Vampires! They’ve come along way since Count Orlok (no relation) rising out of his coffin like a stepped on rake. In these ever changing times they have gone from sexy to rapey, then from cool to comedic. Finally they went from scary to sparkly and that has been a difficult thing to get past. Sooner or later they were bound to resemble a giant predatory blancmange and that’s where this story comes in. Or is that the Harvey Weinstein case? It’s all so confusing.
DATELINE:
September 2103 (1982 Judge Dredd Annual).
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?:
John Wagner comes over all Stephanie Meyer and Mick McMahon goes all Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT (IN ONE SENTENCE)?:
A crashing spacecraft releases an energy vampire into the Undercity, which is just fucking annoying.
WHO’S THAT IN THE HELMET?:
Judge Hackman has his masturbation arm damaged by the energy vampire. Or maybe the lack of feeling just added to the spice.
Judge Appleby is sucked off and killed by the energy vampire. Lucky bastard.
Judge Marconi helps Dredd lure the energy vampire into a trap.
IT’S CULTURAL, INNIT?:
Marcus Welby was the kindly doctor with a great bedside manner in a popular US television series.
CANON FODDER?:
The chain to the Judges’ badges is the wrong colour.
“God go with you” is used instead of “Grud go with you”.
WHAT’S THE ART LIKE?:
The art is superb and the look of the creature reminds me a little of the Id Beast from Forbidden Planet. The juxtaposition of the dark undercity with the twilight world of the city above works well and the dimness is punctuated with some cool explosions and gunfire. Loved the simple but effective technique of sucking the colour out of things too.
HOW MANY LINKS?:
With a tagline about “800 million stiffs” and a monster that can “suck you dry”, we were always going to be onto a winner. This is another simple tale but the story whips along at a decent pace and has a genuine sense of threat as the Judges usual method of force fails them spectacularly at every turn. Six links, but in a weird colour.
Everything Comes Back To 2000AD 