The Weekly 2000 AD Prog 2186: Time For A Quick Bite?
by Richard Bruton
The Weekly 2000 AD… Week in and week out, giving you the preview of the new 2000 AD Prog. The UK’s best sci-fi weekly since 1977. four decades and still going strong.
Prog 2186 is out in the UK on 17 June on digital and from newsagents and comic shops. Hopefully, your local comic shop is getting to the stage where they can open. Please, please, get in touch with them, use their standing order service, and support the hell out of them. They need all the help they can get right now.
Okay, back to 2000 AD. More of everything that’s already started… so that’s more Dredd epic in End Of Days, more of the adventures of the Full Tilt Boogie, more gunsharking in Sinister Dexter, more time-travelling madness in The Order, and more diabolical delights in The Diaboliks.
JUDGE DREDD: END OF DAYS – PART 3 – Rob Williams, Colin MacNeil, colours by Chris Blythe, letters by Simon Bowland
First of all, how damn good is Colin MacNeil? Seriously great moody Dredd and a perfect Dredd chin all the way through this one.
As for the events, well we’re off and running now on what Williams has described as one of those old school Dredd adventures. Give him a mission and send him and a small team out. So it’s Dredd, Anderson, a handful of the best Judges, a Mechanismo robot for muscle, and that mystery cowboy (you probably know who it is now, but just in case you haven’t caught up there’s no need for me to name him here) off to track down the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And no, it’s not the Dark Judges again…
Off they go, Anderson’s got the location of the first Horseman, and we’re off on a good old fashioned Dredd romp.
Oh, and then there’s this…
That had me guffawing.
No room for a horse on board Justice 2 – oh Joe, you spoilsport. What’s a cowboy without his (talking) horse?
SINISTER DEXTER – BULLETOPIA – BOYS IN THE HUD PART 3 – Dan Abnett and Steve Yeowell, colours by John Charles, letters by Annie Parkhouse
The boys are in the middle of some serious AI trouble right now, with armed ‘Flesh Drones’ coming at them and Finn’s ex-wife, Carrie Hosana, who’s got no idea who Finn or Raymonde are anymore.
What we get this episode is five pages of gloriously choreographed shootout from Abnett and Yeowell, doing wonderful things all the way through. Beautiful clean and clear artwork as you’d expect from Yeowell, panning round a room as the bullets fly.
FULL TILT BOOGIE – PART 2 – Alex De Campi, Eduardo Ocana, letters by Simon Bowland
Tee, Grandma, the cat, and Luxine Prince Ifan, along with Horus the AI and the warrior known as the Black Dog are all onboard the Full Tilt Boogie with Tee trying to figure out how to get Ifan’s ma to pay the bounty. Grandma, meanwhile, is more concerned with feeding up the Black Dog and whether she’s comfortable in her outfit. You’ve got to love Grandma…
But first, there’s the selection of the five knights to defend the Luxine Empire, needed ever since they realised the Black Dog was activated once more. We check in with Prine Ifan’s regal sister – who’s about to get a very unpleasant surprise.
This really is a great strip. De Campi writes it with a lightness and spirit that’s just perfect and a nice contrast to the rest of the Prog. And Ocana’s artwork is just a delight to see, such lovely linework, great characterisation, all-round gorgeous.
THE ORDER – LAND OF THE FREE – PART 3 – Kek-W, John Burns, letters by Simon Bowland.
Okay, you know by now that I really don’t get along with The Order, aside from really enjoying seeing Burns’ lush artwork. But there is a great moment in the first couple of pages where Ben Franklin gets called out by Captain Belair.
Aside from that though, it’s more time wonky stuff going on, time getting pliable, unreal cities, that sort of thing. Still no real interest what’s going on though. Sorry.
THE DIABOLIKS – LA VITA MALVAGIA – PART 3 – Gordon Rennie and Dom Reardon, letters by Simon Bowland.
To keep the Church from constantly hunting them and their child down, ex-Caballistics, Inc. operatives Jenny and Solomon have decided to make a deal. Which is why they’re headed out with a church envoy, Brother Liam, to hunt down something big, nasty, and bone-eating…
All going well with this one thus far. Star of the show has to be Dom Reardon’s artwork though. I’ve already seen people online bitching about the roughness, but that’s the whole point… it’s gloriously, magnificently raw and scratchy and every page looks superb.
