5 out of 5

A rare monthly batch where each issue contains the same stories, and an awesome batch, as the opening halves of all of these tales are supremely awesome.  Note that I have insight into how these stories progressed as I read and reviewed the concluding chapters before this batch (because tracking down 2000 AD in America is sooo eaassyyy).

Dredd – Block Judge parts 2 through 6.  Nothing but good things to say about this already classic Thrill from originators Wagner and Ezquerra.  The writer and artist know how to jam maximal amounts of information into a page without overwhelming, and as such, we can take a tour through Gramercy Heights as our three judges – Dredd, Beeny and Corrigan – go floor by floor, section by section, up and down, trying to reign in the rampant gang activity.  These progs focus on the first takedown of a gang boss via some exaggerated accusations, Dredd’s method for cutting off the head so that they can start knocking out the stragglers.

Stickleback – Thru’penny opera.  The opening chapter of this sort of drops you in the middle of things confusingly, and it’s not a really new-reader-friendly setup thanks to oddball characters, a hefty backhistory (the lead – a master criminal – was killed and recently resurrected?), and intensely unique B&W art from D’Israeli.  The latter half of the story similarly spirals out confusingly.  But these middle chapters do the job well enough, as they’re mostly focused on Stickleback and crew tracking down a killer, while adding in details that will support the later story spiraling.  I also think I’ve realized what doesn’t work for me with Edginton’s writing: his two main stories I’ve read, this and Brass sun, feature BIG IDEAS as told through really plain language.  So this oddball version of London stocked with weird-ass characters and visualized as a pop-art version of 40s and 50s monster-movies includes modern day references and super shorthand characterization.  So the dialogue rubs up against the look and story.  With Brass Sun, the dichotomy (again, to me) especially doesn’t work because Culbard’s art isn’t detailed enough for the ideas.  Thankfully in Stickleback, D’Israeli can fully carry the weight of the weirdness, filling the gaps in Edginton’s words with his visuals.  The end.

Greysuit – Prince of Darkness.  We see programmed assassin John Blake sent to kill an innocent man, a past memory triggered which sets Blake on a path not aligned with his programming.  The setup for this tale fits with Pat Mills tendency to work with tropes, but he and artist Higgins – as has admittedly happened with Slaine over the years – fill that trope with its own sense of identity, so you get a nice sense of the Greysuit world almost right away.  These opening chapters are also pretty thrilling action stuff, so its disappointing knowing how the tone suddenly starts to wander in the later chapters.

Ichabod Azrael – One Last Bullet.  This is really a story that can’t be picked up midway through, as what I was seeing as randomness now makes perfect sense when sequenced with the story.  This is a meta tale told, somehow, without really being meta, dead man Ichabod hoping to kill God and traveling through the underworld to do so, butting up against past enemies and… panel borders.  And authors of fictions.  Michael Dowling’s mostly B&W art is fittingly angry as hell, and the man knows how to design a page to maximize negative space.  The layouts are amazing.  And Williams script hops and jumps between humor and anger and melodrama with purpose, tackling hugely weird ideas with ease while still fitting within a Western vibe…  This is weird, genius stuff.

Abnett’s Kingdom.  Gene the Hackman battling Them.  Kingdom is awesome.  Gene the Hackman is awesome.  Richard Elson’s art is awesome.  These are five issues of fighting and yet we still somehow get a story.  I don’t know how this is done so effectively, but it’s done, and… yeah, it’s awesome.