By Luke Williams
John Smith has been known to be a little “esoteric”. Occasionally, his writing can be difficult, particularly his earlier works but it’s always inventive. Full disclosure, I’m a bit of a fan and there are other articles on this blog covering some of his other work : Vertigo’s Scarab, “Firekind” and a very brief overview of his career in the Prog’. Of the second generation of 2000AD script droids, Smith is probably the most overlooked.
So when Smith co created a new strip for Judge Dredd Megazine with regular collaborator Sean Phillips it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect it to be just as difficult as his previous almost wilfully impenetrable work. However, “Devlin Waugh” is the start of Smith’s more accessible period.Devlin Waugh is a freelance exorcist for the Vatican, a papal envoy – a freelance exorcist investigating the supernatural corners of the Dreddverse. Described as having the head of Terry Thomas (famous British actor of the 50s and 60s) on the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Devlin is playful, camp and incredibly vain with a sharp tongue. Devlin was a welcome relief from the other Meg’ strips that were in some shape or form a foreign variation on Dredd, editorial clearly agreed that not everyone has to be jackbooted proto fascist wearing an armoured rendition of a national costume.
In the opening story “Swimming in Blood” (Judge Dredd Megazine Volume 2.01-2.09 – 1992, fortnightly) we’re in the familiar John Smith territory of body horror. Phillips and Smith create an “Aliens” esque siege story, the underwater prison off the Bahamas “Aquatraz” suffers from an incursion of vampires and Devlin is sent into to clear them out. Devlin arrives just as all hell breaks loose and tried to escort the staff to safety as they are slowly picked off one by one by the vampires. Plot wise it’s not any more complicated than that, but it succeeds in the delivery including absolutely beautiful Sean Phillips artwork, clever storytelling techniques, art styles and inventive design. The weirdness is toned done, the gore remains tempered with a witty script, sharp dialogue and great pacing resulting in a wonderful package and an early Judge Dredd Megazine classic. It’s a great set up for the character. There are a few story candidates for the oversized hardback reprint in an “Apex “style – “Swimming in Blood” is high on that that list.
Devlin was a huge hit, there was a quick follow up in the one off ”Brief Encounter” from Meg’ 2.26 “Brief Encounter” features Devlin’s attempting to enter MC1 while Old Stoney Face is on customs duty. Dredd plays the straight man to Waugh, the ascetic versus the hedonist, with typically wonderful Sean Phillips art and Smith’s sharp script who had a great ear for Dredd dialogue.
Sadly, Sean Phillps jumps ship after that, and there is a looooooooooong gap, with text stories “A Love Like Blood” (a popular title for Smith) for the 1993 JD Mega Special and “Body & Soul” for the 1994 Judge Dredd Yearbook illustrated by Phillips.
A much heralded team up with Dredd trailed with a prologue by Ashley Wood in Meg 3.08 (1995 the Meg had reverted to a monthly frequency), gets punted back when Wood drops out and Siku (Ajibayo Akinsiku) takes over with the story proper in “Fetish” (Meg 3.26-3.30 1997).Mysterious killings of MC1 racketeers are investigated by Dredd and Psi Judge Karyn. Karyn bites off more than she can chew and falls foul of the mysterious entity orchestrating the deaths and enters a coma. Justice Department trace the source of the killings to Pan Africa using the fetish of the title. Dredd heads out with Pan African Judge Shaka from Pan Africa. It all starts going a bit south, when Devlin who is exploring Pan Africa and rescues them duo, before teaming up and continuing the mission to save Karyn.This is a Dredd strip that happens to co star Devlin Waugh from around halfway through, it suffers slightly from Siku’s highly stylised art (Dredd has a comedy chin) and, which suffered from poor colour reproduction. Smith’s dialogue continues to sparkle, Devlin’s presence raises the story, but the whole thing is just a bit murky, though Smith again proves he can write Dredd.
After such a strong start with “Swimming in Blood”, the big gaps in appearances meant the character lost some momentum. but returned with a two parter in 2000s Judge Dredd Megazine 3.72 (the numbering an indicator of the seemingly routine relaunches and reformatting of the Meg’ during this period).
Black & white and drawn by Michael Gaydos, later to come to prominence with his partnership with Brian Michael Bendis on the Marvel Max title Alias, “A Mouthful of Dust” began some fleshing out of Devlin’s back-story and the establishment of a supporting cast of sorts. Devlin’s old friend Jerry Biedekker comes to him for help, he hadn’t been as careful as should with his romantic dalliances, picking up a nasty and debilitating “infection” after sleeping with something demonic. The only thing that can save him is the waste of life, from a pool in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. This feels a like a filler before an epic, or perhaps a try out for Gaydos on the character who sadly didn’t manage to convey his humour. For whatever reason Devlin was underused and the Meg’ was taking far too long on capitalising on the character.
Both “Fetish” and “A Mouthful of Dust” suffered in comparison with “Swimming In Blood” in the art department. Things were going to change with the next instalments.
Where to find it:
Publication and collection is a little odd. There are collections of “Swimming in Blood” and “Fetish” but mainly out of print (Mandarin and Hamlyn) but it’s also collected by Rebellion with later stories (notably its sequel – which we’ll get to in part 3 ish).
Try the webshop, but also you can pick up them up in The Judge Dredd Mega Collection volumes 14 and 16 (15 covers later stories)
Everything Comes Back To 2000AD 