The Weekly 2000 AD Prog #2293: What Does He Think This Is, Cricket?
by Richard Bruton
45 years and better than ever – it’s the UK’s greatest sci-fi weekly comic, 2000 AD and we’re here with The Weekly 2000 AD to give you a preview.
Again, same five strips as last week, but we do have the penultimate episodes of Judge Dredd: Special Relationship and Dexter: Malice in Plunderland to sit alongside the continuing adventures in Brink: Mercury Retrograde, Skip Tracer: Valhalla, and Jaegir: Ferox.
2000 AD Prog 2293 is out on 3 August, which means it’s time to take a little look through for you …
JUDGE DREDD: SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP – PART 5 – Rob Williams, Patrick Goddard, colours by Quinton Winter, letters by Annie Parkhouse
“What does he think this is, cricket?” – that’s a great line right right there on the first page.
Well, the Special Relationship between Brit Cit and Mega-City One does seem to be well and truly shafted by now – at least in Atlantis colony base, where Dredd and his badly injured, down to their last ammo team are facing off with Brit Cit Judge Charles and his bigger team, with easy access to the armoury… it is, as pointed out by one of the non-combatants here…
Yep, it has, to use the Brit-Cit expression, gone completely tits up. For a covert mission, this is a total failure. But then again, this is Dredd. Unflinching, monolithic, never giving up, total bastard. There’s always another way to win.
But, as is the way with this one and its multiple timelines, we’re dropped back a few days and meet up with Bernard and Modric once more. Plus, we get a little bit more of the mysterious Domino, as seen in the final panel of Prog 2292…
Oh yes, it really is all going to and fro is this one, rather masterful plotting from Williams to give us this great spy thriller interlaced with a good old Dredd in trouble action adventure. And Patrick Goddard is doing wonders with it all, beautifully solid figure work, everything so crisp and clean and looking so good.
BRINK: MERCURY RETROGRADE – PART 22 – Dan Abnett, INJ Culbard, letters by Simon Bowland
Remember me saying about “20 episodes in and I just don’t want this one to end – it’s just that outstanding”? Well, same here… this one just keeps going and going and going and it’s doing it so well.
Here, Mas, investigative Journo, has more time with the mysterious Evan Leeden – union plant? Interhab Intelligence agent? We just don’t know, not yet. But you can’t help thinking that nothing too good is going to come from Mas following him down into the heat of the underneath.
It’s just a superb series, with some incredible artwork from Culbard. The way everything just flows, especially when it’s all just conversational storytelling is amazing. Just look at the work that Culbard puts into every single panel, evoking the mood, bringing the tension, all of it just perfection.
SKIP TRACER: VALHALLA – PART 7 – James Peaty, Paul Marshall, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Simon Bowland
Again, it’s Nolan, our ex-Skip Tracer, inside the Cube that’s under the malignant influence of a blackstar, making his way up and up the levels to sort things out. But it’s in no way clear whether he’s going to get out of this one.
Similarly, we’re no closer to the mystery of ‘Valhalla,’ especially not after seeing this on the last page of episode 6 last Prog…
Will he make it out alive?
Well, it is meant to be the final ever Skip Tracer, so we just can’t be sure what the hell might happen. There’s nothing more dangerous than a writer working towards a real ending.
DEXTER: BULLETOPIA CHAPTER 10: MALICE IN PLUNDERLAND – PART 5 – Dan Abnett, Tazio Bettin, colours by Matt Soffe, letters by Annie Parkhouse
The penultimate episode in ‘Malice in Plunderland’ and everything that can go wrong is going wrong for Dexter and Carrie.
After playing the gangs off against each other, trying to stay safe in the middle, trying to get out of it all alive, things have taken a turn with the new gang leaders blindsiding them and coming together.
Oh, and remember that weird thought bubble thing that Dexter had a way back? Yes, it’s back again and we still have no idea why.
One last gasp play by Dexter doesn’t work either, setting up things for a mystery caller next episode and, who knows, maybe we’ll be seeing the boys back together again?
JAEGIR: FEROX – PART 3 – Gordon Rennie, Simon Coleby, colours by Len O’Grady, letters by Jim Campbell
Again, welcome back to the Greater Nordland Republic where the Norts-Souther war rumbles on. Inside of it all, with enemies on both sides, we have Kapiten-Inspector Atalia Jaegir of the Nordland State Security Police, investigating war criminals amongst her own ranks. She’s investigating on Nu-Earth and into the Miasma, the toxic wasteland deadly to both sides and leading her to General Kurga. And all the while, others in her team have been lost and are attempting to make their way back to Jaegir, even if it means using a Souther GI to get them there.
It’s wonderfully dark and Rennie does write Jaegir really well.
But what’s really taking your attention here is the work of Coleby and colourist Len O’Grady. Damn, it just looks so good. Dark, brutal stuff that then opens up into the near psychedelic backgrounds of the Miasma. So good.
