Cover by Clint Langley

AC: They’re clearly going for the collectable cover angle with these ABC Warriors covers, this week depicting a very silvery Joe Pineapples. Altruism probably isn’t the watch-word behind this fairly commercial gesture, but when it’s the schnitt-hot Clint Langley’s work under scrutiny, you might find yourself more than usually forgiving.

GH: It does appear that we're going to get the whole cast of the ABC Warriors in these poster style images, and it's easy to see why. The three images we've had so far have certainly been striking, and each gives Tharg a handy opportunity to reprint them as a series of posters in the not too distant future. Once again, Langley shows just why he's so suited to the ABC Warriors, delivering a fine image that would grab the attention of any sci-fi fan casually browsing in Smiths...

Judgement - Part 2 Script: Gordon Rennie Art: Ian Gibson Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Rico about to make the wrong decision....

Synopsis: We flash back to Dredd and Rico’s days as cadets in the Academy of Law, with the clone boys being paired up with their respective tutors (Judge Morphy in Dredd’s case). The Class of ’79 is about to be tested.

Back in the present and at the scene of the murder, Anderson turns up and probes the victim for psychic residue, picking up some kind of serial number and a figure in a Judge’s uniform on fire amidst the chaos of the ensuing vision.

Later, Anderson and a street Judge are first on the scene when the mysterious killer calling himself Judgement strikes again, this time at a mob family. The street Judge is apparently killed, but Judgement deems Anderson “not guilty” and spares her life.

AC: A rather nifty Dredd story from Gordon Rennie, who seems to have listened to concerns that his work was lacking heart. Here we see him managing to take the minutiae and ruthlessly efficient plotting of previous efforts and combine them with a certain stoic sensitivity, not unlike the best westerns.

He also does a decent job of reconciling the more disparate elements of Mega City One’s large and variable tapestry, bringing the juju of Psi Division (typically never around when they’re needed) and perhaps of the Dark Judges (of whom I don’t mind telling you I’m not a fan, but I’m willing to see which direction will be taken if it is) into the clinical police procedure of Dredd and Ishmael’s work.

Ian Gibson carries off the whole thing with a goodly deal of character, though outside of Halo Jones I’ve never exactly been a fan; his colour work, ironically, seems rather pale to my admittedly untrained eye.

GH: Many of the recent reviewers have been bemoaning the need for these "Origins interludes", and it's easy to see what the concerns are. That this strip was supposed to come after Origins has certainly flagged up the potential lack of "big changes" for Dredd upon the conclusion of the epic - but given that Origins is essentially taking place outside of the city, it does make sense that the status quo would essentially remain back in Mega City One.

Time will tell of course and, in the meantime, this mini-series from Rennie and Gibson is perfect for filling the Origins void. Rennie is on top form here, delving yet more into Dredd's past, making the tale an ideal one to help soften the loss of Origins. Time and time again, he's proven himself as the best writer to take on Dredd, especially in multi-parters, and yet again he's already on the way to creating a compelling storyline that really feels like Dredd. Plus it's great to see Anderson back again, while we wait for Big Robots in the Megazine. Hopefully this heralds greater use of the Psi judge as a supporting character in the weekly Dredds.

As for Gibson, he has recently turned in all his best work when working with Rennie on Dredd and this is no exception. Easily one of the best artists working for the comic and it almost makes up for the Ezquerra hiatus.

Mother London - Part 8 Script: Ian Edginton Art: D'israeli Letters: Ellie De Ville

Sir William before the fateful voyage...

Synopsis: After subduing a peeved Sir William Ashbless, Chipps and Bey sneak into the decadent ballrooms of the City Fathers, disguised in fancy dress costume, and with the aid of a stolen entry sigil. As Bey marvels at the intoxicated debauchery of the proceedings, the two friends catch sight of Lime - although a man dressed in a devil costume appears to take an interest in their actions. They follow lime to the building’s lower levels… where they find a rather familiar looking tree. Chipps says they should leave as soon as possible.

Chipps's fears are justified as he is suddenly stabbed by the disguised devil that was watching them earlier and Lime and his flunkies are upon them. All seems lost, as Lime closes on Bey, but upstairs the party is being crashed by some very odd looking “Salvation Army” workers that appear to be Stickleback's crew...

AC: Perhaps the most daring thrill of recent times, Edginton may have just done for one of the key characters he has so emphatically and complicatedly set up! Some good old fashioned decadent villainy is in order from the madmen who form the villains of the piece (or so we have, thus far, been led to believe), rendered with surprising tastefulness by D’israeli, who sets an example from some of the nerdier artists who have brought the “tits and robots” label down on the Galaxy’s Greatest. Fantastic work as always.

GH: Much like Edginton and D'israei's Leviathan, this has leapt into the position of "instant classic" and is by far my favourite tale in 2000AD since the tale of the stricken ocean liner. Of course, the best things about this tale is that it merely seems to be setting the scene - promising many more Stickleback tales to come. Edginton has created a fascinating world over the last few weeks - and by peppering the strip with guest appearances from the cast members of his other 2000AD tales almost appear to be creating his own Steampunk 2000AD microverse. if all the tales are as of high a calibre as this, The Red Seas and Leviathan - this can only be a good thing.

As for D'israeli's art, the man never ceases to amaze - almost revelling in the new style he's been trying out here. An excellent work by both creators that really deserves a far wider audience than the weekly. If Rebellion really wants to create spin off TV programmes from 2000AD - this wouldn't be a bad place to start...

The Volgan War - Vol 1, Part 8 Script: Pat Mills Art: Clint Langley Letters: Simon Bowland

Blackblood leaps to the rescue...

Synopsis: With the aid of a cannibalised GPS system from his newly deceased cabbie, Joe Pineapples launches a satellite guided shot at Volkhan from several kilometres away. Unfortunately, the unit about to be sacrificed by the ikon himself takes I upon himself to grab Volkhan by the throat, inadvertently pulling him out of the way. Blackblood, currently a Volgan mercenary, twigs Joe’s methodology and manages to locate him by checking the taxi drivers’ roster to track down Easy Steam (or what’s left of him). Not only does Joe now have to shoot his way out, he’s also got three seconds before the bomb-tag implanted in him last issue is detonated…

AC: The scripting of this epic saga of tits and robots (said with love) is beginning to fray; this must be the third time at least that the “beat, beat, beat” thing has come into play, and it sounded dodgy enough the first time! Plus it’s remarkable not only that Joe could legally get into the country his kindred ‘bots are at war with and use bits of a robotic taxi driver to create a homing gun (“MacGuyver can eat my dust”), but for Blackblood to instantly cotton on to this exact process of events?

Clint Langley’s art remains staggering, with everybody searching their dictionaries for new superlatives. Even if Mills were scripting robotic sumo wrestling bouts (could happen, and you know it), it’d still be worth reading for Langley.

GH: OK, the art is phenomenal. There's no getting around that. But the script? Blackblood's astonishingly quick deduction of Pineapples methods was possibly the dumbest thing I've read in 2000AD for some time. Why bother making the gun that Pineapples creates out of the taxi driver seem to be such a clever thing to do if any old fool can guess it in two seconds flat. Surely there are about a dozen different methods that Blackblood could have used to track the assassin down. Unfortunately, this really does feel like lazy scriptwriting of the worst kind, and Mills is far better than this.

Part 8 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Richard Elson Letters: Ellie De Ville Colours: Steve Roberts

The Hackman back in action...

Synopsis: Gene “haves at” the invading xenopteras with his newly acquired firearm while the operative panics within the fortress. Comcon warns that the base stands to be overrun by the bugs, and with Gene uninstructed in the fine art of “reloading”, only twelve per cent casualties among the bugs can be expected. Needless to say, Gene runs out of ammo and finally dives into the encroaching hoards with his bladed weapons, determined to die for the cause he has given his life to. Suddenly, just as Gene seems ready to fall, a new group of “auxes” come up over the horizon… each armed with guns of their own!

AC: This exercise in simplicity continues to wow the crowds with its endlessly endearing characters. It is indeed made up largely of fight scenes, but with Richard Elson and Steve Roberts given the chance to play with an overwhelming force of xenopteras (think Zulu, but with, like, giant bugs), it’s a little more interesting this week. Intriguing developments ahoy, as the simple world of the Hackman branches out a little more next week…

GH: After a few weeks of storytelling that seemed stretched out beyond belief (dog-type things get in a lot of scraps) the past couple of weeks have dramatically changed my perceptions of this tale. While the fights were starting to get dull, the added, and necessary, background detail has been more than enough to make this story a must read. Whereas before I cared little for the Hackman, Abnett has managed to make him something of a tragic and used figure (and we still have to find out what happened to Old Man Gary!). This, combined with superb art from Elson which suits the nature of the story perfectly, and we have another story with a lot more scope beyond this initial outing.

Baby Talk - Part 4 Script: Rob Williams Art: Simon Coleby Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Frank makes his point succinctly ...

Synopsis: Dirty Frank races to the scene of Mortal’s peril as Grey Matters burns to the ground, stopping to make a quick detour at the toy shop… Meanwhile, Mortal tries to blag his way out of a mind swap by trying to pass himself off as another agent of the syndicate’s boss, the “Big Guy”. Unfortunately for him, his would-be partners smell trouble and decide to execute him as a Judge.

It is at this point that Dirty Frank arrives, and after an initial understanding where he mistakes the transplanted baby-minds for zombies, he unleashes a torrent of milk (steady) on the syndicate. In their infantile bodies, they are of course rendered powerless by the sight of the calcium rich treats.

As the Judges move in to arrest the syndicate and reverse the damage down to the children, Mortal wonders who the “Big Guy” was.

AC: A fine ending to a fine story, and the redemption of Low Life is seemingly complete. One wonders if it’s really worth the trouble to follow up on the significantly dangly plot thread signposted in the final frames, but in Rob Williams we trust… perhaps Aimee Nixon’s adventures will bring her into contact with the “Big Guy”, though with characters like the hilarious Dirty Frank and the resourceful, practical Mortal Coil available, I’d not object if Nixon were discretely retired.

Simon Coleby’s art is still made up of rather heavy shapes that take a second of peering at to fully comprehend the events depicted, but there are no stand-out foul-ups this week.

GH: After the muted reception of Aimee Nixon's last outing in Low Life, it's been a pleasure to have Dirty Frank back as the main event. This strip has, over the past few weeks, made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions - an effect that's surprisingly rare in "comics". An excellent tale all round and hopefully in the next Low Life outing, Williams can combine some of this hilarity with some of the grittier aspects of the series.

AC: Another good week for the Galaxy’s Greatest. My year and a couple of months’ subscription ran out with this ‘un; I’ll have to see to that right away, what with more Simon Fraser on Nikolai Dante on the way, and the current line-up being of exceptional quality.

Best Story: Stickleback

GH: 2000AD has started off it's 30th year with the best run of stories in a very long time. Even the cringeworthy moments of the ABC Warriors are still not enough to diminish a thoroughly excellent issue.

Best Story: Stickleback