The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2447: Dredd Giving It Both Barrels

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.

Time for yet another bumper-sized Prog for you now. Seven strips to enjoy, some new, some continuing, some one-offs, all rather good.

Although, yet again, the Dredd strip isn’t the one we we’re expecting, as Judge Dredd: Tunnels has gone AWOL once more – perhaps next week? Hey, it’s a weekly publication and, even with the best planning in the world, deadlines will slip!

So that means there’s another one-off Dredd this Prog, plus the continuations of The Ravilious Pact and Scarlet Traces, damn fine examples of just how wide-ranging the stories in 2000 AD can be. For the one-offs, we’ve got a Future Shock, this time by James Peaty and Mike Walters, plus a special 10-page double-length Herne & Shuck flashback tale by David Barnett and Lee Milmore. Finally, there’s the start of a new Nu Earth War Tale, The Survivors, by Karl Stock and Karl Richardson.

It all happens underneath the latest, excellent as always, cover from Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague.

2000 AD Prog 2447 is out in the UK now. Again, late, late, late with this one. Apologies again, things have been hectic here in Bruton Mansions, Nevada. Now, as always, if you’re in the Americas, head to your local comic shop and put in an order for the bundled four-packs of Progs they can get. You won’t regret it one bit.

So, let’s take a look see at this week’s bumper Prog…

JUDGE DREDD: FREE CHERESE – BY GEOFFREY D WESSEL AND NICK ROCHE, COLOURS BY JACK DAVIES, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Yes, despite the promise in the last Prog that we’d really be seeing the finale to ‘Tunnels’ this week, it’s nowhere to be seen. A shame, but sometimes the artist just needs that extra time – it will no doubt be worth it.

That means that we get another done-in-one Dredd this time round, all about the movement to ‘Free Cherese’. That’s Cherese Timmins, recently incarcerated perp in the cubes, who’s been made a cause by someone. Well, cue Dredd on the case, busy uncovering just who, or what, happens to be behind it….

Nick Roche hasn’t done all that much for 2000 AD, but he’s done plenty of work elsewhere, including Transformers, where his dino-transformers were so biologically accurate that a palaeontologist named a genus of dinos after him – the pterosaur called ‘Klobiodon Rochei’. Now, that’s a claim to fame.

Here, his art is a joy, bright and bold, given added oomph by Jack Davies’ colours, but there’s also some wonderful detail going into what he’s doing. I mean, just look at this…

Yep, now that’s looking so good.

So, it’s a thing of aliens, obsessions, bombs, and Cherese, one cit who prefers jail time to what she’s running from. All wrapped in in six enjoyable pages from Wessel. If I say it’s just another little Dredd tale, I don’t want you thinking that that’s damning with faint praise. If you’ve read what I have to say about the Judge Dredd Case Files and how it’s the Dredd shorts, rather than the big epics, that are truly the heart and soul of Dredd and the thing that’s meant it’s been able to stay vital and relevant all these decades. So, if I say it’s another one-off Dredd that’s really well done, taking us through a snapshot of just one of Dredd’s cases, that’s not a bad thing at all.

AZIMUTH: ABANDONED BY GOD – PART 8 – FINAL PART – BY DAN ABNETT AND TAZIO BETTIN, COLOURS BY MATT SOFFE, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

Well, I say final part, but it’s one of those let’s end it on a cliffhanger and tease the next series – coming in Prog 2463, which I reckon will be this year’s Christmas Prog.

What we’ve had so far in ‘Abandoned by God’ has gone deeper and deeper into this wonderfully realised, beautifully strange world of Azimuth. It’s all pretty much out in the open now – Azimuth is Downlode, or at least an AI-generated version of it, a computer-generated extension of it, or something along those lines at least – I’ve learned not to second-guess what Abnett does with this one.

Right now, Dexter and Andi (whoever the hell she may be, wherever the hell she came from – she’s not THE Judge Anderson, but she’s very much A Judge Anderson, some version at least) have met the Lords of the New Flesh, told their truth of what Azimuth really is, and got the okay to go up against Annica, the being those in Azimuth take as their God. Now it’s time for a little chat between Dexter, Andi, and Suzi Nine, where more truths are told.

But the quiet moment doesn’t last, not with Tracy Weld/Crazy Hate making her own particular play, praying to Annica for power, pledging her hate for Dexter to this new God. And it’s worked, Annica has listened… as we saw at the end of the last episode… the fabled basilisk is coming….

So, this last episode sees truths told – or at least the truths Abnett wants to be told – and we get closer to the finale to Azimuth. And that finale – well, it’s not here. No, we get an ending of sorts, this one’s too big to end in just the eight episodes, and it will pick up at the end of the year.

Instead, we see the fabled basilisk take out the Lords of the New Flesh as if they were nothing, leaving no-one but Dexter, Suzi Nine, and Andi – and even here, we have Abnett teasing us with Andi’s words of the basilisk that destroyed her world. So, which world is that? Is Abnett really planting the seeds of multiple worlds, multiple Dreddworlds? Oh, it’s always a possibility….

ART

All the way through Azimuth, all the series, back to before we even knew it was tied in to Abnett’s Sinister Dexter, this has been one that’s jam-packed full of intrigue and fascinating ideas. The mystery is all part of the experience here, and it’s a mystery that’s playing out so well. But of course, Abnett’s not alone here, he’s ably assisted by co-creator Taxio Bettin, whose art is perfect for this, art that’s flourished in creating this wonderfully bizarre new world, a creation that’s seen Bettin go above and beyond, crafting perfect visions of a gloriously strange place for us to enjoy.

We leave Azimuth, for now, with the sound of a psi-shield shattering like glass… then silence. I cannot wait till we return to this one at the end of the year.

FUTURE SHOCKS: LET THERE BE LIGHT – BY JAMES PEATY AND MIKE WALTERS, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

An art opening that no one came to, a rather disgruntled loan shark by the name of Boric… It’s all not looking good for the artist in question, Jordan, is it?

So, he and his artist friend find themselves creating black market art for Boric. That is, until he gives them another way to pay back the debt Jordan owes.

It’s a Future Shock about art and commerce, and about obsession, love, and what one artist will do to stay with the love of his life, a love of his life who’s not all that happy with the way things have gone.

Five pages and done, Peaty and Walters giving us a neat little, well-done thing. Basically, never trust an artist; they’re always too wrapped up in their work.

THE RAVILIOUS PACT – PART 8 – BY TC EGLINGTON AND STEVEN AUSTIN, COLOURS BY JOHN CHARLES, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

The Ravilious Pact just keeps rolling on, what started as an interesting play on the idea of mobsters using magic to climb the bloody ladder to rule their patch has long since turned into something far more interesting, far more complex. It’s a perfect setting for Austin’s somewhat loose, gritty, and dark art – and none of that’s meant as a criticism at all.

As we left things last episode, we had Jason Ravilious, once the trusted right hand of the Boucher family, now on the outs thanks to psychotic new boss Todd, finding things had come way too close to home – meaning he’s watching his family home burnt to the ground…

The impact of that final panel of last episode’s rather tossed away on page 1 here – the family are fine, quickly spirited away to safety to allow Jason to act. As you’d expect, being a wanted man in London with a price on his head, all thanks to Todd, he’s off to take up Morvern and the Duncan family’s offer…

There’s a sense of inevitability here, as we watch things fall apart, chaos taking over, the demon’s plans always there in the background, about to come to fruition. So, it’s no surprise when Jason’s visit to the docs reveals a diagnosis of leukaemia. We’d been building up to that with the reveal over the last few episodes that many of the demonic vessels of the Boucher family had been similarly struck down. So, with cancer in his blood and his family safe, there’s nothing stoping Jason now.

HERNE & SHUCK: BE HERE NOW – BY DAVID BARNETT AND LEE MILMORE, COLOURS BY GARY CALDWELL, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

It started out as a three-part Tharg’s 3Riller, ‘The Crawly Man’, followed by another 3Riller, ‘Maxwell’s Demon’, before graduating to a full series, ‘Suffer The Children’. And it’s not a surprise that it’s proved quite so popular; there’s much fun to be had with the pairing of a magical troubleshooter and his own veritable black dog, a demon in canine form, working together to travel the country, taking on whatever magical jobs they find. Think Hellblazer, but with a bit of crusty thrown in. Rather great.

Anywhow, we’ve seen their misadventures in the now, where they saved young Carys from ritual sacrifice, and she’s now a powerful part of their little group. But here we have a double-length one-off look at the early days of young Herne and Shuck, and Herne’s first experiences with the paranormal.

The nod to Oasis in the title pins this firmly in Manchester, mid-’90s, where Herne’s being schooled by Shuck. But maths is well boring and Herne’s wanting to see an exorcism.

After which, young scallywag heads off into the big city for a little fun, totally against Shuck’s instructions. But hey, kids, what can you do? A little petty theft turns into something nastier, all thanks to Mr Bull, the Liam Gallagher-looking Fagin-type with a nasty sideline in demonic summoning.

It’s fun and it’s fast, Milmore’s art playful as Barnett’s tale is, a perfect glimpse into what made the Herne & Shuck team what they are today.

SCARLET TRACES: EMPIRE OF BLOOD – PART 16 – BY IAN EDGINTON AND D’ISRAELI, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

It’s not often we have strips in 2000 AD going over 12 parts. That’s usually reserved for Abnett and Culbard’s rather brilliant Brink – due back in the Prog later in the year, I think. But here we are, episode 16 of ‘Empire of Blood’, showing that 2000 AD are willing, where the story requires it, to let things play out at their own pace. And, for the better part of these 16 episodes, the pace of this Scarlet Traces prequel has been, as I’ve said before, somewhat languid – rather brilliantly so.

It’s all about storytelling control. And Edginton and D’Israeli have that control just down. It’s no surprise that they do, after all, they’ve been working as a writer-artist team for quite some time, and together crafted a true epic with Scarlet Traces. Taking their start point as HG Wells‘s War of the Worlds, they crafted a magnificent steampunk sci-fi imagining just what the British would be able to do with the Martian tech following the failed invasion. That was a series where the new British Empire ascended to the stars – and you should absolutely go back and read every single book in this modern-day epic sci-fi tale.

Here though, we’re right back to the beginning, in the immediate aftermath of the failed Martian invasion of London. And Edginton and D’Israeli have meticulously and slowly brought us to where we are now, threading multiple storylines carefully, expertly, to this moment.

On the surface, the mysterious intelligence agents are pondering the devastating results of the Martian cell being awakened. Whilst down below, that same Martian cell is hunting Inspector Bey, Constable Stanks, and the sole surviving German on a mission to steal the Martian tech.

We’ve gone from a glacially perfect investigation to something that’s exploded into action – this episode takes perhaps a minute in real time – but it’s just the perfect lead-up to the finale that’s coming. Like I keep saying, Edginton and D’Israeli are a pair who work in perfect synergy, total control of the moment you’re reading.

D’Israeli’s art is so evocative here, all bathed in a red glow for the underground scenes, choreographing the action so well, each panel a split-second moment in the hunt. It’s just a glorious example of one rather underrated artist flexing his artistic muscles and showing us just how good he is.

NU EARTH WAR TALES: THE SURVIVORS – PART 1 – BY KARL STOCK AND KARL RICHARDSON, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

If you weren’t aware, we’re getting a Rogue Trooper animated movie this year, helmed by Duncan Jones. Which rather explains the focus on all things Rogue and Nu Earth recently in the Prog.

Now, I’ve opined at length here on why Rogue Trooper is both a perfect thing, all contained in the deliberately limited scope of the initial series, and a busted flush of a strip, where any attempt to continue the tale beyond the initial, perfect, story of revenge fails. And I’ll hold to that. Sure, there are moments where new Rogue work, such as the recent Ennis/Goddard tales, and there’s high hopes for the new Alex de Campi and Neil Edwards Ghost Patrol starting in Prog 2450. But overall, I’ll stick with my assessment that Rogue Trooper said pretty much all it needed to say in that first run.

However, whilst the tale of Rogue himself was limited, the world of Rogue, of the Nort-Souther war on Nu Earth, that has so much untapped potential. You can see that writ large in Rogue spin-off Jaegir by Gordon Rennie and Simon Coleby, where they switch sides and look at the war through a Nort lens. And then there’s this new Nu Earth War Tales, expressly looking at the bigger picture, the world of Rogue beyond Rogue. It’s a fertile storytelling ground, and so far we’ve had plenty of good tales set in Rogue’s world.

Now, time for Survivors, a multi-parter by Stock and Richardson, a medic transport is out on the battlefield of Nu Earth, the Norts intercepting them, all taking place immediately after the Traitor General’s betrayal leading to the wiping out of the GI company…

But these medics have fallen to something not Souther and not quite Nort, a band of rogue Norts. And that is not good, not good at all, especially when there’s talk of just what these Nort rogues have in store for the medic Southers. Still, by the end, we have a twist, as the body bag of Souther General Fader makes its move.

So much going on here. Stock and Richardson referencing the pivotal moment in Rogue history, the massacre of the betrayed GIs, but then moving on to a self-contained tale of these survivors. It’s all a bit good.