2000AD, PROG 2043

Writer: Michael Carroll; Gordon Rennie; Emma Beeby; Pat Mills; Dan Abnett

Artist: Paul Marshall; Eoin Coveney; John Higgins; Mark Harrison, PJ Holden; Jake Lynch

Colourist: Quinton Winter; Sally Hurst; Len O’Grady

Publisher: Rebellion

Judge Dredd does what he does best in the third episode of Ouroboros; he’s the angry but calm heart at the centre of the storm, before exploding in violent action. Super-mutant Paradox Vega plays comic foil to old Stoneyface, before the episode takes off and the shooting starts. The witty dialogue, light hearted art, and Dredd’s quiet fury at being repeatedly outfoxed by Vega keep the story rattling along at quick pace.

Greysuit is either a clumsy anti-establishment satire, or a satire of clumsy anti-establishment satire.  John Blake, super powered British spy, continues his mission to take down his former masters, the bowler hat wearing politicians who secretly rule the world. Perhaps Pat Mills is seeking a return to the fun, silly, days of old-school British boy's comics, where two dimensional heroes could have over the top adventures. This episode suggests otherwise, as the story is sidelined to instead squeeze in an unpleasant and unnecessary reference to a notorious real world child abuser, and some brutal violence against an unnamed woman.

The Alienist only started last prog, but has already skipped aside any need for exposition, landing us in the middle of a supernatural mystery. Paranormal investigator Madelyn Vespertine must play the companion to drunkard “Professor” Wetherall, since a powerful women could never be taken seriously in this Edwardian era sci-fi.  How times have changed.  The mysterious death is “solved”, but there are greater forces at work behind the scenes and we are drawn in to this twisted world by what we know we are not being told. The expressive, black and white art by Eoin Covoney really does bring to mind the sort of fun stories that 2000AD was famous for in the 1980’s.

Grey Area begins the latest in a series of short tales as the officers of Exo Tranfer Control are faced with a familiar moral dilemma of how to deal with mass immigration. It's a sudden change in tone from last week's comedy short. The frenetic style can be difficult to follow, particularly with the ensemble cast, but it suits this chaotic world where alien encounters meet bureaucracy.

The Hunted comes to an end, just as it felt it was started to heat up. The villainous Traitor General shows just how much he is willing to sacrifice to achieve his goal of ending the war on Nu Earth, but the many threads which lead us here seem to be cut quite suddenly and we are left hanging until the next arc begins.