Publisher: Rebellion Publishing
Writers: TC Eglinton, James Robinson, Dan Abnett, Pat Mills, John Smith & Kek-W
Artists: Colin MacNeil, Leonardo Manco, Mark Harrison, Simon Davis (and cover), Lee Carter
Colourist: Chris Blythe
Letters: Annie Parkhouse, Simon Bowland, Ellie De Ville,
Release Date: UK & Digital 27 September 2017/North America 27 October 2017
Price: £2.65/$7.99
I don’t know why you would think this but if you do – that somehow 2000 AD Prog 2050 is a life support system for Judge Dredd – you would be wrong; no more than wrong, foolhardy, quality blind – like in the nose blind commercial on TV. Unaware of the mistake you are making.
Sure, in this expanded forty-eight-page edition Dredd is here and T C Eglinton and Colin MacNeil do not skimp on the mythology and essence of Mega City One’s top law keeper. But Slaine’s back, an equal to the Dredd canon, the Celtic warrior does not miss a beat in the capable writing hands of 2000 AD mastermind Pat Mills and exemplary artist Simon Davis. There is no short changing in this instalment of Slaine either, the promise of one of the very best 2000 AD covers is well and truly met in this opening salvo.
Rogue Trooper makes a welcome appearance in 2000 AD Prog 2050, in a very classic one and done story from James Robinson and Leonardo Manco. And this Rogue Trooper instalment works in the extra pages but not in the padding sense, This Rogue Trooper story has the necessary room to deliver its punch.
But here’s 2000 AD Prog 2050 dirty little secret, whilst it can have this very effective trio of iconic icons, there is still a quality, an excellence in the lesser known but equally impressive Grey Area – Homeland Security from Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison looks long and hard at the alien immigration issues of amid 21st century Erath. And then Indigo Prime – A Dying Art from John Smith and Lee Carter depicts an infinite number of concurrent realities which need managing and stabilising and troubleshooting.
And the peerless standard continues with Sinister Dexter – Down In The Dumps, a second helping from Dan Abnett, with artwork supplied by the very capable Steve Yeowell. Mixing buddy hitmen with inter dimensional ganaglords, causing reality to go askew in a myriad of different ways, Sinister Dexter – Down In The Dumps
Is easily a comic book series in its own right. But here it is in 2000 AD Prog 2050 not as filler but bolstering the likes of Dredd and co. The same goes for The Fall of Deadworld – Home by Kek-W and Dave Kendall rounds off 2000 AD Prog 2050 just as it started, at the very high watermark of comic book production and excellence.
There is not enough praise – to my mind – or understanding of the sheer intelligence and talent on display in 2000 AD Prog 2050. In many ways, I would like to scrap this whole review and just write in the largest font I could find: JUST BUY IT YOU FOOLS!
Reviewer: Steve Hooker
Editor: This guy I know, keeps pounding on about 2000 AD all the time. He’s here now, holding a copy of Giant Size X-Men #1 to my head, insisting I complete this review or the X-Men get it. Which is an easy choice I should have made decades ago….and so should have you.