The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2342: Surprise Surprise! Azimuth Gets A Familiar Visitor

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.

 

Okay, so the cover tells you the big news, as Azimuth gets a visit from the gun sharks… or is there more to it?

As for the other strips, it’s time to say farewell to Void Runners – although the good news is that we will be getting a second series of this one, which is just great news. We have the second part of Niemand and Foster’s A Fallen Man, with Dredd getting closer and closer to poor, doomed Kyle Asher. And there’s more from two really stunning strips, the horror-comedy of Portals & Black Goo and the return of Hershey in The Cold in the Bones, where all is not well with Barbara or Dirty Frank.

Again, one great comic with five pretty damn marvellous strips.

Prog #2342 is out in the UK and on digital on Wednesday 26th July. 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. Here at Bruton Mansions (Dudley version) we’re all missing the near constant chat in what’s become a quiet house. Still, amongst the grief and the sorting of gravestones there is at least the Women’s World Cup to enjoy. Come on Lionesses!

Okay, enough… let’s have a look inside, but not before Capt Shikari has a word…

 

JUDGE DREDD: A FALLEN MAN – PART 2 – by Ken Niemand and Tom Foster, colurs by Chris Blythe, letters by Annie Parkhouse

With ‘A Penitent Man’ and ‘An Honest Man’, we saw Kyle Asher’s world slowly blow up and now it’s time for this former Judge who served his time on Titan to face the fall. He’s working for the mob and Dredd’s got his number. Poor, doomed Kyle Asher.

So a ‘Fallen Man’ is really just about the slow, inexorable closing down of Asher by Dredd. Last time it was Dredd checking out the video surveillance, this time it’s him getting updates whilst out on a simple bust – there’s always a joy in the ridiculous in MC-1 and it’s just that here… ‘You with the corpse – pull over now,’ is such a perfect moment.

 

Meanwhile, Asher’s out there doing more hits for the mob but, as he says, why does he keep trying to screw up this new life of his?

Two episodes into this third Asher tale from Niemand and Foster and everything is working just perfectly. Once again we have Niemand doing a Dredd by the numbers, a classic sort of storytelling here, a Wagner-like tracking down leads, drawing closer and closer to the perp he’s after, other mini tales playing out as the big storyline slowly comes to the for. And me saying it’s by the numbers is by no means a criticism, not when it’s aiming as high as it is and succeeding in getting there. And then we have Tom Foster’s artwork, which is also heavy with the echoes of past classics but, just as with Niemand’s writing, is doing it with so much style.

 

PORTALS & BLACK GOO: NIGHT SHIFT – PART 3 – by John Tomlinson and Eoin Coveney, colours by Jim Boswell, letters by Simon Bowland

Portals & Black Goo is another great debut strip, and we’ve had plenty of those so far this year. Taking the gig economy satire and setting it in a world where all the monsters are real and have been dumped in some crappy London sink estate is just a top concept from Tomlinson.

But having a great concept is one thing, turning into a strip this enjoyable is very much something else. And Tomlinson and Coveney really have delivered everything the concept promised.

 

We follow along triple threads with this episode. First, there’s Kroy attempting to deliver the black goo to the 10th floor, which is proving way harder and way more dangerous than even he expected. Then there’s the twin threads of Magister Dain and Nona, the female vampire. Both of them come face-to-face with the discrimination against their sort here, whether it’s Magister Dain having his nurse go off at him or Nona getting nothing but hate from the police as she attempts to report her stalker.

It’s all building and building into something rather great, the concept realised and realised so well by both Tomlinson and Coveney.

 

VOID RUNNERS – PART 8 – FINAL PART – by David Hine and Boo Cook, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Okay, I had it as six episodes in my head, but this genuinely is the final episode. Although, as I said already, there is word that we will be getting a second series.

Of course, this is a fabulous thing as Void Runners has been spectacular and totally out there stuff from Hine and Cook. We’re set up now for a real sci-fi classic as Shikari and her crew, including the three subjugators now turned acolytes of the new enlightenment, much to Shikari’s delight…

 

It’s all leading to a mission to free more of the people under Ankorite rule, off to Rigel-16 to start transforming their galaxy. Although, in a tiny flash forward at the end of this one, an old Moondog has ominous words.

But that’s for next time. Let’s just look back at the first series and what a huge success it’s been. This was all Boo Cook’s idea from the start, with David Hine brought in to give it shape and form. And between them they’ve come up with something wonderfully different, psychedelic sci-fi that’s full of wonders, full of wonderful artwork from Cook, packed with fascinating characters, full of absolute fun. It’s been a perfect introduction to the world of Void Runners and I just can’t wait for series 2.

 

HERSHEY: THE COLD IN THE BONES – PART II – EPISODE 2 – by Rob Williams and Simon Fraser, letters by Simon Bowland

So, over to Frank, currently on an operating table where he’s about to have the joy infection inside him supercharged with the plan that it’s going to grow at a hugely accelerated rate, burst out of his body, which then gets healed – all largely under anaesthetic.

Yep, like Frank we’d be wondering why it’s largely. Situations like that call for totally under. Frank, are you sure this is a good idea?

 

Meanwhile, Hershey’s off to save Antarctic City. But it looks like she’s way too late.

As you’d expect from previous Hershey series, this one has Williams in hands-off mode. It’s written lightly, letting Simon Fraser do so much of the work. And Fraser’s art here is just sublime. The subtle colour tones work so effectively, and the brutalist look of the near whiteout pages concentrating on Hershey are masterpieces of how to make less look so much more.

 

AZIMUTH: THE STRANGER – PART 1 – by Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin, colours by Matt Soffe, letters by Jim Campbell

And bloody hell, there it is, the big reveal came last episode with a series of brilliant panels before we had the arrival of Ramone Dexter in Azimuth…

 

So what they hell does it mean? It sure looks like Downlode and Azimuth might be one and the same, or one’s bleeding into the other, with the Cadavatars like Suzi Nine turning out to be the creepfakes of Sinister Dexter. It seems we’re in the realm of the rogue A.I. and Dexter’s being hunted now.

The twist was there all along, Bettin hiding things in plain sight, Abnett dropping little clues all along. But when it dropped it was one of those great moments of realisation.

And now? Well I’ve no idea where we’re going with this one now – will it just become another Sinister Dexter tale as they take on the rogue A.I. and rid Downlode of Azimuth? Or will it be something else?

The only real downside to all this is that I feel just that little cheated here. Not that this isn’t a great way to turn the storyline around but that we simply didn’t have long enough exploring what Azimuth was and following Suzi Nine’s story. But what the hell, I’m just enjoying it as it all happens. It’s so damn good.