2000AD #2237 Review

Writers: John Wagner; Gordon Rennie; Laurence Rennie; Rory McConville; Kenneth Niemand; James Peaty
Artists: Colin MacNeil; Boo Cook; Dan Cornwell; PJ Holden; Paul Marshall
Colours: Chris Blythe; Len O'Grady; Dylan Teague
Letters: Annie Parkhouse; Simon Bowland; Jim Campbell
Publisher: Rebellion

Hitman Bick Bickford finds himself in a predicament in Judge Dredd: Removal Man. Last week’s assassination wasn’t quite as covert as intended, and Bickford finds himself having to get rid of witnesses. Meanwhile, Judge Dredd is doing some detective work.

In only a few pages, writer John Wagner makes Bickford both a coldhearted monster and a man with entirely understandable motivations. He commits crimes so sudden and so awful this prog should maybe come with a content warning, but is motivated by love. It’s also nice to see Dredd not only display a small bit of sensitivity whilst dealing with a distraught widow, but also do some detecting. Many writers default to having Dredd bash heads. Here, the head bashing happens literally in the background and the investigation skills come to the fore.

Meanwhile Colin McNeill, who has long been my favourite Dredd artist, does a fantastic job, with shadowy figures and a beautiful panel layout as things go over the edge.

On the search for a missing child, the gang battle a bunch of goblin creatures in Mechastopheles: The Hunting Party. It’s double the action this week as battles rage both inside and outside steampunk demon-stomping Kaiju. Mechastopheles continues to rocket along nicely, introducing characters and concepts amid Boo Cook’s action packed art.

I remain confused as to how big this beast is. In earlier stories, Mech felt like a building sized labyrinth that the characters were couped up together inside. Now, there seems to be a disconnect: a Tardis interior where characters wander a metal wasteland or battle in the streets of cities.

Also inside a big monster are the characters of Department K in Cosmic Chaos. Exploring another dimension, the gang have discovered the fallen body of a Locust – a mini- Galactus eater of worlds. What could have stopped an unstoppable force? Department K is a nice story, with fun and interesting characters, and Cosmic Chaos feels like its still setting up something big.

People like Skip Tracer. It clearly has its fans. For my tastes, it doesn’t feel big enough.

Psychic detective/bodyguard/anti-authority rebel Nolan lives on a cube space station and has run-ins with an oppressive government named the Consociation. It feels like a great possible set up, but I’d like to see more meat on those bones – for The Cube to feel like a real place with unique character rather than an empty space that fills with background characters only when they’re needed to push forward the plot.

Eden begins in the standard Skip Tracer fashion – with some running, a confrontation, and Nolan demonstrating his psychic powers, before we’re handed the McGuffin for the next adventure.