Comic Review // 2000 AD - Red Razors by Mark Millar

Moving on to the far side of the Dreddverse for this comic review, today we head into Sov territory to discover how the other side lives. The title of this comic is Red Razors, a tale I fondly remember from my teenage years. I hope after re-reading it, it will still hold up.

Details

Title: Red Razor

Author: Mark Millar

Artist: Nigel Dobbyn, Steve Yeowell,

Fluff: You're Next, Comrade! Sov-Block Two is the only remaining city in future Russia, a cultural melting pot, where capitalist American influences have melded with more traditional lifestyles like ultraviolence, kidnapping and murder.

Review

First, this is a collected set of tales telling the full story of Red Razors. I personally wish they had set the tales up in the actual timeline order rather than as written. Reaching the final tale felt weird, and it ended up being the introduction to the character. With this in mind, I will start with the final tale and then go back to the start.

Rites of Passage (Originally written for Prog 971) - We are introduced to a sixteen-year-old killer attempting to access the most dangerous Gang in town, the Red Deaths. To gain full membership, Red Razor has to kill two of Sov-Blocks most dangerous criminals. His parents!

This is a fantastic starting intro to a new character. Though Razor doesn't say much, his actions speak volumes. Flaming his mother and sticking a bomb in his father's mouth is brutal! Showcasing just how psychotic Razor is. We also see Spike, for the first time, a blindfolded gang leader with bold visions for the future of his gang.

It's a great opening tale for the set; it really should have been the opening story. With this now completed, we jump back to the first comic strip in the book.

Red Razors (Originally written for Judge Dredd: The Megazine 1.08-1.15) - Where the above tale was written to introduce us to Red Razor, this one seems to introduce us to Sov-Block Two and how it fits into the Dreddverse world. We learn that following Mega-City One's bombing of Sov-Block One, Sov-Block Two had to rebrand and open its door to Western culture. Jump forward to the now (in the 90’s Dredd timeline), and Sov-Block Two is a cultural nightmare, fast food chains everywhere, a religion based around Elvis and a Chief Judge who paid for the position. Into this mix, we have a pensioner terrorist group wanting to revert the city to its Marxist days. It fits wonderfully into the chaotic backdrop of the future.

Ultimately, it is a weird tale involving the theft of Elvis's bones and Red Razors' adventure into the Cursed Earth of Russia. It was fantastic to see what had happened to Sov-Block One post-Apocalypse War and how the Justice Department had changed. Judge Nutmeg was a creepy villain, but Western culture's taking over felt like a cool nod to how the post-Cold War era affected Russian culture.

The Hunt for Red Razors (Originally written for Progs 908-917) - Sov-Block Two has regained control of itself culturally, pushing back on Western culture. However, the city is still torn in two as the Red Death has significant control of the city. Into this mess, Red Razor is hunting down Spike, his former mentor, to finally bring him to justice and utterly take down his old gang. When the face-off happens, Spike detonates a bomb, blowing them both up. Red Razor survives; however, his brainwashing program is damaged, causing him to go rogue and greatly embarrass the Sov Justice Department. Then, into this mix, Spike returns! Having seen success in the brainwashing program, the Sov Justice Department attempts to bring Spike into the Razor Judge program, going as far as to give Spike a cyborg body. During the chaos of Razor going Rogue, the Red Death led a raid on Justice Central, capturing Spike and bringing him online before his brainwashing took hold. Creating an almost unstoppable killing machine! Throw into this mix, Judge Dredd, and we have a three-way brawl of epic proportions.

Absolute chaos ensues, and we finally get the showdown the tale has been building up. It was weird to throw Judge Dredd into the mix; it seemed a little forced as if they were worried the story wouldn’t hold up without him. But this strip brought back all the good memories of my teenage years. It was such a great ending, especially the final wordless panels. Overall, this volume is a nice peek into a corner of the Judge Dredd world that has been overlooked for too long. It is also a nice take on the Cold War era, as we get to see a Soviet-style megacity. Basically, it was a great read that I had left too long.

Let me know your thoughts, and drop me a comment below.