Comic Review // Karyn: Concrete Sky by 2000 AD
As I continued to dig through my comic backlog, I discovered today’s issue. It sprang out as a must-read for a couple of reasons.
1) It carries on the theme of the PSI department.
2) It has Vampires!
3) I didn't like my introduction to Karyn, so I hope this will turn it around.
Title: Karyn Concrete Sky Collection
Publisher: 2000 AD
Review
This is a collection of four stories from the world of Judge Dredd. The cover shows an Angelic Vampire swarming over PSI Judge Karyn with screaming faces. This picture is stunning and gives me hope for the stories within…instant heartbreak as I open the cover and see the blocky black-and-white imagery from the Janus issue.NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Story: Karyn: Concrete Sky
Writer: John Freeman
Artist: Adrian Salmon
Okay, let's get into the story, which is a solid tale for the title piece. The MegaCorp are rebuilding damaged mega-blocks and a team has gone missing, as the supervisor goes to investigate he discovers their corpses. Soon, the Judges are on site, but this time, it is the exorcist branch. It's a rarely-seen team that fights the paranormal. Judge Karyn is also on hand and is met with sexism and aggression from these Exorcist Judges, but she ultimately discovers the truth that the head vampire is, in fact, an infected judge who went missing a while back. Turns out he has been aiding the Vampires in rebuilding Old New York. Here, the story gets a bit dull as we discover the Vampires are buying time to flee the underworld, which they succeed in doing. As I mentioned in passing, the artwork is not to my taste. I find the blocky black and white too jarring, distracting from what could have been an interesting tale. It is also hard to side with the Vampires, as they could have fled without the Judges ever finding them. I find it all a bit hastily written towards the end.
Story: Karyn: Beautiful Evil
Writer: John Freeman
Artist: Adrian Salmon
Urgh! Another Salmon drawn piece. I can’t understand this art direction. Judge Karyn was meant to fill a void left by Judge Anderson, but it seems they didn't want to give her a proper chance. Freeman has written an interesting enough story, but the art is a failure for me. In this short one-shot, Judge Karyn investigates a murder involving African art. She soon discovers one piece in the collection contains a cursed spirit who kills those who possess a stolen stone. Soon, she fights the creature before ultimately destroying the art piece. It's a perfect one-shot story, let down by the art. If Karyn had gotten more of these, I am sure she might have been widespread; sadly, that didn't happen. It also seems to end the Judge Karyn arc as we move on to a new character.
Story: Cabal
Writer: John Freeman
Artist: Adrian Salmon
Okay, it seems like the whole issue will be given over to this duo. A new character has been created, and a colourist has been hired. Straight up the colouring helps. It makes me want to go back and try it on the Karyn stories (is it wrong if I colour it in?). This story again follows the PSI Exorcist Squad as they battle demons. While this happens, Judge Shenker discusses the Exorcist Squads' future within the department with Chief Judge McGruder. Overall a strange tale, it was definitely a set-up for a new series, but seems to have failed as the character of Cabal is never seen again lol. It's not the worst story, but with a lack of follow-up, there are too many unanswered questions. Colouring Salmon's work was the true highlight here.
Story: Judge Hershey: True Brit
Writer: Alan Grant
Art: Doug Braithwaite and Dave Elliot
It's a confusing add-on to the collection. So far, it has been PSI-filled, and now we get a random Hershey story. Alan Grant is taking the lead, backed up by some great artists. In this story, we discover that Chief Judge Silver and the Council of Five are on the verge of signing an agreement with Brit-Cit. The only problem is that Hershey is late for the signing. It turns out she is busy fighting an anti-Brit terrorist group. It's a Classic Mega-city story and the strongest piece in this collection.
Overall, this collection is a hard miss for me. I can't get past Salmon's work. This is the joy of art; it either hits or misses. If you have read these stories, let me know what you think of his art style.
I hope you enjoyed the review. Feel free to comment below or seek me out on one of the social platforms I hang out on. Cheers to reading this.
