The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #235: Deadworld’s Dr. De’ath Will See You Now

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.

 

Five strips barrelling along inside this weeks’ Prog, including Judge Dredd: Poison where Joe’s pondering a big Maybe when it comes to Hershey’s killer. We have more retro sci-fi pulp adventuring in the pages of Helium: Scorched Earth, more from the politically charged tale of desperate refugees in The Devil’s Railroad, more comedic fantasy as Wrath and Bode come up against the worst Godesberg can throw at them in Feral & Foe. And finally, the cover featured The Fall of Deadworld brings us that little bit closer to the inevitable, as darkness and death – Sydney De’ath in particular – take hold.

It’s five strips that are taking us through the autumn into winter and doing it particularly well.

Prog #2355 is out on now in the UK. As always, North American readers should get to their local comic shops and demand they get the four-weekly Prog bundles in – you really are missing out on a treat!

Next week, everything takes a break for another set of Regened stories, but until then, let’s go have a look at what to enjoy here…

 

JUDGE DREDD: POISON – PART 5 – Rob Williams and PJ Holden, colours by Peter Doherty, letters by Simon Bowland.

I didn’t give it away last week but it’s right there on the first few pages of this one – the Sov trip for Dredd gave him a book with a few names potentially linked to the death of Hershey – or maybe even the murderer themself.

And one of the names…

 

And that’s where we open here. Dredd’s mind racing, the possibility of the dead PJ Maybe being behind Hershey’s death seems ridiculous – and Dredd knows that. But that isn’t stopping him asking the questions and, in a very telling moment, giving us this…

 

Yes, that’s a strange thing to see. A Dredd not just questioning himself but acknowledging the weakness of doubt and just not knowing. The Hershey thing is playing on his mind a lot more than we might have thought.

But that’s where we are with this, that’s the territory Williams and Holden have taken us, and taken us rather brilliantly. Holden’s art is beautifully solid, a great Dredd artist – and has been for so long.

It’s turned into a rather old-fashioned bit of Dredd brilliance really, an old-fashioned quest for the truth, and it’s fitting that Dredd’s next headed off to … well, that you’ll find out next time. But trust me, Williams and Holden are doing great, great things here.

 

HELIUM: SCORCHED EARTH – PART 5 – Ian Edginton and D’Israeli, letters by Simon Bowland

Well, the continuing adventures of Hodge, Sol, and Bloom down in the Fugue continue – last episode it was them meeting the Sloggers and wondering just what lay in store for them. Particularly as there was something very, very strange and rather nasty looking in the terrarium that the Sloggers called home…

 

Here though, we learn that the terrarium is something even stranger than we thought – a living organism that lives in symbiosis with the Sloggers, allowing them some semblance of civilisation inside the Fugue.

So, Hodge and the group find some answers in the Fugue world of the Sloggers and we get another piece of the puzzle.

Again, we have Edginton and D’Israeli expanding the world they’ve made here, giving us more and more. Again, it’s in fine company with the best of the pulps – think Flash Gordon and all those glorious worlds of Mongo. It’s a fabulous adventure taking us deeper and deeper into the world they’ve made and it’s one that’s just a lot of fun.

 

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

Well then, we’ve had Palamon and his love, Constance, desperately seeking salvation and willing to risk the horrors of the Devil’s Railroad to give their unborn child some hope for its future. And we’ve met the organiser of the Devil’s Railroad, the grotesquely marvelous Sister White.

Unfortunately, Palamon’s anger got him in trouble and he’s gone and killed Sister White’s favourite son, Joey. And her other son, Isaac, the one she really can’t stand, the one who really wants into her good books, has decided to find and bring back whoever killed his brother in a bid to get into Mommy’s good books.

Except, as we’ve found out, the other son is a bit of an idiot. Hence why the ship Palamon and Constance are on is exploding around them and they’re part of the rush to get to the escape pods. Which is when the inevitable happens…

Again, Dayglo going for the artistic moment there. Just a simple image, no background, but so effective, so good.

 

Of course, it was never going to be as simple as get on the Devil’s Railroad, get to Earth, live happily ever after. That’s not how these things work. But knowing it is one thing and experiencing it the way Milligan and Dayglo set it out in front of you is another.

Another rather excellent new strip continues in the best possible way.

 

THE FALL OF DEADWORLD: RETRIBUTION – PART 4 – by Kek-W and Dave Kendall, letters by Simon Bowland

Another shift around in Deadworld. We’ve seen Fairfax deciding to go after Jess Child, we’ve seen Eastwood and the Sovs form that uneasy alliance with the idea of retaking Sector House 13.

Now, back to inside Sector House 13 and Sidney De’ath, he who died and came back, reborn in his own father’s corpse.

All of which means there’s page after page of incredible Dave Kendall artwork that goes deep and dark and well over the top… it’s brilliantly grotesque, completely insane, and quite bonkers.

 

So, that’s Casey Tweed’s headless body, animated with dead fluids to strange effect, where the organs and muscles and viscera all make weapons to fight a Kartel assassin’s body, currently inhabited by Eunomia, the third sister of Death.

See, wonderfully crazy, glorious artwork from Kendall and an absolute menagerie of monstrosity being made by Kek-W.

 

FERAL & FOE: BAD GODESBERG – PART 5 – Dan Abnett and Richard Elson, letters by Jim Campbell

The brilliant monster of the week continues. We’ve had the Owlbore, now we get the Jellied Isohedron – all deadly, just wonderfully daft at the same time.

 

It’s that mix of silliness, comedy, and out-and-out fantasy that really gives Feral & Foe its edge. It has that feel of being the sort of strip that we used to see, just done far cleverer than it used to be, with Abnett’s knowingly silly comedy and crackling dialogue together with Elson’s fine, fine artwork making this something fun to end the Prog with.