3 out of 5

Another monthly batch with the same thrills throughout – rejoice!  Alas, some personal bias (painted art) and some poorly defined thrills (Ulysses Sweet) make the issues plod a bit, despite having some fan-favorite action via its featured characters.

Judge Dredd – Dark Justice, chapters 2 – 5.  Any John Wagner Dredd script has some credence, and really, ‘Dark Justice’ is no different in that respect, with the author’s usual mastery of disparate elements (Anderson’s sensing the approach of the Dark Judges; the maiden voyage of self-contained-world spaceship Mayflower) told well separately and then pacedly tied together – this time with those Judges appearing on that ship – but what should be the star of the show – Greg Staples’ painted art – triggers a personal opinion of mine that painted art… sucks.  I mean, single panels can look great, but the medium is generally horrible for capturing action.  So our Dark Judges look super amazing, but the art still has that very posed and stiff look that painted art does.  The story is also going to pale a tad following up the insta-classic ‘Block Judge,’ as we’re back into slightly more typical bad guy vs. good guy fare.  Thus ‘Dark Justice’ is, so far, an average Dredd jam that, if’n you feel as I do regarding painted art, gets docked slightly.

Ulysses Sweet – Psycho Therapist.  Mad crazy Sweet is in search of the pieces of a ‘psyche’ chip that kept him relatively sane but, for pre-story reasons, is no longer in his head.  Never a good sign when you’re reading the first installment of a thrill and find yourself surprised that its not a one-shot and actually a multi-parter.  Similarly with each issue of this month, I was curious how this story could possibly be going on longer.  Paul Marshall’s art (greytones by Chris Blythe) has a very poppy, less-standardized Steve Dillon vibe going on, so it works well for the intended-humorous bit, but Guy Adams’ script feels like it’s bopping around for ultra-violence gags and doesn’t read smoothly.  I bet this is a fun character but I wonder how much longevity his tale has.  An unfortunate lowlight of the month.

Orlock – Eurozoned.  As a new 2000 AD reader, I’m not clear on Orlock’s history (beyond Tharg’s Nerve Center summary), but the pace of this tale makes it clear it’s a prequel / origin bit either way.  This flash of espionage and back-stabbery featuring the slippery and slidey Orlock, as written by Arthur Wyatt and draw with deliciously shadowed sketchiness by Jake Lynch, is not uninteresting, it’s just distracted with circling around the other players tracking Orlock post a purposefully botched op that, in these initial chapters, it’s hard to get a feel for where it’s going.  It doesn’t seem aimless, just unformed, so there’s a lot of potential building that will hopefully be seen through in later chapters.

The Order.  If there’s a counter for the Sweet tale, it’s Kek-W and John Burns brand new The Order.  In 13th Century Germany, there’s a badass knight named Anna who has a steam-punky gun her father gave her and stumbles across a talking robot head tied to a secret cadre of warriors called The Order who are here to help Anna fight the Wurms… and, of course, protect the future.  Burns’ art is touched with just the right amount of steampunk to give the otherwise historical setting that wink of sci-fi, and Kek-W’s script has that seamless 2000 AD blend of imagination, humor, action, and bloody gutness.  Every prog has added a new wrinkle or bit of intrigue, and it’s cool getting in on the ground floor of something so instantly exciting.

Savage – Grinders.  I’ve thus far not been overly wowed by any Pat Mills bits that I’ve read, as they all hover a bit too eagerly near over-obvious commentary, and ‘Savage’ – something something leading to ABC Warriors, I think? – has its bit to say about privacy and government, as resistance leader Bill Savage helps to quell a 1999 invasion of Britain by The Volgons… only to see leadership replaced by some locals that are appearing equally as suppressive and potentially evil as The Volgs may have been.  And while a lot of the talking-head politicalness does fall into that Mills’ judgement of mine, Savage is a fun ‘fuck off’ type character, and this thrill – ‘Grinders’ – sees him slipping back into a resistance role, now against those he once supported.  Out of the four progs of this month, I was half-in, half-out of the story, but it’s definitely compelling enough – with stable, reliable art from Patrick Goddard – to make me curious if the tale will build to a head or just wander, as some of Mills’ tales (in my reading) tend to do.

So the only real misstep – Ulysses – is easily balanced by The Order.  Elsewhere, a fairly average (though for 2000 AD average is better-than) batch of progs.