3 out of 5

Mainly reviewing these just to capture the Megazine ending of the Oubliette, which is covered in Niemand’s and Nick Percival’s ‘The Black Tower’.

While it’s interesting that this side of Kenneth’s epic was used to expose the Big Bad (and allow it to exposit), and that the overall conceit of attacking the story from “outside” – with 2000 ADs Followers and the tangential Anderson story – and “inside” – from Joe’s POV in the Oubliette entries themselves and then Rico’s / Giant’s POV in these Black Tower bits – it has variably felt like a bit of a runaround, very much typified by how these Megs played out. I do think the baddie was a good choice, and it’s clear that Niemand has some long-running threads he’s weaving, but the 2000 AD side of this has been a lot more compelling. Maybe it’s that Pecival’s art just takes me out of this stuff (my usual complaint – the painted stuff is great for pinups, but really makes more dynamic action hard to read or too stiff), but there’s something about the monthly pace of the Meg versus the weekly prog that offset The Black Tower: it was a bit too important and conceptually massive to have it as a crossover with relevant story elements revealed in the Megazine. Maybe figuring out a way to relegate more tangential details or one-shots into the Meg would’ve worked. Overall, definitely not a bad tale, but suffered from needing to be part of something bigger and faster-moving.

Lawless started up in these issues, and speaking of the above… it seems Dan might be doing this volume all as one-shots. The end result will, I’m sure, be a blast, but the two onesies we get here and simply fun, which is neither a slight or outright praise: it is what it is. Metta gets into a brawl; Metta tracks down a wild creature which has been bothering the locals. The former is more of an art show for Winslade to crowd the pages with characters (delightfully!); the latter somewhat underwhelms – feeling like Dan is aiming for something profound and can’t quite get there – but is by no means a boring read.

Andi Ewington’s odd Rogue Trooper entry continues. I’m digging on Sinu Senan’s raw art (which is somewhere between Winslade’s scratchy line and John McCrea’s jagged one – the page layouts are pretty standard though), but I call the tale odd because I really just can’t get a read on what Ewington is going for. Like, Rogue is holed up in a base and helping some Southers, but there’s no real hook here – it’s a story that makes you feel like you’re missing some larger context. And maybe I am! Despite having read bits and bobs of Rogue’s older stuff over the years, and anything new from the past decade or so, I have never felt like I’ve known the character’s history like I do Dredd or Johnny Alpha. So this could be on me, but I’ve been finding this one good filler, though without distinction.

Niemand starts another Mega-City 2099 run, with art from Conor Boyle, in 495 – don’t know what to say here. This has always been a novelty strip to me, and I can’t get too excited about a multi-part tale, but we’ll see. A floating cemetery that Joe is keeping watch on is a good setting for, apparently, next month’s zombies.

On a surprising note, John Reppion starts up Storm Warning again with Lee Carter, and it’s a great intro: Lillian Storm’s I-don’t-give-a-fig ‘tude has been fun to read, though the stories haven’t quite grabbed me yet. The setup of a mystery in a haunted mansion has a lot of promise, though, and I think Carter’s a great pick for the art, able to visualize the stiff upper lip tone of the story while also embrace the goofiness of the ghoulies Lillian can see.