The Monthly Megazine #491: Dredd. Chin. City.

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.

Here we go, six brand-new strips again, all of them rather damn good. Another 100 pages of the Megazine, and time to dive in.

Inside, a done in one Dredd; the second series of the particularly British tale of strangness that is Atomfall, the best computer game tie-in you’ll ever read; more of Fargo & McBane, taking us back to the mean streets of New York and the early days of the Dredd lineage; the continuing fall of Department K; and the ongoing alt-history look at a very different Mega-City One in Megatropolis. Plus, the latest episode of Rok The World, as John Wagner and Dan Cornwell bring us action and drama on and off the pitch.

All of that kicks off under a Dylan Teague cover – can you say instant classic?

Judge Dredd Megazine #491 is out now in the UK. Not quite yet out in the Americas at the same time. But perhaps next month? However, don’t let that stop you. First, head down to your local comic shop and ask (nay, demand) that they stock it for you when it’s available. Then, head over to the 2000 AD webshop and get the digital version.

So, let’s get going and look at the delights to be found inside …

Judge Dredd: Fear City — By Karl Stock and Dan McDaid, colours by Jack Davies, letter by Simon Bowland

Dan McDaid’s first Dredd, if I remember right. Well, first in the Prog, he did do the IDW Dredd story, ‘The Blessed Earth‘ 10 years back. But it’s great to see him in the Prog at last, and looking damn fine as well. Good to see him finally getting his Dredd on here. A mix of classic lines, a fine sense of style, and a classic look at Dredd. Might be his first, won’t (hopefully) be his last.

As for the story, this one-off gives us Dredd waking into a nightmare world, full of enemies, full of ghosts from the past. Giving away any more than that will really spoil the whole thing, and I really don’t like to be doing that. Suffice it to say that Stock tells a real fine tale right here, one where you’d believe you were in some Ken Niemand-written alt Dredd right to the very end. Very cleverly done, very well done, and some mighty fine art from McDaid.

Atomfall: The Wicked Isle — Part 1 — By Jonathan L. Howard and Anthony Williams, letters by Rob Steen

Oh, this is the most wonderful surprise. After all, when the first four-parter of Atomfall ended last year, there was no thought that there was going to be a sequel to it. But I’m so glad there is.

In case you didn’t know, Atomfall, the comic strip, is the prequel to Atomfall the game, all of it loosely based on the Windscale nuclear disaster of 1957, but going off on an alt-history future full of folk horror, strange occurrences, and a hell of a lot of mystery. And it was a very, very good series indeed.

Now, the events of that first Atomfall series led into the events of the game, with the whole thing told through the eyes of investigative journalist Jenny Coggins, sent to Wyndham village to write a story on the Windscale Atom Plant, with the insider knowledge from someone that all was not well at Windscale. While she was there, the plant exploded, and the whole area, including the village, was quarantined by the military, taking us deep into the strangeness and more mysteries than that first series could ever hope to solve.

It was a wonderful, fascinating thing, very British indeed, evoking that wonderfully fifties sense of futurism and positivity, combined with that post-war feel that imbued so much strangeness, the whole Quatermass vibe going on. And then, as the community reeled from the isolation, we got that sense of paranoia and tension building, leading to something of a folk horror madness brought in as well.

Anyway, within a few pages, I was sold on Atomfall, telling you it was one of those series that just drew me in, with writer and artist working together wonderfully to give us something special.

All of which leads us to this unexpected second series, set a year after Jenny Coggins and the rest of Wyndham were sealed off following the Windscale disaster. The first page you’ll see below is a neat little recap of what’s gone before — how the temporary quarantine looks like nothing of the sort, the soldiers acting as an army of occupation, and a brutal one at that. And then the rather futuristic robots the army rolled out, not to mention the strange blue monsters roaming around.

Oh, and then, as Jenny mentions, the magic telephone boxes that follow her around, ringing when there’s no phone lines in or out of the village anymore. Oh, it’s a strange place indeed …

So, Jenny’s thrown in her lot with the former postmistress and current bandit chief and murderer, allowing her to get off the mainland.

And the voice on the other end of the telephone line tells a tale of a Wicked Isle, where wicked folk live, and to stay away from the Abbey.

So, second series, just the same vibe as the first, and that’s a fine, fine thing. All the mystery is there still, all that darkness comes to the fore, all the wonderful strangeness. It’s unexpected to get this second series, but it’s oh so welcome.

Fargo & McBane: Favoured Sons — Part 2 — By Ken Niemand and PJ Holden, Colours by Quinton Winter, Letters by Annie Parkhouse

So, back to the mean streets of NYC in the seventies with One-Eyed Jack McBane, from the John Wagner-written strip in Valiant back in the day, and Eartha Fargo, part of the lineage that would eventually lead to Judge Fargo and the Dredd clones.

Niemand’s been playing in this particular sandbox for a while now, ending up with Fargo & McBane running their own little Department in NY’s finest, albeit one that doesn’t play well with the other cops, and one that’s tasked with the rather more bizarre crimes cropping up in the city.

So, it’s all Dredd history meets classic Clint Eastwood-style 1970’s cops meets The X-Files. There’s been mention of ‘The grinning man,’ and we’re discovering just what ‘The Favoured Sons’ are and how they’ve got their claws into every strata of New York, including its police force, meaning that Fargo & McBane are, wouldn’t you know it, going to be stepping on some big toes and getting heat from all the wrong people in this one. And it’s all happening right here, with both Fargo & McBane catching that heat…

Plus, of course, we already know that something here will tie into the Niemand-driven Mega-Epic Dredd coming next month, The Black Tower in the Meg and The Oubliette in the Prog.

As last month, a great strip, plenty of action and intrigue, and a great artist in Holden, doing some typically great things here.

Department K … No More — Part 3 – By Ned Hartley and Mike Walters, Letters by Simon Bowland

Trailed as the very last Department K strip, and Hartley and Walters haven’t been slow on giving us a hell of a lot of bad things happening to my favourite strange branch of Tek-Div in Mega-City One, the weirdos assigned the weird extradimensional threats that regularly plague MC-1.

We’ve had Cadet Afua transformed by some alien infection, something immensely powerful that’s turned her into a killing machine, with one of her first victims being Judge Estabon. Now, Department K is just Judges Kirby and Blackcurrant, currently running from a giant-sized, ridiculously powerful, alien-possessed Judge Afua.

Kirby, looking slightly overwhelmed and not a little crazed in a delightfully unhinged moment from Walters, calls in back-up from Tek-Div, knowing that taking Afua down might mean another Dept K death. It’s all to get Afua to part 2 of the plan, involving certain massive interdimensional beings that Dept K have come across before, and who Blackcurrant just might be related to. (And yes, if this really is the end of Dept K, there’s way too many loose threads like that one that we’re never, sadly, going to have the chance to explore. Dammit.)

So, wrapping up this latest episode. Afua’s been booted to another dimension, where she’s perhaps a little safer. But, in doing so, Kirby’s unleashed two extra-dimensional threats onto MC-1, and they’re ready to start eating.

It’s, as all the Dept K tales have been, a hell of a lot of fun, although still tinged with that darkness that befits an end-of-days-type thing. It’s also gone very cosmic, very strange, and it’s been great to see Walters in particular really step up his art to give us all the massive extra-dimensional threats.

Rok The World — Chapter Four: Rok And Roll — By John Wagner and Dan Cornwell, Colours by Jim Boswell, Letters by Rob Steen

Another absolutely magnificent 19 pages of perhaps the final thing Wagner will ever write. And, if that is the case, it’s a damn fine way to bow out of an illustrious career as one of the greatest living comics writers ever to come out of Britain.

Rok, if you didn’t know by now, is the new leader of his home planet Arkady, but his responsibilities there have had to play second fiddle to his love of the Earth sport of Association Football — soccer, if you insist. Since finding sanctuary on Earth back in series 1 and taking over the body of the bad boy of the Radford Reds, a lowly club way down the divisions of the English leagues, Rok’s fallen in love with the beautiful game. His exploits on the field have been legendary, bringing Radford up the leagues, really playing into the whole Roy of the Rovers done as a sci-fi thriller style of Rok.

In this third series, though, some of the glorious comedy of the earlier series has been cast aside, as things get darker and darker here. Rok’s been told by Arkady that Earth poses a threat and will be wiped out unless it can prove its worth. All of which means that Rok’s thrown caution to the wind, unveiled his darker, alien side, all in the pursuit of forcing humanity into change, a change that he’s not afraid to kill for if necessary. Although, as the side plot of the pikeys who know too much shows us, Rok’s learned a little bit of humanity along the way, meaning he’s not quite yet ready to just kill for the sake of it.

But all these very visible acts have meant that Rok’s more vulnerable now than at any time before. Too many people know his secret, and now the police are beginning to put the pieces together as well. Sure, he dealt with a couple of coppers at his doorstep last episode with a little mind control, but once the genie’s out of the bottle…

Worse for Rok, the powers that be have kept a tight lid on his revealing himself, keeping the secret of a maurading alien on Earth who wants humanity to change to themselves. His plan just isn’t working, and Earth’s chances of survival get slimmer by the day.

Meanwhile, Rok/Kyle are having a time of it on the field, with an international break meaning it’s time to pull on a Scotland shirt again, and a chance for Rok to show himself to the world …

But not before we get some more of that glorious on-pitch action as Scotland (and Rok/Kyle) go up against France …

Oh, so much is going on in these 19 pages, with Wagner really packing things in here. Rok on his mission, taking him to Paris and the big reveal to the world; Scotland against France, a goal and a red card for Rok/Dixon; the pikeys getting their comeuppance but still posing a threat; and so much more.

It’s one of those series that just shines, and it’s criminal that it hasn’t been lauded more across its three series. It’s got a little of everything. Classic Wagner writing, Dan Cornwell’s art looking better than ever. The on-pitch action has that real ‘Roy of the Rovers’ moment feel – and let’s not forget just how difficult it is to do sports in comics, a lost art that Wagner and Cornwell have brought back beautifully. Then you add in the sci-fi aspects of it all, throw in a dash of Wagner’s humour, plenty of action and intrigue, and you have something that’s genuinely just a great read.

Megatropolis Book II — Part 7 — By Kenneth Niemand and Chris Weston, Colours by Antonietta Saulino, Letters by Rob Steen

Let’s just pause for a moment here and note the artistic passing of the torch on Megatropolis, as Chris Weston takes on the artistic duties from Dave Taylor. A sad, sad moment, knowing we’ll not be seeing any more of Taylor’s incredibly beautiful, painstakingly detailed artwork again.

Taylor passed in 2025, dying of prostate cancer (and remembered here). Just a reminder — if you’re 45 or older, get yourself checked out. Don’t let embarrassment stop you. Just go get checked out. A simple doctor’s finger in your bum could save your life. Do it for Dave.

So, anyway, Weston takes over here on a job he’d absolutely, I’m sure, really rather not be doing. Like all of us, he’d want to be reading Megatropolis as a fan, luxuriating in all that Dave Taylor artwork. But it’s not to be. And let’s face it, if there’s one artist who can get close to doing what Dave did here, it’s Chris Weston, whose style is different, certainly, but shares that sense of style and detail, making this transition an easier one than it might otherwise have been.

As for where we are, there’s so much going on in Megatropolis, Niemand’s alt-history version of Dreddworld, imagining all the familiar characters in unfamiliar roles in this art deco sci-fi reimagining.

We have Jara investigating Judd and Krysler, after getting a guiding hand from Farrgo. Hershey’s own investigations continue. We have the robo-vigilantes involved, more of Eustace’s creations. Then there’s the watchful eye of Amy Nixon. There’s serial killer Philip Maybry on the loose, despite Jara having killed him once. And then there’s the threat of Orlok the assassin looming large over the forthcoming Mayoral elections. Plus Rico, getting to the bottom of the America Jara killing…

A lot going on. A hell of a lot. But Niemand manages to play with this huge cast really well, building up the story on the back of a couple of pages for each major storyline, all disparate right now, but all, you sense, coming together slowly. It’s a fine, fine series.