The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2269: The Scowl, The Chin, The Smoking Lawgiver
by Richard Bruton
Time to head out to the land of 2000 AD, the UK’s greatest sci-fi weekly comic, now celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2022.
The 45th-anniversary Prog hits next week – 48 pages with two brand-new thrills in the much anticipated ‘Judge Dredd: The Citadel‘ from John Wagner and Dan Cornwell, as well as Dan Abnett and INJ Culbard coming in with the new series of the always-excellent Brink with Mercury Retrograde. There’s also the return of Kingmaker and a one-off Indigo Prime to look forward to!
But that’s next week. Before that, there’s the matter of the five strips for this week – another done in one Judge Dredd, another Terror Tale, and the continuations of The Order and Proteus Vex. Sadly, after a short five-parter, we say farewell to Saphir: Liaisons Dangereuses this Prog.
Right then, 2000 AD Prog #2269 is out on Wednesday 16th February. Shall we?
JUDGE DREDD: 5 IN THE CUBES – Arthur Wyatt, Nicolo Assirelli, colours by Gary Caldwell, letters by Annie Parkhouse
Who’d have thought there was something worse than being taken for a 5-hour, this is what you could be getting, tour of the iso-cubes by Judge Dredd? Well, one of the juves is about to find out that there’s plenty worse.
Young Chazzo Shebly just happened to live in the wrong part of town, somewhere the 5 in the cubes programme targets. And that’s enough to mark him out for life. And this time, his five in the cubes is nothing to what he’s in store for.
Another done-in-one Dredd, but Wyatt uses it to show make a hard point or two, how MC-1’s a shitty place to live, and even shittier if you’re living in somewhere the crime stats have flagged up. But also how MC-1’s cits are always just one bad moment, one bad Judge away from something terrible in their lives. A damn fine Dredd and with some very nice looking art from Assirelli.
THARG’S TERROR TALES: FORECLOSURE – John Tomlinson, Anna Morozova, letters by Jim Campbell
One of the most visually exciting new artists at 2000 AD of the last few years, Anna Morozova, makes a welcome return here, with the black & white art of this Terror Tale only going to highlight the style and beauty of her linework.
The story itself is one of those easy to work out from the first moment you see the note about the lapsed payment for Ms Rees’ keratoplasty work. After all, this is a Terror Tale and you always expect the worst…
But although you know where it’s going to go, it’s still plenty of fun getting there, especially with the smooth lines of Morozova’s artwork guiding you effortlessly through the pages.
SAPHIR: LIAISONS DANGEREUSES – PART 5 – FINAL PART – Kek-W, David Roach, colours by Peter Doherty, letters by Annie Parkhouse
Five episodes and out for this second series of Saphir, which is a damn shame as it was really only starting to explore the possibilities afforded by all this dimension-hopping and the dire threat to Lady Sofia’s child from V’ridean.
But still, across five episodes this one has delivered on the promise of the first three-parter, the imagination of Kek-W matched so well by the lush lines and painting of David Roach. Hopefully, we’ll be revisiting the worlds of Inspector Mucha and the Lady Sofia again very soon, but it would be fascinating to see what they could do with this one if it were stretched to eight, even 10 episodes.
THE ORDER: FANTASTIC VOYAGE – PART 8 – Kek-W, John Burns, Simon Bowland
Benjamin Franklin: inventor, philosopher, former statesman… and currently suffering from a nasty case of tentacle invasion… such is the world of The Order.
It’s all about the Shadows, infecting everything they can in this realm, a place that what’s left of The Order are trying to get out of as soon as they can. And if Ben Franklyn has the shadows inside him, what does that mean?
This time, it’s not just me asking the questions either.
But from there, it’s back into the sea, back beneath the waves, with the Shadow-Kraken on their tail.
Basically, more weirdness thrown at us by Kek-W and a hell of a lot more beauty from John Burns, of course!
PROTEUS VEX: DESIRE PATHS – PART 8 – Michael Carroll, Jake Lynch, colours by Jim Boswell, letters by Simon Bowland
After the explosive events of last episode, things settle down here. ALthough, in the world of Proteus Vex, that just means we’re barrelling off to another world or some other ridiculously out-there thingy-whatsit that Jake Lynch has designed for the episode… like the Superstructure, the Scorcher’s homeworld, the patched-together remains of at least four planets, plus then going further and designing a completely new species (again.)
You do just wonder what the notes are on Carroll’s scripts sometimes – “Hi Jake, this 5-pages, I’d like you to design another two, completely distinct, nothing like anything we’ve seen so far, plus a homeworld of four different planets that has a Roman Empire in hell vibe about it. That okay?”
Yep, and then Jake Lynch takes the whole thing and never fails to impress with what he comes up with. Amazing stuff.
The whole Proteus Vex chases his memories of Chancellor Baryon while running from the Alliance after releasing harmful information about war crimes is perfect to allow Carroll and Lynch to hop from scenario to scenario, weird new planet to weird new planet, Vex and reader putting things together slowly but surely thinking it’s all coming together… only to have Carroll pull another trick on us and Vex to keep this as one of the most wonderfully strange and exciting strips.
