Comic Book Review - 2000 AD Prog #2382

Beware Iron Teeth…

Well, well, well guess who's s back on Tharg’s thrill ride through the glorious thrill verse that is the 2000 AD weekly Prog? 

Yeah, if you haven’t guessed already I’m talking about myself. While it’s been a good few months since I last wrote a review on the Prog, it’s not to say that I’ve not been feverishly enjoying what la been on offer over the last few months. But enough about me, let’s dive in and see what Tharg and his Droids have in store for us! 

Cover duties for Prog #2382 belong to Nick Percival who gives us a hauntingly detailed look at what to expect when he teams up with Ken Niemand for their new Judge Dredd strip “Iron Teeth”. 

Underneath that gorgeous wraparound cover it’s business as usual. Joining Dredd this week is the finale to the current Aquila arc, Arthur Wyatt and Pye Parr return with Intestinauts, the galaxy is still at war in Proteus Vex, and there’s more sci-fi goodness with Brink. 

Judge Dredd: Iron Teeth (Ken Niemand, Nick Percival, Annie Parkhouse)

Somewhat intersecting with the previous Dredd tale ‘The House on Baker Street’, Niemand and Percival continue to delve into the supernatural side of Mega-City One. 

Kicking this first part off is a group of feral juvies who head into the cities underbelly in the search of a fabled monster dubbed Iron Teeth. This particular monster has been feasting on the fellow juveniles who roam the city's forgotten depths and this particular group is out to kill the monster before it causes more harm. Meanwhile Dredd has caught wind on what’s going down, and is heading into the murky under city after them. As the tension builds we soon discover that some urban legends might well be true. 

Iron Teeth gave me a lot of IT and Stand By Me vibes. A groups of kids heading off on an adventure isn’t anything new, but having it in Dredd’s world is going to make for a good narrative. Niemand knows how to subvert expectations when it comes to writing Judge Dredd, and I’m already anticipating this one to be anything but normal. Nick Percival is the right someone for the job of illustrating this one. You only have to see his work with the Dark Judges to know his penchant for horror shows no bounds. Expect the nightmares to come as Iron Teeth continues.

Aquila: The Rivers of Hades Book II - Part 6 (Gordon Rennie, Patrick Goddard, Dylan Teague, Annie Parkhouse) 

This one’s pretty much an interlude as to what’s coming next for Aquila and Nero as they venture closer to Ammit the Devourer. For now the end is in sight as Aquila and his band have battle their way across Hell, down the Rivers of Hades, and the River Archon. So what’s left to do? 

Well Nero’s got to say his goodbyes and perform the small feat of purging his soul so he can leave Hades. 

Aquila has been quite the read across its multiple seasons. While this one has been Rennie and Godard builds towards the inevitable clash between Aquila and Ammit, it’s been packed full of mythology and action. With the Prog now taking on a more sci-fi feel, Aquila (for now) is going to be missed. 

Intestinauts: Busted Flush - Part 1 (Arthur Wyatt, Pye Parr)

Who would have thought that a simple strip about bacteria-busting nanomachines would have such strong narrative driving its inner space shenanigans? Well that’s exactly what Wyatt and Parr have brought to the table with Intestinauts which is back for its 4th(?) outing. 

So far the band of nanoscale commandos have dealt with a symbiotic who refuses to let go, and have done battle with a rival brand as they attempt to survive a failed memory upload. This time and the group are back in the thick of it as the Intestunauta find themselves battling on home ground within the  labs of Intestolabs. 

Dr. Kate Drexler’s lab has suffered a containment failure and as such the nastiest bacteria going has spread its grime across her work. With only hours before everything is purged she sends our pint-sized heroes in to do some cleanup.

Expect plenty of daft fun as Wyatt and Parr deliver more classic sci-fi that’s shrouded in an ever more intricate mystery of corporate subterfuge and capitalism gone wild. 

Brink Book 6: Consumed - Part 5 (Dan Abnett, INJ Culbard, Simon Bowland) 

No beating around the bush with this one. I bloody love Brink. Over the last six books Abnett has crafted quite a masterpiece that delves into humanities psyche on the brink of extinction. Even if it is a little slow and does not slap you with blockbuster-worthy action scenes, Abnett uses his characters' interactions to sell the story. It’s these little details that makes Brink such a compelling read. 

Here it’s no different as for most of this episode we get Kurtis delving into the sect language that’s appearing across the Bellehome space station. In keeping with Brink traditions, on the surface there’s not really a lot going on, but in reality, there’s more to the wider story slowly creeping out from the habitats inner workings. 

This giant mystery is then rounded off with some great artwork by Culbard who mixes environmental storytelling with that of the cast. 

Proteus Vex: Devious - Part 8 (Mike Carroll, Jake Lynch, Jim Boswell, Simon Bowland) 

Much like Brink, Proteus Vex is another strip that benefits from a slower pace. While Mike Carroll’s space opera has had its fair share of massive space battles, but it’s the smaller more personal scenes where Proteus Vex delivers its political buffet. 

As for Devious, this episode sees the beaten Vex at the mercy of Count Tiorn who’s wasting no time in dissecting the broken hero. Needing to find out what secrets both Vex and his Flesh-Pilot hold, Tiorn heads back into the past to when the two first “met”.

Intersecting with Tiorn’s investigation in the present, Carroll takes us back to Modahas. Here we see the mortally wounded Vex being resurrected by the Flesh-Pilots which adds plenty more details to the symbiotic relationship both now share. Naturally this also mirrors what’s going on in the present day as unbeknownst to Tiorn, Vex isn’t as dead as first thought. 

Even as the Proteus Vex story comes to its conclusion, Mike Carroll has created one heck of a universe that’s still got plenty of tales under its belt. The Proteus Vex universe is a wonderful delight of cultures, worlds, myths, and creatures which can easily transform into more stories if Carroll (and Tharg) choose to do so. Jake Lynch has also given yet another fantastic display of art as he delivers the alien strangeness of this galaxy that’s far away from our own. 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social