The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2408: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ 2000 AD Style

Taking a look inside the UK’s greatest sci-fi comic, the Galaxy’s Greatest… it’s the Weekly 2000 AD.

Back again with all five strips once more, a second part to the latest Dredd, more strange goings-on from Azimuth, as Dexter and his Judge pal go further into the mystery, and the other three all on their way to their endings, with Rogue Trooper, The Out, and Nightmare New York all getting to part eight. We’re in November now, meaning everything has an end in sight, with the traditional end-of-year Prog in mid-December promising an all-new line-up. But that still means plenty of great reading left in 2024.

All this under the latest rather spectacular Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague cover really bringing the nightmare to Nightmare New York:

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2000 AD Prog 2408 is out in the UK on 13th November in the UK. You American readers need to go to your local comic shop and get them to order in the monthly four-Prog bundles. Seriously, you won’t regret doing that for a moment.

So, onwards and upwards, let’s show you what’s happening in the latest Prog…

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JUDGE DREDD: THE COMFORT ZONE – PART 2 – by Mike Carroll and Ben Willsher. Letters by Annie Parkhouse.

The first part of this had Dredd on the case of a cybernetic perp who’s hacked into the Justice Department files, eventually getting trapped in riot foam before he can make his escape.

But the trail of who he’s working for leads to the Cursed Earth and the Squatsville encampments, where there’s already a Judge out there…

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Well, it turns out that said Judge is Judge Murphy, a name familiar to long time readers but don’t worry if you’re new to this, the story works whether you know Joyce’s backstory or not.

As Dredd finds out, Joyce has been working a case of The Plunderers, a mercenary gang working for Ma Sherry, local gangster boss, something he’s been following for months now.

This one’s Carroll doing a thing, but whether it’s a deep, meaningful, big tale of Dredd or just a well-constructed Dredd into the Cursed Earth dealing with the bad guys sort of tale just isn’t certain yet. Either way it’s going to work just fine, as there’s plenty of room in Dredd for all sorts of story, such is the way that Dredd works.

And artistically, Willsmer’s a great Dredd artist, stylish but solid, with a good grasp of how to make every page flow nicely. Interestingly, there’s a lot of orange here, something Willsher does always seem to favour – just an artist’s preference I suppose.

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AZIMUTH: THE FABLED BASILISK – PART 3 – by Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin. Colours by Matt Soffe, letters by Jim Campbell

Azimuth, city of mysteries, not the least of which is where is it, not to mention wondering how and why Dexter pitched up here, what the AI controlling Downlode has to do with it all, and just who the mysterious Judge ‘Andi’ is doing there.

Absolutely none of those questions will be answered here, but that’s neither a surprise nor a disappointment. In fact, the whole thing behind Azimuth is just how Abnett and Bettin have made this into a weird mystery where we can take absolutely nothing for granted, whilst thoroughly enjoying the mystery and delighting in Bettin’s exotic and stylised artwork that brings all that weird and wonderful to life.

Last episode we had Dexter and Judge ‘Andi’/Cassandra en route to a meeting/showdown with The Twins, the Cray Twins, Lords of the New Flesh. Dexter wants answers to questions of why SuziNine-Millimetre’s after him and they’re the crime bosses with the answers. Although, by the end of last episode, it would appear that the Krays know they’re coming….

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So, it’s Dexter and Andi against the Krays, with Andi taking a look inside their minds to get more idea of just why they’re so afraid of Dexter. Meanwhile, Suzi, clutching the ‘Do not Disturb’ hotel door tag given to her by Papa Legday, finds another domain of Azimuth destroyed and offering no sanctuary.

Again, more mention here of Anderson’s ‘Justice Department Hi-Ex rounds,’ indicating she’s definitely a Psi Judge, but we’re left wondering just which Justice Department – after all, Sinister Dexter’s not afraid to play around with a multiverse or two.

It might be confusing, it might be raising more questions than answers, it might all be so deliberately mysterious… but that’s all just part of what makes Azimuth so good, and just the shot of something different for the whole Sinister Dexter mythos.

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NIGHTMARE NEW YORK – PART 8 – by Kek-W and David Roach. Colours by Peter Doherty, Letters by Annie Parkhouse

Things seem to be going south in New York of 1845. Jimmy Blind’s sold out Lil for love, and she’s now in the hands of Moloch’s men.

Time for a new magical player to enter the fight, John Domingo, Hoodooman of Little Water Street, here because James Murrell sent for him. If you’re up to speed with your ancient English magical names, James Murrell will ring a bell – the last ‘Cunning Man’, one of a line of English magicians. James Murrell – Jimmy Blind perhaps? Or, given what John Domingo says here, a definite.

Anyway, John Domingo’s here to face down Samuel, one of Moloch’s men, trapped by sins of the flesh, given the mark, the same mark Lil carries.

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More background to Lil comes out from Domingo – she’s ‘La cle rouge’, the red key, ‘the key tha opens the door to the pit’. Basically more info to the fact that Lil, whether she likes it or not now, is the key to everything going on here, an innocent with importance, coveted by both sides in this magical battle between the forces of good and evil. Except what constitutes good and evil here, and what they’ll have to do to win keeps shifting here. Although whatever happens, Lil always seems to be caught in the middle and under threat from all sides.

As before, loads to process here, lots of googling necessary, lots of remembering my ancient English magical memory. But that’s all part of what’s making Nightmare New York so much fun, all the references just adds that extra layer to it all, makes it richer and even more enjoyable. Sure, Kek-W’s doing much of what he did in The Order, layering story elements in, shifting character focus to build up a magical, historical tale, but the fact it’s all very much self-contained and I’ve been here from the beginning just means it’s all way more accessible, way more enjoyable.

And of course, with Roach and Doherty on the art, doing a fine, fine job of giving us all the magic, all the historical looks, perfectly carrying on co-creator of the strip, John Burn’s vision, it all looks quite lovely.

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THE OUT – BOOK FOUR – PART 8 – by Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison. Letters by Simon Bowland

And now for the highlight of this Prog, The Out, just as it’s the highlight of any Prog it’s in (excepting where it shared billing with that other Abnett-written strip, Brink, in which case it’s a shared highlight).

So far, we’ve had photo journalist Cyd continuing her exploration on of the depths of outer, outer space, so far away from home, having lost so much in the process – seeing her lost daughter once more, only to find out she’s been taken to ‘The Down’ – some place like, as Cyd says, ‘Hell, or something’, losing her friend Cheerio, and then, most recently, finding out that Earth’s been destroyed. Yes, it’s been a lot.

It’s not surprising that Cyd’s rather running on empty, lost her mojo, not herself. But despite that, she can’t stop doing her thing, taking photos, riffing with bag, and of course picking up another Zoomber fare.

Except this particular Zoomber fare is an illicit run to Voonka Prime, pleasure planet, with a fare of Slamboy Warriors looking to celebrate a stag do, on the sly, against Imperial Slamboy Empire regs and outside their jurisdiction. Another simply beautiful bit of Harrison composition with another magnificent page of Cyd’s photography. These picture moments have been there through The Out and always just shine bright amongst the necessarily dense and cluttered assemblage of brilliant artistic ideas Harrison litters every page with so well.

As Cyd points out”

“I couldn’t really say no. They were scary dudes and it was easier to go along with it.”

So while they’re off doing their stag do thing, bag and Cyd shoot the breeze, bag pointing out she’d normally be off indulging herself on the pleasure planet, only to get another look into Cyd’s fragile state…

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She’s just not up for it. Like I say, her mojo’s gone, ‘I haven’t had a good time in a long time. But I’m not in the mood. Nothing here appeals. It’s all so alien. It’s just reminding me how alone I am.’

And there we have it all. It’s really all too much. The loss, the grief. Her daughter, her friend, her planet. And we’re there in the moment with her, sharing her loss, understanding where she’s at, sharing that loss, poor Cyd, poor us. That’s Abnett tapping into things so well, making us feel for Cyd so beautifully, sharing it, feeling it. You only get that with such well-written characters. And Abnett’s done that so well.

Of course, there’s not that much time to empathise, as Cyd’s still got the return trip with the roaring drunk Slamboys, not all of whom are spending the journey back in their cryo-coffins. But that’s for next time.

Damn, this is just so good. Abnetts writing, Harrison’s art, it’s all working so well to make The Out into the finest of strips. Already a modern classic, it’s on course to join Brink as one of the greatest ever of 2000 AD strips.

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ROGUE TROOPER: WHEN A G.I. DIES – PART 8 – by Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard. Letters by Rob Steen

Rogue and the GI Doll Marcy are down in the Quartz, bad memories all around them and a lot, lot more. Whilst up on Milli-com, more details of Edvark come out, making GI Doll Azure even more confused and sickened by what’s going on.

Turns out Edvark’s plan for the new generation of GIs was to pre-program them for torture, rape, and massacre, only for Milli-Com to refuse and kick him out of his own program. After all, in a war, there’s rarely a ‘good’ side and a ‘bad side, and both sides are equally likely to have monsters amongst them.

And that’s what Ennis has been working towards with this two-stranded tale, creating a monster that can be up there along with the Traitor General, taking some of the narrow focus off that singular enemy here in Rogue Trooper that’s often limited the strip far too much.

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So, with the new psychopath in play, with Rogue and Marcy walking into the unknown, a region of Quartz full of ghosts, and Azure finding out far too much up there on Milli-Com, things are all beginning to come together in this Rogue that’s beginning to gel that little bit more for me. I’m still unsure about it though, but whether that’s one of those times where I’m just, for whatever reason, not getting it or whether it’s the story at fault I’ll hold off on judgement yet.

What I do know is that the Goddard artwork is superb, the decision to play these Rogue stories out in black and white just allows Goddard’s art to shine in it’s monochrome starkness, further adding to the sense of taking us back to the origins of Rogue and the GIs in such style.