2000 A.D. Prog 1972
Released by: 2000 A.D./Rebellion
Released on: March 16th, 2016.
Written by: Various
Illustrated by: Various
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Check it out - a new week, a new issue. 2000 A.D. Prog 1972, here it is hiding under a bad ass ABC Warriors cover art from Clint Langley.
Judge Dredd - Undercover Klegg by Rob Williams and D'Israeli: Outside the embassy there are protests, while inside the Klegg negotiate with the Judges - the lizard beings are suspicious about all of this, it's not going as they were told it would. When Dredd and his substitute ambassador crash through the wall riding on a dragon, things get even weirder and Dredd winds up instigating a hand to hand combat challenge that ends up as… a musical?
This is one of the goofiest Dredd stories to appear in 2000 A.D. in some time. If you dig the humor that's always been important to the character doled out in exceedingly silly doses than you'll probably enjoy this but really, it was all a bit much and it's for the best that this storyline has ended with this issue. It was amusing enough to read once, but let's get back to business.
The Order - In The Court Of The Wyrmqueen by Kek-W and John Burns: Izta, Rory and the rest continue their assault on the wyrms who are now purposeless since the queen's chemical/musk control has dissipated. The queen has struck back against Raleigh's ship and things quickly get very much out of hand in this final chapter.
This one wraps things up nicely, a very satisfying finale to a story that took a bit of time to get going but which ultimately paid off in big ways. Kek-W's story is creative, humorous, exciting and chock full of grand adventure complemented perfectly by Burns' beautiful, lush, color artwork. 2000 A.D. should collect this run, it would probably read better as one giant story than in the shorter chapters it was serialized in. Either way, well done. This was a kick.
ABC Warriors - Return To Ro-Busters by Pat Mills and Clint Langley: Ro-Jaws is considered to be malfunctioning when the assault is launched against him by the robot G-Men. Hammerstein shows up in time to help out, after which the two pals discuss the possibility of his new name and who really leads the ABC Warriors… which, without spoiling things, brings the story to a pretty great conclusion.
Of course, doors are left open for future stories, it would be silly not to do that, but Mills' tale of robots raging against the machine is as entertaining as it is smart and thought provoking. It hits the right balance of humor, action and intrigue while Langley's art, in full color for this final chapter, really just deserves all of the accolades and praise that have been heaped upon it since this serial began. Top notch stuff, well worth reading and then re-reading.
Future Shocks - Lifeosuction by Rory McConville and Joe Palmer: The story begins in a court room where Doctor Bofferding shares his recollections of a former patient, Herman Snork. From here we learn how Snork walked into his practice inquiring about Lifeosuction in hopes of cleansing himself of some nasty childhood trauma. Bofferding takes the job and goes about his business, travelling back to 2016 to take care of the problem only to run into his competition, Carbuncle!
There's some good humor in this bizarre black and white tale of temporal mechanics, nicely illustrated by Palmer. It's well paced, quirky and creative and it scratches the sort of itch that you get when you're hankering for a weird time travel story. This was fun, more from this team would be appreciated.
Kingdom - Beast Of Eden by Dan Abnett and Richard Elson: Gene dog is slashing his way through the bugs trying to kill the king while the other members of his team are trying not to get killed themselves. This leads to conflict with Canis and the end of this particular chapter which we're not going to spoil here.
Abnett's storytelling has taken some solid and welcome twists in the last couple of chapters of Beast Of Eden and that trend continues right up to this last entry. It's good stuff, a nice mix of action and science fiction and horror with some bizarre but interesting characters and a good bit of depth as to the ramifications of those characters' actions. Richard Elson's artwork has been tops since the first chapter and it stays strong right through to the end.