We take a look at this week’s cyberpunk and dystopian comic releases.

REBELLION

2000 AD #2501

From the publisher –

I am The Mighty Tharg, all-powerful alien editor at the helm of this brain-frazzling SF anthology!

Welcome back to Thrill-central, Terrans, where I take it as a personal challenge to rewire your realities. I trust you’ve recovered from the ghafflebette Prog 2500, and while we’re back to the regular thirty-two pages this issue there’s no decrease in the zarjazness as we launch into the second instalments of Dredd, Azimuth, Durham Red, Herne & Shuck and Ghosted!

In case you missed it, Judge Dredd Megazine 496 also hit shelves last week, which features the start of a new Dredd story by Geoffrey D. Wessel & Nick Roche alongside the latest chapters of Rogue Trooper, Mega-City 2099, Lawless and Storm Warning, plus the grand finale to Treasury classic The Angry Planet by the Hebden & Belardinelli droids.

Add to that a chat with Rob Williams & Arthur Wyatt about The New Future, Bryan Talbot reveals the stories behind his latest projects, and Dave Gibbons & John Higgins reflect on Thunderbolt Jaxon, their Albion collaboration that gets a new edition in December, and it’s another scrotnig issue, packed with Thrill-power!

2000 AD Prog 2501 is out now from all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from our webshop and apps!

2000 AD is a British science fiction comic book, which has been publishing for nearly 50 years 1977, famed for its dark British humour, and satirical and subversive stories. The jewel in the crown is Judge Dredd, a dystopian cyberpunk icon, whilst The Fall of Deadworld is a kind of an alternative history prequel series about Judge Dredd enemy Judge Death. Meanwhile Mega-City 2099 stories serve as a more traditional prequel.

IMAGE COMICS

THE LAST DRIVER #2

From the publisher –

AN ENEMY FROM THE PAST SPEEDS INTO THIS HIGH OCTANE RACE IN THE FUTURE! What’s a driver without a car? In trouble, that’s what. After demolishing their ride evading the eCops, Clutch and Cuda are on foot as Cuda’s health gets worse. Then, things shift into a new gear when Kowalski calls in a villain from Clutch’s past: The man known as FIREBIRD!

The Last Driver is a brand new comic series, created by Sean Murphy. It’s a gritty love letter to the classic American road stories, a Mad Max for the cyberpunk genre. High octane, 100 mph, playing like a last hurrah for driving without care before the process is completely sanitised by automation.

YUMI 00-EX #2

From the publisher –

Yumi didn’t find Richard. So, she stole MI6’s entire spy database. Now she’s hunting down every one of his exes… one by one, across the globe. No rules. No mercy. No survivors. Love is lethal.

When Yumi’s boyfriend, an MI6 operative, disappears, Yumi storms the agency, hacks their network, and generally makes a bit of a mess. In the process, she meets up with an Artificial Intelligence Lamborghini, more tank than car, with more than a few hidden tricks. That’s the basis for this anti-spy miniseries comic.

MAD CAVE STUDIOS

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK: ESCAPE FROM CHICAGO #1

From the publisher – 

Once you go in, you don’t come out— —unless your name is Snake Plissken! Plissken now survives as a coyote, smuggling people and contraband across the dangerous dead zones between prison territories like Chicago. It’s a hard and bitter job. But when he’s hired to extract a woman wanted by the city’s warlord, Snake sees one more chance at redemption—or one more chance for the universe to kick his ass. Introducing new settings and characters with all the dystopian insanity you know and love, superstar writer & film director Kyle Higgins teams with artist Val Rodrigues for an explosive new series revamping the beloved film franchise!

Escape From New York is a cult dystopian movie from 1981, starring Kurt Russell as the ex-military anti-hero Snake Plissken sent into a lawless Manhattan Island to rescue the president. The 1996 sequel, Escape From L.A. was not received as well as the original, and our understanding is that the new comic follows on from the original, bypassing the sequel. There have been a number of Escape From New York comics from various publishers over the years, but this one wipes the slate clean on that front as well.

TERRORBYTES #10

From the publisher – 

What if you could instantly identify the people destined to change your life? When an experimental device grants access to countless parallel realities, a struggling husband discovers a future he can’t let go—and sets himself on a terrifying path toward ruin.

Terrorbytes is a scifi/horror anthology series looking at the dark side of modern technology, and how it interacts and interferes with us on a psychological level. Basically a series of cautionary tales that mix horror and satire, written by a rotating series of writers.

INDEPENDENT

CRITICAL OPS TASK FORCE #1

From the publisher –

 War has evolved. 

In a brutal near-future, elite mercenaries take on impossible missions for the highest bidder, where survival is never guaranteed and the truth is always buried.

This 130-page, full-color graphic novel delivers three explosive stories set in a violent, high-tech world where power always comes at a cost. 

In a fractured future, the Critical Ops Task Force is deployed into conflicts no one else can survive. They are the solution to impossible problems. But every mission leaves scars. As the line between right and wrong disappears, the team begins to question everything, their orders, their purpose, and the system they serve.
Are they saving the world… or helping destroy it?

Written by Nigel Lynch, Critical Ops Task Force: Volume 1 offers three stories, including The Prodigal Son, about a daring rescue mission, Stolen Salvation, about a rogue scientist, and Ruby Pixel: Ctrl Alt Delete, a cyberpunk thriller about fractured identity and digital ghosts. Critical Ops Task Force is currently funding on Kickstarter, and can check out the Kickstarter page for full details of the tiers available, and to pledge to the campaign – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akoma/critical-ops-task-force-volume-1?ref=discovery&term=bcr&total_hits=319&category_id=250 

SCUM #1

From the publisher –

The Spire is a city of rigid ranks and locked doors, and Sam has managed to slip right through its cracks. The entire city is controlled by an AI god, Panopticia. She and her various underlying programs control every aspect of citizens’ day-to-day life.

Sam is unregistered, which means she can’t interact with any of those systems. On the one hand, that makes life pretty hard. Can’t open a door. Can’t buy a sandwich. Can’t get a job. On the other hand, she can steal anything she wants and the security systems won’t even know she was there. For the AI systems of The Spire, she does not exist.

And so, Sam and her unregistered friends exist on the edges of society, invisible to the eyes of God and just about everything else in The Spire, surviving the only way they can. 

After a heist goes wrong, Sam is rescued by Augustus, a mysterious benefactor that needs her help. Unregistered, Sam can move through The Spire undetected. On her own, she has only used this for petty crime. Augustus has a bigger plan and a much more ambitious goal. With Sam’s help, Augustus will kill The Spire’s AI god.

This 48-page cyberpunk comic by Reed Hinckley-Barnes, Halil Mete, and Maja Opacic is currently funding on Kickstarter. You can see the reward tiers on the Kickstarter page, and pledge to the new campaign, here – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reedhb/scum-a-cyberpunk-thriller?ref=profile_created&category_id=250 

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