3 out of 5

I realize the one-shot 2000 ADs should, in theory, be more satisfying than the weekly serials, as all of the stories are one-and-dones, but part of the charm of the mag is the unique way it allows stories to unfold in bits and pieces.  The Specials act more like standard anthologies, which suffer from the unevenness that comes from writers trying to shovel their content into an even more compressed format than usual.  And as Future Shocks and Terror Tales and etc. have shown, it’s tough.  Some of our writers are seasoned and know the ropes, but sometimes it’s someones first shot at the setup and it either feels too much like an intro to another story or, more generally, over-stuffed.

The 2014 special is pretty good; none of the pieces disappoint, but I’d almost prefer it if the book had stuck to less common characters (Pat Mills ‘Defoe’) or new bits (Rennie’s ‘The Alienist’) vs. the well-trod worlds of Dredd and Rogue Trooper, as these entries – while, again, not in any way bad – feel pretty standard.  T.C. Eglington and Alan Grant give us Dredd and Anderson stories, respectively, that oddly share a theme of killers influenced by media.  Darren Douglas’ painted, cartoony art on the latter is a bit too lush for Dredd stuff, to me, though it’s framed superbly, but newby Riccardo Burchielli on Eglington’s bit has an appealingly loose Yeowell-esque style, although Luca Saponti’s colors sorta’ drab it up.  Come to think of it, Guy Adams and Lee Carter’s Rogue Trooper bit also feels thematically tied to the Dredd shorts.  Carter’s art reminds me of that groovy inhuman Technopriests kinda stuff, although the short is an example of something that sorta fizzles in the compressed format.  Rennie has his usual classic comic zing with ‘The Alienist,’ with matchingly exuberant b&w art by Eoin Coveney, dealing with some universe hopping demon hunter.  And, as usual, I’m excited to see where the story might lead.  Eddie Robson / Jeff Anderson’s Terror Tales entry is short and Tales From the Crypty sweet, although it’s hard to build much around it in only four pages, but Mills’ Defoe is an amazingly focused tale from the writer, highlighting a sweet moment of revenge for the zombie hunter, illustrated with awesome intensity by Leigh Gallagher.

So no real essential stories that make the Special something required to track down, but if it’s part of your subscription, it’s definitely not money wasted.