2000AD - Prog 1873

Last one before the big jumping on issue. Can it wrap everything up and get my thrill power receptors primed for 1874?

Cover by Clint Langley

There have been three fine ABC Warrior covers so far this year and this is the best of the bunch. A fantastic image that got me quite excited to read the story inside. At the moment this is going to be in my top five covers of the year vote.

Judge Dredd: Fit by Rob Williams, Henry Flint and Annie Parkhouse.

A Titan epilogue. Beaten to a pulp Dredd is reconstructed by the speed heal and is back on the streets dispensing justice in no time at all. Meanwhile Robo-Gerhart and Hershey discuss his psychological status or maybe Gerharts's, or even Hershey's.

A pretty good one-shot. The incident with the dead slaves in a shipping container and Dredd tracking down and dealing with the man responsible is effectively handled in nine brutal panels. And it probably tells us everything we need to know about Dredd's current state of mind. I'm not quite sure why Gerhart seems to have relaxed his vendetta against him but I'm sure Rob Williams will pick this up again later.

ABC Warriors: Return to Mars part 12 by Pat Mills, Clint Langley and Annie Parkhouse

Hammerstein is getting the old gang together again and this time I understood the separation between Langley's different art styles for the exterior and interior scenes. And then we get a lovely final panel promising the return of Ro-Busters. I'm actually quite excited by this prospect.

Tharg's 3Rillers: After the Vengeance part 3 by David Baillie, Jon Davis-Hunt, Gary Caldwell and Ellie de Ville

The working class hero turns out to be the bad guy after all and then There's lots of stabbing. It looks very pretty but left me totally unmoved. I thought the first episode was quite promising but it turned out to be a bit of a dud.

Future Shocks: The Flowers of Viber Hinge by David Baillie, Paul Marshall and Simon Bowland.

Nope, no idea at all. Read it twice and still feel that I'm missing something. Is the title meant to be a play on words?

The letters page shows us some fine 2000AD Lego creations. I wish Lego would do a Kickstarter sort of thing for stuff like this. I'd buy a blocky Dredd, and the Cellar of Dredd would get them to their target in no time at all.

Grey Area: I.D. Please by Dan Abnett, Mark Harrison and Ellie De Ville

I'd still like to see a developing story arc in Grey Area rather than these one-off diplomatic incidents that they keep having to clear up. Still looks very nice though.

Pick of the Prog is clearly Dredd, and by quite some way. Although the last page of ABC Warriors/Ro-Busters was fun. Now let's clear the decks and prepare for 1874. I've seen some previews and it's looking great.