The Weekly 2000AD – Prog 2119 Previewed: Another Week, Another Set Of Scintillating Sci-Fi Thrills

Another week, another injection of thrill-power into the vein of comics. 2000AD is the best sci-fi anthology to ever come out of these British Isles and it’s going through a real purple patch in the last few years. This week, with Prog 2119, you get revelations and political movement in Mega-City One with Judge Dredd: Machine Law, a new Future Shock, plus the continuing thrills of Skip Tracer, Grey Area, and Jaegir. And all underneath a stunning cover from Luke Preece.

2000AD Prog 2119 is out in the UK and digitally on the 20th of February and out in the North Americas at some nebulous point in the future.

JUDGE DREDD: MACHINE LAW – PART 5 – John Wagner, Colin MacNeil, letters Annie Parkhouse.

The story so far: Chief Judge Hershey has resigned, anointing Judge Logan as her successor. Logan’s a big advocate of using Mech-Judges, and the trials in his sector have the stats to back him up. Dredd, as you’d expect, is not so sure but still backs Logan. And then Logan drops his bombshell. The new Chief Judge appoints Mech-Judge Harvey as one of his council of five.

Ok, that’s you up to date. Now, things are just getting interesting. And by interesting, I mean it in a magnificent, Wagnerian fashion. This is an episode where Wagner does nothing more than have Dredd talk to Harvey, Dredd brood a little, then talk to Chief Judge Logan. And during that conversation, Wagner does the thing he does so well, without fanfare, without any warning, he drops the sky on you. There’s a line here that will just cut long-time readers to their hearts. Wagner might not write as much Dredd nowadays, but he’s still the heart and soul of this strip.

So far, Machine Law is pure brilliance. And, of course, a huge part of that comes from MacNeill’s gorgeous artwork. Never more so than the full page, the culmination of Dredd’s brooding on the problems, where MacNeill delivers the iconic shot of all iconic shots.

SKIP TRACER – LOUDER THAN BOMBS – PART 9 – James Peaty, Paul Marshal, colours Quinton Winter, letters Ellie De Ville

Nathan Blake’s missions always start out so simple, yet end so complicated and Louder Than Bombs is proving no exception. This issue he’s on the receiving end of some very disturbing information about the Consociation and the suspected terrorist group, The Children of Fury. And it’s information that puts him in deep trouble.

Peaty’s constructions of Skip Tracer are getting better and better, each series sees him flexing those writing muscles more effectively, and here we’re seeing a very good tale play out very well, ably abetted by Paul Marshal’s solid and effective artwork.

GREY AREA – ROGUE – Dan Abnett, Mark Harrison, letters Ellie De Ville

As a strip, Grey Area went from doing nothing for me to excellence a long time back, and with Harrison on art duties and Abnett’s tales covering intriguing new ground, it’s a strip that’s only getting better with each passing episode. This series is concerning itself with the black ops squad, where two former members of Buillet’s squad, presumed dead, have reluctantly found themselves.

Now, they’re attempting to break out of black ops, not something to be recommended. Not with the political moving going on. and definitely not with black ops working to their own, very deadly, take no prisoners agenda.

The sheer density of Grey Area, both the writing and the art makes this one just breathless, brillaintly so. This is another incredible 2000AD strip for the now.

FUTURE SHOCKS: GRAVE NEGOTIATIONS – Rory McConville, Duane Leslie, letters Simon Bowland.

Sometimes Future Shocks are throwaway things, and sometimes, rarely, they say something bigger. It’s a difficult thing to do in just five pages, but McConville manages it here, covering politics, the fortunes of war, the disposable nature of the troops on the ground, and more. All wrapped up in some retro-styles art from Leslie.

JAEGIR – BONEGRINDER – PART 3 – Gordon Rennie, Simon Coleby, colours Len O’Grady, letters Annie Parkhouse

Take a moment to look at the first page of this episode of Jaegir and tell me that it’s not the most horrifically beautiful thing you’ve seen in a long time. Coleby and O’Grady have been, consistently, delivering incredible artwork for Jaegir, but that page is something else, something incredible.

It’s turning into a real bad week for Jaegir, down on the ground in The Bonegrinder, and it’s becoming clear that the powers that be sent her and her men here with no intention of them getting out alive. The one attack they’ve faced was brutal and deadly, but she now has to face up to the prospect of the second, third, fourth, the Southers throwing wave after wave of troops at them. What’s Jaegir to do?