Published by Rebellion
For the last few weeks, three of 2000AD’s strip slots have been taken up by tales from the universe of Mega City One. The ongoing Judge Dredd strip has continued to detail the aftermath of the devastating Chaos, while The Simping Detective followed undercover Wally Squad judge Jack Point in his private investigations, and Low Life has told the story of Dirty Frank, who wakes up on the moon with no memory of how he got there.
Each strip has forged a different narrative and illustrative style, and readers probably assumed this surfeit of stories from the Mega City reflected public interest in the new Dredd movie. With Prog 1807, the full scope of Tharg’s plans are revealed, as Dredd’s pursuit of a data disk lost by murdered Judge Folger brings him crashing into the storyline of The Simping Detective. Not only that, but the disk’s contents have been uploaded to the mysterious shark like Luna employer of Dirty Frank.
This collision of stories is breathtaking, both in its execution and its underlying conceit, one of the bravest moves of the title in recent years. Prog 1808 sees the stories continuing to forge their separate but interrelated paths, and who knows when they might intersect again.
Amidst these editorial tricks, it would be easy to lose sight of Brass Sun, but this wholly original strip gets richer with each instalment, using a real economy of textual storytelling and stunning artwork to create the unique universe and compelling storyline within it.
Back issues are readily available if you’ve missed the preceding few Progs, but this is one period of 2000AD’s history that comic fans will be talking about for years to come.
