REVIEW: 2000 AD #2383

Cool cover, I really like the color scheme it shows Blood Work which I’m assuming is one of the comics inside. THe composition is pretty simple but the green and red color scheme really sell it for me.

Super crowded credit page but that’s to be expected from an anthology book because it has 5 comics inside so yeah that makes sense,

The first story as usual is a Judge Dredd comic, it looks good but also kinda muddy like the style feels a little muddy. I don’t really mind it but I do mind the writing, it feels clunky the way they talk. Almost like it’s not grammatically correct writing. Nice monster reveal moment though, I like that. I also feel like the text is a little small for the panel art. Makes it a bit hard to read.

Next we have a comic called Intestinauts, from the title I think it’s about little machines inside the intestines, kinda like Osmosis Jones. I think the arrows showing the “reading path” is a little overkill, if done correctly there is no need for such a thing. Not even for aesthetic reasons, it makes the overall page rather crowded. The art is really good though, much more cartoony and comic friendly and appeals much more to my sensibilities. Ahhhh I get it, it’s a choose your own panel story, that’s why the arrows are there, that’s sort of interesting, let’s see it and see where it leads us. It works pretty well as a choose your own panel with all it’s cool death scenes that send you back to the beginning, it works best in fold pages because you don’t have to turn to the next page and go back so that’s cool. THe one thing that sucks about it is that there are a lot of really cool art to see in these panels, so when you find the one that works it can be a drudge to go back and read the rest of the other storylines knowing they all end in the same spot. Either victory or death really. I however like that the story ties into a bigger narrative that isn’t a choose your own panel story, that I like. THe human’s face though is crazy weird, the robots are awesome though and so is the overall art.

Next we have Tharg’s 3rillers a horror comic maybe. I think it’s best to go in without much information for these sort of books, I like to be suprised by what I find in anthologies, for this reason I think it’s best to keep the descriptions out of the credit page, and maybe just put them on the end cover or something instead. THe art is alright it give some sort of Mobious vibes in the way the line work is done and the overall pastel color scheme. This is crazy! It started as them climbing what looked like a mountain but it turns out they were inside a giant robot and they were climbing it so they would kill it, this crazy turn of events is fantastic and I would love to read more for sure. This was great. Quick, dramatic writting, easy to understand, and filled with nice simple action moments. A great find this one. The reveal of the robot is so subtle you barely notice it, the first few pages it literally looks like they are climbing a snowy mountain, the you see the robot and you have no idea they are inside it, but then the next few pages lead up to the final reveal of the brain and the broken down robot and you get that glorious Eureka moment. Wonderful! Could’ve used a few sound fxs here and there but it was great nonetheless.

Now we have a comic called BRINK this is the comic featured on the cover and it has an equally fantastic color scheme. It’s just simple and straight to the point with its colors and I really like that. So far this is the best dialogue written so far in the whole anthology. This one and the last one but this one has sound fxs so in that regard I like it a bit more in terms of dialogue. The art in this one is pretty good too. A few grammatical errors here and there and a few word balloons placement errors too but the dialogue is pretty interesting, it kinda reminds of the Silo Series. It’s rather interesting, very futuristic, a few cool shots, and the promise of something awesome happening soon, but not this issue sadly, this issue is just for exposition.

In this kind of book I don’t mind the ad after a few comics have been read, I kinda welcome that little breathing room in the book for something simple, a one pager with a few lines of information promoting a new title is actually refreshing. Who’d have thought that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Last but not least we have the comic Proteus Vex. I really like the character designs on this book, and so far the writing is pretty fun. THe art is the best I’ve seen in this book. Rather interesting comic, filled with a lot of action, lots of blood and an interesting story but there seems to be a lot of lore that I dind’t quite understand. It was flashy but didn’t really capture my attention because I have no idea what the hell is going on. It’s real good art though, great writing and wonderful pacing too. Just no context.

All in all a good book, a few flops here and there but still enjoyable, a good anthology. My biggest issues come from the credit page, too much information and the judge dredd entry was a bit lackluster, the art was good but too muddy and weird writing. My favorite story has to be the robot one. This was a nice 3.5/5 book for me.

SCORE:
3.5/5

Writers: Arthur Wyatt, Dan Abnett, David Baillie, Kenneth Niemand & Mike Carroll
Artists: Nick Percival, Pye Parr, Jake Lynch, Nick Brokenshire & INJ Culbard
Colourer: Jim Boswell
Letterers: Annie Parkhouse & Simon Bowland
Cover Artist: INJ Culbard