Preview: 2000 AD Prog 2288

It's that time once again when we take a temporary halt in usual proceedings, as 2000 AD Prog 2288 is being taken over! It is another special all-ages edition of the Galaxy's Greatest!

Within these pages, you'll find another case for Cadet Dredd as he investigates disappearances at the Alien Zoo in Zootrapolis by Liam Johnson and Joel Carpenter; Roger Langridge and Brett Parson reunite for a new Pandora Perfectcaper as a giant chicken rampages through the city; wheeler-dealing duo Scooter & Jinx return and must track down a missing actor in The Big, Grand Souffle of Nothing; we head back to the rundown comprehensive school for wizards for the second episode of David Barnett and Anna Morozova's Lowborn High as Andy Frost is co-opted into the Orbitus playoffs. And there's a mind-bending short story in Future Shocks: Into the Void from Karl Stock and Tom Newell!

• UK and DIGITAL: 29 June 2022 £3.25
• NORTH AMERICA: 27 July $32 (per pack)
• DIAMOND: APR221757
• COVER: PETER YONG

In this issue:

Cadet Dredd: Zootrapolis
by Liam Johnson (writer) Joel Carpenter (artist) John Charles (colourist) Annie Parkhouse (letterer)

Mega-City One, 2076 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! 

Lowborn High: Good Sport
by David Barnett (writer) Anna Morozova (artist) Jim Campbell (letterer)

For as long as anyone can remember, Wychdusk Manor has been the school to which all the top magical novices are sent, where they are trained to become the world's greatest wizards. There, students are taught every form of spellcasting by the wisest of mages, and to be part of Wychdusk's alumni is an incredible honour. But what about those that don't make the grade, that don't have the talent or the family name to make it to this prestigious establishment? For them, there's LOWBORN HIGH, a rundown inner-city comprehensive that is often struggling with funding, but its pupils can still be capable of some truly amazing feats...

Future Shocks: Into The Void
by Karl Stock (writer) Tom Newell (artist) Barbara Nosenzo (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 future, the online world will become ever more sophisticated, allowing users to leave reality — or solidstate — behind and exist in an environment of nothing but memes and dreams...

Scooter & Jinx: The Big Grand Souffle of Nothing
by James Peaty (writer) Steve Roberts (artist) Simon Bowland (letterer)

Scooter Occultatum was working at Mondo's Mektail Bar on Eco-Point when she encountered Jinx Calhoun, a rogue and a thief, who has more than enough secrets of his own and plenty of enemies with scores to settle. When gangsters came after them, keen to get their hands on something Jinx had stolen, the pair went on the run, Jinx discovering in the process that Scooter is in fact a Bone Machine, a highly lethal cybernetic organism. When Jinx was severely wounded, Scooter managed to save his life but lost her self-repairing functionality — and the two became bonded at a level neither them fully understands...

Pandora Perfect: Feed the Bird
by Roger Langridge (writer) Brett Parson (artist) Simon Bowland (letterer)

Earth, the far future. While the towering starscrapers and flying cars may make this look like some idealised Utopia, crime is still a major problem, and there's no felon more wanted than the nefarious Pandora Perez — burglar, safe-cracker, armed bandit and all-round career criminal. Just when the authorities thought that they'd finally managed to incarcerate her, her loyal robot assistant Gort came to her rescue and succeeded in breaking her out of her cell. Despite being a wanted woman, Pandora's still up to her usual confidence tricks, and now she's looking to score a big payday by stealing some pills that increase the size of poultry...

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