Comic review 171 // The Simping Detective by 2000 AD

One of my favourite 2000 AD characters is the focus of this comic, and it fills me with excitement to read this. Hopefully, I still feel the same at the end.

Title: The Simping Detective

Author: Simon Spurrier

Artist: Frazer Irving

Description:

MEGA-CITY ONE, 2129 AD. Simped-up private eye Jack Point is an undercover 'Wally Squad' Judge – ‘cos only a clown would want to walk the streets of Angeltown, the scuzziest part of City Bottom. He's got two friends in this world; one's long and hard and makes your ears ring after every shot; the other's his gun. In fact, Jack's got enemies on both sides of the Law, and he's never far from trouble.

Written by Simon Spurrier (Gutsville) with art by Frazer Irving (Storming Heaven), The Simping Detective is future-noir at its best!

Stories include:

Gumshoe, Crystal Blue, Innocence: A Broad, Playing Futsie, Fifteen, Petty Crimes and No Body, No How.

Review

The Simping detective delivers on the Noir Private Eye. Perfectly produced black and white artwork sucks you in, then with a bit of red, we are made to think of the Sin-City style artwork. I felt the red was unneeded as it neither added nor detracted from the stories.

Jack Point is part of the unusual Wally Squad (think Dirty Frank, Lenny Zero etc.); these Judges have quirks and can operate out the normal bounds of the Justice Department. For Point, he uses the ruse of being a Simp to hide in plain sight. Simp is a style of attire that is clown-like and foolish, and in Mega-City One, it is viewed as religion! Pair this clownish attire with a private eye, and Jack Point can blend into the background and investigate a crime at ease. Unfortunately for Judge Point, he has gained the taste for smoking, drinking and relationships (wheres the SJS?).

In these tales, we get to join Point as he delves deeper into Angeltown, one of the more downtrodden and seedier sectors of MC-1. We get to watch Jack Point get set up by corrupt Judges, raise an alien pet, become investigated by the SJS, be framed for murder and fall in love with Gallen Demarco. There is so much happening in one book, and I was thrilled. I loved seeing the return of the Raptaur alien from the 90's Dredd story and seeing this creature's story progress. It reminds me so much of a xenomorph. I also enjoyed the classic framed for a crime I didn't commit arc, which was portrayed perfectly and given the MC-1 twist along the way.

As I mentioned, this book is full of fantastic art, classic Film-Noir plots and dialogue. I loved the stories from start to finish, and if you are a fan of Judge Dredd, I highly recommend it.

You can buy a copy over at www.2000ad.com.

Hope you enjoyed it? Come watch me paint Jack Point over on Youtube: How to Paint Jack Point