The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2205: On Candy Stripe Legs The Spiderman Comes
by Richard Bruton
2000 AD: delivering your thrill power week in and week out since 1977. ‘The Weekly 2000 AD’: giving readers of Comicon your preview of the Galaxy’s greatest comic since 2018.
Get ready – it’s time for the Weekly 2000 AD.
Inside, the second and final of the wonderfully titled ‘They Shoot Talking Horses, Don’t They?’ Dredd tale and more in store from Hook Jaw, Skip Tracer, Stickleback, and Fiends of the Eastern Front. They all take a one-week break for Prog 2206 next week when we get the fourth of the 2000 AD Regened Progs for some more all-ages action!
2000 AD Prog 2205 – out in the UK on Wednesday 2th8 October on digital and from newsagents and comic shops.
JUDGE DREDD: THEY SHOOT TALKING HORSES, DON’T THEY? – PART 2 – FINAL PART – Rob Williams, Dan Cornwell, letters by Annie Parkhouse
The Black Death Gang, black death spiders, Dredd and Anderson tied up and in trouble (thankfully, these are the sort of dumb-ass bad guys who don’t believe in just shooting their incapacitated enemies) – all of which means it’s time for the standard and then they were free moment on the turn of a page.
All sorted and done in just 10 pages, with Horse finding a new home along with a couple of Williams’ other refugees from the End of Days storyline. Silly, fun couple of episodes, made so much better by Cornwell’s art, which just gets better and better.
STICKLEBACK – NEW JERUSALEM – PART 6 – Ian Edginton, D’Israeli, letters by Jim Campbell
All the folks Stickleback killed just keep coming back to cause him trouble, don’t they? This time it’s Detective Valentine Bey, asking for answers from our Pope of Crime…
“And the brothers Gog and Magog? The City Fathers! The High Lords of Albion! – You destroyed them as well!”
“It was a busy day.”
Love that line, deadpan comedy moment but also a little insight into Stickleback/Holmes’ thinking over things, the get it done no matter what sort of thing. Next up, Stickleback and Bey get to partake in the seeds from the fruit of the tree of knowledge (yep, that one) in the next step against the Suspira de Profundis – the three Sorrows.
SKIP TRACER – HYPERBALLAD – PART 6 – James Peaty, Paul Marshall, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Simon Bowland
Skip Tracer and his Manga-faced protectee, India Sumner are on the run, first in the toxic Underneath of The Cube, then back through the gateway… only to meet the Splices sent through, presumably by India’s manager (boo! hiss!)
Finally, Nathan Blake has figured out this is no mere babysitting job and gets around to asking India a few questions. Again, it’s another episode of this to this to this in terms of the goings-on, but it’s still a decent enough read, plus there’s plenty to enjoy in Marshall’s art.
FIENDS OF THE EASTERN FRONT – CONSTANTA – PART 5 – Ian Edginton, Tiernen Trevallion, letters by Annie Parkhouse
The history of the Constanta bloodline continues, almost up to date now with a not yet vampy Constanta ravaging the land and anyone standing in his way, whether villager or mercenary…
Loads of folklore coming through here, making it so much more than just the lastest vampires versus something/someone tale I was expecting, all the better. Plus, Trevallion’s artwork is a wonderful thing.
HOOK JAW – PART 6 – Alec Worley, Leigh Gallagher, letters by Simon Bowland
Now that the Hookjaw footage is out, the little Cornish village has turned into a media circus, with every kook and conspiracy theorist with a podcast or a YouTube channel turning up in town.
Meanwhile, the arsehole who seems to have started all this nightmare off catches up with Jack and we finally get to see just what’s been conjured up.
Just as with Constanta, this one’s defied expectations in a very, very good way. It’s honestly, really, absolutely not about a shark.
