The Weekly 2000 AD – Prog 2429 – Things Are Blowing Up In Mega-City One

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, 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, we get a new Rogue Trooper series starting (why, it’s almost like there’s a movie due out this year.) Plus, we get continuations of the current Dredd with folks exploding, more Chimpsky with everyone’s favourite simian still trying to get his own mind back, Baroness DeSilva doing all the things she does in Silver‘s action-packed alien invasion saga, and things maybe becoming a little clearer in the fascinatingly opaque new strip Ghosted.

All of that under a Jake Lynch cover paying homage to a classic Steve Dillon cover…

2000 AD Prog #2429 is out in the UK today. Frankly, I have no idea when it’s out in the Americas. You have to get it in some month pack of four Progs. And with the distribution network about as certain as Trump’s tariff plan, the only thing I can suggest is you match on down to your locak comic shop and demand they order it for you. Seriously, you need 2000 AD in your life. It’s been consistently the finest sci-fi anthology for nigh on 50 years now.

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

JUDGE DREDD: BLITZERS – PART 3 – BY KEN NIEMAND AND DAN CORNWELL. COLOURS BY DYLAN TEAGUE, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

It’s very much a Niemand sort of Dredd, we’re on to episode three and Dredd’s barely appeared, just there in the background running through his investigation into the mob Blitzers, implanted with explosives many years ago, who find themselves on the run, having to ditch the lives they’ve made now the chem cocktail that kept them from going boom appears to be running out or breaking down.

But that’s always been Niemand’s strength in writing Dredd, an understanding that, when you get past the big Dredd-centric event takes, there’s so much to be told of the world of Mega-City One through the citizens, those poor bastards who actually have to live in this hell-hole where fascist cops control everything and their daily lives are just never-ending suffering and grind. So it is here, where we’ve been introduced to the Blitzers, their lives controlled by the mob in the years before Chaos Day, walking bombs to be used by their mob bosses, who’ve found themselves, in the ruins of Chaos Day and ever since finally able to live normal lives. Except all that’s gone now, and old instincts have kicked in, a team of unwilling exploding mob puppets on the run, their lives playing out here, all the while knowing their lives are going to end, inevitably, with a hideous death.

The character building of the main protagonists continues, with Niemand and Cornwell, who’s really been showing us that he’s up there with all the modern great artists for Dredd, giving us more backstory of just how they freed themselves or the remains of the mob in MC-1’s darkest hour. After that, we’re heavily into the chase, the Blitzers running, Dredd zeroing in, all coming to the inevitable end that sees another group of unfortunates who never had a chance finding themselves at the wrong end of summary Justice.

It’s another string episode, made all the better by the skill Cornwell brings to things, complete with two pages of hyper-compressed storytelling, a moment of time broken down into panels that barks back to the likes of Bryan Talbot controlling time expertly in Luther Arkwright. It’s just masterful control on the comic page by Cornwell.

CHIMPSKY’S LAW: THE TRUTH CONUNDRUM – PART 4 – BY KEN NIEMAND AND PJ HOLDEN. BY JACK DAVIES, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Well, Chimpsky’s still being mind-controlled by the Truth Bomber as they try to make MC-1 a better place, with whatever casualties along the way just collateral damage as far as the Truth Bomber’s concerned.

While all this is going on, Noam’s been fighting against the mind control, with Holden doing a great job showing us the inside of his head and the struggle…

Of course, it’s not taken long for Dredd to put the clues together, run the investigation, and put it all together, which is why he’s knocking on the door and not taking no for an answer.

Again, so much to enjoy here, a character that’s just so much fun to read – and I imagine, to write and draw as well. There’s just this wonderful lightness to Chimpsky, the thought captions always adding a dash of comedy to things, even in the direst of moments. Great character done really so well.

And it’s a character that’s just suited to Holden’s art so perfectly – or perhaps it’s just that, as co-creator of the character, he’s got that handle on it. Whatever it is, the art just pops off the page, full of invention, great character beats and great action sequences. I’ve loved his MC-1 and Dredd art for ages, but there’s a different look to his Dredd, maybe not to everyone’s taste – but then again, in that, Holden joins a long list of artists who did it that little bit differently, so Holden’s in fine company there.

SILVER: BOOK TWO: PERFIDIOUS (PART 1) – PART 3 – BY MIKE CARROLL AND JOE CURRIE. LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

And seeing as we’re talking artists here, let’s add Joe Currie’s name to that long list of phenomenal artists who get their break at 2000 AD. Seriously, you name any great Brit comic artist of the past 40+ years, and it’s more than likely they made they’re start here. Joe Currie’s merely the latest. But damn, is he good. This episode’s a perfect illustration of that – his line work is gloriously fine, the figure work exquisite, and the tone that his muted colour choice, all nighttime subdued blue-tinged, sets is just so good.

Here, we’re setting up for the Baroness DeSilva’s next mission for Earth’s resistance against the alien conquerors of Earth, the Sepsis. The whole series has been full of backstory of the takeover of Earth, but cleverly introduced throughout by Carroll in those moments of calm before the action ramps up once more. So it is here, as we get the flashback to setting up this new mission, more on the Baroness’s distrust of resistance leader Bishop, the idea of Sepsis nurseries that breed their infantry, one of which is the Baroness’s target today.

And in the latter half of this episode, we discover more of Louise, as first seen last episode (above) – the Sepsis’s collaborating monster hunter, unassumingly brutal, and headed in the direction of the Baroness and Bishop, who’ve made themselves targets by their recent successes.

Again, Silver is another new strip of the last few years that’s just doing so much so well. Horror, action, big themes abounding but concentrating very much on the smaller moments, it’s just another great strip to join a hell of a lot of them in recent years.

GHOSTED: BOOK ONE: PART 3 – BY GUY ADAMS AND MEGAN HUANG. LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Well, we knew this one wasn’t going to stay where it was for too long, but three episodes in and we’re still very much in the intriguing what the hell’s going in here phase. It’s good. It really is. Good writing, good art, and good to have a weekly strip that’s not afraid to leave readers guessing about what direction this one’s going in.

As for where we are, it’s the far future, where Kinshasa, capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a luxurious, walk-in state where it’s citizens live in peace and luxury. Or at least that’s the PR spin. As we’ve slowly been uncovering, things aren’t so good when you drop down the socioeconomic ladder, as rich party girl Benu discovers this episode when she goes exploring the lower levels in an attempt to figure out what her dreams of war and another presence in her head mean – you know, like this to finish last week’s episode…

As she falls foul of the mean streets of the lower levels, we get more of those only just realised fighting skills, and more questions – for her and for us.

It’s a different kind of series, with Adams writing it as something we’re all discovering as we go, deliberately making it a slow burn towards finding out just how bad things are in this supposed utopia.

We know Benu’s involved, we know there’s a ghost somehow in her head, and we know there’s a war being fought somewhere. But the lack of any straight path to what it’s all about and how it all connects is being done really well, the tantalizing way it plays out making it one I keep turning the pages to glean that little bit more from.

ROGUE TROOPER: TIDES OF WAR – PART 1 – BY ANDI EWINGTON AND PAUL MARSHALL, COLOURS BY PIPPA BOWLAND, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

More new Rogue Trooper now, as 2000 AD is well aware that the profile of the character’s never been higher in light of the Duncan Jones-helmed movie out later this year.

It’s a return to Nu Earth and a Rogue tale set out of time. As I’ve said many times, that’s the way to do Rogue. The story of the character was all over when the whole Traitor General storyline ended. Ever since then, the only good way to do the character has been to do war stories set at some amorphous point within that saga. Just like the recent Ennis/Goddard tales have done.

And that’s just what Ewington and Marshall do here. And do it really well. There’s a sense of mean and moody here, all added to by the combination of Marshall’s classic art style and Bowland’s subtle colouring job, essentially black and white with gorgeous tonal work and then the striking blue of Rogue.

We’re off on perhaps something of a Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now thing, with Rogue meeting a lost Souther boat crew and joining them on their attempt to get to safety. But there’s nowhere that’s safe on Nu Earth.

A good start to what seems like a classic bit of Rogue Trooper.