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[M.A.C.H. Zero]

M.A.C.H. Zero was utterly brilliant, a wonderful showcase for Mike Dorey's grimy, gruesome artwork.

M.A.C.H. Zero

With honourable mentions to Chris Weston's prog 2260 Klegg montage, Dylan Teague's impeccably drafted prog 2236 Dredd, Simon Davis's hauntingly minimal brace of Thistlebone covers and of course as ever, all of Cliff Robinson's other phenomenal efforts.

Loved Dan Cornwell's prog 2241 Department K cover too!

Absolutely The Alienist

1. Prog 2217



2. Prog 2257



3. Prog 2248

[The Order]

Okay, I'm finally though my 100-page mega-special - been eking it out so as to prolong the festive thrills

First of all, the most florix of grabundaes to TMO and all his droids for maintaining the thrill-flow throughout another difficult year. It's truly been a pleasure reading everything from the biggest mega-epic to the lowliest Future Shock - and this latest Xmas pulse-pounder keeps the thrill-bar raised high.

Let's lead with the Kek-W double-whammy (grud knows). Always fantastic to see The Order back in the line-up and the idea of a miniature Fantastic Voyage looks like it'll provide plenty more entertaining weirdness. If I had to temper my appreciation, I'd say that for a story with so many characters, some of them do lack a bit of distinct personality; and the archaic dialogue, though there for a purpose of course, sometimes comes across a bit stilted. Despite that, I'm looking forward to seeing where this run takes us. Deadworld continues to impress with its one-shot formula and brings some welcome grisly fun.

It's also great to see Kingmaker back with a bang, the story continuing to play brilliantly to the Gallagher droid's artistic genius. Proteus Vex goes all-in for exposition with a backdrop of gratuitous bloodshed, the perfect combination. It'll be intereseting to see what kind of protagonist Vex makes without Midnight Indicating Shame to play off. Top marks for the bottle ingestion panel!

You know the quality is going to be ramped up whenever the Abnett droid is involved and here, both his efforts toally hit the mark. Yes, Dexter in its current iteration is mining a wealth of dramatic cliches but I'm happy with that TBH, especially when the characters display the author's gift for naturalistic and engaging dialogue. Super cheeky to make this a Christmas instalment! And no matter what time of the year or which prog it's in The Out just sails on through. Do we even know how many episodes are in this chapter? I'm half expecting a special all-ages appropriate instalment to appear in the next Regened prog.

Last but by absolutely no means whatsoever least, two stories from the world of Dredd. 'Trinity' serves up a pitch-perfect blend of humour and gravitas, mixing a plethora of pot-shots at the movie versions with a sombre relfection on the Judges' duty to the people. Combine that with incredible work from the Elson droid and it's all win. Love the smattering of gratuitous dismemberments, and of course that 'retro Dredds' panel is sublime (just a shame the Ezquerra Dredd gets half-covered!).

But if I had to give out a TOP THRILL award to something in this prog (and I am going to give out a TOP THRILL award to something in this prog... right now) it would go to 'Christmas Comes To Devil's Island', without a doubt. It's just a lovely mixture of silly humour, callbacks from progs past and a terrifically wistful denouement, accentuated by the sudden addition of colour. Double oil rations for the Stock, Newell and Parkhouse droids please, TMO.

As for annuals in general, I can't imagine we'll ever see them from Rebellion. They're essentially loss leaders for those that create good ones these days, or full of junk content that costs naff-all to make for the rest. And since hardcovers in general are seemingly hard to shift at full price (look at how even The Out isn't getting one), I can't imagine Rebellion would want to commission a 100+ page annual that'd end up being on sale in WHSmith for a fiver

While I absolutely get that a 2000 AD annual isn't viable on that sort of retail basis, it does surprise me that with an aging contingent of the readership hankering after past glories (going by many of the Regened comments) there hasn't been an attempt at a new, retro-styled annual sold through the website at a premium price. I mean we live in a world where it's possible to get Star Wars books styled like Haynes manuals, so I imagine there must be interest for that sort of thing. 

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

The Mind of Wolfie Smith was mint, loved it.

The Mind of Wolfie Smith

['The Musical!']

Anyway. Like I was saying (in the wrong thread)...

A strange prog, full of endings which aren't quite endings

A bumper wrap for 'The Musical!' which TBH might have been better without the Enormo Overdrive stuff bolted on. Love Fire's paper flames. Probably one for the 'Things that went over your head' thread in General but this is mainly a pastiche of Hamilton, isn't it..?

I guess it would be fair to say nobody saw this coming in Scarlet Traces? It reminds me a bit of the epilogue on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds album that jumps forward to a NASA mission discovering the Martians aren't as dead as people thought. As someone who didn't read the strip from the start, it'll be nice to have a continuation of the story that isn't burdened by so many characters.

Dexter is as great a read as ever. I genuinely think it really does encapsulate the feel of ongoing 2000 AD strips from the 80's. Am I missing another reference with that "Some barbarian queen from a really cheesy movie" remark? Also, what's the betting that next week's instalment consists mainly of a plot catch-up..?

Finally The Out, which is just utterly, absolutely devastating. Because the truth is most of the time war isn't about heroic hand-to-hand combat, or duelling spaceships - it's about wiping out as many people as possible from a safe distance. Stunning work from Mark Harrison on the centrefold pages, with the masterfully crafted sound effect lettering, and on that breathtaking full page panel. Hands down the best single instalment of a strip this year.

[Double checks this is in the right place]

Okay, I did say I was getting over some after-effects

Suppose I'd better paste all that into the right thread...

['The Musical!']

Urgh, just getting over a couple of days of booster after-effects

A strange prog, full of endings which aren't quite endings

A bumper wrap for 'The Musical!' which TBH might have been better without the Enormo Overdrive stuff bolted on. Love Fire's paper flames. Probably one for the 'Things that went over your head' thread in General but this is mainly a pastiche of Hamilton, isn't it..?

I guess it would be fair to say nobody saw this coming in Scarlet Traces? It reminds me a bit of the epilogue on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds album that jumps forward to a NASA mission discovering the Martians aren't as dead as people thought. As someone who didn't read the strip from the start, it'll be nice to have a continuation of the story that isn't burdened by so many characters.

Dexter is as great a read as ever. I genuinely think it really does encapsulate the feel of ongoing 2000 AD strips from the 80's. Am I missing another reference with that "Some barbarian queen from a really cheesy movie" remark? Also, what's the betting that next week's instalment consists mainly of a plot catch-up..?

Finally The Out, which is just utterly, absolutely devastating. Because the truth is most of the time war isn't about heroic hand-to-hand combat, or duelling spaceships - it's about wiping out as many people as possible from a safe distance. Stunning work from Mark Harrison on the centrefold pages, with the masterfully crafted sound effect lettering, and on that breathtaking full page panel. Hands down the best single instalment of a strip this year.

Christmas prog incoming!

['The Musical!']

Fittingly, let's take it from the top

Another candidate for Cover of the Year and a nice nod, perhaps, to the cover of the 1983 Dredd annual. Inside, that Matchbox K-2001 sets up 'The Musical!' for a glorious tongue-in-cheek tribute to past Dredds. At three parts, this would have made a fantastic panto-styled extended Dredd for the Christmas prog!

Disappointed to see The Diaboliks run end already - it seemed frustratingly short, until I remembered we also had six weeks of the Jenny storyline before the last Regened prog. Sad to see (most of) The Collection appearing so briefly. Give 'em another chance, Tharg!

The remaining stories are all great, too - Dexter is fun in its absurdly strung-out way*, Scarlet Traces is the least-suited to appearing in five-page bursts, and The Out remains a total fever dream.

Looking forward to the three returning strips mentioned in the Nerve Centre.

* That's Bates in the first panel, isn't it? Deliberately not running

Just sat down with today's prog, haven't read through it yet, but can someone tell me why the cover line isn't 'BREAK A KLEGG'?

[Colony Earth]

Ah I used to love Colony Earth when I was a kid. Feel kinda bad voting against something I've never read, but: Colony Earth

Is anybody buying a hideous Dredd Christmas jumper?

Quite tempted by the 'Freeze, creep!' one

['The Musical']

Yeah, a Rigellian Hotshot for the print droid who changed the alpha on that cover line yellow. Otherwise it's an excellent showcase for Tazio Bettin's talent. 

Can't help but love 'The Musical' even though it probably crosses the boundary on how Dredd-lite a Dredd-lite Dredd can be. Not being terribly familiar with the character, am I missing some plot point that explains why only some people are terrified of Sensitive Klegg?

Diaboliks goes to some properly dark places. It's a long time since I read Cabalistics, Inc. and had forgotten that Ravne had such a dubious past. Any chance of a The Collection spin-off after this, do you reckon? Actually I'd be happy with just a Lady Phantasmagoria spin-off.

Dexter is once again an excellent read of itself but it does seem desperately bogged down by the intermittent and interminable nature of its appearances, and increasingly like a collection of ideas that the Abnett droid hasn't been able to expand into complete series. Although to be fair The Out is adopting a similar scattershot approach to themes and stories to apparent universal acclaim.