4 out of 5

A 19-part thrill!  I want to say that’s the longest run I’ve seen.  And while the perpetrator of that – Dan Abnett’s Brink – stepped away from its undercover sting of some high culture Sect worshippers in its last few thrills, the post-Earth sci-fi tale was definitely become one to look forward to, and remained a highlight of each prog.  (It’s also why I’m clumping these progs together for review, since no other thrill ended at the same time… but that’s the way we prefer our 2000 AD, always keeping us hooked on something.)  My complete confusion as to why I.N.J. Culbard is a go-to artist continues – his figures often look vilely goofy, and the difference between when he’s trying to draw “action” versus surreal mind-trips (both happening in Brink) is minimal: ‘stiff pantomime’ is almost always Culbard’s visual setting.  Thankfully, it’s the story that’s been driving Brink, as Abnett has circled around what all this sect business might be, and we get a little closer with ‘High Society.’  That focus on narrative lends itself to more dialogue than antics, and Culbard works okay for me when he’s in enclosed spaces, two people talking, so that gets to happen more often than not.

The two-part Judge Dredd ‘Block Buds’ is fantastically entertaining, landing on a funny concept of giant AI projections – configured to act / look like little kids – watching over each block, and then we gear up for what feels like another proper Wagner mini-epic with ‘Machine Law:’ robo Judge Harvey returns for some philosophical debates with Dredd, taken to the next level when Harvey lands a political office thanks to a new Chief Judge (!) stepping in.  Really looking forward to see where this goes… will Judge Hershey actually be stepping down?

Fiends of the Eastern Front also returns for a funky B-movie riff of vampires vs. man-bats.  With Tiernen Trevallion on black and white art, while some of the action choreography gets a little confused (man-bats and vampire bats are hard to tell apart, y’all!), this is the strip that’s been making me reevaluate Ian Edginton’s writing… as I’d previously felt him to script a bit cluttered, but these past two Eastern Front stories have been great, this being a more aggressive counterpart to the last tale’s somewhat more somber look and feel.

Two 3rillers; good ideas on both, with middling but acceptable execution.  3rillers are hard.  The Scorched Zone does a zombie riff, which is really the only reason it feels a bit tired on arrival.  It actually ends up being balanced well between its three acts, with enough “science” in there to differentiate itself from zombie epidemic norms.  Keeper of Secrets is the opposite – starting out fresh, blending some ancient curse hoodoo mythology with the modern day, unleashing a frightening pig monster upon us – but it loses its edge once it starts explaining things.

And… James Peaty’s Skip Tracer.  The main reason this run gets knocked down a peg.  I dig Paul Marshall’s art; I dig bounty hunter / skip tracer protagonists.  But Peaty has abandoned any kind of hunter / tracer hook at the start of each one of his arcs – same here, when our lead Nolan Blake gets mixed up in some kind of terrorist conspiracy – and then never establishes any character or concept with any kind of lasting impact or identifiable anything to make me interested in remembering what’s happening week to week.  I desperately want this strip to shape up and define itself in some way.

In the 2111 XMas issue, we got some fun one-offs of Slaine, a concluding Caballistics, Inc. thrill, Durham Red, and… well, and Fall of Deadworld, which hasn’t worked for me, but was on par with all else from that strip.  Starting up we have more Jaegir (yes!) and Grey Area (yes!!), which suggests the next run might be a good one as well.