Dark Judges set to scare in 2000AD Prog 2015

By Antony Esmond on December 15, 2014 • ( 1 )

You know how at every Christmas we get grotesque body horror, violence and murder? Well forget all about the Eastenders special and get yourselves over to 2000AD, because this year they have pulled out all the stops.

Here is a list of those involved:

Judge Dredd: Dark Justice by John Wagner & Greg Staples
Savage: Grinders by Pat Mills & Patrick Goddard
The Order by Kek-W & John Burns
Ulysses Sweet, Maniac For Hire: Psycho Therapist by Guy Adams & Paul Marshall
Max Normal: No Comics For Old Men by Guy Adams & Ben Willsher
Jaegir: Brothers in Arms by Gordon Rennie & Simon Coleby
The Visible Man: The Screams in the Walls by Pat Mills & David Hitchcock
Low Life: The Really Big Christmas Sleep by Rob Williams & D’Israeli
Judge Dredd: The Ghost of Christmas Presents by Michael Carroll & Karl Richardson

We at downthetubes got to see a preview of the Special, and we’re blown away by the first part of the new ongoing Dredd story “Dark Justice” – it’s a creepy classic.

Here is what the guys at 2000AD have to say about the project.

“It’s been two years in the making and has become one of the most hotly anticipated 2000AD series ever – and now Dark Justice is coming!

Judge Dredd’s greatest foes – The Dark Judges – return in a brand new epic story beginning in the bumper Christmas edition of the legendary British comic book, 2000AD.

2000AD Prog 2015 is available to order worldwide through Diamond (order code OCT141616) and will be on sale from Wednesday 17th December from all good newsagents in the UK, as well as DRM-free digital from the 2000AD webshop and on the 2000AD iPad app.

Written by Dredd’s co-creator John Wagner (A History of Violence) and featuring exquisite fully-painted artwork from Greg Staples, Dark Justice sees Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson again have to face the quartet of undead alien superfiends from a twisted dimension where life itself was declared a crime – Judge Death, Judge Fear, Judge Fire, and Judge Mortis!

While Wagner returns the Dark Judges to their roots in SF horror, Staples has spent two years painstakingly hand-painting this 11-part story and it is, without question, some of the greatest work of his career.

Judge Death has been missing for years and Fear, Fire and Mortis’s brief freedom from confinement during the anarchy of The Day of Chaos was brought to an end by serial killer PJ Maybe, who ignominiously trapped them in three wine bottles. Now, as thousands of rich emigrants board a luxury spaceship to seek a better life elsewhere, they may end up with a deadly cargo none of them anticipated!

The Dark Judges have been Dredd’s most popular nemeses since they were created by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Brian Bolland – terrifying and unkillable mass murderers wearing freakish mockeries of Judge uniforms who have returned again and again to slaughter their way through Mega-City One, but always finding themselves vanquished by Dredd and Anderson.”

A scene from the new “Judge Dredd” story “”Dark Justice”.

This story is clearly a change in pace from the Block Judge story that’s just finished in the weekly. This seems more epic, and I would guess, much longer. An event made of the return of the four Dark Judges is a great hook for lapsed readers to jump back on the title. The art by Greg Staples is more painterly than the recent Ezquerra run and has a more creepy than action approach. Dredd is hardly in Part One and is only seen briefly trying out the new Mark III Lawgiver prototype (hmmm – I wonder if that might foreshadow something?). It successfully builds the tension and story to what should be a cracking Dredd run.

2000AD really is at the top of it’s game recently. Some incredible Dredd, Slaine and Greysuit stories have really pushed it back to the top of my weekly reading pile.

Of course Dredd is not the only big news in the Xmas Special. The return of The Visible Man in “The Screams in the Walls” by Pat Mills and David Hitchcock is bound to be one of it’s highlights. I chatted to Pat Mills at a recent comics event and this one will, without a doubt, twist your melons in the grand 2000AD tradition.

Pop over to www.2000ADonline.com for some more goodness from the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic.

This special is 100 pages long with nine new stories. It’s a must buy for 2000AD readers and everyone else out there who either loves comics or hates Eastenders.

Thanks for reading.