Be transported to the circuit-shattering worlds of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic with the latest 2000AD, Prog 2379, on sale in all good newsagents now – and don’t miss out on the new Lowborn High collection.

Inside the latest action-packed prog, with a cover from INJ Culbard, you’ll find the latest high-octane instalments of “Judge Dredd”, “Brink”, “Aquila”, “Proteus Vex” and “Indigo Prime”, brought to you by the fevered imagination of some top comic talent. Here’s the intel…

JUDGE DREDD – REND & TEAR WITH TOOTH & CLAW, Part Four
Script: Rob Williams | Art: RM Guera | Colours: Giulia Brusco | Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Mega-City One, 2146 AD. Home to over 200 million citizens, this urban hell is situated along the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America. Crime is rampant, and only future cops the Judges — empowered to dispense instant justice — can stop total anarchy. Toughest of them all is JUDGE DREDD — he is the Law! Now, he’s crash-landed in the radlands, and come under attack by a rampaging grizzly bear…

BRINK – CONSUMED, Part Two
Script: Dan Abnett | Art: INJ Culbard | Letters: Simon Bowland

The late 21st century, and through environmental catastrophe and industrial overload Earth has been reduced to a wasteland. Mankind finally evacuated the planet in 2072 and millions were housed in a number of deep-space Habitats. But life on these cramped, overcrowded stations is tense, often spilling over into madness. Sects are rife, and Bridget Kurtis of the Habitat Security Division is investigating their reach…

AQUILA – THE RIVERS OF HADES BOOK TWO, Part Three
Script: Gordon Rennie | Art: Patrick Goddard | Colours: Dylan Teague | Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Following Spartacus’s failed revolt against his Roman masters, his rebel army was crucified. Amongst these was the slave-turned-gladiator AQUILA, who cried out to the gods for vengeance — and was answered by Ammit the Devourer, a deity that gifted him with immortality in return for keeping her fed with evil men’s souls. Now, Aquila has travelled into Hades and retrieved the spirit of Nero, who knows Ammit’s location…

INDIGO PRIME – BLACK MONDAY, Part Nine
Script: Kek-W | Art: Lee Carter | Letters: Jim Campbell

The multiverse. There is an infinite number of parallel realities, and all need managing in case of dimensional instability. This is where INDIGO PRIMEINDIGO PRIME came in, the multiverse’s troubleshooters, whose agents are trained to deal with space/time catastrophes. Now, IP’s HQ has been destroyed in a cataclysmic event, and its assets acquired by the company ICP. But Clive Vista has a plan, involving Tyranny Rex…

PROTEUS VEX – DEVIOUS, Part Five
Script: Mike Carroll | Art: Jake Lynch | Colours: Jim Boswell | Letters: Simon Bowland

The far future. The centuries-long war between the Alliance and the Obdurate people is over, a conflict ended when the Alliance teleported a dying white dwarf star into the Obdurate system. Imperium agent PROTEUS VEX — who is operated by a flesh-pilot — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. In the wake of the war with the Scorchers, Vex is missing, presumed dead…

• Available in print from newsagents and comic book stores via Diamond | Available in digital from: 2000AD webshop, 2000AD apps for Apple & Android

Lowborn High: Volume 1
by David Barnett and Anna Morozova
Out: 20th April 2024
Paperback, 112 Pages
ISBN: 978-1837861095

For as long as anyone can remember, Wychdusk Manor has been the school to which all the top magical novices are sent, where they are trained to become the world’s greatest wizards. Androgeus Frost, part of one of the wizarding worlds’ most esteemed families, always thought it was a sure thing he’d get in, but somehow finds himself dumped at Lowborn High.

David Barnett is a novelist, comic writer and journalist, based in the North of England. He has written “Chopper”, “Lowborn High” and other strips for 2000AD, Books of Magic for DC, and Punks Not Dead and Eve Stranger for IDW — the latter being developed by BBC Studios for television. His novels include The Handover, Alien: Colony War, and, in 2023, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. He writes features for The Guardian, The Observer, Independent, Tortoise, BBC Culture and many other outlets.

Anna Morozova is a Russian-born freelance comics artist and illustrator from Estonia, who now lives and works in Scotland. Following graduation from a Comics Masters in Dundee, she’s produced work for various comics publishers, including Commando stories for DC Thomson, and commercial clients. As well as co-creating “Viva Forever” with David Baillie, Anna’s contributions to 2000AD so far include illustrating “Future Shocks” and a “Black Museum” episode for the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Out In May…

Essential Judge Anderson: Satan
Writer: Alan Grant
Art: Arthur Ranson, Mick Austin
Lettering: Annie Parkhouse
Out: 8th May 2024
Paperback, 144 pages
ISBN: 978-1837861859

Judge Cassandra Anderson of Psi Division is one of the greatest minds on the Judges’ roster. As a precognitive telepath and empath, her quirks, such as her sense of humour, are tolerated by the otherwise oppressively strict Justice Department.

In the second volume of her Essential line, Anderson grapples with matters of faith and damnation, as a chance at eternal life comes at the cost of losing her mind forever, while her pursuit of a just system leads her to investigate a religious cult, and ultimately to engage in a battle of the minds with the most formidable of foes: Satan himself!

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 44
Writers: John Wagner, Gordon Rennie, Rob Williams, Ian Edginton, Robbie Morrison
Artists:
Out: 8th May 2024
Paperback, 304 pages
ISBN: 978-1837861675

NO CITY FOR OLD MEN!

The best-selling series collecting The Law in order continues. This action-packed volume contains the finale of the epic Origins saga, which sets Dredd on a new quest for justice as he begins to question Mega-City One’s treatment of the mutant population and the laws that keep them down. But what happens when the man upholding the law no longer believes in it?

Written by John Wagner (A History of Violence), Gordon Rennie (Warhammer), Rob Williams (Suicide Squad), Ian Edginton (Batman), and Robbie Morrison (The Authority), with art by Carlos Ezquerra (Strontium Dog), Ian Gibson (The Ballad of Halo Jones), Colin MacNeil (Devlin Waugh), Mike McMahon (Slaine), Jock (The Losers), Henry Flint (Rogue Trooper), Rufus Dayglo (Tank Girl), Vince Locke (A History of Violence), PJ Holden (Rogue Trooper), Patrick Goddard (Battle Action), Boo Cook (Doctor Who), Richard Elson (Sonic The Comic), Paul Marshall (Sinister Dexter), Cliff Robinson (Vector 13), Len O’Grady (X-Men Unlimited), D’Israeli (Nikolai Dante), Lee Garbett (Skyward), Anthony Williams (The Real Ghostbusters) and Peter Doherty (The Dreaming).

40 Years of Scream!
Writers: Gerry Finley-Day, Simon Furman, Alan Grant, Alan Moore, Ian Rimmer, Tom Tully, John Wagner et al
Artists: Eric Bradbury, Cam Kennedy, Jose Ortiz et al
Out: Wednesday 22nd May 2024
Hardcover, 464 Pages
ISBN: 978-1837861071

Check out our exclusive previews of 40 Years of Scream! here and here

40 Years of Scream!, offered through Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics imprint in slipcase and standard formats, the new celebratory collection of the entirety of Scream!, includes every single strip published in 1984 from issues 1-15 of the original run. 

The collection is due to be published on Thursday 25th April 2024. There’s no indication in advance information as to whether the collection will include material such as the lost “The Nightcomers” discovered and previously published under license by Hibernia Comics in their It’s Ghastly! Comic Archive in 2016.

The webshop-exclusive slipcase edition is designed by David Roach, making it an even more ghoulishly exciting for true horror afficionados.

• Order 40 Years of Scream! Slipcase Edition direct from the Treasury of British Comics web site

• Order 40 Years of Scream! Standard Edition direct from the Treasury of British Comics web site

• Order 40 Years of Scream! Standard Edition from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Robot Archie and the Time Machine
by E. George Cowan (Writer), Ted Kearon, Mike Western (Artists)
Out: 29th May 2024
Paperback, 144 Pages
ISBN: 978-1837861699

Originally built by Professor C.R. Ritchie, the mechanical being known as Robot Archie was employed to battle injustices around the world, particularly in the jungles of Africa and South America.

The automated action hero has worked with the Professor to create’The Castle’ – a fully-functioning time machine! Together with the Professor’s nephew, Ted Ritchie and his best friend Ken Dale, Archie is ready to embark on a journey through time that will bring him into conflicts with medieval knights and a terrifying, dystopian future where aliens have conquered the Earth!

Before entering the comic industry Ted Cowan worked as a lab assistant at Shell-Mex then enlisted into the RAF as World War Two broke out. Forced to re-enlist with the army after a crash, he became a dispatch rider, but another accident saw an end to his career in the services. After picking up a comic and being unimpressed by the writing inside, Cowan wrote to Stan Boddington, then editor of Champion. Boddington gave him a chance and Cowan started on “Ginger Nutt” – a successful strip about a young Australian boy, which ran for almost seven years. Cowan’s next strip – “The Jungle Robot” – appeared in the first issue of Lion. Many adventures featuring Robot Archie were to follow. While working for Lion, Cowan scripted many popular strips including “Paddy Payne”, “Adam Eterno” and, of course, “The Spider” which he co-created and wrote the first two complete stories for.

Ted Kearon was a prolific artist who contributed many strips to IPC, particularly in the 1950s. Best known for co-creating “Robot Archie” for Lion in 1952, he also illustrated “Zip Nolan”, “The Day the World Drowned” and “Steel Commando”. Kearon also provided strips for DC Thomson, including “Morgyn the Mighty” for the Victor.

Widely regarded as one of the best artists to ever grace the British comic industry, Mike Western began his career on Knockout, having already spent time working for GB Animation. During the 1950s he shared art chores with Eric Bradbury on the popular western strip “Lucky Logan”. In 1960 he moved onto TV Express where he drew “No Hiding Place” and “Biggles”. Buster and Valiant followed: where Mike found himself drawing long-running strips such as Wild Wonders. In the 1970s he was very prolific, illustrating Buster’s “Leopard from Lime Street” and several key strips for Battle, including “Darkie’s Mob”, “The Sarge” and “HMS Nightshade”. Mike made an impact on the iconic Roy of the Rovers, illustrating the newspaper strip which ran in the Daily Star during the 1990s.

War Picture Library – The Iron Fist
Writers: V.A.L. Holding, W. Howard Baker, Alf Wallace, A. Carney Allan Art: Hugo Pratt
Out: 29th May 2024
Hardback
ISBN: 978-1837862009 

The Iron Fist, completes the Treasury of British Comics collection of Hugo Pratt’s British war comic strips, leading with the eponymous “The Iron Fist“, written by V.A.L. Holding, first featured in War Picture Library No. 25, published in September 1959, which focuses on the lives of the crew manning the Goliath and the battles they fight, ranging from El Alamein to the D-Day landings – the tank crew rely on each other to get through the hellish situations. 

Also included in this collection are “The Big Arena” (War Picture Library No. 133), written by W. Howard Baker, featuring Australia

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.

Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: 2000AD, Annie Parkhouse, Brink, Dan Abnett, downthetubes News, Dylan Teague, Giulia Brusco, Gordon Rennie, Indigo Prime, INJ Culbard, Jake Lynch, Jim Campbell, Judge Dredd, Kek-W, Lee Carter, Lowborn High, Mike Carroll, Patrick Goddard, Rob Williams, SF Comics, Simon Bowland