The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2256: ‘Regened’ Brings You Bike Chases, Space Capers, Eco-Horrors, Time Twisters And The Return Of Strontium Dug
by Richard Bruton
Four times a year, the pages of the Galaxy’s Greatest get turned over to Tharg’s lil’ nephew, Jojo-Jargo, who fills the pages with five all-ages tales to appeal to the next generation of readers.
2000 AD Prog 2256 hits the shelves and digital on Wednesday 3rd November, bringing you all the Regened action you’ve come to expect – it’s 2000 AD action meets all-ages fun… with more Cadet Dredd, a Time Twisters one-off, plus three new strips… Scooter & Jinx, Enemy Earth, and the superb return of Middenface McNulty’s Granny’s dog in Strontium Dug.
Five strips, all-ages, all great… shall we have a little look inside?
CADET DREDD: FULL THROTTLE – Liam Johnson, Ben Willsher, letters by Annie Parkhouse
Cadets Dredd and Rico get their hands-on Lawmaster training in pursuit of Vinny and Dwayne (absolutely not Messrs Diesel and Johnson, oh no,) who’ve made off with loads of cash and a top of the range Mo-Pad – even including fertiliser recycling system… which is obviously going to come into the plot later.
It’s advanced Lawmaster Handling with Judge Zand… pass and the speed restrictions come off, much to Rico’s excitement.
Anyway, there’s a massive chase after the supervising Judge’s Lawmaster gets totalled – handy that – and it’s all pretty great fun.
Sure, it’s a nothing sort of story, but it’s a fun sort of story, complete with Willsher’s angular, kinetic artwork, perfect for this sort of all-out action sort of tale.
SCOOTER & JINX – James Peaty, Steve Roberts, colours by Jim Boswell, letters by Simon Bowland
Eco-Point space station is a nexus out near the Daedalus Spiral where all manner of species come together. And Mondo’s Mektail Bar is where they all go to eat, drink, and relax.
Waitress Scooter Occultatum is working her standard quiet afternoon shift, but wasn’t counting on loveable rogue Jinx Calhoun walking into Mondo’s.
It’s an alien buddy caper strip, with the bad guys coming into Mondo’s looking for Jinx… he might just have nicked the Eye of Haldean from their boss’ private collection. Luckily, Scooter has a few secrets of her own…
Fast, furious, lots of fun again, and so nice to see Steve Roberts back in the Prog again after having him in for the cover and a Future Shock in Prog 2246 a while back.
Now, all we got to see now is more Scooter & Jinx – because this is really a great little setup for further adventures.
ENEMY EARTH: THE BUNKER – Cavan Scott, Luke Horsman, colours by John Charles, letters by Jim Campbell
Mother Nature’s turned against humanity – can you blame her? – and the Earth’s flora and fauna has mutated and turned on humankind. All civilisation has crumbled and there are just small pockets of survivors left.
It’s a familiar sort of tale, of course, but this is a thrilling bit of eco-horror from Cavan Scott. And it’s full of some really great-looking artwork from Luke Horsman – big and bold stuff all the way through, and John Charles working overtime on the colours to make the strip pop – all bright green and floral delights – well, floral delights that are trying to kill you anyway.
But straight away, Scott and Horsman don’t shy away from the horrors inherent in the story concept – after all, kids comics should definitely be full of peril and scares – they love it!
Just like Scooter & Jinx, this one’s all set-up to give us a series… and again, it’s a series I’d be happy to see.
TIME TWISTERS: TEMPORAL TANTRUM – Colin Harvey, Tom Newell, colours by Gary Caldwell, letters by Annie Parkhouse
Garzan Tarfett, a fame-hungry Internet influencer uses time travel in her search for more followers and more ways to turn those followers into money.
Her poor, put-upon little assistant, Bibi, has been slaving away over a time machine (she’s a genius, okay – hey, just go with it!)
Anyway, a narcissistic, selfish influencer on the loose with a time machine… it’s never going to go well, is it? Poor Bibi knows the trouble… but Garzan’s just after the fame…
And of course, there’s a twist, one you can probably see coming, but it’s still a well laid out one and Tom Newell’s art is a fun, fun thing indeed.
STRONTIUM DUG – David Baillie, Colin MacNeil, colours by Chris Blythe, letters by Simon Bowland
No, you didn’t read it wrong – Strontium DUG… it’s back to the world of the mutant bounty hunters, the Strontium Dogs but it’s also the return (well, sort of) of Middenface’s McNulty’s granny’s doggie, the amazing Dougal IX.
Oh yes, Strontium Dug and the Strontium Dogs are back in action, Regened style. But unlike the Johnny Alpha tales we’ve seen in the past Regened Progs, this one’s got the Strontium Dogs proper – bringing the Dogs into Regened.
And best of all – Colin MacNeil’s here in Regened giving us Granny McNulty’s doggie… Dug!
And Dug is a good boy… a very good boy indeed… although he can get a bit distracted at times…
He’s not the original mind, this is the ninth-generation clone of McNulty’s granny’s Black Boab, but dammit, MacNeil’s done a fabulous job of bringing back a little-known character, beautifully realised, a great looking mutie-mutt.
And Baillie’s done a fab job on the script, especially once Dug gets off on his own, with those captions in Scots, just the way Dug would be thinking.
So much fun here – a pure bit of joy in canine form – gotta love Dug!
