Villordsutch reviews Cadet Anderson: Teenage Kyx…
SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS! ONE IN TEN PSI-CADETS WILL COMMIT SUICIDE IN THEIR FIRST YEAR! It’s tough being ten in a school where an assessment can involve taking on a serial killer, but not for the girl who will eventually become Psi-Division’s top telepath, Judge Cassandra Anderson!Cadet Anderson and her psychic classmates must endure all the horrors Mega-City One can throw at them before they can earn their place as Judges, or else end up as the one in ten!
I’m a fan of Judge Anderson, the somewhat flawed (if not tragic) required splinter in Dredd’s thumb. She’s (not the Cat’s mother) constantly haunted by the souls around her, that each have a story which normally go unheard due to the screams of Mega-City One. I like Judge Anderson quite a bit I’ll be honest.
On top of this I adore the writing of Alan Grant and the previous artwork of Carlos Ezquerra, Patrick Goddard, Steve Yeowell. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve truly nerded out over Steve Yeowell’s work and I can clearly recall watching him sketch – in absolute silence – in Manchester, as Zenith came to life on a piece of paper beside me. I like all the masters of 2000AD involved in Cadet Anderson: Teenage Kyx.
The issue is, I don’t like Cadet Anderson: Teenage Kyx; to the point and blunt I know, but I truthfully didn’t. This collection of Cadet Anderson’s tales includes Big Girls Don’t Cry, Teenage Kyx, Algol and One in Ten; it’s the last that belongs to the blurb on the back of this graphic novel whilst the other three show different points in Cadet Anderson’s career.
The problem I had with the individual stories is they held – in truth – no tension nor interest. They felt like a cluster of nostalgic filler strips from 2000AD; they have an “early days” feel, like 2000AD is trying to appeal to a younger generation. The strongest story out of the book is One in Ten which opens with a rather brutal, macabre trade in harvesting new-born babies, however by the end this too descends into another “early days” feel.
The saving grace within these pages is the artwork however. As said above you can never fault the 2000AD art masters and to be treated to the work of Yeowell, Ezquerra, Goddard and a cluster of covers is always fantastic. Though I’m summarising that Cadet Anderson: Teenage Kyx is a tale that should always be appreciated in small doses and weekly too.
Cadet Anderson: Teenage Kyx is available to buy from 2000AD online here, Amazon UK and Amazon US.
Rating: 6/10
@Villordsutch
Originally published January 10, 2017. Updated January 23, 2020.
