The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2354: Bored To Death? 2000 AD Has The Answer

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 then, we’re late with this preview this week but, just for once, it’s not my fault. The fine folks at 2000 AD were having a blast at New York Comic Con, as was most of the comics industry, only half of which now have Covid. But as a result of all that, the press previews were a tad late this week.

Not to worry, we can still do them, even if Prog 2354 actually came out in the UK on 18 October.

Inside, it’s more of the five fine strips that are taking us towards the end of the year. Ridiculous where this one’s gone.

Judge Dredd: Poison has Dredd getting ever closer to those responsible for killing Hershey. Helium: Scorched Earth brings us more incredible sci-fi with a gloriously light touch, whilst The Devil’s Railroad is epic 2000 AD – politically aware, socially conscious stuff wrapped in sci-fi dressing.

[As an aside, isn’t it funny how you’ll get the occasional muppet coming out and saying how 2000 AD‘s gone all woke and it’s rubbish now – completely missing the point that the comic’s always been cutting edge, always had social relevance, always pushed things. If you see it as woke, then not only do you not understand the comic, you just don’t understand good sci-fi.]

Now, where was I? Oh yes, next up, The Fall Of Deadworld: Retribution brings us up to date in the horrors of a doomed planet of Dark Judges. And then, because it can’t all be serious, the wonderful fantasy comedy of Feral & Foe to end the Prog.

Now, you name me another comic that comes anywhere close to that level of quality as often as you’ll find inside a weekly Prog?

As I already mentioned, Prog #2353 was out on 18th 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 4 – Rob Williams and PJ Holden, colours by Peter Doherty, letters by Simon Bowland.

Dredd’s on the outskirts of East-Meg Two in search of who infected and eventually killed Hershey. Cooling his heels is not a thing Dredd does well.

The one actually inside the city is black ops operative Domino, who’s in just a wee bit of trouble…

Now, aside from the name on the final page, which is unexpected to say the least, the big thing here is on page 2, that idea Williams just seeded about East-Meg Two’s disaffected trading the potential names for a big favour down the line. You want to take bets that Williams has something percolating away about that one?

Here though, we get six pages of talking and dealing. Perfectly summed up by Williams and Holden with this…

 

Nope, no shooting. No action. A very quiet spy thing going on and all the better for it, really building things up, taking the tension up with moody visuals and such great art line from Holden.

This one really does have that great feel of a tight, taut, tense Dredd, the ones that slowly creep up and then explode, or maybe one of the ones that plant those seeds of something massive down the way. Either way, whilst it’s going on, it’s a great Dredd.

 

HELIUM: SCORCHED EARTH – PART 4 – Ian Edginton and D’Israeli, letters by Simon Bowland

The strange yet wonderfully colourful retro sci-fi adventures of Helium continue with the Edginton and D’Israeli team who are taking us deeper into their wonderful world here.

Last time, it was Bloom, Hodge, and Sol facing down the Sloggers, trapped in the Fugue…

 

But this one opens back down in the world below, in the grim-looking city of Ris. And a word here for just how brilliantly D’Israeli is using the colours all the way through Helium. Series one was all about the bright blues and clear skies above the Fugue, glorious and almost too bright. Then we had the oppressive colour schemes you see here with that dank, poison-imbued world below. And finally, inside the Fugue there’s another magnificent use of colour – or two. Absolute perfect use of colours to make Helium look as good as it does.

But like I say, this one starts below, with the Governing Quorum of Ris, lead by Dyall, the man responsible for the deaths of Hodge’s family, the crippling of Sol, and the reason they both escaped into the uplands. Basically, he’s your bad man doing bad things, maybe out of necessity but nonetheless all too twisted by power.

It’s the backstory to the pulp adventures of Helium, and it’s that that elevated and is elevating it into something deeper and more satisfying. Of course, there’s still time before the end of this episode to get just a little adventuring in as we rejoin Hodge et al – after all, that’s where the fun of this one really is.

 

THE DEVIL’S RAILROAD – PART 3 – by Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo, colours by Jose Villarrubia, letters by Jim Cambell

Well, three parts in and young lovers Palamon and Constance are really in trouble now. It’s bad enough they’re taking the Devil’s Railroad to Earth, the incredibly dangerous people smuggling route that could possibly mean sanctuary and safety for their unborn child. But now Palamon’s gone and done a very bad thing to a very bad man…

 

Yes, that’s Sister White’s favourite son he’s just killed. This is bad in so many ways.

Now, we’ve had a couple of episodes to set things up and it’s been really serious stuff, the misery and inhumanity of the people smugglers, the desperation of the refugees.

What we really need now is a completely over-the-top villain to give us some contrast…. cue Sister White…

 

It’s the perfect introduction, an absolute psychopath whose favourite son Palamon’s just killed, leaving the useless and hated second son to attempt to get into Ma’s good favours by going after his brother’s killers.

It adds so much to the storyline, giving us that necessary ridiculous and absurd element to contrast with the darkness of the plot.

And Dayglo matches Milligan stroke for stroke, his artwork capable of so much variety and subtlety within mere pages, mere panels even. We’ve gotten used to the more cartoonish side of his work so far, but he ramps that up a few good notches with the depiction of Sister White. And then there’s this…

 

First panel: look at Constance’s face, the simplicity of it, the artwork we’ve all come to expect from Rufus. Fabulous yes, but of a style.

And then there’s the second panel. The switch is spectacular. The suddenness of it makes the change all the more effective. This is a different Constance, harder, more determined, stronger – and Rufus alters his art just enough to show us that, adding detail and shades to make the point and make the point so beautifully.

The Devil’s Railroad is doing so much so right, another excellent debut series in a year that’s been rather full of them. We’ve got 14 episodes of The Devil’s Railroad to enjoy and it’s going to be an absolute rollercoaster of a ride – darkness and light in perfect measure and a story that will hit hard.

 

THE FALL OF DEADWORLD: RETRIBUTION – PART 3 – by Kek-W and Dave Kendall, letters by Simon Bowland

With all that’s going on in this particular alternate world, this going to be Deadworld, this poor doomed world, it’s easy to forget that the Sovs rolled into town a while back – because why the hell not, it’s not like they can really make things much worse.

Oh, actually, they can… as seen at the end of the last episode…

 

Anyway, once that particular trouble is sorted, we find out that the Sovs are having just as bad a time of things as everyone else here in Deadworld MC1.

All of which leads to a rather unusual sort of ceasefire… well, sort of…

 

Judgeboot on balls is such a fine, fine line.

All of which leads to the sight of Senior Judge Ava Eastwood planning to storm Sector House 13, full of the dead brought to life by the dead fluids, with the assistance, willing or not, of the captured Sov Judges.

Deadworld is suitably insane, full of pockets of story moments happening independently of each other. We have Fairfax on his Jess Child Quest and then we have Eastwood et al on their mission. And above it all, we have the Dark Judges slowly reshaping the world in their image. It’s a great, self-contained nightmare of a story with perfectly suited art by Dave Kendall.

 

FERAL & FOE: BAD GODESBERG – PART 4 – Dan Abnett and Richard Elson, letters by Jim Campbell

Ending the Prog as usual, giving us a lightness and humour that plays nicely against the rest of the strips here, is the brilliant Feral & Foe.

Elson’s art is perfect for this sort of fantasy, hitting all the right marks – the epic locations, the stranger-than-strange beasts we’re seeing, and adding to it with a comedic sense of character and facial expression that’s so in tune with Abnett’s storytelling and spot-on dialogue for the tale.

This one, it starts with the Owlbore, a great silly beast creation of both Abnett and Elson, a giant bird that literally bores its prey into submission and slumber. Of course Wrath gets the better of it – after all, “All the years I’ve spent hanging out with Bode, maybe? I’ve got so used to screening him out when he starts to bang on.” It’s a throwaway line but it’s in a series that’s full of this sort of sparkling dialogue.

 

Anyway, what we’re getting is a simple tale – the motley group of ‘heroes’ needs to find something or someone in the sealed location and there’s a hell of a lot of bad things to get past. That’s it really. The place is Godesberg, the someone is the wizard in charge, and the motley crew is Wrath and Bode plus various other turncoats working for the Wretchfinder General.

But it’s not the story that makes Feral & Foe work so much as the characters and the comedy. Sure, I’m enjoying the ups and downs of the fighting and the weird and wonderful monsters that get thrown in the way, but it’s the characters, the dialogue, and the expressions that really make this a joy.