The Weekly 2000 AD – Prog 2125: Drokk You To Hell, Cannibal Commie!
by Richard Bruton
The Weekly 2000 AD, our Comicon.com look into the wonderful world of the Galaxy’s Greatest comic. Four decades and more of the very best in Brit sci-fi, right here…
That, is one superb looking cover by Grey Area artist Mark Harrison. And yes, it’s all about the border wall… that border wall.
“Do not poke the alien with a stick. Do not look into the egg/pod/box/ship/crater/at the light. Do not sleep near to the alien. Do not have unprotected sex with the alien”. All good advice there.
It’s the final episode of Grey Area here, but dammit, it’s a stunning ending. We also see the end of the two-part Dredd, Unearthed, while Kingmaker, Survival Geeks, and Max Normal all keep on keeping on.
Prog 2125 comes out this week, 3 April, in the UK and on digital. Elsewhere in the world? Ask your local comic shop!
JUDGE DREDD: UNEARTHED – PART 2 – FINAL PART – Rob Williams & Chris Weston, Patrick Goddard, colours Chris Blythe, letters Annie Parkhouse.
The only bad thing I have to say about Unearthed is that it’s over this Prog. Two episodes just wasn’t enough. Or perhaps, it’s a perfect example of everything that makes Dredd, at its best, still so important and vital after four decades in 2000 AD? Williams and Weston make a perfect writing team it seems and Goddard’s artwork is effortlessly, classically great looking.
After last issue, where building work uncovered an old, experimental Sov ship, complete with Sov Judges who’ve reverted to cannabalism as a means of survival, this is in turns ridiculously funny over the top stuff and desperately brutal.
The funny comes from the dialogue, “Drokk you to hell, cannibal commie! Those were my best workers you’ve just eaten, you dig? I forget their names, but they were puntual and largely inexpensive!”
The brutal comes from Dredd, where the action kicks in and the dialogue from Dredd turns introspective. And then there’s the last page, an exercise in how to finish a short tale with a real full stop.
KINGMAKER: OUROBOROS – PART 3 – Ian Edginton and Leigh Gallagher, letters by Ellie De Ville
After Crixus, everyone’s favourite Ork, got the travelling trio of himself, the wizard Ablard and the dryad princess Yarrow out of a bind in Hobbitville last Prog, we’re now heading offworld, to the Thorn ship above the planet. Lord Tycho, Yarrow’s father, finds himself in the presence of Duke Eschatus, Imperator of the Thorn, Doctor Ravna, Procurator General, and General Acastus, Master-At-Arms. Not all of them are going to make it out alive from the meeting, and it’s probably not who you think.
Political intrigue meets dark fantasy meets hard sci-fi, all wrapped up in Leigh Gallagher’s delicious artwork. Kingmaker’s turning into a great strip.
SURVIVAL GEEKS: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (BASIC) – PART 3 – Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeny, Neil Googe, colours Gary Caldwell, letters Annie Parkhouse
We’re deep inside the role-playing game of Clive’s invention here in the latest series of the riotous Survival Geeks. Tongue still firmly in cheek, of course, but there’s always enough of a story in these to make it so much more than just a stand-up comedy skit to Googe’s wonderfully fluid and easy on the eye artwork.
But, with Beeby and Rennie providing the dialogue, it’s always going to have at least a few good laughs along the way…
“Go cry to the patriarchy, Shortnobber. I’m Princess Mantears, not Princess does all the housework!”
MAX NORMAL: HOW MAX GOT HIS STRIPES – PART 2 – Guy Adams and Dan Cornwell, colours Jim Boswell, letters Simon Bowland
Max Normal, pinstripe wearing bon viveur, Judge Dredd’s go to informant, and huge fan of the lost sport of Shuggy, isn’t one planning on going into early retirement. Which is why he’s decided it’s time he got into the Shuggy Hall ownership game, much to the displeasure of the little scrotes who considered the derelict place their own.
It’s old man Max and his old mate Vito versus young punks… our money’s on the guy in the sharp suit, baby. That is, if he gets away from a trouser press on the rampage!
Guy Adams is turning in something as well put together as Max himself, whilst Dan Cornwell is really turning it on with his art, getting better and better every time I see him in the Prog.
GREY AREA – MAKING HISTORY – PART 3 – FINAL PART – Dan Abnett, Mark Harrison, letters Ellie De Ville
This is the final Grey Area of this series and, given the way it ends, it could, if Abnett and Harrison were so inclined, be the finale to the whole strip. But, if it is the end of Grey Area (and I really, really hope it’s not), then this is a spectacular way to go out. With a real bang. Just like this…
Now, look at that and tell me that Harrison’s artwork here isn’t just so good? Chaykin-esque? But so full of ridiculous detailing and looking just incredible.
As for the tale, well racist psycopath black ops leader Grell just got his, as you’ve seen. But, that doesn’t mean Abnett hasn’t still got one very cleverly done twist in his tale quite yet. And doing that makes the ending work so much better than just the heroes running in and saving the day.
This way it’s messy, political, and yes, never black and white.
