The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2239: Crushed By The Wheels Of Justice

by Richard Bruton

It’s the Weekly 2000 AD, Comicon’s weekly preview of all the thrill-power the UK’s finest sci-fi comic has to offer…

Well, you should be expecting brilliance by now from Stewart Moore, but bloody hell, that’s a cracker of a wraparound cover there… packed full of those beautiful details!

Now, onto the inside, where we get the fourth and final episode of Wagner and MacNeil’s ‘Judge Dredd Removal Man‘ – although fear not, there’s more John Wagner written Dredd next week, as John Higgins joins him for a new series, ‘Now That’s What I Call Justice’.

After the perfect climax to the latest Dredd, we get more of the latest hellish adventures of Aquila, more primates in space in The Talented Mr Chimpsky, big, big problems happening in Department K, and a surprise reveal for Skip Tracer.

2000 AD Prog 2239 is out on 7th July. DO the comics world a real favour now and head to your local comic shop to pick it up. They desperately need all your custom right now. And if you can’t get in, give them a bell and grab your comics through mail order.

All right then… Prog 2239 awaits…

JUDGE DREDD: REMOVAL MAN – PART 4 – FINAL PART – John Wagner, Colin MacNeil, colours by Chris Blythe, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Well, it’s four episodes and done for this latest bit of Wagner & MacNeil Dredd. And it’s been an absolute joy of a read.

The slow procedural, Dredd slowly pulling everything together, the nagging doubts in the investigation, his doggedness, it all leads here, with a hitman’s day getting worse and worse. First the kid, the the hover bus of oldies, now an explosion going wrong – not a good day at the office for this particular perp.

It’s a classic bit of Wagner Dredd, rarer and rarer these days, but always welcome. And accompanied by McNeil… well, that is just a real treat for us all.

AQUILA: THE RIVER OF HADES – BOOK 1 – PART 2 – Gordon Rennie, Patrick Goddard, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Annie Parkhouse

Slave-turned-Gladiator-turned-Immortal hitman for Ammit the Devourer continues his journey into Hades with a little river boat cruise. Although, seeing as it’s the river going into Hades, not the relaxing time a cruise normally entails.

He’s sailing into the realm of Hypnos, God of sleep, with a close encounter with the dread ship of Thanatos, God of Death. And then there’s his strange companion, Ephialtes and an appearance from the Lady Cruciata… time for us all to brush up on our Greek/Roman mythology.

But not before the timetabled bit of hack and slash for Aquila. Of course.

DEPARTMENT K: COSMIC CHAOS – PART 6 – Rory McConville, Dan Cornwell, Colours by Len O’Grady, letters by Simon Bowland

So, how do you kill one of the Locusts, the huge dimensional gatekeepers that Department K keep coming across on their interdimensional travels? You get to find out in suitably cosmic fashion right here, with Dan Cornwell really going to town on the alien designs as we take a little interlude from dealing direct with Dept K and follow the Locust killers as they try to find their prize after it ripped a hole through the Multiverse.

Quick thought – when it comes to beings who can kill a God-like being, you probably don’t want to get in their way, no matter how inept they seem.

Although I reckon no-one’s told Dept K of that – I sense a showdown coming up in the next instalment.

Department K – it’s lightweight, it’s suitably cosmic, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, and it’s really living up to the promise of those earliest episodes.

SKIP TRACER – EDEN – PART 3 – James Peaty, Paul Marshall, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Jim Campbell

We’re nipping back in time a little here… ‘Way back when,’ as Nolan Blake and Hastings spend time getting acquainted before she ships out for parts unknown after High Command issues their orders.

And then we’re jolted back to the here and now, as Blake wakes up in bed, this time with Hastings watching over him. And she’s not alone this time.

Well, there’s a turn up for the books, one that puts a very different spin onto Blake’s adventures as a Skip Tracer. Where is this one going? As yet, it’s all uncertain, but it’s fun enough getting there.

CHIMPSKY’S LAW: THE TALENTED MR CHIMPSKY – PART 6 – Ken Niemand, PJ Holden, colours by Chris Blythe, letters by Simon Bowland

And finally, the highlight of recent times, with more fun with Noam Chimpsky, coming face to face with his creator… not that he’s at all happy with that, as the last panel of last episode showed us…

Yes, he’s got every reason to hate and distrust her, even though she has just, as she puts it, just made Noam ‘a very rich little monkey.‘

She’s also dropped a little bit of a bombshell when it comes to just who put him on this particular case in the first place…

But that will really have to wait… poor Noam has more pressing problems to deal with, namely the failing space station and trying to rescue all on board.

What started out as a fun bit of Dreddworld guest star storylines really has moved out and become a strip that justifies it’s own starring role with Niemand and especially Holden really cooking with gas this time round.