"Manky Moses! You're pullin' my wires!" I won't spend time this week reminding you how good Strontium Dog has been. As usual, this title switches things up in a way that's funny but doesn't really detract from the gravity of the situation. Honestly, the last few serializations of Strontium Dog have been even more solid than their Dredd counterparts. One has the burden of being in every single issue though, I suppose.
On Dredd, Sexton continues to prove that he can draw some really brutal, detailed scenery, while O'Grady is up to the task of keeping it all tight and colorful at the same time. Kingdom appears to be launching headlong into its climax, but since Kingdom has never really been my jam, I haven't been too crazy about this latest chapter that really relies on me either going wholesale for hack and slash or caring about what happens in this world.
ABC Warriors grabbed my attention again this week, with it's awkwardly levitous robot humor mixed with outright murder, terrorism, and revolution. It's like that every week, but there's one scene in particular that occurs in a robot bar (a... robar?) that I just sat and stared at for awhile. Part of the appeal is the fact that this page felt more analog than some of Langley's heavily rendered pages at the beginning and in other parts of his story. Unlike many other pages in this story, if you told me Langley made this one entirely by hand, I would believe it. The whole aesthetic of this page was just right up my alley, even if a lot of the ABC Warriors story feels like it's been spinning in circles from issues one.
I officially have no fucking clue what's going on in The Order, and I know I've probably said that at least twice, but it's very clear that it's intentional now. The Order is building towards something that the reader is supposed to be in the dark about. While this makes me feel better about a lot of my confusion so far, it's been a terribly slow start, both narratively and visually, for what was once a compelling series that used to have me saying "holy shit!" every week. Burns is very slowly getting to have more fun with the story on the page. I'm not saying everything the man does in his unique painted style has to be action-packed, but goodness gracious it's about a secret order battling the Wyrmqueen.
Things felt a little steadier this week, but outside of Strontium and Kingdom, the stories being told feel really heavy in addition to the other problems I am having getting through them.
Score: 3/5
2000 AD - Prog 1967 Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: Rebellion Price: £2.55 Print / £1.99 Digital Format: Print/Digital Website