The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2422: Hawk Puts The Sword In For The Series Finale

Taking a look inside the UK’s greatest sci-fi comic, the Galaxy’s Greatest, now 48 years young —it’s the Weekly 2000 AD.

48 years young and consistently the finest sci-fi anthology you could wish to read. There’s so much in store for you inside the pages of the weekly Prog, it’s about time you dived in!

This week, as Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague‘s cover shows you, it’s the finale of Hawk The Slayer: The Last Of Her Kind by Alec Worley and Simon Coleby. Alongside that, we have more from Dredd in ‘The Shift’ — the lawman celebrating his own 48th anniversary here (as he only appeared for the first time in Prog 2) — with Ken Niemand and Nick Percival‘s horror tale really managing to be truly nightmare-inducing. There’s also the latest in the worlds of galactic adventuring in Full Tilt Boogie, more political and supernatural hate being whipped up in Portals & Black Goo, and more unusual tales of the Wild West with Oscar Wilde and the vampire Constanta in Fiends of the Western Front.

And, like I say, it all starts under another top-notch cover…

2000 AD Prog 2422 is out in the UK on 5th March in the UK. If you’re in the Americas or anywhere else the Prog’s sold, the release date’s not quite as fixed… get yourself to a comic shop and put in an order. It’s been going for 48 years by now, it’s honestly the best anthology you can read, so give it a try, you won’t regret it.

So, away we go – let’s show you what’s happening inside…

JUDGE DREDD: THE SHIFT – PART 5 – BY KEN NIEMAND AND NICK PERCIVAL, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Niemand and Percival’s expanding world of horror in Dredd really has been a highlight over the last few series they’ve done. But they’ve really upped the ante in The Shift, something absolutely horrific, bursting with nightmarish imagery from Percival, enough to really give you the shivers.

Anyway, Dredd’s on the trail of a missing student of Professor Hobbes, whose investigations into MC-1 folklore have led to her disappearance. The good news is that he’s found her. The bad news is that he’s gone into the Shift to find her, and there’s no sign of them being able to get out of this alt-dimensional warped version of the city.

Meanwhile, as the horrors continue for Dredd in ‘The Shift’, the search is on in MC-1 for the lawman. They can’t find Dredd, but they do come across their missing search team. It’s not good.

The Shift’s leaching out into the city, taking the search team and there in Professor Hobbes’ nightmares. Worse, something pretending to be a Judge is there with Hobbes, something that looks evil but talks of saving Dredd. Something that involves Hobbes becoming a ‘servant of the Holy Fathers.’ Nope, no idea what that is. But it’s suitably scary and ominous.

Absolutely great Dredd, absolutely showcasing the fact that anything and everything is possible in his world. Straight up adventure, tense investigative procedural, political intrigue, comedy, farce, and, as here, completely chilling horrors.

HAWK THE SLAYER: THE LAST OF HER KIND – PART 10 – FINAL PART – BY ALEC WORLEY AND SIMON COLEBY, COLOURS BY GARY CALDWELL, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

It’s been great has this first 2000 AD series of Hawk The Slayer, picking up from events and themes from not only the cult classic (and that means whatever you want it to mean, good or bad) and the Ennis and Flint movie sequel from 2023, ‘Watch For Me In The Night’.

Worley and Coleby haven’t tried to do anything revolutionary. There’s no complex deconstruction of the character, no reinvention of the genre, not huge epic thing. No, instead, very sensibly, they’ve gone a simpler route, one of just pitting Hawk against a very constrained threat. And that works perfectly here, it’s become a really tight bit of sword and sorcery, full of Robin Hood and Arthurian overtones but, at its core, doing a story of one hero and one villain. Oh, and of course, having Coleby’s art to look at has been a sheer delight. He’s always been great on dark sci-fi with the likes of Jaegir, but here his heavy line has fitted perfectly to the sword and sorcery vibe. Credit to Gary Caldwell on colours as well, bringing so much life to whatever was needed, with particularly beautiful moments in the bright sunlight a real highpoint of the look of Hawk the Slayer.

Here in the finale, it’s Hawk and the Lady Morlaine in final battle, with him having to get through way too many of her dead knight army to get to her. There’s plenty of grisly action, lopped off heads and body parts a-plenty.

With the rising up of the people of Valensfort, Hawk’s perhaps got a chance to get the upper hand. (Okay, okay, of course he gets the upper hand, that’s what happens in the finale of this sort of tale after all.) But the ending turns things round a touch and leaves things open tok further tales of Hawk. And, despite never being that much of a S&S fan, I’d be up for that.

FULL TILT BOOGIE – BOOK THREE – PART 5 – BY ALEX DE CAMPI AND EDUARDO OCANA. COLOURS BY GIULIA BRUSCO, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

We’re doing that thing where something that spent two series doing small-scale, personal stories set against the bigger picture of warring empires comes up against when it comes time to wrap it up in the third series. What I mean is that, whilst series 1 and 2 dealt well with the balancing act of showing us the smaller adventures of Tee and her crew against the bigger picture of the Luxine Empire and the Anubite Horde gearing up for war once more, here in series 3 it all now seems like a bit of a big rush to pack into the 10-part (maybe 12 parts) finale. There’s a feeling thus far that it’s all got a bit too big and needs a lot more pages to wrap things up satisfyingly here. Of course, I could be very wrong and De Campi and Ocana give us a second half of Book 3 that does what it needs to do.

However, even given that issue I have with it thus far, there’s still an awful lot to enjoy with this one. For a start, Ocana’s art continues to be gloriously lightweight of line, each character full of expression, each scene loaded with inventive ideas. He’s obviously being called on here to do a lot of BIG stuff, and he nails it really well. And although I’m worried there’s nowhere near enough space left to wrap up all the complext storylines of empires and war that De Campi has set up, she’s certainly giving it a shot. We’re covering a lot of ground and we’re just about keeping up here.

The Luxine Empire’s off to war again, something it (and its people) seem to really enjoy. Whipping up the people into a frenzy, selling the Anubites as instigators, testing the borders once more, there’s a lot of intriguing politics in here that’s rather skated over by neccesity of the speed of things.

And into all this, maybe the only voices of reason in an attempt to oppose the warmongering, we get Tee and her little gang of rebels. They’re looking to get into the Luxine palace, Nix disguised as Prince Ifan, the rest posing as the Prince’s entourage. It’s a ballsy plan. And it’s a plan that’s almost bound to fail.

PORTALS & BLACK GOO: A QUORUM OF FIENDS – PART 10 – BY JOHN TOMLINSON AND EOIN COVENEY, COLOURS BY JIM BOSWELL, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

It’s Samhain and the players in the Quorum of Fiends are assembling at Dunweald Manor. Alchemical magicks are at play, with the Quorum’s founder ressurected as Kroy looks on. Likewise, Nona and Nate, the former Kroy’s vamp friend, the latter Nona’s now dying vamp boyfriend of sorts, are headed to Dunweald as well – it really is a gathering of all the dark forces in this world that’s rather full of them.

Meanwhile, back 126 years, Cursitor and Magister are attempting to escape the trap set by Zur’Gat. Well, Cursitor is. Magister is left high and dry by his ungrateful bastard of a brother.

And of course, the simmering hatred whipped up by the likes of xenophobic political chancer Tommy Willard (I wonder who he’s based on… maybe a mix of a few men-children and political wideboys in the UK right now) is reaching boiling point in Battle Hill.

Yes, things are speeding up to the climax here, all the storylines coming together after being drawn out so carefully by both Tomlinson and Coveney over the last nine parts. As I keep saying, it’s a clever mix of the political and the supernatural, an allegorical tale looking at the outsiders and vulnerable in our society.

FIENDS OF THE WESTERN FRONT: WILDE WEST – PART 10 – BY IAN EDGINTON AND TIERNEN TREVALLION, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

We’re switching focus again, from Oscar and Constanta in peril last episode, ending with Constanta smoking under the desert sun and Oscar passed out from blood loss, to the twin threats following them, hunting them down.

Looking for Oscar, we have Michael the fallen angel. On the trail of Constanta, the monster-hunting Count Kamarovsky. Both of them are planning on the double cross that this pursuit will end with, but until then, they’re working together, better to keep your enemies close after all.

So, we have a fine bit of set-up here, character building along with moving the plot and the chase on. As Michael and Kamarovsky happen upon the dead would-be robbers that were unfortunate enough to happen on Constanta and Oscar last episode, it’s all getting rather close now.

And meanwhile, as Oscar awakes in a strange, strange place – and this is a tale of a vampire and one of the world’s most feted playrights and poets, so trust me when I say it’s very strange indeed. No spoilers, as it’s a great final page turn introducing Pleasantville and Oscar’s nursemaid.

Yes, Edginton and Trevallion have really gone all-out here in this latest Fiends. Every series seems to get better and better, and they really have turned what was a brilliant one-off concept from Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra and put a lot of supernatural meat on the bones.

And an extra special back cover for this Prog, Ben Willsher giving us 48 years of Dredd… happy anniversary old man…