The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2475: Weather Chaos Concludes For Dredd

Taking a look inside the UK’s greatest sci-fi comic, the Galaxy’s Greatest, fast approaching 50 years of brilliance — it’s the Weekly 2000 AD.

Ahead of the bumper Prog next week, we have a number of endings this week, saying farewell to the great Dredd action thriller ‘Climate Crisis‘, and the intriguing, potential-packed prison-set thriller The Discarded. There’s also the finale to the latest Tharg’s 3Riller, ‘Who Is Adrian Apollo?’ where the twist gets revealed. Plus, a new done-in-one Future Shock, and, of course, best of them all, Brink Book 7, ‘The Call of the Void’ continues its brilliant tale of Bridge’s adventures on Luna Hab.

Next week, we get more Brink, of course, plus the start of a new Dredd, a double-length opener for the pulp-infused Helium by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli, plus one-off tales for Rogue Trooper and, in something of a surprise, a one-off epilogue to 2025’s hit Red Dragon series by Rob Williams, Steve Yeowell and Patrick Goddard. But that’s next week’s bumper Prog, and we’re here to talk this Prog, all kicking off under a great Colin MacNeil cover…

2000 AD Prog 2475 is out now the UK. I thought you folks in the Americas were a little way off the new — and weekly — 2000 AD appearing in the Lunar Distribution catalogs. But then they put this up on their socials this week …

So, maybe you can? Whatever, it’s definitely worth heading to your local comic shop right this very minute and asking them to put the weekly Prog into your pull list. Trust me, you won’t regret it. As for when to start? Well, the joy of the Prog is that you just pick it up. If you’re in the middle of something or you don’t like something too much, fear not, there’s always new strips appearing. So, just dive on in. Of course, Brink, as with so many things about that particular series, is a bit of an outlier. Sure, you can jump right into it, but hell, let’s just go with you really should go grab the digital copies of Progs 2472, 2473, and 2474 to get the opening parts of Book 7. And then you should go grab all the previous six books. Trust me, you are going to love that one as much as I do.

Anyway, enough already. Time to take a look inside …

The opening few panels to this week’s Brink – just silent perfection right there.JUDGE DREDD: CLIMATE CRISIS — PART 5 — FINAL PART — BY ROB WILLIAMS, NED HARTLEY AND PJ HOLDEN, COLOURS BY JACK DAVIES, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

This one’s been an absolute joy of a read. Williams, Hartley and Holden giving us five episodes of pure Dredd action, taking a very simple story — Weather Control satellite gets hijacked, Dredd deals with it — and spinning out five episodes of sheer fun. To this, they’ve added a great new face-changing villain to things and brought back Oola Blint, the Angel of Death, to thoroughly piss off Dredd.

Of course, right now, as we open this final episode, things aren’t looking too good for Dredd or Facechange onboard Weather Control as it makes a rather fiery return to Mega-City One. According to Facechange, there’s only the one remaining parachute to get one of them off the crashing sat alive. Who’s he more pissed off with, Dredd for ruining his plans, or Blint for double-crossing him and leaving him broke from the job?

Well, as it’s an ending, I’ll leave you to read it to figure out just which course Facechange takes. But you know pretty much how it works in Dreddworld, and it all means that Blint’s back to continue to get under Dredd’s skin once more. I’d expect to see that particular grudge match playing out in some future Williams/Hartley Dredd. As for Facechange, he was one of those fun villains, where there was no complex rationale behind what he could do, no need for any more explanation than he might be a mutant, he can change his face, and he’s not a nice guy. Sometimes that’s all you need.

Oh, and one last thing with the story. It all ends, perfectly, with Dredd failing to pick up Blint, and being the most pissed off passenger a cruise ship’s ever seen….

Oh, that line, ‘Better just enjoy your cruise.’ Perfect end.

So yes, five episodes of action, a great, simple Dredd. Williams really has taken on these action Dredds recently, what with this, ‘Rend and Tear With Tooth and Claw’, and ‘Tunnel’s. And he does them very, very well, whether it’s with a co-writer or not. So, it will be fascinating to see where this new writing team of Hartley and Williams takes Dredd next.

And finally, everyone take a little time to appreciate what Holden always brings to a Dredd. He’s been doing them now for 25 years. Which always strikes me as odd, as I still lump him in with that small group of great ‘new’ Dredd artists alongside Henry Flint, Dan Cornwell and the like. But no, 25 years. Thing is, I think I lump him in with ‘new’ Dredd artists because he’s successfully changed up his style over the years. Comparing his first Dredds with today — it’s like a completely different artist. His art today has a perfect look to it, a style unlike anyone else’s, a loose, cartoony look in a way (and I mean that with praise, not criticism), but one that perfectly carries a story with some fine style. He’s long been a favourite of mine to give everything he does that unique Holden style. Cannot wait to see what he draws here next, whether that’s more Dredd or more of the wonderful Chimpsky.

BRINK: BOOK 7: THE CALL OF THE VOID — PART 4 — BY DAN ABNETT AND INJ CULBARD, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

Here we go again. Richard spends a few paragraphs heaping praise on Brink. Honestly, don’t expect much different for every single week over the next however many glorious months we get to enjoy more Brink. Again, honestly, it’s up there with the very, very best of anything 2000 AD has ever published. And it does genuinely keep getting better and better and better.

This one has Kurtis and Bonner testing out their new HabSec-issued sidearms across the opening three pages, and it’s everything I love about Brink.

First, Culbard takes three pages of a two-handed talking heads conversation and makes it shine, switching angles, moving his camera around, and giving us perfect drama. And then Abnett takes the opportunity to shine with some sparkling Kurtis/Bonner repartee, discussing first the new Kalmax firearms, then going on to take aim at Cutwell, the Luna Hab Security Chief …

‘Bonner, I already don’t like them.’
‘Anything else on today’s list of things you want to complain about?’

‘I got a bad read off her. Very pro-HabGov, very establishment HSD. Too chirpy.’
‘Everyone’s too chirpy for you.’

‘She doesn’t like me.’
‘Well, if that’s a crime, we need to arrest most of the Brink.’

And then best of all, this …

‘Please tread carefully. Don’t Kurtis your way through this investigation.’
‘I’m a verb now?’

Oh yes, that’s just so good. Just comedy gold in three pages.

Of course, Abnett’s so skilful that the back and forth is all there, not just for the comedy gold, that’s merely the icing on the cake, and a way to allow him to give us exposition that’s pure entertainment as well as essential to the plot here. Conversations in Brink often serve two purposes: entertaining us for one, but they also have a habit of establishing future events. So, don’t be surprised if Kurtis’s scepticism over the new Gentau-made Kalmax guns comes back to bite her at some stage. And similarly, her distrust of Cutwell may prove important, and her history with her could be key to what’s to come. Or not. Never ever try to second-guess Abnett is another vital thing that feeds into the brilliance of Brink.

As it is, she’s stuck on Luna Hab, so she may as well get stuck in to work in her new post in the Behavioural Analysis Unit. Meeting the team just means a little more chance for Abnettt and Culbard to do the great things they do, as Kurtis goes about things in her very Kurtis way.

As is usual with Brink, all these early episodes are merely preparatory things, setting things up in a way that’s just perfect, page after page of talking heads that create such dramatic tension, give us so much that’s everything that makes Brink just so good. We’ve got Bridge on LunaHab, with various meet and greets happening. And they’re all fascinating, all brilliant, all adding to the drama that is Brink. Damn, this is so damn good.

THARG’S 3RILLERS: WHO IS ADRIAN APOLLO? — PART 3 — FINAL PART — BY LIAM JOHNSON AND STEVEN AUSTIN, COLOURS BY JOHN CHARLES, LETTERS BY ROB STEEN

The previous two parts of this latest Tharg’s 3Riller have given us all the James Bond in the future stuff, following the fallout from Adrian Apollo’s latest mission. All very straight, all very simple – or so we thought. Then things took a turn in the final page of that second part last week…

Oh yes, here’s that twist that we all knew was coming, we just didn’t quite know what form it would take.

So, Adrian’s on the run from his controller now – can he escape? And just what are the lies he’s been telling? Well, I’m not going to spoiler that, seeing as it’s everything this one’s been building up to. The two pages below sort of give it away a little, and that’s quite enough.

Suffice it to say, it’s a neat twist, and even opens this 3Riller up nicely to a new set of Adrian Apollo missions in the future. Will we get any more? Well, who knows? But I reckon Johnson and Austin have done enough here to set the scene for more sci-fi spy adventures of Adrian Apollo. I certainly wouldn’t mind that.

FUTURE SHOCKS: LUCKY NUMBER SIX — BY ANDI EWINGTON AND JOHN MCCREA, LETTERS BY ANNIE PARKHOUSE

Rare interior black and white art on this Future Shock from John McCrea here, really leaning into the raw, loose style we’ve seen from him on covers for a while, but then taking it even further. And bloody hell, it’s a really superb look. He absolutely nails the whole down on his luck feel from the protagonist here, a gambler having a bad run, desperate for anything that can turn that around, wandering into a tattoo parlour for something the owner assures him will be just what he needs… but, seeing as this is a Future Shock, we all know where this one’s going.

But that’s part of the fun here – Ewington sets it all up with us all knowing this guy’s not long for this world. It’s just the manner of his death that’s left to play out. And that works just fine for me.

Having said that, this is McCrea’s show. From the opening panel of the dingy, rainy Soho streets all through to the inevitable end, his art here just shines. It’s raw, and it’s rough, and it’s perfectly done. There’s even, rarer than hen’s teeth, the chance to include a splash page – in a five-page Future Shock – practically unheard of, but fits perfectly, showing us our guy’s luck turning, but all the while knowing that that tattoo’s on the move.

Yep, Ewington provides the simple tale, and then McCrea gives it everything it needs to work.

Sure, there’s no real twist to the tale here – it’s an ending everyone knows is coming, but what the hell, it’s still a damn good strip, and the art is just a joy to see.

THE DISCARDED — PART 13 — FINAL PART — BY PETER MILLIGAN AND KIERAN MCKEOWN, COLOURS BY JIM BOSWELL, LETTERS BY SIMON BOWLAND

And here we are, the final part of The Discarded. Overall, it’s been good but not, for me, great. Like I said a few times through this one, there’s more potential in the background details of The Discarded than there is in the actual foreground tale being played out. Now, that’s probably just me, but once that idea got into my head, I couldn’t shake it.

I want to know where things go next. I want to see revolution, the fascist British government explored, the ideas of freedom – of sorts – found in Junkfall brought back to the mainland. That sort of thing. And yes, all that might be happening somewhere down the line.

However, this first series has been more about the challenges of being dumped here on Junkfall, the floating island of literal rubbish as well as all those folks that this new Britain wants rid of. Across the last 12 parts, we’ve got our introduction to this nasty little world, then been thrown headlong into the main bit of story driver. And it’s all been about cop Veera Banksy’s mission to track down and kill the rogue AI chip that got accidentally dumped down on Junkfall. The twist? Well, that would be that said chip’s taken over her dead old dad, activist and dissident, who’s been exiled to Junkfall after his own daughter turned him in.

And that’s been where it’s all been headed to across the last 12 parts. Veera, dad, the chip. All coming together right at the end of part 12, with dad activating the bomb Veera’s been carrying with her all along.

Cue Part 13. The aftermath. Yes, Veera makes it out alive. Dad not so much. And the chip’s been destroyed. All of which means her mission’s done, and it’s time to head on home. Just let the Trashmaster robots know who she is and then she’s off. Right?

Well, I reckon that’s quite enough to give you an idea of where things end in this final episode.

The good news is that I might well get to see Book 2 of The Discarded after all, and it might well have more of those elements I want to see. Time will tell if that second series actually happens.

But all in all, a pleasant enough thing that just didn’t quite land completely for me. A little too obvious, a little too getting from A to B to C. Oh well, not everything in 2000 AD can be right up there on your best of list. Such is the nature of the Prog. Thing is, and this is something I’ll always say to anyone picking up the Prog afresh, there’s always something else coming along that could be your favourite thing ever. It may well start next week. And that’s the glory of the Prog.