Preview: 2000 AD Prog 2170

This week's Prog is a special all-ages edition of the galaxies greatest comic. - the first of no less than four 48-page specials that we'll be getting this year (the others arriving on May, August and November).

Inside, you’ll find a Cadet Dredd tale from Rory McConville and Ilias Kyriazis as Joe faces down monsters from another dimension; clone-soldier Rogue Trooper is back, courtesy of Cavan Scott and Nick Roche, stumbling upon a secret in a toxic Nu Earth swamp; ghost-hunters Eliot and Meera return in Finder & Keeper by Leah Moore, John Reppion and David Tinto, tackling a graveyard guardian; and there's heading to the planet Blas to meet the Gronks for a tale by David Baillie and Rob Davis; plus there’s a case of bad karma in the Future Shock from Karl Stock and Luke Horsman.

• DOWNLOAD REVIEW COPY
• UK and DIGITAL: 26 February 2019 £2.99
• NORTH AMERICA: 26 March 2019 $7.99 (per pack)
• DIAMOND: DEC191838
• COVER: MARK SEXTON

In this issue:

JUDGE DREDD: SCHOOL TRIP
by Rory McConville (writer) Ilias Kyriazis (artist) Gary Caldwell (colourist) Annie Parkhouse (letterer)

Mega-City One, 2077 AD. Home to over 800 million citizens, this urban hell is situated along the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America. On one side is the polluted Black Atlantic, and to the west is the blasted radlands of the Cursed Earth. Overcrowding in the metropolis is rife, unemployment is at ninety per cent, boredom is universal and crime is rampant. Only the Judges — a zero-tolerance police force empowered to dispense instant justice — can stop total anarchy. CADET JOE DREDD — together with his clone-brother Rico — is a rising star in Justice Department, and will one day be its finest officer. Make no mistake, he is the Law!

FINDER & KEEPER: DEAD SIGNAL
by Leah Moore, Jogn Reppion (writer) Davide Tinto (artist) Jim Boswell (colourist) Simon Bowland (letterer)

Somewhere in the UK, 2020. Meera Hundal and Eliot Hunter are a pair of friends at the local Stonecroft school. Although essentially good kids, they find themselves in trouble more often than they’d like thanks to their inability to walk away from a fight. Strong-willed and not afraid to speak their minds, their latest punishment was to help with community clean-up chores — and when they were clearing the house of Victorian ghost-hunter Professor A.J. Mortimer, they came upon the special devices that he used to trap spooks. Now in the possession of spectral vision goggles and a spirit-trap, they’re seeing if they can put them to good use...

FUTURE SHOCKS
by Karl Stock (writer) Luke Horsman (artist) John Charles (colourist) Annie Parkhouse (letterer)

Out in the vast reaches of the universe, there are an infinite number of stories waiting to be told. These cautionary tales pass from traveller to traveller in the spaceports and around campfires on distant planets, acquiring the status of legend, their shocking ends a salutory lesson in hubris. Anything is possible in these twisted trips into the galaxy’s dark side. Abandon your preconceptions, and expect the unexpected. Now, at some point in the undefined future, the science of Karmatology has made reincarnation an experience that can be marketed and sold — choose the entity you want to come back as, and NooU will do the rest!

THE GRONK: THE TROUBLE WITH GRONKSES
by David Baillie (writer) Rob Davis (artist) Jim Campbell (letterer)

Deep in the Gallego system lies the planet Blas, home to the timid alien species known as THE GRONK. Furry bipedal creatures with four arms and mouths in their stomachs, they live a peaceful existence, as far away from any excitement as possible — for Gronks have notoriously weak hearts and fragile constitutions, and the merest fright can make them faint on the spot. Consequently, Gronks are not good with confrontation and keep themselves to themselves, happy to spend their days munching on rocks and metal, their favourite foodstuffs. But their nervous nature does make them ripe for exploitation for any intergalactic bully...

ROGUE TROOPER: SAVAGE SWAMP
by Cavan Scott (writer) Nick Roche (artist) Abigail Bulmer (colourist) Simon Bowland (letterer)

Nu Earth, just one planet among many caught up in a galactic war between the Norts and the Southers. Strategically vital, both sides are desperate to secure it but use of chemical weapons during the conflict has rendered the atmosphere poisonous. Now, soldiers must wear special environment suits to venture onto its surface — to breathe Nu Earth’s air is highly dangerous. So the Southers created the Genetic Infantrymen, bred to be immune to the planet’s lethal cocktail of pollutants — G.I.s like ROGUE TROOPER, the last of his kind. Together with his biochip buddies, he’s hunting for the Traitor General that betrayed them...

Available in print from: newsagents and comic book stores via Diamond
Available in digital from: 2000 AD webshop and apps for iPad, Android, Windows 10