3 out of 5

Even though 2000 AD and The Megazine have been built on the back of a lot of one-off strips for Dredd and the comics’ constant companions, and even though Dredd is that unique -verse where all of it is canon, the holiday specials and their like often have a tough time being more than pleasant; it’s hard for these stories to really feel like they matter. And “matter” is flexible: it doesn’t have to change an ongoing narrative, necessarily, but if it’s a really winning story – super entertaining, great art, maybe it’s really funny, etc. – it makes the list of essential stories. For whatever reason, those just don’t tend to end up here, at least in the 10 years or so of specials I’ve read. A theme definitely helps, and Tharg came up with a fitting one for this Summerish release: asking the mechs to figure out what a vacation would look like for various characters. Alas, it’s all a bit slight. Entertaining! …But slight.

Al Ewing’s sense of humor tends to define that adjective for me (that’s personal taste, obviously; I recognize it works wonders for others), and his lead-off Dredd entry with Dan Cornwell sums up the book’s vibes well. Dredd is off tending to Costa Del Meg, where he killed Dracula in 1989 (thanks, Thargnote!), and there’s some hijinx with another Drac in town. I’m sure the fact that Ewing is using thought bubbles for Joe is a callback of some sort, and it’s all got a good, campy Hammer vibe to it with Dreddverse cynicism.

The Out, from our usual Abnett and Harrison duo, is the worst offering of this batch. I won’t prattle on with my usual issues with Harrison’s art – again, very subjective – but this is exactly an example of side-story vibes, and leans heavily on Cheerio as a compatriot, who was never a very impactful character in the main book. While I like the concept Dan strives for (a museum of war – featuring actual war; and I’m remaining slightly vague there, because it’s cleverer than that), it comes across as a bit of a Message stuffed into a comic, which doubles down on the feeling like, as an Out story, this really doesn’t matter.

Andi Ewington’s and Nick Dyer’s Future Shocks entry is a nice, sci-fi spin on Death Takes a Holiday; that said, it kinda sorta kinda has the same messaging problem as The Out, just in the sense that it jumps into AI criticism shallowly. The timing of that is unfair: robots going bonkers are a constant theme in sci-fi (and 2000 AD), but reading it in 2025 rings those “I get it” bells a bit too loudly. Nick’s art is awesome, though, especially in B&W.

The setup for Ampney Crucis – Ian Edginton and D’Israeli – feels a little wayward, with a detective questioning Ampey about an eventful cruise he was on, setting the tale as a flashback, but the actual story is a hoot, ramping up and up and well supported by D’Israeli’s lively, flexible visuals. This one most nails the “vacation” vibe, and gives us a solid impression of the character in a one-off tale, while also giving us a final beat that might make one track down other Crucis stories.

Karl Stock and Jake Lynch go the most literal with the vacation theme, though, as Johnny Alpha and team go undercover on “Planet Holliday” to track down prey in a Strontium Dog tale. Lynch’s art is stellar, with strong, motivating layouts, and Stock’s script balances some minimal spy intrigue with humor well. It’s ultimately a bit of a nothing burger of a hunt, though, again bringing me back to that “slight” feeling. That said, it’s my second favorite in the book after Ampney, because you can tell the story would stack well with more Stront tales, or with other, tonally similar one-shots.