Comic Review // Devlin Waugh: Swimming in Blood

Told you more Judge Dredd fun was coming. I've been missing the world of Mega-City One lately, but I wasn't quite ready to jump straight back into the Complete Case Files and commit myself to hundreds of pages of Dredd. Instead, I thought I'd warm myself up with one of my favourite characters from the wider 2000 AD universe…Devlin Waugh.

If you've followed my adventures for any length of time, you'll know that Devlin is easily one of my favourite characters. He's everything I love about the stranger corners of 2000 AD: completely ridiculous, wonderfully violent, slightly unhinged and somehow incredibly stylish at the same time.

So let's get back into the Mega-Cities with Swimming in Blood.

Book Details

Title: Devlin Waugh: Swimming in Blood
Author: John Smith
Art: Sean Phillips & Steve Yeowell

Blurb: A STUDY IN THE SUBTLE ART OF DISPATCHING UNSPEAKABLE MALEVOLENCE WITH STYLE!

The Mega-Cities that are home to the last vestiges of humanity are constantly preyed upon by bestial forces from beyond the realms of decency. Thankfully, such monstrosities are kept at bay by spiritual envoys employed by Vatican City, such as Devlin Waugh, a Brit-Cit-born bon viveur and jolly good fellow to boot.

When Vatican precognitive telepaths predict a horrific presence at the underwater prison of Aquatraz, Devlin is sent to investigate. What he discovers is an uncompromising evil that will force him to cancel elevenses and abandon the Queensbury rules just to survive.

And honestly, that's probably all you need to know before diving in.

Review

It felt really good to be back in the post-apocalyptic world of Judge Dredd. And I'm especially glad that I chose Devlin Waugh as my way back in. Swimming in Blood is a collection of Devlin's adventures, beginning with the title story, and it immediately reminded me why I enjoy this character so much. But if you're new to Devlin Waugh, who exactly is this wonderfully strange man?

Well, Devlin comes from the same timeline as Judge Dredd and the Mega-Cities, but he was born in Brit-Cit. He somehow became an Olympic athlete specialising in flower arranging before eventually joining the Vatican forces as an Exorcist Assassin. That's two words I never expected to see together. Now he travels the world dealing with occult threats, all while maintaining a fondness for fine living, tea, violence and showing off his rather impressive physique. Devlin is not exactly what you'd call a well-adjusted individual and that's why I love him.

Swimming in Blood

The title story throws us straight into a vampire adventure packed with gore, violence and plenty of Devlin being Devlin. The Vatican's precogs have detected something seriously wrong, and Devlin is dispatched to the Bahamas to investigate. His destination is Aquatraz, an underwater prison overrun by vampires. What follows is essentially a survival story as Devlin attempts to rescue the remaining humans and deal with the vampire infestation.

I really enjoyed this one. It's fast-paced, violent and wonderfully over-the-top, but there's also a nice sense of danger throughout. The ending is particularly good, with some of the vampires escaping into the ocean while Devlin himself is bitten by a vampire. Not exactly the outcome I was expecting.

Brief Encounter

Next up is "Brief Encounter", which sees Devlin heading to Mega-City One to attend a cat show. Naturally, Devlin completely ignores the rules and soon finds himself on the wrong side of the Justice Department. A subsequent search discovers tobacco, alcohol, a considerable amount of blood, pornography and various other bits of contraband. Luckily for Devlin, he has diplomatic immunity, but unfortunately for Devlin, Judge Dredd doesn't particularly care, and when Dredd can't go after Devlin directly, he decides to target Devlin's cat instead.

It's a wonderfully silly little Dredd crossover and exactly the sort of thing I wanted from this collection.

Chasing Herod

Then we get into the second major story, "Chasing Herod". The story begins through the narration of a paparazzi journalist, who fills us in on Devlin's past before informing us that something terrible is coming. Apparently, the end of the world is upon us. So naturally, Devlin has come out of retirement. What follows is a much larger adventure involving the Vatican, the end of the world and a collection of characters, including former villains, who team up with Devlin to try and save humanity.

This was probably my favourite story in the collection. There's humour throughout, some fantastic characters and a really lively narrative that keeps everything moving. It feels like the sort of story where 2000 AD can throw almost anything at the page and somehow make it work, whilst Devlin sits in the centre of all of it.

A Mouthful of Dust

After the madness of Chasing Herod, we get "A Mouthful of Dust", another one-shot adventure. Devlin helps an old friend search for a cure to a demonic disease, and while it's perfectly enjoyable, this one definitely feels like filler. It's not bad. It just doesn't have the same impact as the previous story.

A Love Like Blood

And then we get one final story: "A Love Like Blood." Honestly? This is where I think the collection should have stopped. It's a fairly straightforward tale about an obsessive Devlin Waugh fan, and unfortunately I found it rather dull. It doesn't really add much to the collection and felt more like something that had been included for completeness rather than because it genuinely needed to be here. Perhaps that's the collector in me speaking, but I can understand why it was included, and as Devlin Waugh fan, obviously I'm going to want it, even if it feels a bit to much meh.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed Swimming in Blood. More importantly, it has done exactly what I wanted it to do. It has reignited my interest in the worlds of Judge Dredd. I've been away from the series for a little while, and I wasn't quite ready to throw myself back into the Complete Case Files. Devlin Waugh was the perfect gateway back into the world. He's such a ridiculous character, but that's part of the appeal. There is something wonderfully excessive about a muscular, tea-drinking, flower-arranging, Vatican exorcist assassin travelling around the Judge Dredd universe dealing with vampires, demons and whatever other nightmares happen to turn up. It's 2000 AD at its strangest, and I love it.

The collection isn't perfect. Some of the shorter stories are clearly just filler, and I could happily have done without A Love Like Blood. But the main stories more than make up for that, particularly Chasing Herod. So, where does this leave me?

Well...I came into this book looking for a gentle warm-up before returning to Judge Dredd. Instead, I've come out of it wanting more Devlin Waugh, and I think that's a pretty good sign.

Drokk!