We trust that you all enjoyed the forty-fifth anniversary online convention last month as an extraordinary number of guests from the world of comics and beyond were assembled to talk all things 2000 AD. If you missed any of the panels, fear not, they’re up on the Galaxy’s Greatest’s YouTube channel for you to peruse at your leisure.
Meanwhile, this month Rebellion is expanding its publishing empire with the first issue of Monster Fun, the old IPC humour title reborn for the twenty-first century as an ongoing bi-monthly anthology, ideal for kids looking for some Easter holiday entertainment. You can find all the info on how to subscribe at monsterfun.co.uk!
Elsewhere, we’ve got the final part of current Dredd thriller Praise Zort, the penultimate instalment of Surfer, and all the latest action in Brit-Cit, Badrock and the Cursed Earth in Diamond Dogs, Lawless and Death Cap.
Alas, some sad news reached us just before this Meg went to press in that V.C.s and Dredd artist Garry Leach had died, aged sixty-seven. A supremely talented creator, his pages were full of character and texture, and he’ll be very much missed. A full obit in next month’s issue
Cover by Pye Parr Script: Rory McConville / Art: Staz Johnson / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Praise Zort! // Part Four!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. This vast urban hell on the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America is home to over 160 million citizens. Unemployment is endemic, and crime is rampant. Stemming the tide of chaos are the Judges, future law-enforcers empowered to dispense instant justice. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the Law! Now, he’s in Profundia to secure support for a vital vote…
The Cursed Earth, 2143 AD. This blasted, irradiated wilderness covers much of what’s left of post-apocalyptic twenty-second century North America. Here, mutants exiled from living in the Mega-Cities scratch out a meagre existence in ramshackle townships. Former Judge Anita Goya’s family have been massacred, and she’s gone on the hunt for the perpetrators, but she’s been infected with a fungal virus…
Script: James Peaty / Art: Warren Pleece / Letters: Simon Bowland
DIAMOND DOGS // III // Part Five!
Brit-Cit, 2143 AD. The remnants of old Britain still exist alongside the twenty-second century Mega-City, and these ruins are fought over by the Brit-Cit street gangs, who see them as valuable territory. Nia Jones used to run with the Diamond Dogs, but she’s also a Justice Dept informer, trying to buy her way out. Now, she’s working with Detective-Judge Armitage…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Phil Winslade / Letters: Jim Campbell
LAWLESS // Ballots Over Badrock // Part Five!
Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson was appointed to the frontier township of Badrock on the planet 43 Rega, intent on stamping her authority on the colony. But in doing so, Lawson made many enemies, including Munce, Inc., the mega-corporation that funded Badrock. Now, with the SJS also running things, Lawson’s decided to quit her post and run for mayor…
Script: John Wagner / Art: Colin MacNeil / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
SURFER // Part Five!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. Skysurfing is one of the most popular pastimes in the twenty-second century metropolis, a sport that requires a great deal of skill and agility. Young Zane Perks is a particularly gifted surfer, and has just auditioned to be in a movie recreating the famous Supersurf 7. He’s won the part as the stunt stand-in for the lead actor, but the movie’s a scam…
As you’d expect with 2000 AD having just celebrated its forty-fifth birthday, there’s lots going on in the House of Tharg this month, not least a very exciting online convention across the weekend of 26-27 March featuring a stunning line-up of special guests from the world of comics and beyond.
Expect to see the likes of John Wagner, Garth Ennis, Sean Phillips, Alex De Campi, John McCrea, and Dan Cornwell alongside Robin Ince, Ian Rankin, Mitch Benn, Dane Baptiste, and more to be announced. Head over to 2000AD.com, where there’ll be panels, interviews, announcements and exclusive merchandise!
Alas, some sad news reached us at the beginning of February that veteran Ro-Busters and Dan Dare artist Ian Kennedy had died, aged eighty-nine. An extraordinary talent, whose war-comics art is instantly recognisable, he had a remarkable career, drawing everything from Spitfires to spaceships, and numerous creators pay tribute to him in Karl Stock’s obituary this issue. Elsewhere, Karl also tracks down some of those writers and artists that briefly appeared in the GGC over the last four and a half decades, and sees what they’re up to now. Enjoy, creeps!
Cover by Phil Winslade Script: Rory McConville / Art: Staz Johnson / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Praise Zort! // Part Three!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. This vast urban hell on the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America is home to over 160 million citizens. Unemployment is endemic, and crime is rampant. Stemming the tide of chaos are the Judges, future law-enforcers empowered to dispense instant justice. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the Law! Now, he’s in Profundia to secure support for a vital vote…
The Cursed Earth, 2143 AD. This blasted, irradiated wilderness covers much of what’s left of post-apocalyptic twenty-second century North America. Here, mutants exiled from living in the Mega-Cities scratch out a meagre existence in ramshackle townships. Former Judge Anita Goya’s family have been massacred, and she’s gone on the hunt for the perpetrators, but she’s been infected with a fungal virus…
Script: James Peaty / Art: Warren Pleece / Letters: Simon Bowland
DIAMOND DOGS // III // Part Four!
Brit-Cit, 2143 AD. The remnants of old Britain still exist alongside the twenty-second century Mega-City, and these ruins are fought over by the Brit-Cit street gangs, who see them as valuable territory. Nia Jones used to run with the Diamond Dogs, but she’s also a Justice Dept informer, trying to buy her way out. Now, she’s working with Detective-Judge Armitage…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Phil Winslade / Letters: Jim Campbell
LAWLESS // Ballots Over Badrock // Part Four!
Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson was appointed to the frontier township of Badrock on the planet 43 Rega, intent on stamping her authority on the colony. But in doing so, Lawson made many enemies, including Munce, Inc., the mega-corporation that funded Badrock. Now, with the SJS also running things, Lawson’s decided to quit her post and run for mayor…
Script: John Wagner / Art: Colin MacNeil / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
SURFER // Part Four!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. Skysurfing is one of the most popular pastimes in the twenty-second century metropolis, a sport that requires a great deal of skill and agility. Young Zane Perks is a particularly gifted surfer, and has just auditioned to be in a movie recreating the famous Supersurf 7. He’s won the part as the stunt stand-in for the lead actor…
Welcome to the February issue of the mighty Megazine, and the stunning current line-up continues as Dredd finds himself up to his neck in trouble in Profundia, Zane evades the law in Surfer, there’s more Badrock intrigue in Lawless, Nia makes deals in Diamond Dogs, and Goya’s fungal infection starts to take its toll in Death Cap.
Elsewhere, Stephen Jewell chats with Garth Ennis and PJ Holden about their new war title The Lion & the Eagle, and Karl Stock interviews Brian Bolland and David Roach on the subject of the amazing Apex Edition of Bolland’s original 2000 AD artwork, plus Scott Montomgery reveals the trials of collating forty-five years of Thrill-power into the 2000 AD Encylopedia, the mammoth hardback of which is out this month!
The publication of this back-breaking tome, of course, coincides with the GGC’s forty-fifth birthday celebrations at the end of this month. As with every milestone the prog has reached, its continued success is an incredible testament to the work of countless creators over the decades, and the loyalty of you committed Thrill-seekers. Keep an eye online for news of special anniversary events!
Cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague Script: Rory McConville / Art: Staz Johnson / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Praise Zort! // Part Two!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. This vast urban hell on the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America is home to over 160 million citizens. Unemployment is endemic, and crime is rampant. Stemming the tide of chaos are the Judges, future law-enforcers empowered to dispense instant justice. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the Law!
Script: T.C. Eglington/ Art: Boo Cook / Letters: Simon Bowland
DEATH CAP // Part Three!
The Cursed Earth, 2143 AD. This blasted, irradiated wilderness covers much of what’s left of post-apocalyptic twenty-second century North America. Here, mutants exiled from living in the Mega-Cities scratch out a meagre existence in ramshackle townships. Former Judge Anita Goya’s family have been massacred, and she’s gone on the hunt for the perpetrators, but she’s been infected with a fungal virus…
Script: James Peaty / Art: Warren Pleece / Letters: Simon Bowland
DIAMOND DOGS // III // Part Three!
Brit-Cit, 2143 AD. The remnants of old Britain still exist alongside the twenty-second century Mega-City, and these ruins are fought over by the Brit-Cit street gangs, who see them as valuable territory. Nia Jones used to run with the Diamond Dogs, but she’s also a Justice Dept informer, trying to buy her way out. Now, she’s working with Detective-Judge Armitage…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Paul Winslade / Letters: Jim Campbell
LAWLESS // Ballots Over Badrock // Part Three!
Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson was appointed to the frontier township of Badrock on the planet 43 Rega, intent on stamping her authority on the colony. But in doing so, Lawson made many enemies, including Munce, Inc., the mega-corporation that funded Badrock. Now, with the SJS also running things, Lawson’s decided to quit her post and run for mayor…
Script: John Wagner / Art: Colin MacNeil / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
SURFER // Part Three!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. Skysurfing is one of the most popular pastimes in the twenty-second century metropolis, a sport that requires a great deal of skill and agility. Young Zane Perks is a particularly gifted surfer, and has just auditioned to be in a movie recreating the famous Supersurf 7. He’s won the part as the stunt stand-in for the lead actor…
We trust you all had an enjoyable Xmas – though at the time of writing, another lockdown was in the offing, so who knows where we’ll be once this issue comes out – and the new Meg line-up suitably energised your Thrill-circuits.
It’s more of the same this month as we’ve got the stunning second parts of Death Cap, Surfer, Diamond Dogs III and Lawless, plus a new Dredd thriller starts in the shape of Praise Zort! by Rory McConville and Staz Johnson, picking up the storyline in the aftermath of last year’s Project Providence, where Mega-City One was caught red-handed using time-travel tech to steal the march on other nations. Chief Judge Logan is going to need all the support he can muster to avoid sanctions, and unfortunately that means seeking the approval of the eccentric Profundians…
Big news for this Meg is the start of the Hawk the Slayer sequel by the stellar creative team of Garth Ennis and Henry Flint, which revisits the characters and world from the cult eighties fantasy movie. This five-issue arc will be bagged with every Megazine, so make sure you stick around for some truly eye-popping sword n’ sorcery action, citizens – you won’t be disappointed!
Cover by Stewart K. Moore Script: Rory McConville / Art: Staz Johnson / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Praise Zort! // Part One!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. This vast urban hell on the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America is home to over 160 million citizens. Unemployment is endemic, and crime is rampant. Stemming the tide of chaos are the Judges, future law-enforcers empowered to dispense instant justice. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the Law!
Script: T.C. Eglington/ Art: Boo Cook / Letters: Simon Bowland
DEATH CAP // Part Two!
The Cursed Earth, 2143 AD. This blasted, irradiated wilderness covers much of what’s left of post-apocalyptic twenty-second century North America. Here, mutants exiled from living in the Mega-Cities scratch out a meagre existence in ramshackle townships. Former Judge Anita Goya’s family have been masscred, and she’s gone on the hunt for the perpetrators…
Script: James Peaty / Art: Warren Pleece / Letters: Simon Bowland
DIAMOND DOGS // III // Part Two!
Brit-Cit, 2143 AD. The remnants of old Britain still exist alongside the twenty-second century Mega-City, and these ruins are fought over by the Brit-Cit street gangs, who see them as valuable territory. Nia Jones used to run with the Diamond Dogs, but she’s also a Justice Dept informer, trying to buy her way out. Now, she’s working with Detective-Judge Armitage…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Paul Winslade / Letters: Jim Campbell
LAWLESS // Ballots Over Badrock // Part Two!
Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson was appointed to the frontier township of Badrock on the planet 43 Rega, intent on stamping her authority on the colony. But in doing so, Lawson made many enemies, including Munce, Inc., the mega-corporation that funded Badrock. Now, with the SJS also running things, Lawson’s decided to quit her post and run for mayor…
Script: John Wagner / Art: Colin MacNeil / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
SURFER // Part Two!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. Skysurfing is one of the most popular pastimes in the twenty-second century metropolis, a sport that requires a great deal of skill and agility. Young Zane Perks is a particularly gifted surfer, and has just auditioned to be in a movie recreating the famous Supersurf 7. He’s won the part as the stunt stand-in for the lead actor…
A barnstorming line-up commences in this seasonal issue – indeed, you could say that this Meg kicks Xmass – as Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade reunite for the much-anticipated return of Lawless, John Wagner and Colin MacNeil take to the skies once more in new Mega-City series Surfer, we have the third and final arc of Brit-Cit gang thriller Diamond Dogs by James Peaty and Warren Pleece, and Blunt creators T.C. Eglington and Boo Cook collaborate again, this time on Cursed Earth-set revenge drama Death Cap.
All this plus a complete Dredd story from Ken Niemand and Steven Austin, a Lenny Zero prose tale from Andy Diggle, and chats with former 2000 AD art editor Colin Wyatt and artist Stewart Kenneth Moore.
Wyatt’s colleague Doug Church – an integral part of the Galaxy’s Greatest’s visual development prior to publication forty-five years ago – is interviewed in a companion piece in Prog 2262, the bumper festive issue, which is also out right now, and equally unmissable. With the start of new series for Proteus Vex, Kingmaker, The Order and more, plus a Dredd starring some very familiar cameos, it’s a Thrill-packed Christmas all round!
Cover by Lee Carter Script: Ken Niemand / Art: Steven Austin / Colours: Matt Soffe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Saviour!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. This vast urban hell on the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America is home to over 160 million citizens. Unemployment is endemic, and crime is rampant. Stemming the tide of chaos are the Judges, future law-enforcers empowered to dispense instant justice. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the Law!
Script: T.C. Eglington/ Art: Boo Cook / Letters: Simon Bowland
DEATH CAP // Part One!
The Cursed Earth, 2143 AD. This blasted, irradiated wilderness covers much of what’s left of post-apocalyptic twenty-second century North America. Here, mutants exiled from living in the Mega-Cities scratch out a meagre existence in ramshackle townships. It’s also a place where someone seeking redemption can carve out a new life, and leave the old behind…
Script: James Peaty / Art: Warren Pleece / Letters: Simon Bowland
DIAMOND DOGS // III // Part One!
Brit-Cit, 2143 AD. The remnants of old Britain still exist alongside the twenty-second century Mega-City, and these ruins are fought over by the Brit-Cit street gangs, who see them as valuable territory. Nia Jones used to run with the Diamond Dogs, but she’s also a Justice Dept informer, trying to buy her way out. Now, she’s working with Detective-Judge Armitage…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Paul Winslade / Letters: Jim Campbell
LAWLESS // Ballots Over Badrock // Part One!
Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson was appointed to the frontier township of Badrock on the planet 43 Rega, intent on stamping her authority on the colony. But in doing so, Lawson made many enemies, including Munce, Inc., the mega-corporation that funded Badrock. Now, with the SJS also running things, Lawson’s decided to quit her post and run for mayor…
Script: John Wagner / Art: Colin MacNeil / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
SURFER // Part One!
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. Skysurfing is one of the most popular pastimes in the twenty-second century metropolis, a sport that requires a great deal of skill and agility. While it’s legal to fly at a proscribed height, low-level surfing – favoured by powerboarders that particpate in unregulated supersurf championships – is against the law and stomped on by the Judges…
Colonial Judge Marshal Meta Lawson is back in the third volume of Lawless, the acclaimed sci-fi Western set in the universe of Judge Dredd.
In the first of a new series of short essays commissioned from selected comics critics that explore 2000 AD and the Treasury of British Comics’ latest graphic novel collections, Graeme McMillan looks at the questions at the heart of Lawless and how Abnett’s writing and Winslade’s art have worked together to produce one of the most enthralling Dredd-world stories of the last decade…
Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade’s Lawless feels, at times, like a series of interconnected confidence tricks centered around its main character.
It’s a story that is as defined by what it isn’t, as what it is; a story filled with feints towards particular ideas and genres that never quite allows the reader to settle into one particular version of what it is at heart. It’s a western, except it isn’t — there are robots and aliens and multiple elements that break the tropes in two beyond simply playing with them. The events of “Ashes to Ashes” go far beyond anything the genre is capable of, in wonderful ways, underscoring the ways in which the series is far more than a western, despite its creators claiming otherwise.
It’s also a story set in the world of Judge Dredd, except even that isn’t quite true. Obviously, it is a Dreddworld story — the main character is a Judge, after all, and there are allusions to the larger Justice Department setting of Dredd throughout, including the mega-corporation Munce, Inc., named for a fictional foodstuff that was first mentioned in a 2000 AD strip decades ago — but in both tone and setting, it’s entirely removed from what readers have come to expect from Dredd. There’s no Mega-City One, and one of the slyest running jokes of the strip is the ways in which Metta Lawson and other characters act in ways that directly contradict from the citizens of the average Dredd strip. There’s even actual swearing to be found in Lawless, as much as Joe Dredd would scowl at the notion.
Perhaps more importantly, Lawless is a series that purposefully plays its cards close to its chest in terms of narrative intent. If the first few episodes, collected in Welcome to Badrock, left a number of questions unanswered to set up future stories, the conclusions of those stories in “Ashes to Ashes” nonetheless comes as a surprise: who really saw that particular turn of events coming? Did anyone really foresee these answers to the questions we all knew were out there?
All of which is to say: Abnett and Winslade have modeled the series after its lead character in the most appropriate, honest way imaginable. Just as Lawless is a marvel at distracting the reader from its mysteries and true nature by force of its charm and humor, so is Colonial Marshall Metta Lawson. Lawson is, to be blunt, one of the greatest series leads in 2000 AD and Megazine history — at once blunt in such a way that it feels as if she doesn’t have any filter or the ability to be anything other than honest in any situation, but also very clearly Someone With A Past™ that may not even be who she claims to be.
Add in no small amount of humor, a brusque no-nonsense attitude towards any kind of bullshit, and you have an enjoyable variation on the iconic western trope of the Man With No Name… not that Lawless is really a western, mind you.
All of the above suggests that Dan Abnett’s writing does the heavy lifting when it comes to Lawless’ appeal, but that’s not the case; as much as Abnett’s mystery box writing, and his humor, for that matter, is central to why Lawless works, the series is entirely reliant on the unique artwork of Phil Winslade for the atmosphere and life he brings to proceedings. His highly detailed black and white line work brings with it echoes of everything from classic mid-century magazine illustration to the Eurocomix artwork of the likes of Moebius, to artistic contemporaries like Glenn Fabry or Steve Pugh, paying equal attention to the surroundings and the shanty town of Badrock as he does the sneers and smiles of the cast.
Every page of Lawless is a bravura performance, whether it’s an intimate conversation between Lawson and Deputy Pettifer, or a spread of the war between multiple factions that makes up the bulk of “Ashes to Ashes.” (Does that count as a spoiler? The mildest of all, if so.) Each page showcases Winslade’s attention to detail, and the different ways that manifests throughout the series — whether his character acting, which manages to be at once both subtle and dynamic enough to work as good comics, his unmatched ability to suggest a physical space with just a handful of lines, or action sequences that manage to successfully convey a vertiginous sense of motion throughout — make this a series that looks unlike anything else out there, in every sense a compliment to just how good Winslade really is.
Without Winslade’s artwork, Metta Lawson wouldn’t work; it takes the level of humanity that he brings to each of the characters in the series to translate her intentionally elliptical personality into something that feels honest and fully-formed. The combination of Abnett and Winslade work magic together, somehow knowing how to play together so that just enough information is visible to the reader — whether visually, or in Lawson’s dialogue or actions — for her to feel like a believable figure, one that’s easy to empathize with and root for, even as we try and figure out just what her secret is.
Throughout its run to date, Lawless is a story of absences, and voids — of things that are missing, and elements defined by what they are not, more often than what they are. (We should take a brief second to note that even the title of the series nods towards this: Lawless, the absence of something being implied right there — this is a story defined by what it isn’t, indeed.) When secrets are revealed and cards are turned over in the third collected edition, it’s all the more impressive and fulfilling because, thankfully, they fit exactly into the spaces left for them — and, even as they arrive, they bring new absences and voids for the series to fill as it moves towards whatever lies in Badrock’s future.
Graeme McMillan is a freelance comics and culture writer based in Portland, Oregon, whose work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Wired, Polygon, Playboy, and countless other outlets. He has more opinions about the output of Tharg the Mighty and associated entities than is probably reasonable.
