an amazing issue of letting way too much connective tissue fall between the panels, and Kendall’s sequential artwork just isn’t all that clear and energetic.  It’s a disappointing story that essentially boils down to every zombie tale: a virus is spreading.  Whoop-dee-doo.  Occasional highlights and suggestions of how this will lead to the Dark Judges (assuming I’m not missing obvious hints as I’ve only been a Dredd reader for a few years now) keep it readable, but otherwise this is unfulfilled promise.