Reading – (Mega-City One) Insurrection

Written by Dan Abnett, best known for his work on Warhammer 40k (Amazon.com search*), the Insurrection* trade paperback presents a battle of Judges as the people of Mining Colony K-Alpha 61, led by Judges, openly rebel against the oppressive government of Mega-City One. When I spotted this at the 2000 AD booth at NYCC last week there was no way that I was leaving it behind, and now that I’ve read the comics (two stories are included inside) I wanna know if more of this storyline is on the way.

Insurrection

First up is the story in which the people of the world they have named “Liberty” send a message to Mega-City One declaring their intent to form a separate government and secede from Mega-City One. A distant mining colony that has just fought off an alien invasion — without the help of Mega-City One — the citizens of “Liberty” have had enough and knowingly invite disaster; Mega-City One must act against the rebellion and everyone involved knows this.

Abnett’s writing is as fun as ever with the invasion by Mega-City One warships and troops played out in stages, with each event countered by the rebels. And Colin MacNeil’s artwork is gorgeous, easy to follow and nicely laying out every action that Abnett tosses out. A scene in which energy shields fry a team of paratroopers is especially beautiful (a great two-page spread) and seeing Judges fight Judges, with the rebels using everything they learned in their recent war with an alien force, makes for a fun comic.

What first appears to be an act of betrayal turns into a chance to set the stage for future stories as one Judge, Zia Freely, manages to cripple the entire Mega-City One fleet so that the rebels can escape “Liberty” to spread their message to other worlds. The story is a blast and if the book had ended here I would have been quite happy with my $15 purchase . . . but it’s not over yet.

Insurrection II

Zia Freely is being held by the forces of Mega-City One and the rebels, loyally stupid at times, seek to free her. This launches the second story in Insurrection* which quickly turns into a story of battle on a robot-operated factory world. With words like “Manufactorium” Abnett’s Warhammer 40k roots are showing, but with a story this fun I don’t care if it feels more like a Warhammer 40k story than a Judge Dredd story at times. And MacNeil’s artwork is as fun as in the first half of the collection.

Insurrection II is a different story, with the focus on hit and run battles rather than fighting off an invasion, but it’s a great sequel to the first tale and I’m glad it was included in the book. Art as beautiful as the first story and writing as fun as I expect from Abnett all add up to make me want more. And the Insurrection entry at Wikipedia makes it sound like there will be more:

The reception has been positive with reviews of the first episode suggesting “With cracking art and a storming first episode I have to say ‘Insurrection’ has the potential to be the best Dredd off world spin-off ever” and “This was as good a first episode as I can remember reading and I can see Insurrection having the legs to deliver on that initial promise.”

Closing Thoughts

Insurrection* surprised me when I spotted the trade paperback — not getting 2000 AD magazines on a regular basis means I am always behind on stuff — but now that I’ve read it I want to start digging deep to see what else 2000 AD has released for this sub-story in their Mega-City One and Judge Dredd world.

Truly awesome and recommended if you want a fun comic and you’re at all a fan of sci-fi military action. And if you love Abnett’s Warhammer 40k writing then you probably already know about and own this.