Tag: Brett Ewins

Judge Dredd 29 (March 1986)

Judge Dredd #29It’s a fairly strong issue, with only one weak story–a retelling of Frankenstein, only in Mega-City One; the other three stories are good.

The first couple, with art from John Cooper, shows a kinder, gentler Dredd. The first deals with animal experimentation, the second with the plastic substance they use in the future dissolving. Writer Wagner goes for a final twist in the latter, which doesn’t do it much good (he’s thrown Dredd into a story not needing Dredd), but it’s still a good story. Cooper handles the humor of the situations and the action well.

The last story, with Brendan McCarthy art, opens with a New Year’s Eve thing, then reveals the actual story. It’s still kinder Dredd, but ruthless too.

As for the Frankenstein story–Brett Ewins does okay with the art, but it’s still weak. Wagner’s details are better than the plot.

Still, nice overall.

CREDITS

Writer, John Wagner; artists, John Cooper, Brett Ewins and Brendan McCarthy; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 12 (October 1984)

Judge Dredd #12It’s a surprisingly awesome issue, with Wagner giving Dredd a big dumb sidekick, but one with a lot of character and comic relief value. They have to get back to the surface (Dredd and company escaped underground), so there’s a decent action sequence when Wagner brings them up against some other judges.

He also explains why the rest of the judges are falling in line with evil, crazy Chief Judge Cal. It’s sort of obvious and should have been handled better, but once Wagner has it out of the way, the rest of the issue’s smooth.

Especially once the focus turns to Dredd’s annoying robot. Wagner is able to follow it through the evil judges’ side of the story and since Chief Judge Cal is crazy, it’s very amusing. His jokes are a lot less forced now.

There’s some great art from Ewins at the end too.

Real good issue.

B+ 

CREDITS

Writer, John Wagner; artists, Brian Bolland, Garry Leach, Ron Smith and Brett Ewins; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 10 (August 1984)

Judge Dredd #10This issue reads a lot smoother, with Dredd again a fugitive, leading the revolt against the crazy new chief judge. Unfortunately, Wagner goes for absurdity at every turn–the new chief judge is so crazy he appoints a fish as his deputy–and it’s never believable the other judges would follow the new leader with such blindness. It’s almost like Wagner saw he couldn’t make the story work straightforwardly, so he introduced the lunacy to at least make it funny.

And there are a couple decent comic moments but there’s also a lot of laziness.

Of the three pencillers, Brett Ewins does the best on his pages. He captures the mania of Wagner’s script and the enthusiasm helps a lot. The pacing gets the better of McMahon, who handles the beginning of the issue (and the setup); he can’t keep up.

If Wagner had fuller scenes, it’d probably work better.

B- 

CREDITS

Writer, John Wagner; pencillers, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins and Brian Bolland; inkers, McMahon, Ewins and Garry Leach; colorist, John Burns; letterers, Tom Frame and Jack Potter; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 9 (July 1984)

Judge Dredd #9It’s something of a lackluster issue.

The opening resolves the Cursed Earth storyline, but it’s the final chapter and probably should’ve somehow been fit in with the rest of the Cursed Earth issues. Especially since it’s extremely anticlimactic, though Mills does attend the character relationships he’s developed.

Then Wagner takes over with Dredd on trial, followed by Dredd as a fugitive, followed by Dredd redeemed, followed by Dredd versus a conspiracy. The compiled nature of the series comes through way too much–every few pages it stops and starts, sometimes going in a wildly different direction.

And Wagner’s characterization of Dredd, who’s shouting off one-liners, seems too forced. Wagner’s characterizations of the rest of the cast is similar–he’s rushing. There are some occasional high points, like Dredd’s showdown with a robot duplicate, but otherwise it’s a problematic outing. The constant Dredd in danger cliffhangers get tiresome really fast.

B- 

CREDITS

Writers, Pat Mills and John Wagner; pencillers, Brian Bolland, Brendan McCarthy and Mike McMahon; inkers, Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Brett Ewins and McMahon; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Hellblazer 7 (July 1988)

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This issue, rather inappropriately, feels like a rip-off of a Swamp Thing standard. Well, I think Moore did it once and Veitch did it once, but it’s still a standard. There’s no supernatural situation of the week this issue, instead a friend of Constantine hacks into the evil fundamentalist’s computer network but he does so via hallucinogenic and technology suction cupped to his forehead.

Delano and Ridgway spend most of their effort on this journey through the computer world–pre-Internet, post-Tron–and it feels just like when Moore (and Veitch) send Swamp Thing through the Green. Given Hellblazer‘s a spin-off of Swamp Thing… it just feels rather cheap.

And the whole issue turns out to be a way for Delano to focus on Constantine for the last five pages instead of the melodrama.

The writing’s fine, the art’s fine, but it’s a waste of time.

CREDITS

Ghosts in the Machine; writer, Jamie Delano; pencillers, Brett Ewins and John Ridgway; inkers, Jim McCarthy and Ridgway; colorist, Lovern Kindzierski; letterer, Todd Klein; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.

Swamp Thing 70 (March 1988)

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Veitch is still working on his bridge. While Alec heads home for some private time with Abby, Constantine tries to figure out what’s going on with the plants. He meets a bunch of his friends, piecing together various pieces of information.

The writing of these scenes is fine. Veitch makes each friend distinct, gives Constantine a strong voice. But it’s all pointless. Veitch is just busying the reader; none of Constantine’s actions here actually have bearing on what’s going to come.

The art is rather compelling, with the pencillers doing double pages, split into three strips. Alec and Abby get the center, Constantine gets top and bottom. There’s thoughtful crossover between them. Veitch is clearly and precisely thinking about Swamp Thing and its storytelling.

Sadly, he’s not thinking about it being interesting. The best stuff is Chester and Liz’s two bookend scenes, though the Crisis retelling with puppets is hilarious.

CREDITS

The Secret Life of Plants; writer, Rick Veitch; pencillers, Brett Ewins and Veitch; inker, Alfredo Alcala; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterer, John Costanza; editor, Karen Berger; publisher, DC Comics.

Contemporaneously…