Preview: ‘The Best Of 2000 AD Volume 3’ – A Sci-Fi Mixtape To Bring You Into The House Of The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic

by Richard Bruton

A third massive volume collecting The Best of 2000 AD? And it’s got the complete Leviathan by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli? Oh, yes please…

**(Erica Henderson on cover duties for this third volume)**

Just like the previous two volumes of The Best of 2000 AD, you’ll find a delicious mix of old and new in here, perfect to reel you in and make you a fan.

Now, although the whole point of these Best of 2000 AD volumes is to give readers, especially readers from the good ol’ U. S. of A. a look inside and prove to them that this weird weekly comic is way way more than the rather insipid versions of Judge Dredd they’ve seen over the years from DC Comics and IDW, it’s impossible to avoid Joe Dredd…

**(Judge Dredd: Ghosts – by Mike Carroll and Mark Sexton)**

Each volume begins and ends with a double dose of Dredd. In this volume, it opens with a perfect bit of modern Dredd courtesy of Michael Carroll and Mark Sexton, concerning kidnapped potential cadet Judges and a dark conspiracy. And then, almost right at the end of the volume, you’ll find the absolute classic ‘Graveyard Shift‘ by John Wagner and the legendary Ron Smith.

In between those two Dredds, well here’s where you really do get an idea of the breadth of talent and the variety of series that have graced the pages of both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine for the last four decades plus.

**(Storming Heaven by Gordon Rennie and Frazer Irving)**

First, there’s Gordon Rennie and Frazer Irving going all if Sgt Pepper were superheroes on us, with the psychedelic and trippy Storming Heaven, a real outlier in terms of what you might have expected in these Best of volumes, but a real overlooked gem.

And then there’s the big, complete in one volume, graphic novel-length beauty that is Leviathan by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli. Think of it as Titantic in limbo, with multiple murders and intrigue down below. It’s a stunningly good tale, one that I loved when I first read it back in the first hardcover in 2006.

The Leviathan, a record-breakingly huge ocean liner with 28,000 souls onboard, set off on its maiden voyage to New York in 1928. And then it simply… disappeared. Some 20 years later, with the Leviathan sailing on a seemingly endless mist-laden ocean, Detective Sergeant Lament is called on by those running the ship to investigate a series of murders. In doing so, he’s going to go all the way to the mystery at the heart of Leviathan.

Yes, when you’re looking for the absolute Best of 2000 AD, Leviathan makes it in here so easily, a damn great mystery, incredible art, fabulous story.

And after all of that Zarjz greatness, the whole thing ends with a single page of perfect lightness, as we join alien teen scallywags D.R. and Quinch offering yet more incisive and empathetic words of wisdom in their ‘Agony Page’.

I cannot say it enough, these Best of 2000 AD volumes really are doing everything they need to. According to reports, they’ve been selling out at distributor levels and I really do hope that most of those numbers are heading to the USA and Canada. All credit has to go to those putting the volumes together, particularly Owen Johnson and Gemma Sheldrake, for doing exactly what they set out to do.

Please, do yourself a favour. If you’ve ever wondered about 2000 AD and thought it looks good, yet hesitated because you just don’t know where to start – this is it, this is exactly where to start. Any and all of these Best of 2000 AD volumes should turn you into a lifelong fan.

THE BEST OF 2000 AD VOLUME 3

Published by 2000 AD/Rebellion on 9 May

I really do mean to do a more in-depth review of this one at some point before it gets released on 9th May but for now, here’s our little preview of a great, great collection…

JUDGE DREDD: GHOSTS – by Michael Carroll and Mark Sexton, colours by Len O’Grady, letters by Annie Parkhouse