New beginnings and one ending this issue. First up, Judge Dredd unsurprisingly puts us back in the city, with no explanation of how he escaped the pit of Shako. Niemand does a good job setting up a tale of horror, with some exposition on page two delivered in a way that felt natural. Nasty last page. Looking forward to what's next.
Aguila concludes with a thoughtful few pages of mercy and a final frame of freakiness, before the confirmation that the next story will be the last. And then we get Intestinauts, which gives the Prog a touch of levity (and vibrancy) but puts its miniature heroes in a sticky situation at the end. Honestly, I think I enjoyed this episode more than most of Indigo Prime already, so I'm happy for the swap.
Brink is essentially five more pages of talking heads that can nonetheless do no wrong, in my eyes. It's got to be up there with the best strips in 2000 AD's history. And then Proteus Vex ends the Prog on another cracker, providing us with more insight into the flesh pilots that, to some extent, just takes us further down the rabbit hole.
2000 AD has been strong for a long while. But this line-up was excellent – one of those times where I blazed through the Prog because everything was so good. Kudos to every writer and artist this issue, and of course also to Tharg and his minions.