Calhab Justice - not as bad as I remember

Before examining a certain Scottish story, I'd like to pay small tribute to a couple of Squaxx dek Thargo who have joined me in my quest to write endlessly about 2000 AD. On the off chance that you've found your way here and not to my esteemed colleagues, please check out Thrillpowered Thursdays and the Prog Slog Blog.

Both writers have undertaken a great re-read of all things 2000 AD, but unlike me they're doing it in order. The PSB started from Programme 1 and is currently up to the mid 300s after a year of reading - this one's going to run and run! The Hipster Dad has I think been reading from the beginning, but has only started writing about it from the mid 800s, and Megazines from Volume 2 onwards. Since I'm reading in fairly random batches, I'm going to overlap with them from time to time, and apparently I've already unleashed some of those mean ol' spoilers. Sorry about that.

Anyway, one thing I was slightly surprised that was overlooked by the Hipster Dad is the late but not lamented 'Calhab Justice', which was a pretty regular feature during Volume 2 of the Judge Dredd Megazine.

It's an odd beast, but having just re-read most of it, it holds up really rather well. I remember quite liking the first series drawn by John 'king of clear storytelling but with funny-looking people' Ridgeway, and then gradually getting completely lost in the later segments drawn by Lol. Anyone reading at the time might recall notorious letter writers Nixon and Sloano, who weren't shy of criticising the Meg, and in particular David Bishop's editorial integrity. One thing I agreed with them on was that Lol couldn't draw very well.

But it turns out that he can. Not only that, but his cartoony style holds up rather well these days. When it comes to panel layout he's no Ridgeway, but looking back on it the story is not as impenetrable as I remember it. Let's examine Exhibit A: At first glance, it's pretty hard to make out what's going on (admittedly not helped by my scanning and uploading skills). But all the pieces are in place. There's a Calhab Judge on the left, pointing a gun. An upset mother pleading with him for help. Then an obviously female beastie holding up a baby in a threatening manner. And each part of the unit is, I think, nicely drawn, with a fair bit of dynamism and personality. Maybe there's too much black or something.

Or maybe the script should shoulder some of the blame. Series writer Jim Alexander had some fairly ambitious plans, which don;t always make for easy storytelling. However, with a bit of patience in reading, he didn't do too badly I reckon. Anyone not wanting to know the story, look away now...

The first series was basically silly. It was about Scottish whiskey, radiation tolerance and Macbeth references - with a more serious overtone about how CalHab is an outpost controlled but basically ignored and hated by Brit-Cit. But it was plenty charming, and serves as a neat introduction to the character of series star Ed MacBrayne, the inevitable Judge Dredd analogue.

Then there was an awesome one-off showing various characters and what they did on New Year's Eve. And then things start to go a bit wrong, as we launch into a major storyline. Empath Judge Schiehallion goes mental, becomes unstoppably powerful, and eventually causes a nuclear explosion (or is a reactor core meltdown? can't remember just now). MacBrayne is kind of lost in all this, as are various side characters and hence it's a little hard to care. Lol's artwork and Alexander's dialogue are very well matched, but both struggle to mix moments of extreme emotion with silly jokes. They can both do both perfectly well, but somehow don't quite get the ratio or the timing quite right. It's a rare skill, to be sure.
See here - there's some lunatic villain dialogue, followed by what looks suspiciously like a poetry quotation.

I think the main problem is one that beset all too many Megazine series. A new character and setting is introduced in a reasonably good but somewhat one-dimensional opening story. Then they immediately launch into a mega-epic. Mega-epics are great for Judge Dredd, but mostly because they come after a good long run of shorter stories. If I'm ever to recommend Judge Dredd to someone who doesn't know the character, I'd always suggest they start with a collection of one offs before going for the big guns like Cursed Earth, Judge Death, or the Apocalypse War. And dammit, it should have been the same for the Meg heroes, too. Armitage - no, we don't want a flashback origin story quite that quickly, thank you very much. Shimura - let's have a bit more judging and scene-setting before the ronin thing begins, please. Missionary Man - I'm not going to care about your Bad Moon Rising if all I've seen is you riding into town and shooting people. (Actually after that far-too nicely drawn flop, this series gets way better). And Calhab Justice - can you let us get to know Schiehallion before sending him loopy and bogging down the strip for the rest of its run?
But for all that, there's fun to be had with the Scottish Judges - perhaps one day we'll all see for ourselves in an Extreme Edition?