The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #235: Return To The Horrors Of Deadworld

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.

Inside, we have two new strips joining the three from last Prog. Cover-featured The Fall of Deadworld returns from creators Kek-W and Dave Kendall in ‘Retribution’ and Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo return to the Prog after a few years with a brand-new tale of war and the risks of seeking a new life – The Devil’s Railroad.

Those two new strips join Judge Dredd: Poison, where Dredd is looking into who infect Hershey and why; Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg, with the fantasy comedy putting Bode and Necromancer into trouble in a magical stronghold; and the second part of the second, long-awaited series of Helium from Edginton and D’Israeli gives us more fabulous adventuring in a world split in two – above and below the Poison Belt.

Five strips that firm up the comic’s line-up for the Autumn and Winter of 2023 I reckon, and five that do look very good, full of the rich diversity 2000 AD has always been about.

Prog 2352 is out on 4th October in the UK. As always, North American readers should get to their local comic shops and demand they get the 4-weekly Prog bundles in – you really are missing out on a treat!

Okay then… shall we?

 

JUDGE DREDD: POISON – PART 2 – Rob Williams and PJ Holden, colours by Peter Doherty, letters by Simon Bowland.

And another great opening page for ‘Poison’, something that some might see as indulgent in a six-page episode, but nope, it’s one that sets the tone so well, establishes the whole thing, reminds us that yes, Dredd’s a bastard for sure but he’s a dedicated bastard that’s not going to give up on this one.

It’s back on the trail of whoever infected Hershey on this alien MC Colony. He’s already got the guy who actually did the injecting sweating and bruised. But there’s more here. Sure, it might have been alien in origin, but it was brought to the colony from MC-1, meaning someone planned this.

 

Every step Dredd solves brings more questions. Who? Why? For what purpose? All things that Williams will slowly reveal, I’m sure. It’s Williams doing a procedural, a Wagnerian procedural, Dredd working the case, getting to the truth – or at least these early episodes are. There’s ties to another Williams/Holden Dredd from 10 years back in the Megazine which makes for fascinating possibilities. And then there’s the revelation of where the trail heads to next, which may change things drastically.

And of course, it would be rude not to mention PJ Holden’s contribution, right up there as one of my favourite Dredd artists. As different and as stylised, in his own way, as Flint, MacNeil, Lynch, or any of the other modern great Dredd artists, Holden’s got a solidity and a style that I love.

All in all, a fine, fine Dredd. Procedural, serious, a case with obvious import, a link to both an old case and to old adversaries… oh, it’s hotting up nicely.

 

HELIUM: SCORCHED EARTH – PART 2 – Ian Edginton and D’Israeli, letters by Simon Bowland

Last episode, we had Edginton and D’Israeli keeping us waiting to find out just what had happened to Hodge, Sol, and Bloom, after they were shot from the sky towards the destruction of the Poison Belt. We learned a little more of what happened years ago, the revolt in the civilisation below the Belt, Doctor Dyall leading a murderous revolution, killing the ruling family and seriously injuring their protector Solomon, leaving him with one mission, protect the last living child… a rather familiar child.

All of which left us with this at the finale…

 

So yes, the child was Hodge, Solomon becomes Sol, and they’re still in, to use Hodge’s words, “Up shit creek and the tide’s coming in.”

This episode… they’re all okay. Well, okay-ish. They made it through the crash, but there’s still plenty of trouble to get through in the Poison Belt.

Elsewhere, a little more on Doctor Dyall – not a nice man at all…

 

So, we’re back with all the players in the game, know a little more of who they are and where they came from, and have a full series of great pulp adventuring to look forward to.

Last series, we had all the bright colours of blue skies above the belt bathing Helium. This time round, D’Israeli’s playing with the deeper colours, making Helium a vivid riot of greens and purples. Stunning to look at and a fabulous read.

 

THE DEVIL’S RAILROAD – PART 1 – by Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo, colours by Jose Villarrubia, letters by Jim Cambell

Planet Diaspora X-167, Earth year 3038 – not a great place to be, ripped apart by a war that’s seen decades of destruction and death on all sides. But this isn’t a story about the war, it’s a story about those caught up in it, specifically young lovers Palamon and Constance, who’ve just found out that Constance is pregnant.

And that’s the trigger to push them into desperate action – to join the Devil’s Railroad, a people-smuggling route that’s their only chance of getting to Earth, where all Earth-born children are automatically granted citizenship.

It’s exactly the sort of story that 2000 AD does so well, ripping something from the headlines and dressing it up in sci-fi trappings. Of course, Milligan and Dayglo have tremendous form with this, their Bad Company tales were all about the moral messiness of warfare and Counterfeit Girl was all about identity and identity theft. But this one is different, this one’s got a real heart, the love story at the centre of it all putting us deep in the heads of anyone who decides they want a better life for their children – every parent’s wish of course, but when you’re in a war zone, that desire for that better life means putting all of you in harm’s way.

 

Yes, this one’s going to hit hard. But that’s not to say there won’t be lightness in amongst the darkness, that’s always been the way Milligan writes.

As is, this first episode is full of moments, full of heart, full of questions for the reader. It’s a perfect opener to what will hopefully be another example of how powerful the best sci-fi can be.

 

THE FALL OF DEADWORLD: RETRIBUTION – PART 1 – by Kek-W and Dave Kendall, letters by Simon Bowland

We’re back to the planet that became known as Deadworld once the Dark Judges reign destroyed all life there. Right now, the fiends are spreading their contagion, busy exterminating all life. Meanwhile, the Sovs of this world have taken advantage and invaded.

All that’s really left of any resistance is Jess Childs and a few others, who’ve successfully rescued/saved Judge Fairfax, although quite what they’ve saved is uncertain, seeing as Fairfax had been dosed with the dead fluids. Also, in the process of saving Fairfax, Jess was sucked into a portal.

 

So, that’s where we are with this one. It’s a strange strip in many ways, one I’m not entirely sold on. Well, I wasn’t. Over the course of the various series, it’s grown on me, and there are some fabulous bits of writing in here. Plus, it’s the sort of strip that Kendall was born to draw, all that grime and nastiness is perfect for him. Anyway, it’s rather a grower is what I’m saying.

As for next Prog, well, with Jess Childs missing and Fairfax et al on a mission to find her, it’s no wonder Kek-W couldn’t resist calling it The Jess Childs Quest.

 

FERAL & FOE: BAD GODESBERG – PART 2 – Dan Abnett and Richard Elson, letters by Jim Campbell

Okay, now to end with the funny strip, a bit of light from Abnett and Elson, with Abnett’s dialogue sparkling with the comedy moments.

Not that it’s not got plenty of fantasy action, far from it. There’s always loads of that to be found in the adventures of Necromancer Bode and warrior Wrath making their way after their big bad boss was beaten. They’ve been pushed into service of the Wretchfinder General to hunt down their old comrades – well, it was either that or death.

 

Right now, they’re in Godesberg to get an opinion about a Stone Golem thing from the High War Priest there.

But, as with all things that Wrath and Bode get involved in, this isn’t going to be simple. They’ve got a power-crazy Wretchfinder in charge and Godesberg is infested with “malignkind of all manner and sundry.”

So, just another day at the office for Bode and Wrath. And more chances for Elson to draw his great characters and for Abnett to make with the funny and the fantastical.