Gavin Johnston Comic Reviews

The heartfelt and tender conversation between Johnny and Wulf provides nostalgic moment in which we can appreciate just how good Strontium Dog used to be, back before Johnny became quite as emotionally damaged as he is now. Does this mark a turning point for the character, and a return to the carefree days of old? Or, is writer John Wagner setting us up for yet anotherdevasting loss?

Kenton Sternhammer is on the hunt for the dangerous Glazers gang, whilst Johnny Alpha follows behind, trying to keep the inexperienced Kenton out of trouble. In terms of plot, this episode of Strontium Dog: The Son more important than thrilling. It’s a necessary stage between action scenes. But writer John Wagner keeps the pace up by throwing in a nicely concise shoot out, and a callback to the good old days by arming Kenton with his late father’s weapon of choice.

Things go badly for Kenton Sternhammer as he confrontsthe Glazers in Strontium Dog: The Son. Whilst the plot hasn’t done anything unsurprising, it’s a nice story which has set Alpha on the possibility of a new path. Ezquerra’s art is a little rough around the edges in some panels, but does have yet another typically icon full page panel, and has an interesting twist in that some of the action takes place in the shadows...and things get much darker towards the end as Alpha's self loathing takes hold.

This revealing episodes builds Alpha and Kenton’s relationship, packing in a huge amount of action and character development. That writer John Wagner does all this so casually is a sight to behold. It looks like Kenton Sternhammer could be here to stay...

After going to some dark places, The Son ends on a high, with a gleeful caper featuring Alpha and Sternhammer Junior. Its a simplistic ending, which swerves the moral questions inherit in their trade by introducing a comedy robot villain, but it captures all the fun of the Strontium Dog golden era. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Grey Area: KIA kicks of with some familiar nationalistic fear mongering. The Earth’s border control agency are back on duty, protecting the planet from immigrants and immigarnts from the planet. After a very slim-line introduction we are thrown into action, with the agency battling against an oversized foe. Mark Harrison’s art is full of detail, colour and craziness, often difficult to follow but perfectly capturing the madness of warfare.

Death and politics continue in Damned: Fall of Deadworld. Chief Judge Death has remained in the shadows so far, shifting the pieces on his chessboard as madness spread around him. Until now Death has been portrayed as sadistic and coldly efficient, but in his first real appearance he’s shown to have reached Norman Bates level of comedic insanity. It’s a fine line for writer Kek-W to walk, given how quickly the character has fallen into cackling, Joker-style madness in the past. Regardless, it’s an episode full of twists we know will be inconsequential, and we can but hope that this version of Death veers away from the more comedic elements.

This week's jaw-dropping finale has at least three shocking moments...but don't expect any answers until at least the Christmas special in five month's time.

Unit 86 is back in Grey Area: 86...or at least some of them are. After the shocking death of some of the gang, this episode introduces new members, and the awkward interactions that take place as different ways of working are thrown together. Mark Harrison's art is as action-packed as ever, with alien crowd scenes as the border control agents have conflicting ideas about dealing with a peaceful protect. This episode is mostly set up for the conflict to come, but its a nice reintroduction to the characters and the conflict to come.

Another big fight in this week’s Grey Area: The Laundry Room. It’s an all action five pages with a twist you were probably expecting, as the conspiracy at the heart of the Grey Area get darker. The neon art from Mark Harrison is packed with action and disjointed panels, and letterer Elle De Vile does well to guide us through this strange adventure.

Grey Area’s big reveal last prog is examined further, as a conspiracy is slowly revealed in Objectives. Having faked the death of two characters in order to recruit them to a black-ops squad, its hinted at how this new force will be used. Mark Harrison’s busy, crowded art, really captures the chaos of the Exo Zone. The decision to fake a couple of characters deaths, though, needs a big payoff. We'll have to wait and see if that happens.

The calm, rational art of Karl Richardson is entirely countered by the deliberate disorder of Mark Harrison. Grey Area: Objectives looks like it was painted using raw neon. Its panels overlap and in places seem to be out of order. It’s the perfect style for the map cap action taking place within the cramped and diverse Exo Zone. In this episode, Grell’s black-ops squad are put to work, and their true purpose of revealed – as is the fallout of their actions. Credit is also due to Ellie De Ville, who managed to squeeze a huge amount of dialogue into the panels, an orderly path guiding us through the madness.

The darkest plot of all can be found in Grey Area: Evidence. The deaths of Kym and Bitch have been faked, with the pair press-ganged into joining a black ops death squad. As their colleagues struggle with grieving their loss, former boss Bulliet searches for answers. And begin to unlock a vast conspiracy. Grey Area is a visual explosion, with varied alien characters, packed crowds, and randomly placed sound-effects creating a real sense of the crowded and chaotic environment.

It looks like Grey Area wont return until next year, but it's going to be worth waiting for.

This Prog is rounded of with the Future Shock: Talk’s Cheap, in which an eco-terrorist is interrogated using some controversial new methods. This marks the first appearance in the Prog of writer Mark McCann and artist Adam Brown. Its an interesting idea, and delves quickly into thoroughly brutal and nasty waters. However, it might spend too long on set up, giving the details of the terrorist’s crimes before splurging a dialogue heavy explanation.

Artist Dave Taylor is best known round these parts for his busy skylines and strangely organic machinery. In 1812, his art is stripped back, with wide and beautifully bleak landscapes that radiate cold. Credit is also due to letterer Annie Parkhouse, for producing something a little bit special.It's not always like this. Sometimes, 2000AD will have a couple of stories that don'thit themark. But when it' s good, it's very good. A mix of genres, from a whole bunch of creators who are willing to take risks. Prog 2100 is 2000AD doing what it does best.

Exciting cups of tea, Victoriana and the Napoleonic wars not exciting enough for you? Luckily, there’s a nice helping of Kingdom: Alpha And Omega to rounds things off. The pack's return to Earth is rudely interrupted and we’re straight into action, as a pack of wild Aux hunt down Gene, Pause and Leezee. Kingdom is clever, with interesting characters...but more often than not it’s just a big, glorious fight. Five pages of colourful action, as Gene finds himself outmatched

More conversations and catch-up in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega. Gene has been captured by the Riders, who are kind enough to provide a brief monologue on their relationship with the Tick, the Masters, and Them. Whilst the Riders might have immediately appeared as bad guys, they're given a decent reason for their actions...could Gene find a new place in this pack? Another faction is added to the increasingly complex and smart world of the Kingdom.

Over in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega, the wild riders take on the newly arrived purebreds, whilst Gene spends the episode tied to a tree. One of the nice things about Kingdom is its dialgue, which bounces between science-babble and the broken future-English spoken by dog-soldiers. Major Canis, leader of a squad of super-dogs conveysboth his powerful position over the humans and his duty to them with a simple line: “Stay, Master. We’ll fetch”. It’s simple, but like so much in these pages, it says much more than is immediately obvious

No such stillness in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega. The military assault on the wild-Aux didn’t go well, and the human Numan finds himself alongside Gene, captured by the tribe. There are more helpful monologues, catching us up with how the world changedwhilst Gene was away. The explaination has been going on for a while now, but the frequent action means the pace of the story never slows. Gene is faced with a terrible choice - is it worth giving up a part of yourself, just to survive? Big, brawling dog soldiers and philosophy! Nuance!

Finally, Gene considers his future in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega. There’s been a lot of time spent on debating whether or not Gene should accept the inevitable, and join the partial hive-mind of the wild-Aux. Happily, the philosophical pondering has been interspersed with violence and bloodshed. That continues this Prog, as Gene reveals that he holds a secret that could end the war.

Gene has been presented with a simple dilemma that we’ve all faced at some point in our lives: Either you battle the humans who created you and the giant bugs who conquered the Earth...or you learn to live in peace and harmony witha mind-controlling tick affixed to your body, regulating your every thought. That sounds nice. Gene, however, has never witnessed the trash-fire of Twitterand so continues to struggle with the choice.Deadlines have been set, with the humans ready to nuke the entire gang if they don’t get what they want. Here, the immediate danger is dispensed with, an odd choice storytelling wise. But more drama is added as Gene reveals a secret, and the Riders decide to force the situation. Just as things were getting a little too philosophical, a dog soldier comes through the door with a metaphorical gun

Action suddenly takes hold in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega. After discussing the future of the planet for quite a while, it’s a relief to have characters shooting at each other. It’s all expertly done and well paced, with a sudden surprise ending...

The humans do what they do to retain control in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega. A nuclear bomb, off target and early thanks to the work of Pause, pushes Gene back into what he does best: shouting and killing things with a big knife. All this philosophising has gone on for a bit long, so it’s a relief to see Kingdom get back to havingbig, chunky characters beat each other up. Long may it continue.

There’s a bit of a catch up in Kingdom: Alpha And Omega, as Gene finally escapes the Riders, and joins up with Lezee and Pause. The art is becoming increasingly dark and gritty art asthe tension mounts. The Ticks start to show their true colours, as the riders get themselves a new leader. Kingdom has survived it’s shift in time and groups, and is set up for future adventures.

The Sea Beneath The City could have just been Finnigan and Ramone delighting in the bizarre Bond antics of bad guys with secret underground lairs, over the top plots to conquerthe world, and women with suggestive names. Instead, it piles on layers of jokes. Ramone still has an unfortunate case of the thought balloons, there are workplace conversations about the inequality inherit in the capitalist system, the problems of a mechanised workforce, and jokes about eels. If 2000AD teaches us anything, it's that even nonsensical stories can have a message.

The vampire Constanta has made it to the Great War in Fiends of the Western Front, the latest instalment in the Fiends of The Eastern Front mythos. It follows the expected pattern of an old soldier remembering when he was a young and naive, falling under the sway of Constanta’s vampire squadron. This time the soldier in question is Wilson, an officer in the British Royal Flying Corps. Cue some biting dialogue from the aristocratic officers as they battle the Bosch, and bi-planes in action against giant bats. Fiends manages to neatly tie-in an entirely separate property recently acquired by Rebellion to create an original whole in a quadruple-length episode.

Some people who have never encountered zombies before come face to face with zombies in...well in almost every piece of fiction involving zombies, but also in Tharg’s 3-riller: The Scorched Zone. This might be a victim of the threeriller format, with an overlong explanation of backstory, but still without any differentiation between characters.In all, a disappointing Prog which is hopefully a blip in this long period of quality Thrills.

Will a mass sacrifice call forward their strange Gods and bring forth a glorious new era for the dying human race? Or are they just a bunch of crazies? The wonderful strength of Brink is that for three books is has skirted around the idea that maybe the whole thing is just a nonsense, and that people do strange things when frightened and alone.

Skip Tracer: Louder Than Bombs feels like storytelling from a previous era. Whilst it’s a decent story with some nice art, it also feels a collection of ideas that you’ve probably seen in other comics or movies. This Prog, Nolan has a conversation with an angry mechanic who somehow knows what happened in a top-secret military base in the last story...but the whole thing just seems to be an opportunity for something predictable to take place elsewhere.

That INJ Culbard’s art has been so reserved and structured until now just adds to the impact, as the order fades away in a shocking few pages. Brink has been a masterpiece of storytelling and design, and even as we rush to the end it continues to surprise.

Finally, Jaegir returns with Bonegrinder, where Kapiten-Inspecter Atalia Jaegir does the good work of the Office of Public Truth - a sort of Internal Affairs Division of the brutal Nort military. Opening with a memorable set-piece that highlights the pointless slaughter of the Nu-Earth War, this is a gritty and grimy introduction to the most interesting expansion of the Rogue Trooper universe. Previous Jaegir stories have taken their time weaving tales of hidden secrets and betrayal. Here, though, we’re right into the action with a straight forward story and clear moral purpose. It's a strong start.

Why does a powerful psychic so frequently stumble into traps? Does Nolan have any reason for doing the things he does? All these questions and more may be answered, next Prog...

So here goes… Skip Tracer: Louder than Bombs is like cheesy 80’s Sci-fi. This week, Nolan meets some freedom fighters and falls into another trap. If you like that sort of thing, and want something untaxing, then maybe Skip Tracer is for you.

Having taken command of a squadron of Nord forces on the verge of defeat, Kapiten Jaegir negotiates surrender in Jaegir: Bonegrinder. Despite the politcking, Jaegir never slows down, and the whole thing is non-stop battlefield action.

And on the theme of strong female characters, Jaegir: Bonegrinder sees Kapitan Jaegir make a heroic sacrifice in defence of her troops. Jaegir is a heady mix of politics and war, with a beautifully swirling, toxic palette. Writer Gordon Rennie expertly delivers some fairly wordy exposition, whilst never letting up on the action.

The action leaves the frontline in Jaegir: Bonegrinder. Jaegir’s support characters move to the forefront, as they put together a plan to save their Kapiten from Souther forces. After all the gunfire, it’s a nice change of pace, building their universe even further. Suitably dark, with a decent mix of intrigue and action, Jaegir introduces a new villain and heads off in an unexpected direction...

The alien race known as the Congruence are invited to Earth for a political summit in Grey Area: Making History. Last week came with a warning that Grey Area’s Black Ops team are planning something bad for the summit, and Bulliet and his team plan to stop them. Grey Area is usually packed with action and detail, and this episode is especially word-heavy. Action shifts from different points of view as the historic events unfold, and there’s a huge amount to take in. Despite this, creators Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison manage to cram in humorous details, such as familiar aliens packed-in behind a fence. Again, it might not be the most inviting introduction to the Grey Area, but it’s fun and fast moving, and opens a new era in the long running story.

The Black-Ops squad launch an attack during an intergalactic peace conference. Grey Area: Making History is a flurry of chaotic action and technical jargon as the Grey Area authorities try to grasp control of the situation, and Bulliett and his teammates try to take revenge. Mark Harrison’s electric art jumps between scenes, capturing the madness of a surprise attack. Grey Area has taken some risks in the past, and Making History ends with a final twist that changes the game all over again.

Yet another excellent Prog from 2000AD, with a generous mix of different types of story, each with something original to say.

Okay, not quite. But mostly. Kingmaker continues to riff on Tolkien’s classic, with it’s characters undertaking a similar, interminably long journey, under the watchful eye of an unknowable, immense intelligence. But this time it’s a bunch of aliens rather than what ever Sauron was. Kingmaker is visually beautiful, blending fantasy and science fiction, but if the population can be divided into those who have read Tolkien’s classics, those who have not, and those who pretend, then there’s a whole bunch of people who aren’t going to get joke.

An army of space-elves do battle with some honourable Orcs in Kingmaker: Ouroboros, just as everyone's dad shows up. After riffing on Tolkien for a few weeks, Kingmaker pulls an unforeseeable twists from it's pointy wizard hat. A sudden act of violence turns the story on it's head, and things get super strange. So much so, the last panel might completely lose readers who have only been paying a normal and healthy amount of attention. So it goes...

No doubt it will be dismissed as a marketing ploy by the usual internet suspects, unhappy that something isn't being marketed directly to them for once...but it's great to see Rebellion do something new in targeting younger readers with such an uncynical and upbeat issue...especially with young women and people of colour front and centre in their character line-up. There's so much here that Prog 2130 feels like more than just another issue of 2000AD " this feels like a pitch for an entirely new comic, packed with talented creators and original stories.

In all, a decent if confusing Prog, aimed at readers with long memories and a lot of patience. If you're one of the newer readers who started picking up 2000AD after last week's special, prepare to get very lost.

After the weird tangent last week, Kingmaker: Ouroboros gets back to having a big fight. Cirux returns from the dead with superpowers, having met God/Vonnegut. A big, glorious fight, dazzling art, is intersperses with just enough humour to stop the whole thing descending into fantasy silliness. Visually beatifull even through nothing much happens.

Scarlet Traces: Home Front reintroduces characters from earlier books, as a gang of rebels fight against the Martian tripods who have returned to Earth. Friendly banter makes the return much easier, and even if it’s too much to follow, there’s great beauty in artist D’Israeli’s ruined London. As the sun rises, deep shadows and the glow of distant fire makes even the piles of corpses gorgeous, and the tension of an empty blue sky is chilling.

The Diaboliks also returns with A Crooked Beat and an introduction to a new character and a whistle-stop tour of the scrapes he gets himself into. It’s just a handful of scenes with the climaxes cut out, but this is a nice introduction, and Dom Reardon’s art is charmingly rough and ready, and full of character.

In all, a decent Prog that does what it should...but even the shocking events of End of Days can't lift it beyond functional.

It’s all a bit slow...until writer Dan Abnett turns around and smacks us in the face with a final page twists that blows everything up. In a slow Prog, it’s sadly one of the few highpoints.

Also Jim Campbell does some great work, building on the style used by dearly missed letterer Ellie De Ville, who passed away last year.

Altogether a quieter prog than last week, as stories reel back the action to add a bit more character.

Another great prog, with just the one mis-step.

In Hookjaw, a video clip of the shark-thing goes viral, whilst Jack once again recovers from what he has witnessed, before the final twist delves again into magical realism.

Hookjaw also continues in its weirdness, with Jack turning to a local witch to seek help against the magic shark. There’s more magic, explosions of gory violence, and hints conspiracy, but Hookjaw keeps pulling back from full-on demonic shark-fest it must surely become. Placing ancient magical mysteries solidly in the real world, there’s plenty of humour as a small Cornish town uses brutal slaughter as a tourist attraction.

Next week, 2000AD will transform into one of its regular ”re-gened” issues, with stories aimed at younger readers. It’s a wonderful idea, but Rebellion find themselves in the weird position of showing a man’s head exploding as its crushed in the jaws of a demonic shark one week, and producing family-friendly stories for younger readers the next. Action comic, where Hookjaw first appeared back in 1976, only lasted a handful of issues; how long can 2000AD keep this up?

In all, a decent prog, if not outstanding.

This different take on Hookjaw was always going to be a risk. It plays with previous Hookjaw stories, interpreting them as modern re-tellings of an ancient story. Hookjaw begins to cleverly pulls together its strands as it approaches what will no doubt be a bloody climax.

Finally, a vampire is born in Fiends of the Eastern Front: Constanta. Things have gone full circle, and the myths of Constanta’s younger years meets up with the court intrigue of the earlier episodes. It all descends into an orgy of violence, with Constanta and his troll buddy punching the heck out of some guards. A wonderful example of storytelling, with gorgeous art from Tiernen Trevallion.

Constanta finally gets his teeth on Fiends of the Eastern Front: Constanta. The recurring villain's backstory is almost told, his decent into vampirism complete. It’s been a bit of a rambling saga at times, but fun throughout as it skirted around history and into mythology. The real highlight, however, has been Teirnen Trevallion’s outstanding artwork.

Finally, Fiends of the Eastern Front: Constanta reaches its bloody conclusion with the framing-device related twist we probably all knew was coming. It's been a fun story well told, with some great fantasy art from Teirnan Trevallion. This final episode completes the backstory for the vampire Constanta, explaining just why the vampire soldier keeps turning up in various wars, whilst hinting that he’s even more awful a person that previously thought. A worthy inclusion in the long running saga.

Regardless, it's well told, with some really vibrant art from Ben Willsher. Traditionally an edgy hero, Durham Red is reimagined as a villain, with the story told from the point of view of a couple of immediately engaging characters. The incredibly polite bounty hunter Rocky Didlittly is a character I already want to see more from

Here, the two discuss dogs, the nature of humour and Frank’s suicide attempt. The Brutal looks lovely, but could be easily a story with new characters about undercover agents working in the shadows.

In all, an action-packed prog with some lovely details, but with some disappointments in key areas.

I’m really enjoying Proteus Vex: The Shadow Chancellor, probably because it’s quite different from anything else. Colourful and strange, with weird, distorted characters, and often quite heavy dialogue. With the bloodshed of The Silent assault over, we’re back to exposition, but there;s still time for new characters and for a hint of Proteus’s backstory.

The whole thing is basically Assault on Precinct 13, the John Carpenter film from the mid 70’s, and this week’s twist does exactly what might be expected. Where it excels, though, is in Ben Willsher’s beautifully clean artwork, and in its character design. The mercenary character of Stillwater is...unlike anything else, and even the cannon fodder are afforded a bit of originality.

Hershey’s plan to use underground boxing matches as a pathway through the criminal underworld progresses incrementally, as Frank remember just how dangerous a former Judge can be. The Brutal gets darker, the mission more important and more desperate, but along the way Frank’s opposition to the whole thing becomes more sympathetic. This week's episode starts especially dark, but it's the small details of Simon Fraser's art in the final panels, as the colour shifts towards shadow, that really tops the whole thing off.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk

Hershey, who despite being a 2000AD institution has always been a bit of a personality vacuum, has been given more depth here than in forty years of stories. Dirty Frank remains tragic, mourning the loss of yet another friend. He may never be funny again, but remains an emotional gut punch. This final episode makes it clear there are more revelations to come.

Maybe not the best Regened prog so far, but a couple of pretty great additions to the line-up.

Durham and the man who wants her dead come head to head in Durham Red: Served Cold. After weeks of cross and double cross, and several episodes of gunfights and explosions, the whole things slows down as we learn about what brought us here. It’s a well written character piece, as hero and villain sit and talk and both get a sympathetic backstory. Durham Red has been reinvented a couple of times in 2000AD history, never with huge success, but this episode gives a whole new edge to the character.

Last week’s Durham Red: Served Cold had two characters sit down and discuss their motivations….which means that this week we’re due a massive fight. The character design here is great, the action incredibly well communicated. It’s mostly gunshots, blood splatter and exclamations of “Urg”, but rockets along nicely and is still full of character. Pause for a moment and appreciate the lettering of Jim Campbell (who now letters approximately 83% of all British comics), and the way a gunshot “Blam” can be reused, but a “Slatccch” and a ”Splatcchh” require slightly different shape and shading. Masterful.

Amid the bullets, Durham has been made more interesting in this strip than she has been in years.

It’s a nice, chunky, gritty fantasy universe, avoiding the cliches of the genre. Most of the story is a quickwitted triple-header between the main characters, sparring and disagreeing as the stumble into their next adventure. It’s a nice set up.

It’s an interesting aspect of Thistlebone that it focusses so much on the detail and individual character’s points of view, all whilst concealing so much of the bigger picture. The spider and fly metaphor than runs through this episode is a bit heavy handed, but in keeping with the overall Thistlebone vibe.

There’s a Freaky Friday set up with two characters swapping bodies and having to cope with the fallout. There’s a zombie in the back of a cart and anachronistic jokes about takeaway food. Feral and foe is just fun.

Feral & Foe is fun, too. If you were to look at these pages without text, you might see a “passing through Moria and it all goes badly” fantasy story. The script, though, is filled with jokes about reanimated corpses that function like voicemail messages, and characters who bicker over the meaning of “bicker”. It’s an absolute joy.

Feral & Foe’s blend of traditional fantasy tropes and anachronisms are really fun. The whole thing feels like players in an MMORPG, occasionally forgetting that they’re supposed to be role-playing. The script is full of jokes, making light fun of video game structure, and the elaborate language of the fantasy genre. This really is a bit charming.

This week, the trio travel through The Forests of Dewclaw, and meet some tree people who invite them to drink their “special milk”. It’s a bunch of innuendo, a bit of backstory, a couple of revelations, and a set up for the next adventure. Very nice.

There are a few jokes around the ongoing body-swap sub-plot, a whole bunch on innuendo, and some lovely colourful action.

Even in these downbeat points, Feral & Foe is huge fun. Three characters chatting, comfortable in each other’s company, feels gently enticing. It looks like high fantasy. The script is self-aware but not gratingly so, gently joshing with fantasy tropes. Just why are there so few roadside inns in Tolkien?

In Terror Tales: Dry Spell, property developers suffer the repercussions of similar actions in the way people only do in fiction. After the initial set up, the story comes with a whole bunch of exposition, as characters explain what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. It’s a nice idea, but doesn’t quite carry the enormous weight of its theme.

I genuinely like Regened progs of 2000AD, even though I’m not the target audience.

A prog with four new stories and each of them a diamond.

The Jeppersons made their fortune in enslaving intelligent apes. For all the knockabout humour and over the top characters, there’s a real darkness to this tale. Chimpsky has been developed as a character who can solve technical issues with ease, so giving him a moral dilemma in his first solo story is a smart move.

It’s maybe a bit of a rushed conclusion, especially given how bad the big bad is supposed to be, but it all works in terms of arcs. This has been nice, chunky fantasy, and never less than highly enjoyable.

Meanwhile Colin McNeill, who has long been my favourite Dredd artist, does a fantastic job, with shadowy figures and a beautiful panel layout as things go over the edge.

We finally catch up with the flash-forward beginning in Chimpsky’s Law: The Talented Mr Chimpsky. Noam is space-running for his life whilst an angry AI destroys a space-station around him. There’s so much character in this story – from Noam’s tiny hat to the jokey text-balloons and some nice flashback humour, it’s a huge amount of very clever fun which doesnlt shy away fro the darkest aspects of the character and world.

There's so many layers to Judge Dredd: Now That's What I Call Justice, in the hands of a lesser writer this would be an overwhelming clash of idea. John Wagner, however, remains an astonishing talent.

Shaping up to be not only a riveting adventure story but also an education on the geography of Hades, Aquila takes us on a tour of icy Cocytus, the realm of traitors. Full of twists and violence, Aquila is rocketing surprisingly fast.

A dangerous virus rampaging across the globe. Empty cities. Workers put in danger by a system that loudly signals the importance of employee well-being whilst systematically removing the very measure that keep people safe. Is it a smart social commentary on the ‘rona? Is the weasel-faced mastermind character pulling the strings and waiting for people to die supposed to be Michael Gove? How many people would actually get a joke about Larry Talbot? Why would air ducts be big enough for people? Have we all been inside too long? Get vaccinated, people!

And they keep bringing him back. Chopper Don’t Surf, at least, delves into the untold backstory of Marlon’s misspent youth. It’s fast moving, wacky, and functions as a decent introduction to the denizens of Mega City One.

We also return to the endless war of Nu-Earth in new story Jaegir: The Path of Kali. It’s another catch up episode, as the battle scarred squad come to terms with their current situation and division. There might be too much here for readers unfamiliar with the bigger story, but if you’ve been following this tale then it’s a decent catch up which builds the Rogue Trooper universe even further than before.

Finally, in Jeagir: The Path of Kali, Atilla takes a break from the frontline of an unending war, with some relaxing nightmares and pillow talk about torture. The slow burn of Jeagir, the political manoeuvring and the glimpses of a culture defined by warfare is what makes this a so compelling. It also means, however that there are lots of threads on the go at one time, which with extended delays between stories might make it more difficult to follow.

There’s not a single bad story here, and a few of them are excellent. So it’s a great prog, but is this the ideal starting point? Almost all of the stories rely on backstory, or are actually part way through a longer arc. If you're a new reader whose willing to spend a bit of time not actually knowing what's really going on, Prog. 2250 is a great example of what 2000AD can do

It’s a bit of a side-adventure, breaking up the usual story whilst reminding us of the sheer alienness of aliens. It also includes what might be the first occasion of someone else speaking to Cyd’s magic talking bag (which destroys my previous theory that the talking bag is a symptom of a psychotic episode), and the second suggestion that Cyd has some bigger relevance to alien races than she thinks.

Brink was a police procedural set in space, which hinted at low level religious extremists who sought to end the world. Book Two takes the story to the next level, with a more awful future imagined for the last surviving humans. It ends with new discoveries and many questions unanswered...

Usually bagged with a “floppy” graphic novel reprint, this month’s Meg breaks with tradition and instead comes with a seventy page booklet on Pat Mills’ Nemesis, examining the origin and impact of the 2000AD classic. A nice collectable for seasoned fans, or a lovely enticement for new readers.

This month’s Megazine is bagged with Block Judge, a Dredd story from Wagner and Ezquerra from only a few years ago, which sees Dredd assigned to Gramercy Heights Block. Block Judge is a great series, which combines the claustrophobia and violence of Dredd with some genuine detective work.

This month’s Megazine also incudes written articles on what makes up a decent Future Shock story, and a short piece on the new Strontium Dog miniatures game.

The Megazine also includes two written articles: one on the upcoming Vigilant comic, which teams up classic characters from British comic’s yesteryear, and the second on a new Dredd tabletop game from designers Game and a Curry. The Megazine is also bagged with a selection of “lost cases” - new Dredd stories, set in the midst of classic epics. These are great stories, and wl worth the cover price alone.

400 issues in, and the Meg continues to meet a high standard. It's not a perfect issue. There are a few bum notes, some stories that might not iediately grab you, but when it's good its extraordinary.

It’s topped of with a touching obituary of spitfire pilot and legendary artist Ron Smith, who passed away last month, aged ninety. Mr Smith’s colleagues heap well deserved praise upon the man whose clean lines, lean Dredd, and wonderfully batty characters like Citizen Snork and Otto Sump helped define the strange world of 2000AD.

Okay, so writing a twenty page comic book which manages to establish character and place, and actually move the universe forward, all whilst the dialogue rhymes, is impressive enough. But, the Abnett family has gone further and actually produced these musical numbers. Go to https://soundcloud.com/2000-ad/sets/lawless-the-musical and listen along to these wonderful earworms, whilst singing along.

On the planet Thanatopia, the Mortarian cult await the return of their messiah in Deliverance. Nick Percival’s weird, otherwordly art is better suited to aliens and broad dreamscapes than the humans and spaceships we’ve seen to far in Deliverance, so it’s quite a relief to see the story move away from a claustrophobic spaceship. Horrible violence is countered with the nice Dark Judges humour, as the alien cultists welcome Judge Death. I’ve always loved the silly ongoing joke of adding a trademark to the miracle plastic “Boing” used to entrap Death, and taking the humour of the character and balancing it against some horrific doings is a rare skill.

A bit of a mixed bag, but when it hits the high notes, it’s great.

If you like that sort of thing, The Megazine comes with with a reprint of more Percival art - Trauma Town, where Dredd suffers from increasingly morbid hallucinations, and in The Gyre deals with some mutant sailors.

Fantasy genre is often weighed down by the tedious info-dump, where the action stops so history and politics can be explained. Mazeworld doesn’t bother with all that nonsense. Like Cadman, the reader is thrown into this world, and just needs to keep up. As the world gets stranger, and more dream-like ideas are added, Mazeworld never makes excuses or apologises for its more absurd elements.

There’s an audience who adore Slaine, and will snap up Book 4 of the latest saga to add to their ever swelling collection. But this is a dozen pages of a storystretched across a hundred pages of art. Republished in this format so soon after it’s initial publication, it feels cynical, topped off with a final, literaldeus ex machina.

Resistance is well executed, with nice clear art and decent dialgoue. It begins to suggest layers to its main character, but at the moment he's little more than a placeholder. It's sound, but doesn’t feel very original.

For readers who are eager for a bit of nostalgia, Vigilant might scratch that itch. As an introduction to these characters, there’s too much here and Vigilant falls flat