2000AD, PROG 2072 REVIEW

Writers Ian Edginton; Peter Milligan; Laura Bailey; Pat Mills
Artists: Dave Taylor; Paul Williams; Rufus Dayglo; INJ Culbard; Clint Langley
Colourists: Dom Regan
Letterers:  Ellie De Ville; Simon Bowland; Annie Parkhouse



With a dark, alien force possessing the body of Judge Lola, Dredd and Lamia must stop her spreading the evil to sleeping judges in Dredd: Live Evil. Its a satisfying ending to a short story, with Dredd punching his way, Oldboy style, through a room full of angry men, whilst the strange Lamia does her thing. Dave Taylor’s art combines the other worldly with a roomful of rigid uniforms and detailed technology, with panels full of movement. The ending paves the way for Lamia’s inevitable return, whilst addingyet another angle to the character.

Twelve weeks ago, the soldiers of Bad Company, most of whom actually died in previous stories, were brought back together to track down Colonel Crawley. The adventure took them through a broken, battleground society, declared terrorists by vicious authorities. Bad Company: Terrorists comes to an end, without really achieving anything. Crawley is found, soldiers and poets are killed. Kano discovers the truth of the Min Massacre, only to decide that it is pretty much irrelevant, and that the only thing that matters is that his men have a mission.  So off they go, leaving a trail of dead behind them, fighting for something they don't understand on the whim of a commanding officer, which is exactly what the story raged against. As an ending, it feels like a complete cop-out. Bad Company: Terrorists hinted at more happening behind the scenes, and that the reality being presented was not entirely real. Instead, these ideas went no-where, and a full cast of characters were barely used.

ABC Warriors is a bit like Brexit. Incredibly popular amongst a portion of the population for visceral, largely nostalgic reasons, but completely inexplicable to the rest of us. It’s an ongoing saga seemingly without end which makes few concessions to logic, but is instead full of slogans and shouting. ABC Warriors: Fallout ends this prog, with the team easily defeating a hastily assemble ensemble of bad guys, who are all being controlled remotely by the treacherous Blackblood – again, just like Brexit. Clint Langley’s flame and chrome art might have kept the Warriors afloat so far, but the plot of Fallout has been minimal. The bad guys engineered some in-fighting, which temporarily inconvenienced the Warriors, only for Howard Quartz to abandon his plan with minimal prompting, allowing the Warriors to team up and fight back.  Some nuclear missles were launched for unclear reasons, but that sideplot was almost immediately swept aside.  The civilian population of Mars started to rebel because of something to do with graffiti, but it was barely mentioned.  ABC Warriors never really ends...it just moves on to the next collection.

Future Shocks are often dark in tone, but Future Shock: Sunday Scientist is downright macabre. When a scientist hits upon the answer to the energy crisis, her employers fire her. Is it just an excuse to save paying for her maternity leave? Are they setting out to steal her ideas? Or, is a plan to use human fat as fuel just a symptom of her instability? A fast moving script from Laura Bailey captures the voices of a handful of characters in only a few lines, with a lead who might just be crazy but still manages to retain some sympathy.  With an ending that might not be entirely unpredictable, it is one of the darkest Future Shock twist you’ll read.

Brass Sun: Engine Summer also comes to an end, as Wren reluctantly returns to the battle against the Prime Numbers. This slow moving epic is full of both quiet, emotive moments and vast landscapes, both of which are beautifully conveyed by artist INJ Culbard. The anthology format requires a cliff hanger or twist every five pages, but the pacing and scale would perhaps be better suited to a longer format. Brass Sun is also no-where near an ending, with more books to come.