The Weekly 2000 AD – Prog 2156 Previewed: Brink Takes Aim At The Hate Box

It’s the Weekly 2000 AD, where we take you for a spin around the very best in thrill-power from the UK’s best sci-fi comic… 2000 AD.

The same five strips as last week, all of which are picking up the pace and delivering the very best in UK comics. It’s more of Dredd vs the robo-nation of Guatemala, Defoe battling the angels and the undead in Divisor, Bridge Kurtis investigating mass kills in the latest Brink, Mallory Hope raking up old and painful memories in Hope Under Fore, and finally, the slow Fall of Deadworld continues, where the doom and the chaos keeps on keeping on.

As for this week’s cover… well, it’s the ever fabulous INJ Culbard with Brink…

(Cover by INJ Culbard)

Prog 2156 is out in the UK and on digital from 6 November, with international copies coming out later – ask for it by name at your local comic shop.

JUDGE DREDD – GUATEMALA – PART 7 – John Wagner, Colin MacNeil, colors Chris Blythe, letters Annie Parkhouse.

John Wagner always delivers on Dredd. It’s some sort of universal rule. Here, he’s pulling together so many strands; the Mechanismo Mark 8 drama, the death of Hershey, new Chief-Judge Logan showing his steel at last… all perfectly done in a slow-build tale that rather explodes this Prog as Dredd makes his move towards El Presidente, the robo-pres of rogue state Guatemala.

And even as all hell breaks lose, Wagner still finds the time to deconstruct Dredd’s long-held prejudice against Mechs.

A cracking Dredd, Wagner doing it perfect, as you expect, all alongside some stunning MacNeil artwork.

DEFOE – THE DIVISOR – PART 7 – Pat Mills, SK Moore, letters Ellie De Ville

I am so loving this series of Defoe. Most of it is the artwork, SK Moore’s stuff connecting with me the way John Hicklenton’s Nemesis art did. As with Nemesis, no slight intended on the great artists of prior Defoe strips, but SK Moore’s stuff has just energised the tale of the 17th Century zombie hunter in a wonderful way.

Defoe’s up against it here, meeting the angels who want the return of Irdonozur. Defoe wants him dead. And he’s not taking no for an answer.

Meanwhile, the Dutch are on the way to the moon. Problem is, they’ve got undead stowaways on board. Irdonozur really does keep causing this world trouble.

Spectacular stuff, thoroughly enjoyable, with art that demands you look at it close up to get the real details going on.

BRINK BOOK 4 – HATE BOX – PART 7 – Dan Abnett, INJ Culbard, letters Simon Bowland

Damn, it’s a beautiful looking Prog right now. INJ Culbard’s spectacular artwork and incredible colours add to the overall feel that we’re in a wonderful place right now.

And Brink is one of those strips that just never disappoints, Abnett and Culbard delivering something that’s so dense, so claustrophobic, so stunning, week after week.

This week, on the case, Bridge descends to the Favella, where the law just doesn’t mean anything like what it should. She’s on the trail of the ‘Albino’, who Bridge suspects of being behind the mass-kill she recently investigated.

And in the background, there’s the issue of the Hate Boxes, ripped out down here in the Favella, something you just know is going to be playing a bigger and bigger part here in Brink.

HOPE… UNDER FIRE – PART 7 – Guy Adams, Jimmy Broxton, letters Ellie De Ville

Memories bring so much pain to Mallory Hope, memories of his family, lost to him, and it’s all being done deliberately, a long-held plan coming to fruition. Brutal, nasty, all things being brought to their conclusion.

For me, so much of this is all in Broxton’s artwork, Adams’ story doing a lot, but the art takes this up a level, the noir delivered with all those pulp sensibilities… gorgeous work.

THE FALL OF DEADWORLD – DOOMED – Part 7 – Kek-W, Dave Kendall, letters Annie Parkhouse

It’s time for the Apocalypse War… Deadworld style, with the Sovs taking the offensive to this world’s MC-1 and finding that there’s a nightmare waiting for them.

And the nightmare has many faces, with the many sides pushing and pulling against the rest, and the fragile rebellion mounts it’s assault.

But the problem is that it’s a futile thing surely, as Deadworld has to fall, the Dark Judges must come to power, reigning over a world of corpses. Part of me is finding it fascinating to see how Kek-W will play it all out but there’s also that part of me wondering if it’s not something that needs its ending to come.