4 out of 5

Only somewhat limited by the concept’s in-built limitations, the “alternate 1982” imagined by this prog creates a timeline in which war-mag Battle / Action is crossed over with 2000 AD, causing mash-ups between Nazi fighters and sci-fi, in wholly fitting and totally weird ways. A couple strips stumble a bit to work it all in, but it’s otherwise an amazing fit, with the faux “to be continued” hooks really leaving us with some stories I’d love to see continued…!

A wraparound frame from “TMO” and Robin Smith sets up the concept, and then we’re on to a Simon Coleby drawn Dredd which takes amusing inspiration from Kids Rule OK! …And although we have two great creatives on this in Ken Niemand and Simon, this is one of those stumbly ones, because Juves Rule was more noteworthy for being the strip that courted controversy than anything that made for a lasting impression otherwise. And it’s a fun yarn at first, putting it in Cadet Dredd years, with Joe having to agree to step up, due to all of the adult judges dying from a virus which replaces the climate change effects in the original; but Niemand seems to realize there’s not much to do with just Dredd versus the kids, and so he expands the premise to include Rico running a rival gang… It starts to feel besides the point a bit, something that should’ve been written more truly as a one-off gag than the pretend world-building Niemand starts to do. It’s still fun, however.

‘Death Game 2049’ is the other odd one out, though it’s the only real bummer strip here (Juves Rule is successful, it just goes on for too long). Based on Rollerball riff Death Game 1999 – in which the sport-of-choice is a live-action pinball thing, where you’re the ball and killing off opponents is fairplay – this is the limitation of the original I mention, as this strip already stood out in a war comic. Writer Geoffrey D. Wessel doesn’t do much to differentiate this from the original, at least in description, except for maybe moving the date forward? And NIck Dyer proves to be an ill-match for the bombastic style of action it requires.

Chris Weston goes solo on El Mestizo, and it is strange, and wonderful. Chris’ storytelling is really solid, and he knows how to pace his own work to perfection. But all that matters is that you get Mestizo with a mind-controlling alien squid on his shoulder. Perfect. Also, though, the first strip in sequence that felt like it really nailed the mash-up idea, inclusive of its cliffhanger ending.

Karl Stock and Paul Marshall do a Dredger “update,” and Stock essentially gets to put his Future Shock skills to work yet again, with Dredger chasing a baddie into a peace-loving future, with the exclamation point ending him put into a position where his greatest talent – killing bad guys – is frowned upon. Marshall looks really good here, with great characterizations and some truly masterful page layouts that keep the action and story flowing.

The gold continues with Hellman of Hell Force, taking the non-Nazi German fighter and keeping his position, but having him in charge of a tank force… in Hell, transported there by magical portal. Jake Lynch’s art is very interestingly reserved, given the subject matter, and I’d say some of scope of the battles feels off, or hard to follow. But this Stargate / Hellraiser / Hellman blend, as written by Arthur Wyatt, is so damn fun – and the rest of Lynch’s art solid, and cinematic – that you’re hooked, and, again, wish dearly that the To Be Continued was real.

Lastly, Gordon Rennie “returns” to Koburn, except now in his original form as Mazor Eazy, with Dan Cornwell covering for Ezquerra, as he’s doing with Spector in the Meg. The sci-fi touch here is a bit of Indiana Jones: Eazy takes along an archeologist to put a stop to Nazi mystic dealings. This is purposefully a lot of talking heads to balance out a wonderfully bonkers ending, but Dan navigates us around the page confidently, and Rennie’s got such a great grasp on pacing… It’s an excellent, and ridiculous, way to go out.