We’re back with 2026AD, where I review every issue of 2000AD published in 2026. This week we’ve got a major new character debut with Prog 2467 so let’s jump in.
Judge Dredd: Death of a Judge
- Annie Parkhouse (Letterer)
- Chris Blythe (Colourer)
- John Wagner (Writer)
- Mike Perkins (Artist)
Dredd and Ronald close in on the person who tried to kill him, and Dredd finds himself in a somewhat reflective mood. Perkins throws Dutch angles galore into this story of a colossal presence in the city realising everything that’s happened is a consequence of his choices. There’s a tension to every element of this story, a sense of people talking too loudly, actions janky and panicked. It’s expressed through every creative’s work and it gives us a sense of both the city and Dredd’s mindset. Both on edge, both tense and ready for war, maybe with each other. But what really lands here is Ronald, big and smart and intimidating and somehow more empathetic and likable than Dredd. The crucial image here is Dredd realising the robot is better liked, and better with people, than he is. The crucial line is Dredd, the living embodiment of constancy, admitting he may have some things to learn. It’s quite a pivot, from the radicalisation through parent murder of a child to societal change inside ten pages but this team can do it. They do it so well inf act you almost forget this story is called Death of a Judge...
Herne & Shuck: Power Trip
- Annie Parkhouse (Letterer)
- Gary Caldwell (Colourer)
- David Barnett (Writer)
- Lee Milmore (Artist)
Caris gets taken, Herne gets a ride and Mr Ramsey-Hall meets St. Michael. The biggest scale instalment yet runs three plot threads in one part and makes it work. Milmore’s Erskinian tension and just-this-side-of-otherworldly art renders everything very well but the St Michael scene is what sticks. The queasy, oil on water combination of Gerry Anderson style secret headquarters and a demonic figure shackled beneath it is a great, unpleasant image made doubly so by the bold choice Caldwell makes. Parkhouse’s lettering shifts us through three different accents very well and Barnett’s script gives us action movie stakes-raising, gentle folk pastoral, with maybe a little horror and curdled Gerry Anderson all at the same speed and wit. Great stuff.
Judge Dee
- Simon Bowland (Letterer)
- Simon Coleby (Artist)
- Jack Davies (Colourer)
- Ben Wheatley (Writer)
She’s a Psi-Judge! He’s the demon trapped in her head because of a botched exorcism! They fight crime, and she feeds the souls of the guilty to him! MAN this is fun! Writer and director Ben Wheatley hits the ground running twice, status quo in place and then nesting a flashback in to give us some context and it works so well. Dee is an instantly likable character too and there’s a fun tension baked into her from the jump. Dee’s a Psi Judge, traditionally viewed (tolerated) as eccentric by Justice Department. She’s also young, desperate to impress and if the demon is to be believed, responsible for both a botched exorcism and him being trapped here. She’s also clearly a believer in the same way Dredd is, meaning she’s a balled fist of contradiction looking for a face to punch. It’s a great conceit and one that Wheatley deftly steers away from every obvious choice with the demon as grounded and sensible as Dee when it comes to case work. Simon Coleby’s burly art style is a great fit too, rendering the underground spaces of the city with enormously fun horror movie aesthetics while Bowland’s letters and Davies’ colours give the demon the look and ‘accent’ of a sentient purple oil slick. Enormous nasty fun from the get go. Can’t wait for the next issue. Also, as is always the case, every name means something. Seeing Jack Parsons referenced was an especially clever touch.
Tharg’s 3rillers Present: Money Shot: High Stakes
- Kek-W (Writer)
- Rob Steen (Letterer)
- Rob Richardson (Artist)
Rob Richardson’s grounded, expansive style is a perfect fit for this fast-moving story of an accountant, an impossible city and…is that Vector 13 MiBs pursuing her?! Deep cut continuity is, thankfully, meaningless here because Kek-W does a great job of embracing the pulp rule ‘start late, finish early.’ In short order we get a great set up, a fun main character in Carla Dietrich and a brilliant stylistic twist. The shift from grounded, Michael Mann-ian sunshine to the black, white and red of The City is a genius idea and one Richardson and Steen execute with the ease of a well planned Vegas heist. The twist at the end of part one is a little janky, but with two more acts to go, I’m confident it’ll level out. My first 3riller, and a format I instantly really enjoy.
The Discarded
- Peter Milligan (Writer)
- Simon Bowland (Letterer)
- Jim Boswell (Colourer)
- Kieran McKeown (Artist)
Veera murders her opponent, becomes the new Sister Trash and gains a new mission although may not want it. The gears grinding is almost audible this episode as the tone shifts again. This time it’s aiming at something both contextual and redemptive, with Veera’s past explored fairly well, if still with the same sort of declamatory dialogue that bogged down the last instalment. What I can’t get past here is the 1, 2 punch of extreme, and meaningless, violence that’s executed in a weirdly coy way. Veera beats another woman to death this episode. Admittedly it’s made clear it’s a fight to the deaht but the story doesn’t seem to know how to deal with it , as we see Veera land one punch, and then see her covered in blood and her opponent with her face staved in. A character introduced solely to be murdered the next issue, which is a shitty look however you cut it.
This is the least successful instalment yet for me. The flow of the action, the escalation, the emotional beat of her having to ‘get as crazy as her dad’ and the massive worldbuilding all struggle for space and get in each other’s way. Even the ambiguity of whether Veera will pick up Sister Trash’s crusade. The oddest episode of the story I’m enjoying the lest in this current line up.