Review: 2000 AD – Prog 1942

I am going to try and contain my excitement for the inevitable return of The Order (as previewed in the credits) as Absalom comes to an end in this week's Prog. "Under a False Flag" was my first extended exposure to Absalom, and I had mixed feelings about it.  Harry is one hell of a character and pretty much carries the series on his back, but even with the aid of some ass-kicking partners and killer (literally) demon designs, it teetered on the edge of dull.  The archetype of supernatural investigator is always going to be appealing to me, but I thought that Absalom was unable to consistently pull me in and make me feel invested in the story.

2000-AD-Prog-1942While Helium continues to showcase D'Israeli's stellar artwork (that last page!), Outlier has made it so that I definitely want to go back and read the earlier parts of this series.  Often times in comics, especially in annoyingly huge-in-scale superhero comics from Publishers-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, a reader feels an obligation to go back and catch up on a particular character.  Usually, this is because a story spirals into pure continuity porn.  Outlier, however, has sparked genuine interest by spending most of its effort fleshing out an interesting and original world.

I want to gush about this week's Dredd, as usual, but I am so ecstatic with the direction this story is going that I don't want to ruin it for anyone else.  Suffice it to say, the story threads that "Enceladus: Old Life" has us following started with several disparate Dredd stories which are now converging.  The fact that I can follow them is confirmation that I'm finally a Dredd-head.  I can't imagine I would enjoy this as much had I not been reading "Enceladus: New Life," but that's life in the Progs.

It would be a great move, if this series acts as a concluding arc of the penal colony revolts on Titan and that of Nixon more generally, to collect the related stories into a volume or two of Dredd stories.  It would be a great mix of smaller stories and big-time hijinks.


Score: 4/5


2000 AD – Prog 1942 Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: 2000 AD Price: £1.99 (Digital) £2.49 Release Date: 8/5/2015 Format: Weekly; Print/Digital