4 out of 5

The wrap-up before the big prog 2000 pulls out some successfully zarjaz endings for the recent thrill.

JD’s latest PJ Maybe saga wraps up in one of Wagner’s tighter scripts.  The dude (and Ezquerra, of course) is always reliable for a good Dredd tale,  but as with a lot of 2000 AD thrills, things can sag slightly while concluding episodes are set up, even in relatively shorter 6 or 8 part thrills.  ‘Ladykiller’ was rather interestingly underwhelming – it just didn’t have an ‘epic’ feel to it for some reason – but each entry was worthwhile, and felt like required steps in the story.  And – indirect spoiler – I’d completely forgotten about Wagner’s promise to off a main Dredd character.  Whether purposeful or not, I think timing that announcement before the Dredd death fake-out in the recent 2000 AD / Megazine crossover Joyce / Tex-Cit masterwork set a lot of us off the scent, even though there was no doubt about Dredd’s survival.  So Ladykiller’s ending was both a surprise reminder of Wagner’s words while also a completely logical wrap-up.  Well done.

Jaegir ends a short tale wherein Atalia seeks out a homeless Nord who tells her some further stories about her father’s past, all to help our lead decide whether or not to help her pops.  While this is purely a set-up thrill for something (presumably) more expansive, Simon Coleby’s and Len O’Grady’s consistently sickly world- and character-design sells the Jaegir universe so perfectly that I look forward to any opportunity to dip back into its murky waters.  And while the story may not accomplish much, Rennie does a narrative trick of paralleling two character’s experiences (Atalia and her dad) and its done really seamlessly, nothing forced to for the frame.

Scarlet Traces – no feelings on this one.  I liked how this post-alien invasion story started, but as its secret mission to Venus continued, Edginton dug into his strip’s history to a point that made it rather uninvolving for those of us without that history, revelations fully relying on the reader understanding their relevance.  This is Edginton’s style for the worlds he’s created, so I can’t fault him for that, it just weirds me out how his stories seem to suddenly shift into that mode at some certain point, making the beginning feel misleadingly open-armed.  So my one disappointment, accepting it probably worked for longtime readers.  D’Israeli’s art was on point as ever, imaginative yet rendering the out-there events to be perfectly readable.

Outlier was the biggest positive surprise, though only in its last entry.  Eglington and Karl Richardson’s space war with The Hurde was a lot of Sturm and drang and muscled men.  Here and there it would suggest some interesting concepts, but would inevitably switch back to grunty explosions and abs.  The conclusion was the most interesting if its concepts, though – a fantastic place to end it –  and is actually one of the better and braver comic endings I’ve read, truly making the trip worth it.

Emma Beeby seemed to treading water a bit leading into her Anderson psi-thriller’s ending, but like other thrills mentioned above, the payoff was worth it.  Maybe it was Ben Willsher taking over for the last chapter – I dug Nick Dyer’s stylized, Gibson-like look but his layouts grew a bit staid – but Anderson navigating her way through the political conspiracy was smart and concise.  The strip also managed to offer some political commentary without waxing on about it; you can read into it if you want to or not, the story fully standing on its own.

1999 has a one-shot Dredd by Eglington and Paul Marshall that’s short, silly, and Dreddy.