ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2324 is OUT NOW!
I am The Mighty Tharg, brain-melting master of the Thrills — welcome to the action anthology!
A clutch of endings abound in this pulsepounding prog, Terrans — you’ll find within the scrotnig finales to both Judge Dredd thriller ‘Succession’ and Proteus Vex’s current arc ‘Crawlspace’, plus The Out takes an extended hiatus after this episode, returning in a couple of months’ time with the concluding instalments of Book III.
Elsewhere, we have the continuing chronoclysm in The Order, and 2022 Thought Bubble winners Tom Watts and Mike Walters have their Future Shock ‘Love Birds’ published in the pages of the Galaxy’s Greatest. Will we be seeing more from the these proto-droids in the future? Keep watching the progs, my Squaxx!
2000 AD Prog 2324 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Leonardo MancoScript: Ken Niemand / Art: Leonardo Manco / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Succession, part four
Mega-City One, 2145 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, a reshuffle at the top of Curare Corp has become a violent free-for-all…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part twelve
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having learned what the Zoto have done to her, escapes with old pal Cheerio…
Script: Tom Watts / Art: Mike Walters / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
FUTURE SHOCKS // Love Birds
Out in the vast reaches of the universe, there are an infinite number of stories waiting to be told. These cautionary tales pass from traveller to traveller in the spaceports and around campfires on distant planets, acquiring the status of legend, their shocking ends a salutory lesson in hubris. Anything is possible in these twisted trips into the galaxy’s dark side. Abandon your preconceptions, and expect the unexpected…
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part eight
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part thirteen
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2323 is OUT NOW!
Behold the gift of the Mightiest Being in the galaxy — I am Tharg, and I bring you Thrill-power! Welcome to the latest issue of my illustrious organ, Terrans, and the action is ramping up as we reach the penultimate instalments of Judge Dredd: Succession and Proteus Vex, plus there’s the latest episodes of The Order and The Out, and a complete Future Shock from the Johnson and Yeowell droids.
New Thrills are coming your way at the beginning of April, such as Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard’s Rogue Trooper adventure ‘Blighty Valley’, and a Durham Red thriller, ‘Mad Dogs’, by Alec Worley and Ben Willsher — both of which start the other side of Prog 2325’s Regened special!
2000 AD Prog 2323 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Mark HarrisonScript: Ken Niemand / Art: Leonardo Manco / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Succession, part three
Mega-City One, 2145 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, a reshuffle at the top of Curare Corp has become a violent free-for-all…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part twelve
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having learned what the Zoto have done to her, escapes with old pal Cheerio…
Script: Liam Johnson / Art: Steve Yeowell / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
FUTURE SHOCKS // Volition
Out in the vast reaches of the universe, there are an infinite number of stories waiting to be told. These cautionary tales pass from traveller to traveller in the spaceports and around campfires on distant planets, acquiring the status of legend, their shocking ends a salutory lesson in hubris. Anything is possible in these twisted trips into the galaxy’s dark side. Abandon your preconceptions, and expect the unexpected…
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part seven
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part twelve
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
He’s one of the most inventive and prolific writers to ever grace the pages of 2000 AD – and the Dan Abnett Digital Bundle brings you just some of his greatest series for an unbeatable price!
For just £50 you can download some of the award-winning writer’s best work for the Galaxy’s Greatest Comics, from his fan favourite Dredd-world epics like Insurrection and Lawless, to top notch sci-fi like Sinister Dexter and The VCs, and his acclaimed new series Brink and The Out.
Few writers have developed such a remarkable catalogue of hits for 2000 AD, and this digital bundle gives the perfect overview of Abnett’s creative and innovative career. It also includes the ebook of his novel based on his lauded post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, Kingdom.
Get ELEVEN graphic novels and one ebook novel for just £50 – download DRM-free from the 2000 AD webshop or through the 2000 AD app for Apple and Android devices.
Insurrection
When Mega-City One mining colony K-Alpha 61 declares independence from the ‘Big Meg’ and renames itself Liberty, Justice Department’s Special Judicial Squad launch a vast armada to stop further colonies from rebelling. War is inevitable…
Set in the Judge Dredd universe, this high-octane space adventure features art by 2000 AD fan favourite Colin MacNeil (Chopper, Strontium Dog, Fiends of the Eastern Front).
Brink
In the late 21st century the remains of the human race are crammed into the Habitats: vast artificial space stations; hotbeds for crime and madness policed by private security firms. When a routine drug bust goes wrong, no-nonsense Investigator Bridget Kurtis finds herself in a life or death struggle with a new sect of cultists. But evidence begins to point to something far more sinister going on behind the scenes… The first series of the new atmospheric, sci-fi thriller from Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard.
Lawless
Welcome to Badrock, where the synthol flows freely, fights break out daily and scavengers bicker over pieces of scrap found in the war-scarred badlands. Good thing they have a new Colonial Marshall, no-nonsense Metta Lawless, to keep the peace! Tensions between Meks, Muties, Uplifts and Humans are rife and only she can bring the change that Badrock needs. But for the local branch of ruthless inter-galactic hypercorp, Munce Inc. change is bad for business… How far will they go to protect their investments?
Kingdom
Out into the wilderness they trek, led by the Urgings from their Masters, charged with keeping Them off of his lawn. The pack, led by Gene the Hackman, are strong, experienced soldiers – they don’t know exactly what Them are, but they have their orders, and Them are to be scrapped at every opportunity. The Masters must be obeyed. But the The Masters are not all they appear to be and when Gene the Hackman’s pack scatter he will come face to face with a world shattering truth! With art by Richard Elson (Judge Dredd) this action-packed tale of earth’s far future is not to be missed!
The Out
Cyd Finlea is a photo-journalist working for the publishers Neographic. It has been a decade since she left Earth and travelled to into the deepest reassesses of outer space – otherwise known as THE OUT. Her encounters include meetings with strange alien societies and ex-pat humans, an experience that she shares with her trusty sentient backpack… This exciting, first volume features the inventive visuals of Mark Harrison.
The VCs
2581 AD, Earth SOLAR SYSTEM. Fifty years have passed since the human/Geek war and the surrender of the Geek homeworld. Once a star-trooper and a member of the elite battle unit known as The V.C.s, Steve Smith is now just a janitor haunted by the memories of his fallen comrades. When the Geeks launch an unprecedented attack on the humans during peace celebrations, Smith is dragged back into a bloody and vicious conflict. But this time things are different. This time the Geeks have developed a weapon that may destroy Earth itself! This sequel to a 2000 AD classic featues stunning full colour art from Henry Flint (Judge Dredd) and Anthony Williams (Spiderman).
Wardog
In the aftermath of an apocalyptic world war, humanity shares the world with sentient robots, and the population has fractured into countless tiny enclaves, each with their own customs and laws, linked only by the Sailrail network. Feuds and wars rage between these enclaves on a near-constant basis, and human-robot animosity is on the rise. Enter Jack Wardog, a man with a hole in his mind; he woke up one day with all his memories wiped, and in their place, an explosive charge with a timer display had been bonded to his forehead. Now Jack works as a Bombhead, taking on suicide missions with near-impossible deadlines — and if he fails, the consequences are terminal!
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2322 is OUT NOW!
Call me The Mighty Tharg, bringer of Thrills to a planet much in need of a dose of zarjazosity!
Welcome, my Squaxx, to the latest blast of cosmic excitement courtesy of the hardworking creator droids behind the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic. Judge Dredd battles bloodthirsty climbers of the corporate ladder in the second part of Succession; the Imperium prepares for its last stand against the Scorchers in Proteus Vex; Cyd searches for answers regarding the Up in The Out; the fightback agains the shadow-creatures begins in The Order; and sharpshooting ABC Warrior Joe Pineapples reaches the end of his solo adventure!
March is proving a busy month here at the Command Module with numerous publications released over the next four weeks demanding your attention. Out next week is the latest Devlin Waugh collection The Reckoning by Aleš Kot, Mike Dowling and Patrick Goddard, and Judge Dredd: Regicide by Arthur Wyatt, Rob Williams, Jake Lynch and Ian Richardson compiles the recent Red Queen storyline. Joining them from the Treasury of British Comics is the third volume of The Leopard From Lime Street by the Tully, Bradbury and Western droids. Read an extract in Meg 454 — also out next week!
2000 AD Prog 2322 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Eoin Coveney & Chris BlytheScript: Ken Niemand / Art: Leonardo Manco / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Succession, part two
Mega-City One, 2145 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, a reshuffle at the top of Curare Corp has become a violent free-for-all…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part eleven
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having learned what the Zoto have done to her, escapes with old pal Cheerio…
Former war-droids, the ABC Warriors were reassigned to bring peace to the frontier planet of Mars. Comprising Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol and Happy Shrapnel, the Mek-Nifcent Seven’s sharpshooter was Joe Pineapples, a robot with more secrets than most. Now he and sewer-droid Ro-Jaws are at the other end of the universe — Joe n’ Ro, lost in space, out of gas, out of love n’ outta luck!
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part six
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part eleven
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2321 is OUT NOW!
I am The Mighty Tharg, supreme channeller of Thrill-power via the gift of the Galaxy’s Greatest! Time once again, my Squaxx, to engage imaginations and take a trip into my zarjaz universes.
A brand-new case for Judge Dredd starts this week, courtesy of Ken Niemand and former Sláine artist Leonardo Manco, as ‘Succession’ sees corporate bloodletting reach typically Mega-City maniacal levels (it’s forty-six years, of course, since JD made his ghafflebette debut in Prog 2 and go on to become the UK’s most important comics character).
Elsewhere, Joe Pineapples and Ro-Jaws are falling through space in the penultimate part of ‘Tin Man’, Cyd makes a pilgrimage to question the Truth Trumpet of Celestial Knowledge in The Out, Midnight Indicating Shame leads her rebellion in Proteus Vex, and The Order crash through the chrono-streams!
2000 AD Prog 2321 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by JockScript: Ken Niemand / Art: Leonardo Manco / Colours: Chris Blythe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Succession, part one
Mega-City One, 2145 AD. Home to over 200 million citizens, this urban hell is situated along the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America, where tensions run a constant knife-edge. Unemployment is rife, boredom is universal, and violent crime is rampant. 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!
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part ten
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having learned what the Zoto have done to her, escapes with old pal Cheerio…
Former war-droids, the ABC Warriors were reassigned to bring peace to the frontier planet of Mars. Comprising Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol and Happy Shrapnel, the Mek-Nifcent Seven’s sharpshooter was Joe Pineapples, a robot with more secrets than most. Now he and sewer-droid Ro-Jaws are at the other end of the universe — Joe n’ Ro, lost in space, out of gas, out of love n’ outta luck!
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part five
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part ten
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2320 is OUT NOW!
I am The Mighty Tharg, alien editor of this illustrious SF anthology — Thrillswitch engaged! I bid you galactic greetings, Terrans, to another ghafflebette assault on the senses courtesy of my ever-busy creator-bots. There’s more mekmayhem, time-splitting terror, cosmic carnage and world-hopping wonder in the latest instalments of Joe Pineapples, The Order, Proteus Vex and The Out, plus we have a complete Dredd thriller from the Niemand and McKeown droids as Ol’ Stoney- Face reflects on the dangers he’s faced across his sixty-six years on the streets in Taking Doors!
2000 AD Prog 2320 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Cliff Robinson & Dylan TeagueScript: Ken Niemand / Art: Kieran McKeown / Colours: Matt Soffe / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // Taking Doors, part one
Mega-City One, 2145 AD. Home to over 200 million citizens, this urban hell is situated along the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America, where tensions run a constant knife-edge. Unemployment is rife, boredom is universal, and violent crime is rampant. 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!
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part nine
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having learned what the Zoto have done to her, escapes with old pal Cheerio…
Former war-droids, the ABC Warriors were reassigned to bring peace to the frontier planet of Mars. Comprising Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol and Happy Shrapnel, the Mek-Nifcent Seven’s sharpshooter was Joe Pineapples, a robot with more secrets than most. Now he and sewer-droid Ro-Jaws are at the other end of the universe — Joe n’ Ro, lost in space, out of gas, out of love n’ outta luck!
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part four
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part nine
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2319 is OUT NOW!
Call me Tharg The Mighty, all-powerful Betelgeusian wielder of Thrill-power since 1977!
Welcome once again, Terrans, to the sci-fi anthology that actively engages your imaginations and blows them wide open. Within these scrotnig pages you’ll find the explosive finale to Judge Dredd’s interstellar outing ‘The Hagger They Fall’, plus the latest instalments of The Out, Proteus Vex, The Order and Joe Pineapples — all thrumming with that unmistakable brand of 2000 AD energy!
2000 AD Prog 2319 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Simon Coleby & Jim BoswellScript: Arthur Wyatt & Rob Williams / Art: Paul Marshall / Colours: Dylan Teague / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // The Hagger They Fall, part three
Mega-City One, 2145 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, Dredd’s still tracking down the mercenaries that tried to assassinate him and Maitland on Atlantis…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part eight
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having been questioned after her brush with the Tankinar, she’s escaped…
Former war-droids, the ABC Warriors were reassigned to bring peace to the frontier planet of Mars. Comprising Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol and Happy Shrapnel, the Mek-Nifcent Seven’s sharpshooter was Joe Pineapples, a robot with more secrets than most. Now he and sewer-droid Ro-Jaws are at the other end of the universe — Joe n’ Ro, lost in space, out of gas, out of love n’ outta luck!
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part three
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part eight
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2318 is OUT NOW!
Mighty are my powers and mighty is the prog — I am Tharg, Betelgeusian Thrill-channeller! Get that Wednesday feeling, Terrans, as once again another circuit-shattering issue of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic downloads into your reality!
This week, future lawman Judge Dredd fends off an alien assault as he tries to track down wanted bounty hunter Keeper Hag; Cyd learns some shocking truths on the Zoto homeworld in The Out; sharpshooter Joe Pineapples reveals a past assassination attempt on Blackblood in ‘Tin Man’; the Scorcher fleet descends on the Imperium Ascendant in Proteus Vex; and The Order are under pressure from the shadow-kraken in Heart of Darkness — a brain-blasting line-up of stories, I think you’ll agree, all of them supercharged with high-energy excitement!
2000 AD Prog 2318 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Toby WillsmerScript: Arthur Wyatt & Rob Williams / Art: Paul Marshall / Colours: Dylan Teague / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // The Hagger They Fall, part two
Mega-City One, 2145 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, Dredd’s still tracking down the mercenaries that tried to assassinate him and Maitland on Atlantis…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part seven
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having been questioned after her brush with the Tankinar, she’s escaped…
Former war-droids, the ABC Warriors were reassigned to bring peace to the frontier planet of Mars. Comprising Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol and Happy Shrapnel, the Mek-Nifcent Seven’s sharpshooter was Joe Pineapples, a robot with more secrets than most. Now he and sewer-droid Ro-Jaws are at the other end of the universe — Joe n’ Ro, lost in space, out of gas, out of love n’ outta luck!
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part two
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part seven
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
Every week, 2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest artwork and 2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes you behind-the-scenes with the headline artists responsible for our top cover art – join bloggers Richard Bruton and Pete Wells as they uncover the greatest covers from 2000 AD!
This week, it’s 2000 AD Prog 2317 and on the cover we have the unmistakable artwork of Mark Harrison with yet another incredible cover for The Out!
Inside the Prog, we have more spectacular sci-fi adventuring in The OUT Book Three by Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison.
After her Tankinar troubles, Cyd was looking at a lifetime of house arrest on the Unanima capital world – and then she found out that someone had left the back door open. How did it happen? More importantly, why did it happen and is it part of some plan on the part of the Unanima? Well, that’s something we’re going to discover as this amazing series unfolds. For the moment though, Cyd’s getting out of there and back into the Out as quick as possible…
Right then, over to Mark Harrison for the breakdown of the cover. As usual from Mark, it’s a fascinating deep dive into the artist’s mind and shows you just how much goes into making the cover look THIS good…
MARK HARRISON: Not much to say on this one I’m afraid as it was it was another case of knowing exactly what I wanted to do and just pitching it to Tharg.
[Well, he says there’s not much to say, but… well, you’ll see what I mean]
The idea had been kicking around in my head for some time. A simple image of a traveller walking in an open desert thumbing a lift from a city-sized spaceship hanging in a cloudless sky.
But oh boy, how simplicity has a tendency to be a trial of complexity when computers add numerous iterations and choice to the mix.
(Mark’s preliminary cover)
Cyd was always walking away but I moved her around, centred her, resized, her, and wondered what worked best. This happened with all the elements, squinting to see what “felt” right.
The background was to be a highway, like the poster for Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which I had already parodied in the Luwot Holiday in Grey Area).
[For more on Grey Area – keep reading to the end where we’ve got a load of Mark Harrison bonus features for you!]
(And here’s that famous Close Encounters poster– and Mark’s homage from Grey Area)
>
Maybe an Alien city in the background? But it was all too fussy and detracted from the clean simplicity.
I added Saturn rings, cloud effects… trying to make it otherworldly… No.
It had to be stripped down to the basics. Which I found to be very hard to do. But it helps if you follow those who have gone before.
(One of those ‘evocative sci-fi book covers with an endless horizon’ that Mark’s talking about – by the great Chris Foss)
I wanted to evoke those evocative sci-fi book covers with an endless horizon. That sterile bleakness that they conveyed. (To do it justice it should have flowed onto the back cover.)
I spent more time removing stuff I’d added, reducing and reducing until in some versions it was just silhouettes or lights – an impression of something over the horizon.
It was all about mood – this was supposed to be a moment of stillness.
Maybe some library sound effect of desert wind catching Cyd’s dress in the midday sun? (A direct downlight – I played with lighting but I wanted this hot dry stillness) Foley work of Converse on a glassy path? The ominous low-frequency electrical hum of something very massive hanging in space? Maybe a tinny sound of music playing from Bag or the chirping of alien desert cicadas?
If the ship had come to land it would have been hissing steam and dripping fluids like a steam train or David Lynch spaceship. I love “organic” detailing applied to machines.
The ship itself went through many changes. I started off with an organic look, curved shapes, lots of lights, lots of fuss. Then I went with simple shapes – spheres, pyramids… bricks?
BRICKS.
Of course! It was there from the off. No prizes for guessing the reference here. Yeah you got me, but I painted the target large and loud in luminous paint.
“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy.
Everyone should know The Hitchhikers Guide. A massive influence on me and my teenage years (and onwards) and on my very first strip the Travellers which had irreverent (but adoring) humour poking fun at the sci-fi clichés of the genre. (There’s still a bit of that in The Out.) I had to acknowledge that beloved book in some way.
[Again, for more on The Travellers, keep going to the end and the bonus features!]
So the ship became a rectangle, a yellow brick, and that also informed the fishing ship in the strip which Cyd hitches a lift with.
Again, I messed with detail, Foss (as in Chris Foss) stripes, and ‘greebles’ – the little model kit parts sci-fi model makes would put on starships for detail.
(Two more reference pieces Mark wanted you to see.On the left, the Vogon Constructor Fleet come to demolish the Earth from Hitchhiker’s Guide. On the right, some of those greebles, here on a Star Wars Star Destroyer – and for more on greebles, have a look at this great Den Of Geek article on them.)
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But it was getting too fussy again.
It’s a really fine line because I do subscribe to the John Harris school of mass; that something looks bigger the less detail it has on it on it. Harris is an artist that can capture mass very simply with a loose style that coveys atmospheric depth and scale.
(More of Marks’s recommended reading – John Harris’ work)
So I tried it but my brain screamed ‘needs detail’ so I compromised.
I mixed in an overlay of a fishing trawler (since this wasn’t supposed to be a JCB in space) to give me some ideas and a texture to sell a Lego feel.
The interior of the ship suggest cargo containers so I wanted that grunge and panelling on the outside.
There was an open maw at the front for when the ship deploys a magnetic field; a “tractor net” to capture space-borne squid-like creatures. As an Easter egg, the maw’s light effect is copied from the planet killer in ‘The Doomsday Machine’, one of my favourite Star Trek TOS episodes.[Again, check out the bonus features!]
I submitted two versions of the cover so I’ll be interested to see which one they go with.
Well, by now we’ve all seen the final cover. But here’s the alternative one…
And here’s the clean version of the cover that was used…
It was a cover I fought with. To make it look simple. Fighting the desire to add beyond what was necessary.
Knowing what to leave out in comic art (and still make it readable) is just as important as the line work itself and can be considered a sign of maturity and excellence.
Thankfully I still have a way to go and have fun along the way. I’m still learning and that’s the great thing about this job.
Never give in! Never surrender! (your style!)
And there we have it, yet another quite magnificent look inside the head of the artist. Mark actually apologised when he sent this one over as he was unimaginably busy for various reasons and was concerned this one was a bit short and light! You know, these art droids that make your weekly Prog so thrill powered really are the most wonderful things!
Anyway, thanks so very much to Mark for sending it along – it’s yet another classic image to grace the cover, a cover you can find wherever you get the Galaxy’s Greatest on the front of 2000 AD Prog 2317, including the 2000 AD web shop, right this minute!
Now, be sure to check out Mark’s previous Covers Uncovered entries (all as wonderful as this one) for the covers of Prog 2187, Prog 2193, Prog 2251, Prog 2254, Prog 2261, and Prog 2314, and be sure to go back and read the interview with Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison all about The Out right here.
And of course, no shelf, physical or digital, should be without the first volume of a series that’s going to go down in history as one of the greats of 2000 AD… The OUT.
Now, a few bonus features for you, because frankly Mark always sends along so much, fills his Covers Uncovered pieces with so many references, that there isn’t always space to fit them all in!
So, you all need to check out the work of Chris Foss, John Harris, you should certainly all go and immerse yourselves in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy (start with the radio show or the books, then move onto the BBC TV show), and of course Close Encounters is a sci-fi classic you should all have watched!
As for one of those Easter eggs Mark mentioned, the ‘open maw at the front for when the ship deploys a magnetic field; a “tractor net” to capture space-borne squid-like creatures…’ that he copied from the Star Trek Original Series episode The Doomsday Machine. Well here’s the panel from this week’s episode of the Out and a still from ST:TOS…
And here are the panels from this week’s episode where we first see how Mark’s ideas took shape, where, in his words, ‘the ship became a rectangle, a yellow brick and that also informed the fishing ship in the strip which Cyd hitches a lift with’ …
Next, Mark mentioned his first-ever published strip, The Travellers. Well, this was a new one on me, so I asked him about it. According to Mark, it was his ‘humorous take on the role-playing game Traveller. It was published in White Dwarf Magazine back in the 80’s. It was a one-page strip that was my first commissioned work that I wrote and illustrated.’
Well, if you haven’t ever seen it before, there’s great news, as the whole thing has been archived over at 2000 AD.org (Barney, the monumental 2000 AD resource site) at this sub-site – http://www.2000ad.org/markus/travellers/.
So, here’s a little look at what you can find there…
And finally, Mark also mentioned that he’d already referenced Close Encounters in his previous 2000 AD work with Dan Abnett, when they collaborated on the second book of the excellent Grey Area, which was the strip that introduced me to Mark’s artwork and one I absolutely love.
Here’s what it was all about…
North America, 2045. The Global Exo Segregation Zone (aka the ‘Grey Area’) is a huge holding area in Arizona housing aliens hoping to visit earth: a melting pot for disputes, crime and inter-species misunderstandings!
The only thing standing in the way of chaos is the Exo Transfer Control squads: heavily-armed immigration cops that keep the peace and make sure everyone has their papers in order… E.T.C. Captain Adam Bulliet has a lot on his plate; The Arakshu want revenge on humanity for their dead ambassador, increasing numbers of aliens are having rapturous visions, and his fraternisation with Officer Birdy isn’t nearly as discrete as he thought. Not to mention a dizzyingly colossal god star is descending on Earth, and Bulliet’s team are the ones suiting up to meet ‘n’ greet the second coming. But they might end up going further than they expect…
So, it’s obviously a perfect opportunity to give you a little of that to gawk at as well, isn’t it?
ATTENTION, EARTHLETS – 2000 AD Prog 2317 is OUT NOW!
BORAG THUNGG, EARTHLETS! Call me The Mighty Tharg, the ebullient emerald editor of this awe-inspiring anthology!
We blast into February with a couple of new stories — Judge Dredd deals with the continuing fallout from the Atlantis attack in ‘The Hagger They Fall’ by Rob Williams, Arthur Wyatt and Paul Marshall, and we return to the edge of time for the final arc of Kek-W and John Burns’ historyspanning series The Order.
We last left Anna Kohl and co being attacked by the shadowcreatures that have been infiltrating the fractured chronology — now, in ‘Heart of Darkness’, see whether she can be reunited with her lost love Ritterstahl as her compatriots battle the forces of the evil Francis Bacon!
2000 AD Prog 2317 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps! Don’t forget that if you buy an issue of 2000 AD in the first week of its release then postage in the UK is free!
Cover art by Mark HarrisonScript: Arthur Wyatt & Rob Williams / Art: Paul Marshall / Colours: Dylan Teague / Letters: Annie Parkhouse
JUDGE DREDD // The Hagger They Fall, part one
Mega-City One, 2145 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, Dredd’s still tracking down the mercenaries that tried to assassinate him and Maitland on Atlantis…
Script: Dan Abnett / Art: Mark Harrison / Letters: Simon Bowland
THE OUT // Book Three, part six
The furthest edge of the universe, far into the future. Cyd Finlea is photo-journalist working for the publishers Global Neographic, travelling deep into outer space — otherwise known as THE OUT — and cataloguing the alien societies that she encounters. She left Earth ten years ago and has been seeking other ex-pat humans — but now, having been questioned after her brush with the Tankinar, she’s escaped…
Former war-droids, the ABC Warriors were reassigned to bring peace to the frontier planet of Mars. Comprising Hammerstein, Deadlock, Blackblood, Steelhorn, Mongrol and Happy Shrapnel, the Mek-Nifcent Seven’s sharpshooter was Joe Pineapples, a robot with more secrets than most. Now he and sewer-droid Ro-Jaws are at the other end of the universe — Joe n’ Ro, lost in space, out of gas, out of love n’ outta luck!
Script: Kek-W / Art: John Burns / Letters: Jim Campbell
THE ORDER // Heart of Darkness, part one
Throughout history, mankind has been under threat of extermination by the Wurms, creatures that break into our reality. Defending humanity are THE ORDER, a band of warriors that have fought the entities across the centuries. But time has become fractured, and the despotic Francis Bacon is determined to rule a vast empire. Now, The Order must battle the shadow-creatures at the edge of time itself…
Script: Mike Carroll / Art: Jake Lynch / Colours: Jim Boswell / Letters: Simon Bowland
PROTEUS VEX // Crawlspace, part six
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 — became an enemy of the Alliance when he released info about past war crimes. But now war with the Scorchers has broken out…
