On time for once, here is Orlok with his review of 1873. Grey Area does not come off well…
COVER:
Well, that’s just beautiful.
It catches the eye wonderfully and cements 2M0AD as my favourite publication. That is an “m” behind Quartz’s obscuring brain pan, isn’t it?
The only photoshop here appears to be the aforementioned grey matter and the rest of it seems to be a smattering of light lens flare, a startling stellar background and the line-up of our seven heroes. All are overseen by Quartz, the puppetmaster of the metal bastards, manipulating them wherever they roam.
Colour, posing, framing and composition are nigh on perfect.
Inside Raging Tharg lays out the line-up for Prog 1874 while Droid Life tries and fails to be amusing once again.
DREDD:
Gerhart hands a report into Hershey about Dredd’s competence to carry out his role as a Judge. Caution: Features naked man ass.
I’m starting with the art which is again fucking exceptional work. It begins with a bang as a smouldering (check out the blackened eagle) and bloodied Dredd arrives at the Grand Hall and makes for the Med Bay. Here we get to see the “Ben Willsher Manoeuvre” as Dredd’s craggy arse goes on display.
This whole strip seems a bit brighter than his Titan work and though it is interspersed with darker panels (for the mood, I’d guess) we get to see much colour here including some deftly used spot hues. We also get a great look at the reconstructed Gerhart and his cybernetic lips with half a ‘tache.
Flint is one of the best in the business when it comes to panel layouts and we get magnificent examples from the sublime (a pissed off looking Hershey with the face of Dredd looming behind) to the grim (the bottom of page 4 where Dredd discovers the victims of the Slayer).
My only quibble is that Gerhart looks like he is presenting a sales report to Emily Strange.
The story starts with Dredd all smashed up and immediately I assumed this was just after Titan. Apparently this wasn’t the case and Dredd had just had a bad day on patrol.
This story probably would have been better following on directly from the Titan story but it didn’t, so there.
In something that slightly echoes the Question Of Judgement tale from back in the day, Dredd’s law-enforcement efficiency is examined with an eye to his recent experiences. Particular attention is paid to three incidents. First there is the justified putting down of a tech savant who goes on the rampage after downloading and constructing a battle suit. Some nice 3D printed gun parallels there. Second is Dredd’s late arrival at a mutant rights demo. Was this a lapse in judgement brought on by the memory loss drugs or were Dredd’s sympathies for mutant rights a factor? Finally there is the case of the Slayer where Dredd allegedly beats the perp up without a warning. Gerhart markedly does not answer Hershey on whether or not he witnesses a warning, but we do get to see early in the story that Dredd is having flashbacks to being assaulted with a chain on Titan. When he sees the dead woman chained up, did this affect how he handled the case? Did he focus on the chain and use that rage to make the arrest a brutal one?
Gerhart gives one of the best descriptions of Dredd we have heard in a while…”He’s brutal and angry. He’s always been brutal and angry.” This is true, but there is always a measure of control there and it is rare that Dredd actually surrenders himself to his temper. Only the Law prevents him becoming the maniac that dwells beneath the battered surface and with all men comes a breaking point.
Gerhart is also still doggedly pursuing Dredd (Giant points out that Dredd has a stalker to which Dredd replies “Hmph!”) and you would think that Hershey would tell him to back off from a personal investigation that has so far yielded nothing. She does run the Department after all and Gerhart could be better employed elsewhere.
Maybe this assessment was her actually checking up on Gerhart to test his judgement.
This was really good though and just one thing didn’t fire well for me. This was the pointless inclusion of Giant. He was there simply to pass comment on the presence of Gerhart and stand semi naked in the locker room getting Dredd out of his stupor and then he vanishes from the tale. Waste of a great character.
ABC WARRIORS:
Back in the present the posse decide how to deal with Quartz. The only way is through a flashback. Big fucking shock there.
Ok, so the flashback idea is so turgid and contrived it makes my blood boil, but the payoff is spectacular.
The art is a return to the digital format and though I find it inferior to the drawn work, it is still very pretty indeed. The misty toned double page splash opener and the imagery of Tubal’s shadow falling across Tom Caine’s grave is quite something.
There was a cool bit with Blackblood too. After Blackblood disses Deadlock’s wizardry, Volkhan states quite matter of factly that he himself is a wizard, prompting a surprised eye from Blackblood. As he backtracks this eye goes back to deep green.
The speech balloons here were also fantastic with different types for each, the highlight being the black, wispy ones of Deadlock.
And that last page was just amazing. It had just the right blend of old school art with incredible depth of colour. A special mention too to the panel of Quartz which again has some old school quality about it. If this is what we can look forward to with a Ro-Busters re-tread, then all the better.
Storywise this is just a contrivance for a flashback and we have our characters talking about doing something instead of actually doing it. Given the fact that Quartz is behind all the evil in the world (tell Mel Gibson that) and cannot be touched yet, there is nothing to stop them going straight for Volkhan and kicking him into the sun. Quartz would even help them, then they can slot the fucker. But no, first stop must be flashback heaven and more politically undertones, I’ll wager.
The only intriguing bits were the need to seek out Ro-Jaws and his defiance code and the fact that Blackblood is a pandering ballbag.
3RILLERS:
Monroe is revealed to be the villain- gasp!
Unfortunately this sort of fizzled out and the payoff left me with a “really?” as Faux Monroe slaughters his way to the top as predicted last week.
So, bottom line- bankers are bad people who play with the poor and needy for sport and will commit murder to survive. They also drown kittens and have the same musical taste as Patrick Bateman.
Or they are an easy target for poorly executed tales.
It is one of those two. I don’t actually know any bankers so cannot comment on the true extent of their wickedness.
What puzzled me most was the convenience of the sortition angle. Monroe’s entire plan relied on him getting selected to the position whereby he could take command.
The real weakness here is John Davis Hunt. Firstly he seems (for want of a better word) lazy in his layouts. They are pedestrian for the most part and only a few show any sign of imagination; the blood red panel of Barger being stabbed in the neck, sinister eyes of “Monroe” and the pose of Leena pre and post mortem being similar. These are small islands in a sea on the mundane, though.
Then there are the mistakes. The bloody rag disappears between panels on the last page, the cut looks healed and more like the later scar on page 5 even though it is fresh and should be bloody.
There is the disregard for physics and the environment on show. A prime example is the door being broken apart on the splash (and another on page 3). What are these doors made of, balsa wood?
Finally there is some shocking inconsistency here too. In the first part we see a naked Monroe at the champagne bar as the Wharf explodes behind. In part 3 he is running down the street (away from the bar) stripping off as the Wharf starts to come down.
Bottom line…there is talent there. He just needs to find a way to bring this to the fore and keep an eye to continuity.
The colours are nice, though.
FUTURE SHOCKS: THE FLOWERS OF VIBER HINGE:
An old man returns to the scene of a bombing and realises the folly of his actions.
Quite an odd one this, but very poignant and with a nice twist I did not expect. Not sure how long the locals will live once the bodies of the rich and powerful start disappearing, though.
The idea of a bomb that destroys all communication is intriguingly clever.
Really liked it and was still thinking about it after the Prog was put down.
Beautifully drawn in gorgeous greyscale by Paul Marshall with some lovely ink work going on to differentiate it from anything I have seen him do previous.
GREY AREA:
Dan Abnett’s shitcannon backfires.
This should have ended this on a high last week. It would have been perfect to do so as that was a good and well told story.
If the alien and talking passport had been the main thrust of this (like the first person tale from a while back) then this might have been something to put in at later date as it explored the nature of separation from an alien perspective.
Instead the focus seems to be Bulliet’s life going to shit as Birdy turns into a psycho bitch and the unreported alien visitation hangs over him like the Sword of Dumbocles. So much so that he is going to fess up to Lyra. Eventually.
As you can tell I’m not a massive fan of this strip, especially now it has turned into a playground soap opera. “Chucked?”- really?
The idea of a disciplined force at the forefront of diplomatic relations has long since departed in favour of childish dialogue as Birdy becomes a needy, jealous, unhinged lunatic.
I still would, personally, but that’s because my genitals have no morality and she’s a redhead. Plus she’d probably let you play the back nine on a first date.
After being assured by Bulliet not two days ago that she was the woman he wanted to be with, Birdy has thrown out all previous character development in favour of “bunny boiler”.
Oh, and the world and his fucking uncle know that they are an item. Even though this breaches regs.
The only thing here of any note is the art and Harrison is re-shaping things to suit his style (the uniforms for example). The only problem there is Lyra who looks little like her original rendition by Goddard and that should have been addressed.
One of Harrison’s strengths (unlike that of JDH) is that his style actually augments the storytelling. The alien and his parasitic passport had expressions that spoke a thousand words and told you everything you needed to know about their relationship.
Kakontal and Falexal themselves look right out of a Studio Ghibli production and the background stuff here is just stunning. Virtually every panel has something to take your eye to it.
So, Grey Area takes a short break and we can breathe easy. But just like the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, this is just delaying the awfulness for a while.
TOP THRILL:
Dredd was excellent this issue and just nudged out the Future Shock.