The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2448: Rogue In Action Once More

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.

It’s all building towards the jumping-on Prog 2450 right now – meaning both The Ravilious Pact and Scarlet Traces, with a double-length episode, both reach their penultimate parts, whilst the latest Nu Earth War Tales gets its second and final part. And of course, it all kicks off with a Dred tale, although still not the finale of the rather excellent ‘Tunnels’ – for that, you’re going to have to wait until next week. Instead, a rather fine one-off from Ken Niemand and Cam Smith, ‘The Wild Man Of Brian Eno‘. Yep, just the four to enjoy this week – but a rather fine quartet indeed.

It all kicks off under a Karl Richardson cover….

2000 AD Prog 2448 is out now in the UK. And yes, late again, but honestly, I have reasons, all the reasons, again mostly summed up as… you know, life. Anyway, as always, if you’re in the Americas or elsewhere, head to your local comic shop and ask them nicely to order in the four-weekly packs for you. As I keep telling you, you’re not going to regret it.

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

JUDGE DREDD: THE WILD MAN OF BRIAN ENO – BY KEN NIEMAND AND CAM SMITH, COLOURS BY EMILIO LECCE, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

So, we’re having to wait one more week for that finale to ‘Tunnel’s. Sometimes this happens, especially with the inevitable weekly demands of 2000 AD. Thankfully, there’s always a readily available stock of one-off Dredds to fill any gaps.

Not, of course, that the one-off Dredd is in any way filler. Far from it. As I keep telling you with the Complete Case Files, the short strips are what makes Dredd work, what it is that makes it still relevant and vital nearly five decades after the character’s introduction. It’s in these one-offs and short tales that we get to explore Dredd, but, more importantly, get to experience Dredd’s world.

And so it is with ‘The Wild Man of Brian Eno’. The wild man’s an urban legend, meant to haunt the Brian Eno Dem-Zone. And that’s why reality show hunter Phil is here, although he’s about to star in his own In The Cubes With show thanks to Dredd’s intervention. But Dredd’s about to find out there’s occasionally, just occasionally, some truth behind the urban legends.

It’s but six pages, but, like all good Dredd one-offs, there’s so much in here to enjoy. Of course, it’s great to see Smith’s art in the Prog, but Niemand gives us a pretty perfect tale of the Mega-City, one where there’s silliness and pathos, a little action, but mostly it’s about giving us another small glimpse into the world of Dredd, always full of so many fascinating tales.

THE RAVILIOUS PACT – PART 9 – BY TC EGLINGTON AND STEVEN AUSTIN, COLOURS BY JOHN CHARLES, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Okay then, as we head towards the finale of this one next Prog, we get that most difficult of things to pull off, a totally silent episode. No caption, no speech bubbles, just the art doing the storytelling.

It’s a brave step for Eglington and Austin to take, but they manage to pull it off.

We’re along for the ride with Jason Ravilious. He used to be the enforcer for the Boucher Family, a London gang who’d profited from their association and deal-making with demonic forces. But now, it’s all changed. And Jason’s life seems destined to be shorter than he would have hoped.

The Boucher Family has a new, psychotic, dangerous head in Todd Boucher, intent on breaking the longstanding rules that kept gang life in London from exploding, all manipulated by demonic forces who are making their own play. Jason’s now cast out, a price on his head, meaning he’s had to create new ties, this time with the Duncan Family and Morvern, who have their own reasons for coming south and challenging the demons and the gangs of London. There’s also the non-too-small matter of Jason’s recent cancer diagnosis, just one of many who’ve been used as adjuncts for the demonic possessions over the years.

So, now it’s Jason and Morvern making their play against Todd and the demonic forces. All setting up the finale.

Like I say, a silent episode is always fraught with risks. You have to have writer and artist in synergy, where the writer implicitly trusts the artist to be able to tell the story without the benefit of the crutches of words. Plus, you need to have an artist capable of carrying the story just through their imagery. And here, Edginton and Austin have all that.

Five pages, Jason ripping through Todd’s forces, fast-paced action, everything choreographed really well, and all ending with Todd and the demon Ba’laal making a final pact in response.

NU EARTH WAR TALES: THE SURVIVORS – PART 2 – FINAL PART – BY KARL STOCK AND KARL RICHARDSON, LETTERS BY JIM CAMPBELL

These Nu Earth War Tales are exactly what the world of Rogue Trooper needed. Take the focus away from Rogue himself – because, after all, there’s not all that much left to tell of his tale – and spend the time looking at the rich and fertile story landscape of the war between the Norts and Southers. We’ve already seen with Rennie and Coleby’s Jaegir just what can be accomplished by looking at the other players in this never-ending war, and Nu Earth War Tales has been consistently good in mining the seam of stories from Nu Earth and the war that just won’t end.

Here in ‘The Survivors’, it’s all about the moments after the Traitor General betrays the GIs and Rogue, where a Souther medic transport is intercepted. Only they’ve not been intercepted by Norts, they’ve instead fallen to something worse: a group of Rogue Norts, cannibal Norts.

Weirdly, coincidentally, after getting a silent episode in The Ravilious Pact, we get a second one here in Nu Earth War Tales. I mean, you wait for so long for a bus and then two come along at the same time and all that. The same rules apply. Writer and artist in synergy, story that will stand without words, an artist capable of doing the job and choreographing things to tell the story through just the art. And again, we have a winner.

From the first episode to set it all up, we’re all too quickly – this one surely had the legs for more episodes – into the finale, bringing together the Souther medics, their now not so dead cargo, and even the presence of Rogue himself.

All in all, it’s another little Rogue Trooper world tale, but one that, yet again, feeds into the bigger picture, doing the same thing as all those Dredd one-offs and short tale have done. It’s just that we’re finally getting these world-expanding shorts many, many years after the essential tales of Rogue Trooper have been told.

SCARLET TRACES: EMPIRE OF BLOOD – PART 17 – BY IAN EDGINTON AND D’ISRAELI, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

To end the Prog this time, it’s off to the world of Edginton and D’Israeli’s Scarlet Traces for a double-length episode. And it’s a world that writer and artist have been building for so long. We’ve already seen, in many, many perfectly done stories, how the British Empire utilised the Martian tech following the failed Martian invasion of Victorian England, leading to a revitalised British Empire that took to the stars. Again, if you’ve not previously had the pleasure of reading Scarlet Traces from the start, i urge you to rectify that right now.

Anyway, ‘Empire of Blood’ is a prequel, taking place just after the end of that failed Martian invasion. Running far longer than a normal 2000 AD strip, it’s been allowed to slowly, perfectly build towards its conclusion, giving us several plot threads to follow along the way. As I say, Edginton and D’Israeli have that perfect synergy of a writer and artist who’ve worked so successfully together for so many years now. It’s no surprise that both are on top of their game here.

So, we’re now reaching the end of this one, as Inspector Bey, the ever-dependable Constable Stanks, and the one surviving German spy find themselves deep underground in a nest of Martian war machines. And the Martians are planning on heading up to the surface, which is not good.

Yes, as I say, this is Edginton and D’Israeli doing things so well, both of them in perfect control of the tale they want to tell – and a damn fine tale it’s been.