The Monthly Megazine #478: ‘Atomfall’ Prequel Starts A Very British (& Very Good) Video Game Adaptation

Welcome once more to the Monthly Megazine – doing just what it says, taking you through the latest goings-on in the sister monthly to 2000 AD.

Another anniversary this year – 35 years of the Judge Dredd Megazine. It’s gone through many iterations and formats but right now it’s settled into something big and satisfying every month. Seven original strips, a couple of reprints, plus the usual interviews and features. All in all, a fine package of 132 pages of Megazine every month.

This month, cover-featured Atomfall begins its four-part run, acting as a prequel series to the new video game from Rebellion, 2000 AD’s parent company. The game comes out at the end of March and this series by Jonathan Howard and Anthony Williams introduces us to this alt-history of the 1950s English village of Wyndham in the time after a nuclear disaster. Spoiler alert, the prequel is looking very good indeed after this first part.

There’s also more Judge Dredd and Death Cap, plus finales to Devlin Waugh, Fargo & McBane, and Riley’s Rebels. We also get a mid-season finale to Lawless, with A Town Called Badrock returning later in the year. As for the reprints, it’s a look at the Stallone Judge Dredd movie adaptation (30 years old this year) and the third part of the excellent Rok of the Reds by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Dan Cornwell.

It’s all under a cover from Anthony Williams…

Judge Dredd: Megazine #477 is out now in the UK and at some point in the future in the Americas. Do yourselves a favour and ask your local comic shop to order it in for you.

So, with all that over with, shall we take a little look-see inside…

JUDGE DREDD: MESSIAH COMPLEX – PART 2 – FINAL PART – BY IAN EDGINTON AND PAUL MCCAFFREY, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Well, this was a quick two-parter and no mistake. A MC-1 Mech on the run, accused of murder, innocent yet implicated, Dredd on his case. Off it/he heads to the Cyberia Embassy, where he/it is offered sanctuary. We left things last episode with Dredd and his witness to the murder being targeted by something rather large and explodey.

Here, it’s time to resolve it all, all too quickly really. But I mean that in the sense that I want to see Edginton given more time and space to develop some really fascinating ideas on show here.

It’s back to Edginton’s MC-1, the whole potential-filled idea of the city bringing in much-needed cash with offworld, alien investment. But that comes with a price.

Here, there’s a new Mech, co-funded by those alien investors, the Aetherworks. That Mech’s now wanted by Dredd for murder, but has claimed sanctuary in the Cyberia embassy, another race, this time of sentient mech.

All of it comes to a head in this final part, a neat little procedural/action tale that works in itself but also serves to set up even more off-world threats for Dredd. Like I say, these are all things Edginton’s been threading throughout his stories these past few years. And damn good they’ve been too. But now all that intriguing groundwork’s been laid, I really want to see what Edginton has in mind with all this, and I’d really like to see it in a longer tale.

As for the art here, I’m still not completely sold on what McCaffrey’s doing. It feels too clean, too static, too flat to me. It works in service to the story and reads well for sure, but just that bit lifeless.

DEATH CAP: FRONTIER JUSTICE – PART 6 – BY by TC EGLINGTON AND BOO COOK, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

More fun out in the Cursed Earth, following ex-Texas City Judge, infected by the Grubb’s fungus and on a race against time to get her revenge on those who massacred her family. That was series 1 of Death Cap. Here in series 2, Goya’s had her revenge and now is off on a journey through the Cursed Earth, still fighting the effects of Grubb’s, effectively a walking superspreader, being tracked by another Tex-Judge determined to not let the infection spread out of control.

So it’s gone from bizarre revenge thriller to something that’s an exploration of all the weird that lies in the Cursed Earth. It’s not as driven as that first series but it’s still damn good. Eglington and Cook are filling the episodes with some intriguing characters, strange moments, and plenty of all that perfectly organic and rather beautifully nasty imagery that Cook pulls off so well.

Things are sort of coming to a head, Goya’s being tracked through this both by that Tex-Judge Reece and the gang boss whose boy Goya killed. But Goya’s harder to kill than any of them imagine.

Again, it’s Boo Cook’s art that makes this one so special. Here it’s on show in the gorgeous blue skies and arid wastes of the first few pages, and then into the green-tinged pages of Goya’s showdown, where Cook floods the pages with fungal spores shrouding everything whilst still managing to give us some great action sequences. It just looks so damn good.

FARGO & MCBANE: NEW YORK’S FINEST – PART 6 FINAL PART – BY KEN NIEMAND AND ANNA READMAN, COLOURS BY QUINTON WINTER, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Oh, this has been a real joy. We already had one great series with Fargo and McBane together, all tied into Dredd-lore in the 2023 Dredd tale ‘One-Eyed Jacks’ – well, she is his great-great-great-grandmother or something after all. But Niemand’s ditched the Dreddworld connection with this one and just given us something very 70s action adventure.

It’s been a great little series, the epitome of a 70s action cop film mixed in with a tight political plot, Niemand on great form. And then there’s Readman’s art, all gritty and grubby, perfect for the grubby little tale we’re reading.

In this finale, we get it all neatly wrapped up, Fargo and McBain getting the drop on the Hilman’s but still ending up with McBain screwed over. Except this time, it’s McBain and Fargo in charge of their own cases, a ’70s X-Files thing going on, setting up this unlikely pair for future tales where they (and we) get to have a hell of a lot of fun.

Yes, a really good first proper adventure for Fargo and McBane, loads of ’70s action, loads of 70s style, writer and artist doing great things together. Can’t wait for more.

DEVLIN WAUGH: TWO MONTH’S OFF – PART 6 – FINAL PART – BY ALES KOT AND PJ HOLDEN, COLOURS BY JACK DAVIES, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

Six episodes of getting deep into Devlin’s head, and it’s just been really good. The queerest comic out there right now? Perhaps. Kot’s really going into the character, filling this one with unusual introspection we’ve never seen before with a character usually so on top golf things. And you get the idea this is a character Kot really has a handle on, with plans for the future of everyone’s favourite vampish dandy. Personally, I really can’t wait for more of this.

Of course, it’s not all been introspection and self-analysis, there’s been a healthy dose of weirdness here in Devlin’s little mini-break where he’s been chilling with his polycule trio of boyfriends. He’s been drugged, manipulated, staked not quite through the heart, and now it’s all coming to a conclusion.

And what a conclusion it is. Again, it’s introspection and self-realisation happening, it’s just happening while Devlin’s fighting for his life against the nightmarish melding of those three boyfriends. You know, as things tend to happen when you’re Devlin Waugh.

Once all that’s done, we’re back to just the four of them, lounging by the pool, just a little bruised and damaged from the ride they’ve been on. And again, Kot pulls a masterstroke of storytelling here, with a little one-on-one chat to wrap things up… and then, boom, a page of absolute brutality that shocks given all that’s gone before, a page and its aftermath that shows, yet again, just how well Kot writes Devlin. He’s no longer the simple vamp exorcist camp adventurer. No, he’s way more complicated, way better, way more intriguing now.

A word as well for PJ Holden’s art as well. Everything this story’s needed, whether it’s quiet, languid moments of loving friends, simple relationship beats, full of emotional character, or full-on psychedelics induced nightmare scenes, he’s stepped up, every single time, to match every great moment Kot’s put into the story and given us such great art.

There’s a definite sense out there that Devlin Waugh was never better than when creator John Smith was writing him. And there’s merit to that, of course there is. Smith was, after all, one of the great writers of 2000 AD history, too often overlooked for what he did. But there’s also an argument to be made, and one I’ll make, that Ales Kot is giving us a Devlin Waugh that’s just as good as anything Smith gave us, something challenging, something clever and difficult and absolutely fabulous. Ignore the haters, embrace the new Devlin’s. It’s a great big queer exploration of the character that’s just getting better and better as it goes deeper and deeper.

ATOMFALL – PART 1 – BY JONATHAN L HOWARD AND ANTHONY WILLIAMS, COLOURS BY STEVE CANON, LETTERS BY ROB STEEN

I’m not a gamer, but I can see the attraction. And the idea behind Atomfall, a new game coming out at the end of March from Rebellion sounds like a good one. It’s loosely based on the Windscale nuclear disaster of 1957, spinning out from that into a retro alt-history game that I’m never going to play.

However, this is a prequel to the game, written by Jonathan L Howard, principal writer on the Atomfall game. It’s a series deliberately designed not to give much away of the game itself, following journalist Jenny Coggins, following up on a whistleblower hinting that Windscale is not what it seems, leading her to the village of Wyndham, just before the disaster at Windscale. She finds herself trapped there, with this prequel covering her adventures in the first year of the quarantine.

It’s a very British thing, immediately bringing in the whole Quatermass vibe, that whole post-war British sci-fi feel of a strange world full of strange things, including a healthy dose of folk horror added in, so add things like The Wicker Man into the mix.

And it’s one of those series where, within the first couple of pages, I know I’m going to love this. It’s the sort of great feeling you get when you’re immediately all-in with something, when whatever writer and artist are doing just clicks with you and you’re absolutely onboard for the ride.

There’s a glorious sense of paranoia hardwired into it from the off, added to by Jenny’s inner monologuing, amplified by the whole weird English village feel of things. The folk horror aspect doesn’t explicitly come in, but it’s there in the implicit strangeness to be found in Wyndham.

In truth, very little happens in this first episode. It starts with Jenny getting off the train and ends with an explosion, the Windscale disaster happening. But what it does do, in between those two points, is brilliantly establish the mood of it all. Jenny’s strange reaction to the telephone booth, the meeting with the locals, her first contact with the whistleblower, it’s all done in a way that has you hanging on every moment, a fear creeping in, anxiety taking hold, just as the best folk horror tales do.

Williams’ artwork is excellent as well, perfectly serving the storyline, great storytelling all the way through without being showy but always hitting the right tone to build on what you’re reading.

RILEY’S REBELS – PART 5 – FINAL PART – BY HONOR VINCENT AND STEWART K MOORE, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

This one’s been something of a sleeper, a quiet thing buried deep in the pages of the Meg, a totally self-contained little Cursed Earth tale. But that’s been its strength, allowing Vincent and Moore to spin a yarn of the unseen bits of Dreddworld, of child exploitation and rebellion, slaves rising up against their masters, with plenty of action along with the deeper themes.

It’s been a real success, Vincent’s writing simple yet effective, fleshing out this little strangely lush part of the Cursed Earth, along with Moore doing his detail-laden artwork with such style, really fleshing out the limited cast, giving us a technicolour treat of a thing, with every page holding such lively imagery.

Here in these final pages, there’s a satisfying ending as the young rise up against their elder captors. It’s all laid out beautifully by Moore and Vincent, the final battle and its quiet epilogue.

Riley and her rebels might have freed themselves, but there’s untapped potential by its finale. I’m hoping Vincent and Moore get their chance to show us more from Riley in the future.

LAWLESS: A TOWN CALLED BADROCK – PART 6 – FINAL PART (SORT OF) – BY DAN ABNETT AND PHIL WINSLADE, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

After an all-too-short six episodes, ‘A Town Called Badrock’ takes a break after this episode, to return later in the year.

It’s set up so many threads, all of them so intriguing. For starters, just how is that trashy romance novel so beautifully opening each episode. Surely it’s not just an inconsequential bit of distraction? Although, the way Abnett writes Lawless, it could be so important or it could be just that inconsequential distraction, but there’s untapped potential way it’s been subtly mirroring the political manoeuvring going on seems deliciously important. But that’s always the way here in a Lawless, always full of so many things going on, seemingly disconnected yet always proving in some way vital to the storyline. Oh, it’s all part of the Abnett plan, and it’s oh so good to see it all slowly, perfectly come together.

Then of course there’s what Winslade brings to every page. Those impossibly tight and detailed scenes that have given such life to Badrock and the adventures of Marshal Metta Lawson all these years. It seemed impossible that Winslade could go the extra mile and put more into any page, but that’s just what he manages here with the impossibly lush art of those pulp romance panels littering this final episode before the break. It’s unbelievably good work. It always is.

So, for this mid-season finale, we have Lawson taking matters into her own hands where it comes to the ongoing case of Brotherley, meant to be coming to trial very soon. Every so often, Abnett likes to remind us that, despite being here in the arse end of nowhere, Badrock, she’s still, at her heart, a Judge. So when she takes time to have a little chat with the source of so many of her problems, it’s a masterfully played-out little reminder that, when she needs to, she’s perfectly capable of reminding us all that she’s more than ready to play Judge, jury, and executioner, just as she was taught. A perfect mid-season finale. And I’m waiting expectantly for the conclusion to this one later in the year.

Okay, that’s the originals sorted, now for the reprints…

The first reprint is a preview of one I’ve already covered here – the Judge Dredd movie adaptation, the Stallone one, 30 years old this year. And like I said in that preview, it’s an adaptation of what is, at least in my humble opinion, a fun popcorn movie version of Dredd. Sadly, it had the wrong writer attached, a good writer absolutely, but the wrong writer for Dredd. But it does have the advantage of having Ezquerra art, and that’s always going to elevate things.

JUDGE DREDD: THE 1995 MOVIE ADAPTATION – BY ANDREW HELFER ABD CARLOS EZQUERRA. COLOURS BY MICHAEL DANZA, LETTERS BY ALBERT DEGUZMAN

And the second reprint continues the great Rok of the Reds, the Wagner/Grant and Cornwell mix of sci-fi and soccer with an alien coming to Earth and taking the form of a bad boy soccer player for the Redford Reds and learning the joys of the beautiful game. It’s brilliant in so many ways, but let’s just show you one bit that gives you a great moment of comedy amongst all the excitement…

Rok is a perfect fit for the Megazine, which is handy since we’re also getting the full reprint of the sequel, Rok The God, followed by a third, all-new series, provisionally titled Rok the World.

ROK OF THE REDS: CHAPTER 3 – BY JOHN WAGNER AND ALAN GRANT, ART BY DAN CORNWELL, COLOURS BY ABIGAIL BULMER, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL