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Journey’s End – 2000AD’s occult horror series Caballistics Inc. draws to a close

By John Freeman on November 14, 2018

More than a decade after it last appeared, one of 2000AD’s most popular modern series – Caballistics Inc. is to conclude this Christmas in a special final episode.

Long hoped for by fans, occult horror action series Caballistics Inc. will wrap up with a special one-off story by co-creators Gordon Rennie and Dom Reardon in 2000AD’s traditional bumper end-of-year issue.

2000AD Prog 2111 will be available in print and digital from 12 December 2018.

The entire series, with its new final episode, will then be collected in The Complete Caballistics Inc. trade paperback, due for release on 21st February 2019 (19th February in North America).

Writer Gordon Rennie said: “Caballistics Inc. – the beast that was never quite fully put to rest. It’s been fun to go back to it, draw a line under things and scratch that final itch that’s gone unscratched for too long, which was all my own fault. And also fun to work with Dom Reardon again. I can’t promise we’ll never see any of these characters again. But, if we do, it would be in some very different form.”

“Fans were left hanging back in 2007,” adds 2000AD editor Matt Smith, “when the last episode ended with the undead Lieutenant Francis X. Littlejohn emerging from his grave with a mission of murder. Just who his target is, readers will at last be able to find out in the unmissable Prog 2111!”

Art by Dom Reardon from the final Caballistics Inc. story “Visiting Hour” destined for 2000AD Prog 2111

First published in December 2002, Caballistics Inc. mixes Hammer Horror, John Wyndham, HP Lovecraft and Quatermass in a contemporary setting where the last remaining members of Department Q, a Ministry of Defence department originally created in the 1940s to combat Nazi occult warfare, find themselves unexpectedly privatised and sold to reclusive multi-millionaire 1970s pop star Ethan Kostabi.

This new private ghost-busting outfit tackled everything from demons on the London Underground to succubi on the North Yorkshire coast, Rennie’s intricate plotting and brutal action the perfect complement to Reardon’s artwork filled with heavy shadows packed with horrific demonic entities and grimacing villains.

Set a couple of years after the events of the last Caballistics story, the new story in Prog 2111 sees freelance demon-hunter Hannah Chapter visit her comatose comrade Lawrence Verse in hospital, filling him in on what’s been happing to the rest of the characters – chiefly, the lengths their enemies are going to to destroy the demon offspring of the sinister Ravne and Jenny, the possessed wife of the former head of Department Q.

And there’s a treat for digital readers – fans who have previously bought the digital Complete Caballistics Inc. edition from the 2000AD webshop and apps, which does not contain the new concluding story, will have their digital file automatically upgraded to the new version – for free – on day of release.

The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic rounds out another storming year with a 100-page Christmas spectacular, featuring a stunning line-up of stories and creators. Judge Dredd tackles a sinister Christmas spirit in “Judge Dredd : Jingle All the Way”; Nolan Blake has to investigate a terrorist cell in “Skip Tracer: Louder Than Bombs”; vampire bounty hunter Durham Red takes down a criminal gang in “Durham Red: Three Gifts”; Celtic warrior Sláine learns a little of Ukko’s nefarious past in “Sláine: The Bogatyr”; Deadworld‘s survivors face down Judge Fear in “Fall of Deadworld: Running Scared”; something evil lurks in the woods in new folk-horror series “Thistlebone”; the master cult makes its move in “Brink: High Society”; the vampires take to the skies above World War One France in “Fiends of the Western Front”; and the supernatural series Caballistics, Inc. comes to a close with the final ever episode. “Visiting Hour”. Plus much more!

• Check out all the latest 2000AD, 2000AD-related and Treasury of British Comics titles at shop.2000ad.com

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John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.