The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2335: The Beast Beneath In ‘The Enemy Earth’ Finale

Since 1977 2000 AD has been the UK’s greatest sci-fi weekly comic, and every week we give you a glimpse inside the new Prog… it’s The Weekly 2000 AD.

 

This week we see the finale of Book 2 of Enemy Earth as Zoe et. al. face more nightmares of a world gone mad. There’s also the continuing tales of Judge Dredd versus the Mob in ‘In The Event of my Untimely Demise‘, more horrors unleashed in Durham Red: Mad Dogs, and more time-twisting sci-fi warfare in Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley. And of course, the insanely beautiful Void Runners by David Hine and Boo Cook gets into its psychedelic stride with episode 2.

Oh, make no mistake, it’s a great time to be getting into 2000 AD!

Prog 2335 is out in the UK and on digital on 7th June. In the USA things are, of course, different, and you’d be best to insist your local comic shop orders you the regular monthly bundle of Progs through the distributor.

Next Prog is another Regened Prog, hated by the old guard who want their 2000 AD to be exactly the same 2000 AD they read back in the ’70s and ’80s, but Tharg’s obviously got damn good reasons and damn good sales for Regened to bring in readers to the Prog. I think I’ll trust Tharg on this one. And let’s not forget, with stories including Lowborn High, Cadet Dredd, Finder & Keeper, and Future Shocks, it’s a damn good read as well.

 

You’ll notice that this one is still published before the release date of 7th June. Put it this way, if you’re after a calm, peaceful environment conducive to writing this sort of thing, might I suggest shifts in the hospital canteen with wi-fi signals that play hide and seek is not the best place. It’s week 2 of hospital living now and things are still very, very bad. Bless the NHS for the amazing things they do – the greatest thing Britain’s ever created and one we should cherish and fund rather than allow to crumble.

Okay, enough… let’s have a look inside…

 

JUDGE DREDD: IN THE EVENT OF MY UNTIMELY DEMISE – PART 4 – by Mike Caroll and Paul Marshall, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Annie Parkhouse

So, it’s the aftermath of the massive raid Dredd and his teams carried out on the Santos mob. Those higher up aren’t happy. Dredd does his Dredd thing, rubbing people the wrong way, bending regulations, getting the job done. That first page is just that pure Dredd being Dredd moment written wonderfully well.

But although Dredd’s thinking he’s on top of things, there’s so much going on here that he’s no clue of. He still has no clear idea of what that nagging twinge in his head is, no idea that it’s the Kindred’s secret weapon, the Dredd-locator they’ve got. He still has no idea that even within his fairly trusted group that made the raid there’s a mob-bought Judge…

 

And worst of all, Dredd has no idea of the sheer scale of what he’s going up against with the mobs here. He’s used to the old mob structure whereas the Kindred are redefining the mobs and Santos’ cartel is just collateral damage at this point.

This is Mike Carroll’s Dredd in a nutshell, a damn enjoyable nutshell as well. I’ve always loved the way he moves the pieces around so carefully in his Dredds and this is no exception to that. Highly enjoyable, careful, tense stuff, all of it accompanied in fine style by Paul Marshall and Dylan Teague’s artwork.

 

VOID RUNNERS – PART 2 – by David Hine and Boo Cook, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Two episodes in and it’s pretty obvious this one’s another great new strip, the latest in a long limne of them over the past few years.

It’s got a huge sci-fi space opera feel, it’s got comedy, it’s got some of the best art Boo Cook’s ever done. He’s packing the pages with great design and quite wonderful character designs. Just like this…

 

And that’s just the cook. This is what’s making Void Runners already a favourite, the way Hine’s threading this quest for the Kali Dust in with the quieter moments, the little inter-personal stuff to give the story depth and meaning. Excellent work and one that I’m already hoping we’ll be seeing more of after this first series is done.

After this, things kick off, spectacularly, with Cook going psychedelic sci-fi spectacular with a near full page of incredible alien organic shapes, just the sort of thing only he can do – perfect stuff.

 

And then there’s all that extra stuff that Cook’s adding in her, like Shikari’s chromatophore skin, an endlessly shifting pattern of colours and shapes – just extra layers upon layers of artistic information.

So far, so brilliant. Another new strip that’s taking us to wonderful new places, Hine and Cook doing such great work.

 

 

DURHAM RED: MAD DOGS – PART 10 – Alec Worley and Ben Willsher, letters by Simon Bowland

Straight off into the action this episode, with the discovery that the traumatic death of Burt was all part of the plan, putting a big dent in Kanka’s plans for getting the hell out of here leaving Red in a blood lust behind for the authorities to find.

Of course, although Red might be ravenous and bloodthirsty, she’s come a long, long way from the bloodlust killer of old. Even so, it takes a memory of Johnny Alpha to pull her out of this one…

 

That, like all of Willsher’s artwork on Durham Red, really does pop. He’s switched palettes for this flashback and done a great, great job of showing us a younger, more vulnerable Red there. Not to mention a particularly mean and moody Johnny A.

It’s a tightly written and drawn thriller, bringing life to a character that’s been waiting for two creators to come along who are this invested in her. Hopefully, Worley and Willsher are here for the long haul, bringing Red the tales she deserves.

ENEMY EARTH: BOOK TWO – PART 10 – FINAL PART – Cavan Scott and Luke Horsman, letters by Simon Bowland

The finale of Enemy Earth now, another Regened strip that’s made a really successful transition to the Prog proper, that first episode only hinting at the dark places it was going to head towards.

Now we’re at the end of Book 2 and we know there’s going to be a third and final series coming.

Before then, there’s the small matter of sacrifice to the lord of the deep here, with Jules as the intended offering. There’s possible betrayal and definite sacrifice going on here as it all races to the end and our surviving group makes their way to the next stage of their mission to save the world.

 

The art from Horsman’s a delight here, he’s an artist who’s been improving ever since we first saw that earliest Enemy Earth episode. The kinetic sense going through all the pages here is intense, jump-cutting from perspective to perspective to really get the most out of the action-packed finale.

So, just one more series – and one to look forward to. Scott and Horsman have done good with this one.

 

ROGUE TROOPER: BLIGHTY VALLEY – PART 10 – Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard, letters by Rob Steen

Now that’s some opening page – Gunnar left in charge of interrogating the Nort. nice dialogue, great artwork, perfect intro.

Turns out the Norts have figured a way to sneak troops down to Nu-Earth straight out of the black hole – another Night’s Horizon anomoly, but one that’s mighty unstable. Now that they’re planning on clearing out, Rogue’s got a plan to head as well, him and the Tommys he’s been tagging along with.

But that’s the thing with plans… they rarely go exactly the way you hope they will. Especially not when there’s a group of soldier boys not used to letting others fight their battles for them.

 

Again, the mystery of how and why Rogue’s with the WWI Tommys just keeps on going. Hell, it might be one of those never going to find out, just go with it. Or more likely, Night’s Horizon. That’s it. But given that this latest Rogue Trooper, both thanks to Ennis’ writing and Goddard’s quite beautifully restrained, classical black and white artwork, has been the best we’ve had from the character for many, many years, I’ll accept whatever the hell happens and just enjoy. As, I would imagine, will a load of fans who’ve felt this is the first strip that really gets back to the greatness of Rogue Trooper for a long, long time.