Publisher: 2000 AD Rebellion
Writers: Michael Carroll, Dan Abnett, Pat Mills, James Peaty, Gordon Rennie, Alex Ronald (Cover)
Artists: Paul Marshall, Mark Harrison, John Higgins, Andrea Mutti, PJ Holden
Colours: Quinton Winter, Sally Hurst, Len O’Grady
Letters: Annie Parkhouse, Elle De Ville, Simon Bowland,
Release Date: UK & Digital 26 July 2017/North America 26 August 2017
Price: UK £2.65/North America $7.99
What can be said for 2000 AD Prog 2041?
Well, quite a lot as it goes. But before all that comic book stuff let’s talk about something much, much more important. Me. Or at least me as a reviewer. And somewhere along the way we’ll pick up 2000 AD Prog 2041 and if you are lucky and I am feeling ultra-kind I will forge some meaningful words and dress it all up real pretty and call it a review. I can’t really do fairer than that.
But back to the important things in life: Me the reviewer. The trap many, many reviewers fall into – although some seem to rush toward it – is being overly heavy with the criticism (the negative vibes man, always with the negative vibes), especially if a comic book has been around for say forty-years. As if somehow being negative empowers the reviewer in some way; maybe that sort of reviewer was once bitten by a radioactive theatre critic (they are the worst, darling) or exposed to cosmic gamma critical rays. Critics formed like this are not heroes though, they are the exact opposite.
I am not that type of critic.
Which brings me happily to 2000 AD Prog 2041. There is no denying I am a fan, a long-term fan, who has been reading 2000 AD when the prog numbers were in just double digits. But the critic in me wants to tell you about the good old days of 2000 AD, when the comic book was at its creative peak and how 2000 AD Prog 2041 represents a low watermark in the comic books lustrous history.
Except, I’ve never been bitten by a radioactive critic – wined and dined a few times certainly – or felt the full force of those cosmic gamma critical rays.
And 2000 AD Prog 2041 is a continuation of the high standard of writing, artwork and comic book story-telling 2000 AD has always had. Nothing disappoints. Everything is as top-notch as 2000 AD has always been.
And the real plus for 2000 AD is, it is not Judge Dredd-centric. Every story in 2000 AD Prog 2041 is as good and sometimes better than Dredd. To list stand out stories would be to list them all. Every writer, every artist, every colourist and every letterer is on point. Nothing misses a beat.
Go and get yourself a copy and then who knows, some-day with the right avoidance techniques and a resistance to cosmic gamma critical rays you too might become the right kind of critic as well.
Review: Steve Hooker
Editor: Starlord (The UK one…not that upstart from across the Atlantic. Pay attention, there’s an education going on here).