2000AD Prog 2267, on sale now in all good newsagents and comic shops, sports a smashing Judge Dredd cover by David Millgate – and there’s plenty of action inside.
“The Dead Chief Judge’s Society” kicks things off, an apparently crazy perp interrogated by Dredd – the failed robber haunted by, he claims, bickering Chief Judges. It’s an odd story with a twist!
Talking of Judge Dredd, 2000AD fans should need no reminding that London’s Cartoon Museum is currently hosting a small exhibition of Judge Dredd art to mark four and a half decades of the zero-tolerance lawman. Dredd @ 45, which is running right, is an ‘In Focus’ exhibition, taking a look at the changing styles and work practices over the years that have seen the Judge evolve into the iconic figure that he is today.
From the physical cut-and-stick techniques used in the 1970s to the digital methods employed now, it charts the change in comics creation, and yet Ol’ Stoney-Face himself remains resolutely the same. For more info, visit www.cartoonmuseum.org
Favourite thrill of the issue is a hard choice, with both Jake Lynch, on “Proteus Vex” and David Roach, on “Saphir” competing for attention for me, which is not to dismiss the great work on the other strips! I’d have to say that Jake snags it, simply because “Proteus Vex” is so utterly crazy in a throwback kind of way to early 2000AD… but what do you think?
In Prog 2267…
Judge Dredd – THE DEAD CHIEF JUDGES’ SOCIETY
by Kenneth Niemand (w) Rob Richardson (a) Annie Parkhouse
Mega-City One, 2144 AD. Home to over 180 million citizens, this urban hell is situated along the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America. Unemployment is rife, and boredom universal. Tensions rest on a constant knife-edge. Crime is rampant and only the Judges — zero-tolerance cops empowered to dispense instant justice — can stop total anarchy. Toughest of them all is JUDGE DREDD — he is the Law!
PROTEUS VEX – Desire Paths (part 6)
by Michael Carroll (w) Jake Lynch (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Another galaxy, the far future. The centuries-long war between the Alliance and the Obdurate people is over, a conflict brought to an end with the deaths of billions when the Alliance teleported a dying white dwarf star into the Obdurate system. Imperium agent PROTEUS VEX — who is operated by a flesh-pilot — has now become an enemy of the Alliance when he released information about past war crimes…
The Order – Fantastic Voyage (part 6)
by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are the men and women of THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and now the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Anna Kohl and the others, fleeing Bacon, have tumbled over Times Edge…
Kingmaker – Falls the Shadow (part 6)
by Ian Edginton (w) Leigh Gallagher (a) Jim Campbell (l)
The Nine Kingdoms may have defeated Ichnar the Wraith King to live in relative peace, but they hadn’t reckoned on the Thorn — a race of aliens that occupied their world with the intention of strip-mining its magic. Wizard Ablard, ork Crixus and dryad Princess Yarrow believe they may have the means to stop them — not least because Crixus can somehow conjure the Ebora, the world-spirit. But Ichnar has manifested in Ablard…
Saphir – Liaisons Dangereuses (part 3)
by Kek-W (w) David Roach (a) Peter Doherty (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Paris, 1899. Inspector Alphonse Mucha of the Sûreté previously met and became involved with the mysterious Lady Sofia Corundum when he was called to her house and was embroiled in an adventure that took him to a dangerous dimension. Now, the powerful Lady Sofia has need of the Inspector once more — and yet again Paris is about to feel the wrath of a being from another reality…
Available in print from: newsagents and comic book stores via Diamond | Available in digital from: 2000AD webshop and apps for iPad, Android and Windows 10
• Don’t forget Judge Dredd Megazine 440 is still on sale in all good newsagents, too!
• 2000AD, Treasury of British Collections and Specials – 2022 – Our Full Checklist
RECENTLY RELEASED BOOKS
Karl the Viking Volume One: The Sword Of Eingar
By Ted Cowan and Ken Bulmer (Writers) Don Lawrence (Artist)
Out: 19th January 2022, Paperback, 240 pages | £19.99
ISBN: 9781786184627
NEW COLLECTIONS OUT THIS WEEK…
The Spider Crime Unlimited – Picture Library
By Jerry Siegel, Donne Avenell
Out: 3rd February 2022, Hardcover, 256 Pages
ISBN: 9781786184658
The Spider is the uncrowned king of the New York underworld, so elusive to the police that he even manages to taunt the Police Commissioner at his retirment party. But Professor Aldo Cummings, a famous but ill-tempered scientist, determined to stop the schemes of the Spider once and for all, invents a ray-machine which will eliminate the evil from a person’s personality. But a tragic miscalculation will turn Professor Cummings into the Professor of Power, and he will seek a more direct confrontation with the Spider.
The first collection of the Spider stories originally published as part of the Picture Library series.
COMING SOON…
The 2000AD Encyclopedia
Compiled by Scott Montgomery
Out: 15th February 2022, 336 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 9781786185617
Written by writer and journalist Scott Montgomery, The 2000AD Encyclopedia, compiled from entries first published in Judge Dredd Megazine, with additions and amendments, promises to become the definitive, go-to resource for the hundreds of creations that have appeared in the Galaxy’s Greatest Comics over the past four decades including comprehensive sections on Sláine, Nemesis the Warlock, A.B.C Warriors and many more.
Scott is of course no stranger to writing 2000AD guides – back in the 1990s, he provided a then complete chronology of everyone’s favourite blue-skinned super soldier for the 1996 Rogue Trooper Action Special, a project he recalled with fondness for downthetubes when the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic celebrated its 35th birthday in 2012.
Judge Dredd by Brian Bolland Apex Edition
Compiled by David A. Roach, art by Brian Bolland
Out: 17th February 2022, £65, 128 page, Hardcover
ISBN: 9781786184641
Showcasing the Judge Dredd work of one of 2000AD’s greatest creators. This deluxe, over-sized facsimile edition will feature new high-resolution scans of Bolland’s original art from 2000AD, showing his delicate inking brushwork in unprecedented detail.
As one of the first creators in the ‘British Invasion’ of the American comic book industry in the 1980s, Bolland’s work on series such as Camelot 3000 and Batman: The Killing Joke, and covers for Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Batman, and many more, have made him one of the most distinctive and famous artists in comics.
This book will include pages from the Judge Dredd epics “The Cursed Earth”, “The Day the Law Died”, “The Judge Child Quest”, and Bolland’s masterpiece, “Judge Death Lives”. Also included is a gallery of covers ranging from 2000AD to the Judge Dredd reprints published by Eagle Comics which brought Brian to the attention of American readers and show off Bolland’s inventiveness and sardonic humour.
• 2000AD, Treasury of British Collections and Specials – 2022 – Our Full Checklist
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.
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