The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2360: The Devil’s Railroad And The Weight Of The World

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.

With the end of Poison last week, it’s a new Dredd here, Clanker by Gordon Rennie and Nick Dyer, following up their previous one-off Dredds, Grinder and Flusher, as the extra-terrestrial entity that previously inhabited a waste disposal and a toilet now has another shot, this time in a Mark One Mechanismo Unit.

Alongside the new Dredd, there’s the third and final series of Enemy Earth where we’re back in the fight of what’s left of humanity versus the heavily mutated flora and fauna and it’s off to India for Zoe and Jules. And let’s not forget, there’s three fabulous strips continuing – the pulp adventures of Helium: Scorched Earth, the thrill ride with a political message, The Devil’s Railroad, and more great fantasy comedy in Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg.

Prog #2360 is out on Wednesday 29th November 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!

 

JUDGE DREDD: CLANKER – PART 1 – by Ken Niemand and Nick Dyer, colours by John Charles, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Well, we’ve seen the one-offs of Grinder and Flusher, where the extra-dimensional entity that came to Mega-City One looking to establish the rule of the New Flesh took over first a waste disposal and then a toilet.

They were perfect little one-off Dredds, full of the absurdity and comedy that Dredd has always included. Now we get a short series, Clanker, where the entity is now in the body of an old Mark I Mechanismo unit.

And it’s making a mark in MC-1, doing its thing and mixing a little bit of Mechanismo programming with its desire to ‘dispense the law of the new flesh.’

 

Of course, Dredd’s on it, tracking down the ‘so-called Clanker vigilante.’ Although with Psi-Judge Kaspian along, Dredd’s hardly got the best team for the job.

Again, it’s great fun, silly stuff just as Dredd’s always had.

 

HELIUM: SCORCHED EARTH – PART 9 – Ian Edginton and D’Israeli, letters by Simon Bowland

Hodge, Sol, and Bloom have made their escape from the Fugue Town as the carrier Ballerophon loomed overhead.

But their escape doesn’t free the Fugue town from threat, and the bombardment starts. Thing is, the Fugue town has a little (or not so little) surprise for the Ris troops.

 

Yes, the entire town’s shell is a cryptid colossus and it’s got the carrier in its clutches.

Which is when Hodge gets an attack of conscience and has to decide whether to turn back and save the hundreds of lives on the carrier or escape to safety. You and me, we’d probably take safety, but Hodge is better than us, just as a pulp adventure hero should be.

Helium continues to really impress, a lot of fun in every episode, building up the world, giving us all the history behind the story, and still managing to be thrilling every single week.

 

THE DEVIL’S RAILROAD – PART 8 – by Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo, colours by Jose Villarrubia, letters by Jim Cambell

So, Constance and Palamon are separated, with Constance in big trouble with Sister White’s son and Palamon… well, silly boy that he is, he’s gone and sold 10% of his soul for a ticket on the next part of the Devil’s Railroad, hoping that Constance is alive and doing what she can to make it to Earth – yes, that’s going to turn round and bite him in the ass, you just know it.

But right now, it’s Constance who’s in the most immediate danger, as her infatuated and dumb suitor has decided to take her to see mommy.

 

Mommy is not nice, not nice at all. Worse, mommy has the ability to get into Constance’s mind and find out any secrets she might have. And that’s bad, bad news – after all, Constance knows that Palamon was the one who killed Sister White’s other, way more beloved, son.

Milligan and Dayglo keep the pace super fast in Devil’s Railroad, really moving it along every episode, throwing hero and heroine into new peril every few pages – the latest of which could really mean tragedy for Constance and Palamon’s unborn child.

 

ENEMY EARTH: BOOK THREE – PART 1 – by Cavan Scott and Luke Horsman, letters by Simon Bowland

Back in the world of Enemy Earth, where the world’s flora and fauna have mutated, violently, and wiped out most of the Earth’s population.

Young Zoe and Jules have found Jules’ dad, the Prime Minister, who has a plan to get to India and get to the scientists who might just have a fix for the mutations.

Problem is, Julse has been infected and is currently something post-human, and Jules’ dad seems to be losing the plot – not a good thing when they’re all in an airplane and it’s Jules’ dad who’s meant to be piloting the plane.

Of course, that’s just the problems inside their little group. There’s way bigger problems outside of it, with first a giant mutated bird and then a very human-made and human-fired missile trying to take down the plane…

 

It’s been another of those quest type strips, similar to Devil’s Railroad in that. And it’s been a pretty well done thing all in all. But what’s really been the most impressive is how much Horsman’s art has come along. It’s so much better than when Enemy Earth first appeared as a one-off Regened strip. Seriously, just have a look at that beautifully done bit of vertical panel goodness above… a real case of huge improvement from an artist who was pretty good in the first place.

 

 

FERAL & FOE: BAD GODESBERG – PART 9 – Dan Abnett and Richard Elson, letters by Jim Campbell

Now, to end with, more of the great fantasy comedy of Feral & Foe, joining Wrath and Bode on another adventure in the pay of the Wretchfinder General, the cost of them being on the wrong side of the big war. It was either this or be hunted down and killed after all.

Here, as they attempt to figure out why the magical fortress of Godesberg has been overrun by bad magics, they’re facing down yet another magnificently over the top thingy – this time the Roving Eye. Sometimes, it’s handy having a Tank around.

 

As for Wrath, she’s off pursuing another intruder, a Longaevi, Poor Celine… something or someone that looks remarkably similar to Wrath.

The fun of this one is the mix of solid fantasy action from Abnett and Elson, whose characters are always a treat, and the great comedic dialogue we have as the characters all bitch and moan and play off each other real well.