Preview: ‘2000 AD Regened Volume 3’ – All-Ages Thrill Power Getting Better And Better

Same 2000 AD thrills, just with an all-ages twist – that’s the beauty of 2000 AD Regened. Packed with old favourites given new life and brand new strips, it’s time to take a look inside the third collection…

For a couple of years now, the pages of 2000 AD have been regularly turned over to the all-ages delights of 2000 AD Regened – with this volume reprinting material from the Regened Progs to bring you a mixture of old favourites reinvented such as Judge Dredd (well, Cadet Dredd) and Anderson Psi Division, new takes on the worlds of Dredd’s Mega City-One with Viva Forever and of Rogue Trooper in Mayflies, and completely new thrills with Action Pact.

It’s a smart move on the part of 2000 AD, looking at their readership and realising it’s aged along with the comic themselves and coming up with a solution to entertain those existing readers willing to try out new things and, hopefully, to get new younger readers hooked for the future.

And of course, with the way the kids read comics nowadays, having these collections is an absolute must.

 

With this third volume, there’s even a tempter in the way of a completely new, exclusive to this volume, very different version of one of the earliest 2000 AD strips, with the Aeroball action of Harlem Heroes – something we’ve already had a longer look at here – a damn fine reinvention from a couple of superbly talented young creators, Ramzee and Korinna Mei Veropoulou.

There’s a hell of a lot of reading in here for sure… with a hell of a lot of great talent… just like this…

2000 AD Regened Volume 3 is published by 2000 AD on 15th March – perfect for any young Earthlets who are ready for a lifetime of Thrill Power!

Written by Arthur Wyatt, Liam Johnson, Ramzee, Cavan Scott, Mike Carroll, David Baillie, Karl Stock, Colin Harvey. Art by Davide Tinto, Jake Lynch, Korinna Mei Veropoulou, Paul Davidson, Luke Horsman, Anna Morozova, Simon Coleby, Silvia Califano, Tom Newell.

Now, for a preview…

CADET DREDD: SUBOPTIMAL – Arthur Wyatt, Davide Tinto, colours by Gary Caldwell, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Cadet Dredd out on a case, missing kid Timmy Prinn, paired up with Tek-Judge Cadet Quinn, gets into a mite of trouble thanks to a group of Mechs running their own new underground mall experience … the Opti-Mall.

CADET DREDD: LAWBREAKER – Liam Johnson, Jake Lynch, colours by Jim Boswell, letters by Annie Parkhouse

As Regened goes on, more and more of the strips are settling brilliantly into a tone of being less animated serial adventure and gaining more of the gritty look and feel of 2000 AD itself, just with less blood.

This Cadet Dredd is a perfect example, it has a feel of the earliest Dredds, just one that focuses on the lawman’s earliest days. And that’s just how it should be really, going back to the earliest days of 2000 AD, where it had a natural appeal to all-ages. It helps that you’re getting artists such as Jake Lynch on the strip, already established as old-man Dredd artists, but bringing his great angular artwork to the Cadet Dredd.

ANDERSON, PSI DIVISION – DEEP BURN – Cavan Scott, Paul Davidson, colours by Matt Soffe, letters by Simon Bowland

After uncovering the alien incursion on Earth over the last couple of these Regened adventures that you can find in previous collections, Cavan Scott’s back for a third part. And that’s where it’s problematic. Yes, it’s a nice little Anderson adventure, but the fact you’re missing the previous parts is frustrating.

Here, Anderson takes Cadet Hawkins up into space, taking the fight to the alien threat we’ve seen in Scott’s prior Andersons – which seems a little harsh on poor bloody Hawkins, to be honest.

ACTION PACT: THE RADYAR RECOVERY – Mike Carroll, Luke Horsman, colours by Matt Soffe, letters by Simon Bowland

Commander Drake leads a team for very specialist operations – assisted by heavy-weapons agent Warsaw, tech expert Elton, twin gunners Tevyr and Jiago, and the silent and deadly assassin Shadow, from across the galaxy and across time. That’s the setup for this one, which proves to be as action-packed as the title would suggest, with Carroll and Horsman pulling out all the stops to give us as much action as the pages can hold – it’s all explosions, laser blasts, and lots of frantic action taking us down to the target… well, a target surrounded by a big-ass nasty purple tentacled thingy.

A fast-paced, action-packed thing (well, you were expecting that from the title), but also one that delivers a simple tale yet also sets up plenty more to come – and one that could easily transition straight from Regened to 2000 AD.

VIVA FOREVER: 9 AMAZING TIPS – David Baillie, Anna Morozova, colours by Pippa Bowland, letters by Jim Campbell

A Regened strip exploring the Dreddworld, all about a champion of the people, a super thief, going by the name of Viva Forever, who’s posting online guidance on how the little people can take the big bucks from the rich folks. Yes, it’s in Dredd’s world, but it’s very much done from the other side of the law, more Chopper than Justice Department, with the brilliantly named (although sadly nothing to do with The Spice Girls) Viva Forever making the billionaires of MC-1 all a-tremble for the last six months by going about and stealing the unstealable.

MAYFLIES: PRECIOUS CARGO – Mike Carroll, Simon Coleby, Dylan Teague, Simon Bowland

Mayflies is possibly the most 2000 AD of all the Regened strips yet – with Jaegir artist giving an artistic link to the world of the Nort-Souther War on Nu-Earth, making Mayflies feel wonderfully dark.

The Mayflies are a rag-tag group of genetic test subjects – the Mayflies title a cruel indicator of just how long they’re meant to last on the battlefield. But this group will free themselves from their Nort captors and set off on a new path, on new adventures.

MAYFLIES: THE WAY FORWARD – by Michael Molcher, Simon Coleby, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Simon Bowland.

The second Mayflies works just as well, rejoining the ragtag group of teen Souther GIs, each with specialised skills and abilities just 22 days after the Mayflies escaped and they’re running low on food, fuel, air… and options.

FUTURE SHOCKS: GEENO FIRENZO – Karl Stock, Silvia Califano, colours by John Charles, letters by Annie Parkhouse

And what would ANY 2000 AD, Regened or not, be without a Future Shock or two? Geeno Firenzo tells of a new social media thing out there, Allthefeels, allowing every user to connect emotionally – meaning all those influencers out there can now really go to town on selling those ‘unique’ experiences, including the greatest of all the emotional influencers, the ridiculous Geeno Firenzo, showing the people how to think only fashionable thoughts 24/7.

FUTURE SHOCKS – SPACE EXPECTATIONS – Colin Harvey, Tom Newell, colours by John Charles, letters by Annie Parkhouse

The search for life in the solar system isn’t going well. Nothing on Mars, Venus, the moons of Saturn, so now they’re exploring Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. Well, actually it’s one poor robot, Expectation, doing the exploring. For the last 50 years.

Long since forgotten on Earth, Expectation just keeps on exploring, taking his message of life on Earth across Io. But what happens if he does, finally, get to meet ET?