Tainted and Survival Geeks are the stars of the newest set of stories so far.

Kek-W will always hold a spot as one of my favorite writers in the Progs after his initial run on The Order hit so many high notes. The latest run wasn't as tight, and the initial Deadworld story was a little too stilted to flow well as a comic, despite the promise the story had in that it was outlining the origins of the four Dark Judges. Tainted is much more brisk than the previous Deadworld story, and Kendall's minimal but muddy inks create a drab world that is too depressing to even resemble ours. Showing new, unfamiliar things happening in a story for the first time is difficult in the Progs since there are only so many pages these creators have to work with. This team, however, is making quick work of showing us the problems that Deadworld faced and the factions that were on either end of its downfall.

Survival Geeks is still a hoot, and not even overwhelmingly so despite the fact that the band of misfits has doubled in size now that they're in the dimension-hopping home of their gender-swapped alternate universe counterparts. The Firefly reference is a happy reminder that the geekyness is not limited to the characters themsevles but is also a nod to the demographic who are likely to enjoy the comic. I'm also a big fan of the gender-swapped movie posters. Another great feature of the gender-swap gag so far is that the women are essentially better at everything, from inventions to their pets, which is an unexpected underscore to how much of a group of fuck-ups we're dealing with in these main characters. On top of all of this cleverness is a comic that really stands out with its own visual style and fun, colorful pages.

It usually takes me a few chapters to get into Carrol and MacNeil on Dredd, so I will likely have more to say about that soon. O'Grady is excellent as always on colors.

[button btn_url="" btn_color="pink" btn_size="large" btn_style="default" btn_outlined="no" link_target="blank" link_rel="" icon_left="" icon_right=""]Score: 3/5[/button]

2000 AD - Prog 1974 Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: Rebellion Price: £2.55 Print / £1.99 Digital Format: Print/Digital Website