The Order and Survival Geeks were solid this week, but everything else dragged. "Dark Justice" has, for the umpteenth time, been great to look at, but this time, sort of thin. It makes sense that the story moves at a quick pace, since they are trapped on a space station with a bunch of ethereal, murderous Judges. And the pace suits Staples' style, as I have said before. But the background work in this issue often made it feel like it was either half-finished, or much campier than Staples' style deserves. There's also not much drama or tension at this point, and a crazy twist that would have been welcome this chapter didn't actually happen.
I like Survival Geeks quite a bit. It's still sputtering plot-wise a little bit, as new series do, but both the writers and artist have a great sense of humor that comes through in the plot and on the page. Simon's fantasy sequence was a lot of fun, and the comic is doing a great job of juggling the hijinks of different characters with such limited space.
"Station to Station" came to a close this week, and though Douglas' artwork really was something special on some of these spreads (see the second page of this week's closing chapter), the story never really gained any depth for me. I thought the use of subway tunnels as synapses for an alien hive-mind was a really cool idea, and I understand the potential that this sci-fi concept has for giving some kind of social commentary on prejudices and different folks coming together as one. But the potential for commentary just sort of hovered over a story that was filled with a lot of quick deus ex machinas. I think this story could have benefited from more space, and that at times, especially in the issue prior to this one, it read like the writer didn't try as hard as he could have to really tighten his belt to fit everything into just three short chapters.
There will be something taking the place of "Station to Station" next week; hopefully it helps boost this lineup a little bit.
Score: 3/5
2000 AD - Prog 1920 Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: 2000 AD Price: £1.99 (Digital) £2.49 (UK) Release Date: 3/4/15 Format: Print/Digital Anthology