Thrill-Hunter: 2000AD - Prog 2007

Borag Thungg Fellow Earthlets,

Another prog, another jam-packed edition of thrills yet again this week.

Following on from last progs Act of Grud storyline, JUDGE DREDD is back where he belongs, cleaning up the streets in THE CUBE ROOT OF EVIL. As an aside I am hoping for a follow-up to Act of Grud, a three-parter that elbow-nudged its way through lore and references to previous story-arcs and has real promise to push Dredd beyond his usual law enforcement duties (plus Judge Sam makes a great 'fish-out-of-water' in comparison to Dredd's experienced 'one-step ahead' mind set). Back to this current prog and we catch up with ol' Joe looking into an attack on a food substitute research facility. In terms of scripting this is very much a groundwork issue and there are no major surprises here, though Dredd's awkwardness in acting in an official capacity rather than "breaking heads" makes for some amusing dialogue, especially as a character not known for letting his guard down. Worth mentioning here is Jake Lynch vibrant and discordant art work, wherein Lynch goes from large spectacle to minute detail without breaking stride. Another element of Lynch's art that stands out is in his profiling and capturing of Dredd as a physical presence, notably tall, thick-set, precise and methodical. In all, a few satisfying nods to get this plot on it's way coupled with some interesting characterisation should definitely deliver over the next few weeks.

It's the end of the world, but not as we know it for FLESH: GOREHEAD this week, as the team face an extinction event that (should have) killed off the dinosaurs. More interesting than the build-up, for me, is the fallout, i.e where exactly Pat Mills is going to take Flesh from here? A decidedly more hostile environment (which is saying something) takes the gloves off the proceedings and tensions can finally come to a head. A nice touch from Clint Langley's art is in his use of the palette that is available rather than the isn't, with the contrast of light from the somewhat explosive opening to the extremely dark after the end of the world!

HUNTED pushes towards an epic showdown promised in last weeks prog. Primarily a shoot-out, this is mainly an action-oriented strip. The last few weeks have built up each of the grizzled survivors and their respective skills. PJ Holden crafts excellent action scenes, giving great implication of locomotion and coupled with Len O'Grady's superb colouring brings out the vivid backgrounds of a death planet. A tense strip this prog with more promised next week, Gordon Rennie has kept us at arms length with plot twists aplenty and I, for one, cannot wait.

A SAVAGE end (yep...) to THE MARZE MURDERER last week, this week gives us another tense stand off, as events start to catch up with Savage and the Volgan net closes in. There is a decided balancing act in this weeks strip, with the dialogue flowing as quickly as the gunfire. The action in Savage in the last few weeks has relied heavily on the gratuitousness of the violence, this may only appeal to some tastes but to be honest it is very much the noir narrative roots showing through. The cliff-hanger ending is a decent climax to the strip and its always promising for the strip to explore the sci-fi elements a little more prominently. 

The COUNTERFEIT GIRL got rather cryptic last week, not unexpected given the strips nature of riffing on identity. There are revelations aplenty this week, in a strip that has dished up a fair share of twists. With this being the first chapter of Counterfeit Girl, there is still drip-fed world building going on, but Milligan and Dayglo have worked this in seamlessly. Hopefully this strip is deemed worthy of a second run, as Libra (fairly sure that's her name now) has made for a streetwise and compelling layered protagonist. Coupled with the strangely Trump-esque antagonist in Sir Albion, there have been plenty of genuine thrills in this Counterfeit Girl.

Till next time, Splundig vur Thrigg