Review Category: Comic Books

JUDGE DREDD: THE MOVIE – 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

One of the most misguided comic book movies of all time resurfaces with this handsomely repackaged comic book adaptation of the 1995 Sylvester Stallone vehicle. Directed by Danny Cannon and starring Sly as the lawman of the future, Judge Dredd was a fine mid-nineties action movie but an utterly abysmal take on the iconic 2000 AD character. First published to coincide with the film’s release, this adaptation comes illustrated by the mighty Carlos Ezquerra, with Andrew Helfer adapting the film’s screenplay back onto the comic book page.

Most of the film’s problems remain – Dredd taking off his helmet a few pages in, the baffling catchphrases – but Ezquerra’s art goes a long way to legitimise some of the blasphemy. As illustrated by the Dredd co-creator and 2000AD legend, he certainly looks the part, for the 20-odd panels where he’s in uniform, anyway. The rest of the time, the book is at least attractive, featuring a gritty depiction of Mega-City One and versions of ABC Warrior Hammerstein (minus hammer), the Angel gang, and Dredd’s clone brother Rico. The mid-nineties was when Carlos Ezquerra was putting out some of his finest artwork (including Necropolis, with which one might argue he peaked), and Judge Dredd: The Movie is nothing if not good-looking.

Even better, the change in medium now means that one can enjoy the story of Judge Dredd: The Movie (if such a thing is indeed possible) without having to endure Rob Schneider. The character is still an irritant (no flies on the Fergee of the comics), but here he takes on the role of generic perp rather than, well, Rob Schneider. Ezquerra didn’t even bother to draw him, either, with few of the characters made to resemble their movie counterparts. One can only imagine how poor Ezquerra must have felt as he was forced to draw all those pages of an un-helmeted Joe Dredd (who doesn’t really resemble Sylvester Stallone either, it must be said).

There’s no sugar-coating it – Judge Dredd: The Movie is still a mess (and the breakneck pacing of this adaptation only serves to make it clumsier), but this book is a charming throwback to a flawed but still highly enjoyable work of ’90s action cinema. Still don’t like it? Just squint and pretend it’s a Demolition Man sequel.

This 30th Anniversary Edition is also supplemented with the double-whammy of Ken Niemand and Richard Elson’s crossover story Trinity. First published in Christmas 2021, this short but sweet tale sees Dredd prime cross paths with his multiversal selves – Stallone’s Dredd, and the 2012 version, as played by Karl Urban. And yes, he takes the helmet off. The other Dredds are bewildered by such flaunting of protocol, but, in its quiet affection for this much-maligned version of the character, Trinity is all of us.

JUDGE DREDD: THE MOVIE – 3Oth ANNIVERSARY EDITION is out from March 12, 2025.

BLADE RUNNER: TOKYO NEXUS

Across the extended universe of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner – in films, comics and cartoons – we have seen a lot of LA and a bit of space, but probably not enough of the rest of the world. Thus, new comic book series Tokyo Nexus, the first volume of which is now released in trade paperback, gives us a new window into the Earth of the alternative early 21st century, and… honestly, it’s not all that different.

The story, from writers Kianna Shore and Mellow Brown, opens with Tokyo immigrants and private detectives Mead and Stix. He (Stix) is the happy-go-lucky killer with a heart of gold, and she (Mead) is the hard-bitten one, the head of business and private detection. Approached by a potential client with mysteriously deep pockets and a murdered sister, they both smell trouble. But Mead can’t resist the money or the mystery, while Stix has other (more or less ethical) business to attend to. A spanner is thrown into the only slightly convoluted works by the appearance of an American blade runner with Japanese ancestry and a rogue killer skinjob to track down.

Any further details of plot would be spoilery, but you get the idea. In fact, you can get the idea within a few pages of the comic and by knowing what the Blade Runner setting is all about. Sadly, the plot is not deep or intricate enough to feed the sense of atmosphere, and the storytelling is often filled with info-dumps followed by under-explained action sequences. Equally, the characterisation is underdone for everyone except Mead and Stix (and even then, it is harder to know if we know so little about them because the story is holding back or because there’s just not that much to know).

Tokyo Nexus’s major saving grace is Mariana Taibo’s art, particularly the detailed and occasionally expansive backgrounds that set the atmosphere of 21st century Tokyo. Leaning heavily on Moebius (whose The Long Tomorrow was a key inspiration for the look of Ridley Scott’s original film), the little intricacies of costume on this or that passing background character can be a delight. However, what they still fail to do is create something that really feels distinctively Tokyo, besides feeling more airy and bright than the oppressive detuned television skies of LA.

Entertaining enough but lacking the requisite sense of atmosphere or mystery to feel sufficiently Blade Runner-y, Tokyo Nexus is pretty but slight, an addition to a growing canon that adds little but takes away nothing.

MOEBIUS LIBRARY: THE MAJOR

This late work by Moebius follows the protagonist of The Airtight Garage (the eponymous Major Grubert) in a series of connected scenes or episodes as he struggles with the role of oracle, the nature of good and bad, and probably something to do with spirals or time or keys or something. It’s likely Moebius would have been equally dismissive about the story in The Major, taking great pleasure in surrealistic twists and leaps in the narrative, characterisation and art style, which can jump from sparse and riddled with peculiar slips in character continuity to incredibly dense and detailed panels that might best be described as a Mayan wall frieze rendered by H.R. Giger on the surface of an acid tab.

It would be very easy to sell up the Carlos Castaneda influenced experimental profundity, and reflections on the nature of time and narrative, of this book, but in reality the philosophical musings come across more sixth former marijuana user mixed with frustrated writer searching for purpose and meaning. However, much more fundamental to the surrealism of The Major is that it’s also very, very funny. Moebius, in dialogue, narration and visual storytelling alike, has a Monty Python knack of undercutting the discomfort of the unreal with sudden everyday bathos and undercutting anything too straightforwardly narrative, or potentially deep, with eruptions of outright silliness.

It’s a relatively short book in terms of plot but, for added casual drug use points, the back section of the book is filled with standalone full-page illustrations that are begging to adorn the walls of the twenty something stoner in your life. So if, like this reviewer, the thought of forced profundity or experimentalism fills you with dread and panic you should rest assured that Moebius knows how silly he is often being and is having an awful lot of fun while doing it. Don’t be afraid to step into that world.

MOEBIUS LIBRARY: THE MAJOR is out now in hardcover and digital from Dark Horse Comics

NEMESIS RELOADED [TPB]

It’s probably a truism to say that Mark Millar has a reputation for adding a touch of bleakness, brutality, and stark cynicism to the colourful world of comics, but few of his characters are designed quite so clearly to dial all these up to eleven as the ‘what if Batman was the Joker’ supervillain Nemesis. In this sort of sequel, sort of retcon/soft reboot, Nemesis returns with a new backstory, a little more depth and an almost worrying level of sympathy from this particular reviewer.

Debuting with a four-issue limited ruin back in 2009, Nemesis is every bit the Batman style superhero, super-fast, apparently super-strong, deadly with all manner of weapons and hand to hand, but with the twist of being a gleefully anarchic villain. In Nemesis Reloaded we’re introduced to Nemesis through the carnage he wreaks as he holds a terrified LA to ransom, but soon begin to learn of a sympathetic and (almost…) justifiable motive for it all as he hunts down one ageing cop after another.

Slickly illustrated by George Jimenez, Nemesis Reloaded is full of explosive and occasionally gory action scenes which, in spite of the swaggering advisory warnings on the back cover, are gruesome but nothing stomach turning by modern comics standards, to accompany the peppering of mildly sweary dialogue, such as “****!”, “****!” and “What the ****!”.

The plot is nothing world changing (and feels a shade too close to the revenge plot of V for Vendetta at times) and does seem more a setup to feature Nemesis in Big Game and other Millarverse properties. It may also be this reviewer’s political prejudice showing, but Nemesis also feels too close to an anarchic superhero rather than villain, given his goal of undermining the police in order to ruin California for tech billionaires.

In sum, Nemesis’s reboot is a quick, slick, showy and bloody rollercoaster but a little too forgettable in its own context to feel like much more than a setup for things to come.

NEMESIS RELOADED is out now from Dark Horse.

DOCTOR WHO: ONCE UPON A TIME LORD

Just in time for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials comes brand-new graphic novel Once Upon a Time Lord, featuring the other David Tennant incarnation – the Tenth Doctor – alongside Series 3 companion Martha Jones.

Martha is captured by the Pyromeths, aliens who feed on fiction, and must tell stories to appease them. This framing story cuts away to a series of adventures – narrated by Martha – in which the Doctor seeks the “most valuable thing in the universe”.

Dan Slott, the Eisner-winning writer known for his work on Spider-Man, is a long-time Whovian and has thrown absolutely everything into his first go at writing for the Doctor. We get alien planets, earth history, and encounters with numerous villains from both the classic and new eras of the show. There’s even a ‘backup’ script starring the Ninth Doctor and Rose.

All of this makes for the kind of book that could easily get bogged down in its references, or feel choppy as it jumps between the different settings – we’ve certainly encountered other Doctor Who media that’s suffered from continuity overload. But Slott’s script balances everything with elegance – Once Upon a Time Lord flows smoothly and engagingly, and encyclopaedic expertise is not required to follow what’s going on.

Similarly, switching between artists mid-comic is a risky move, but here it’s built into the story; Christopher Jones’ crisper, more realistic art illustrates the framing narrative, and Matthew Dow Smith’s sketchier, dramatic style fits well with the stories-within-the-story. And Mike Collins’ art on the Ninth Doctor section reminded us of his time illustrating the Doctor Who Magazine strip – you can hear the “Fantastic!” in the way he draws Nine’s grin.

The main drawback is the price – since Titan have released this as a hardcover book, the RRP is rather high for the amount of pages you get. However, for readers in the UK at least, it is available at lower prices from some online outlets.

Slott has two further Doctor Who graphic novels planned, and if his first dive into the Whoniverse is anything to go by, we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Doctor Who: Once Upon a Time Lord is released 7th November from Titan Comics, via book shops, comic shops, and digital platforms.

To find out more about the book, read our interview with its writer Dan Slott.

RIVERS OF LONDON – DEADLY EVER AFTER

by Ed Fortune

Ben Aaronovich’s Rivers of London has slowly become a multimedia franchise. Though we still seem to be years away from a TV series, the comic-book spin-off series has been quietly racking up its own cult following. Deadly Ever After is the tenth graphic novel, though it’s very much a stand-alone story, as is written by Degrass: Next Class writer Celeste Bronfman.

Rivers of London is urban fantasy series set in a world very much like our own, except magic, is very real, very dangerous and mostly kept from public view. The majority of the stories deal with Metropolitan police Detective Sergent Peter Grant and his allies, but Deadly Ever After takes a slightly different track, concentrating on the misadventures of Olivia and Chelsea Brook. These twins are, in fact, river goddesses, relatively young ones who constantly get into trouble.

The story sees Chelsea and Olivia get caught up in fairy tale-themed magical shenanigans, and we get guest appearances from all of the main characters, including the secret agent foxes, who are a fan favourite. Bronfman has a good handle on what makes the Rivers of London series special, and there’s a reasonable amount of tension and mild peril to keep the book engaging throughout.

JM Beroy’s artwork is solid but nothing special. This isn’t a story that leans into the advantages of comic-book storytelling at all, so the art is nice but doesn’t have any chance to show off. The colouring and inking are fine, and that’s part of the problem here. This is a fun little comic book story, but the art, script etc all seem to be very simple and straightforward; everything plays it safe, and you get the feeling that nothing earth-shattering will ever happen to the franchise in these pages.

Deadly Ever After is fun, but it’s an appetiser while we all wait for the next Ben Aaronovich novel.

ESSENTIAL JUDGE ANDERSON – SHAMBALLA

by Ed Fortune

The world of Judge Dredd The grim and haunted world of Mega City One and the extreme measures humanity has taken to keep civilisation together following a nuclear war has kept readers fascinated for decades, and though many of the stories revolve around ‘super-cop’ Dredd himself, there’s always room for more characters and stories.

Following the success of the Essential Judge Dredd series, those lovely folk from 2000 AD have launched a follow-on series, Essential Judge Anderson. The titular Judge has always been a slightly more interesting character than her grumpier, more down-to-earth colleague. Not only does Anderson have a sense of humour, but she also has psychic powers, which means her solo adventures tend to take a darker, supernatural tone.

Essential Judge Anderson – Shamballa brings together four stories; Triad, The Witch? Report, Leviathan’s Farewell and the titular Shamballa. These all loosely hang together to form an over-arching narrative.

Triad sets the tone nicely, a dark little story of mystical terrorism and the loss of innocence, and the Witch? Report is a sort of coda to this tale, following up on events of the first story. Triad is a solid paranormal thriller with a slightly disappointing ending, so the coda is appreciated. Leviathan’s Farewell is bleak and broadly uncalled for; it uses fairly hackneyed story-telling to establish the mood for the main event, Shamballa.

Alan Grant’s story-telling is at its best when it focuses on one core idea. If that idea is strong, then the story is strong. Shamballa’s core idea appears to be ‘take the wildest ideas from the Fortean Times’ and make that a thing. The story is a little short, and we spend enough time establishing Anderson’s relationships for anything to have a real impact.

Steve Potter’s lettering is near-perfect, and good typography doesn’t get enough praise. Arthur Ranson’s art is gorgeous, grainy and vivid throughout. It is atmospheric and perfect for these spooky stories of rough justice in a world that has lost its soul.

It’s called ‘Essential Judge Anderson’ for a reason; well worth a look.

MARVEL HEROCLIX SPIDER-MAN BEYOND AMAZING

by Ed Fortune

Spider-Man has a unique position in the Marvel Universe thanks to a rich roster of villains and some rather involved storylines. The recent Beyond storyline involves a pan-dimensional corporation, Spidey’s clone Ben Reilly becoming a mascot for the said corporation, and an ageing Peter Parker getting his life back together, all the while dealing with a lot of classic Spider-Man villains. It’s a fun storyline, and Wizkids have used it to release a whole range of Spider-Man-themed Heroclix, with a full starter set game, booster packs, etc.

The Marvel HeroClix: Spider-Man Beyond Amazing Miniatures Game follows the formula we’ve come to expect from Wizkids. HeroClix is a fun skirmish miniatures game with pretty simple rules, but new players typically need a little help getting into it. They designed a format for this a while ago; one box with ten pre-painted models, some map tiles, counters, two bespoke dice and all the rules and introductory scenarios you need. This is a slickly designed intro box, easily the best we’ve seen.

Models-wise, the box sees Spider-Man teaming up with Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman and Spiderling to defend New York City from Venom, Bullseye, Shocker, Hydro-Man and Mysterio. Hydro-Man is especially dynamic, as they’ve gone for a silverly blue to represent his water-like legs. ( Spiderling is Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s daughter, by the way, making this set a family team-up). The scenarios provided take you through the game, and the conflicts are well-balanced. Heroclix has been pretty well balanced for a while as a game, with the novelty from each new release focusing more on the models than the rules. The counters are solid and sturdy, though Wizkids will sell you ‘poker chip’ style tokens in a separate packet if you need something a bit more robust.

If you want more than the ten models in the set, Wizkids, of course, does Boosters; the Beyond Amazing range is a pretty comprehensive set of Spider-Man heroes and villains. Highlights include both Daredevil and Matt Murdock in full lawyer mode, a very nice Doctor Strange, an amazing-looking Rhino and one of the most dynamic versions of the Vulture we’ve seen. (He looks almost happy).

In addition to the Sinister Six, we get various Carnage symbiotes, including Rocket Racoon as a Carnage and Carnage Silver Surfer, and yes, it’s as fun and as silly as it sounds. No Spider-Ham in this release, but we do get Peter Parker with a bag on his head. Venom fans will be delighted to note we get a Venom version of Thanos.

We get plenty of Venom variants in the core set also because everyone loves Venom.

The Play-At-Home Kits for this release also have a Venom theme; they feature a little model of the symbiote in a jar, and either Miles Morales or Peter Parker Spider-Man depending on the kit, as well as a decent paper mat (though honestly, the tiles in Miniatures Game are much better).

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS – HONOR AMONG THIEVES: THE FEAST OF THE MOON

By Ed Fortune

As the excitement behind a Dungeons & Dragons movie that’s actually good so does the inevitable demand for stories featuring the characters from that movie. IDW’s The Feast Of The Moon is a graphic novel prequel to the movie that introduces us to all the heroes in the new movie and provides a rip-roaring adventure at the same time.

We get two stories here, one which focuses on Elgin’s band of merry thieves and another which is a solo adventure for the Paladin Xenk Yendar. The first story has the feel of a fun, straightforward bit of swords and sorcery nonsense in which a bunch of down-on-their-luck adventurers end up protecting a village from bandits, which is also the plot of the adventure found in the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set. Some nice emotional beats are set up for the movie, so this works well to complement the main feature, which is entirely the point.

The Xenk solo story is pure cheese and fills in a bit of utterly unnecessary backstory for the movie. It feels like it goes through a tropes checklist, which is part of the fun. Also, bonus points go to Xenk for being able to pronounce svirfneblin; he really is very special.

Continuity-wise, it slots in nicely between Druid’s Call and The Road to Neverwinter; Doric the Druid isn’t in this graphic novel, which is a pity as they could have given her a solo story similar to Xenks.

This is the sort of straightforward comic book fun we’ve come to expect from IDW’s Dungeons and Dragons range; if you’ve enjoyed previous D&D books such as Spine of The World or Infernal Tides you will get a blast out of this one. The artwork, lettering and general production isn’t anything special and the characters look reasonably close to the movie stars, but not quite. In other words, the usual sort of fair we’ve come to expect from movie tie-ins.

A perfect companion for the movie and one to add to the growing collection.

THOR AND LOKI MIDGARD FAMILY MAYHEM

By Ed Fortune

Jeffrey Brown has cornered the market in adorable takes on Disney-owned characters. His Darth Vader and Son series was a whimsical look at a world where the infamous Star Wars villain would play catch with his children. Thor And Loki Midgard Family Mayhem is similar, but for two beloved Marvel characters.

The book is filled with full-colour illustrations, each one normally containing a single-panel gag based on the idea that Thor and Loki are naughty children, running about causing mischief and the occasional thunderstorm. They are assisted in their adorable nonsense by their parents, Odin and Frigga, and we also get some cameos from the rest of the Avengers. Strangely, it also feels like the sort of thing Loki or Thor would own in-universe. It’s pure whimsy.

Brown’s art style is crisp and cute; each page is carefully designed to remind the reader of colour pencil doodles and other simple pleasures. It’s the sort of thing you pick up, browse, grin at, and then put down again, and it’s perfect for those tiny moments in life when you just need a brief distraction.

This small, robust, hardcover book is often called a stocking-filler book; it’s a petite but beautifully put-together thing. There’s nothing radical about the humour itself, it’s all very familiar friendly fare designed to put a smile on the faces of parents and children and be a fun addition to any geek’s shelf. This is a great little gift for the Marvel fan in your life and a lovely cheer for anyone having a bad day.

THOR AND LOKI MIDGARD FAMILY MAYHEM is published by Chronicle Books on April 18th.