Another week and another 2000 AD prog review! As the format of the weekly anthology series continues to sink its hooks in deep, and I find myself jonesing for the latest instalments from the mighty house of Tharg! Lock the door, unplug the phone, my stories are on!

Nick Cagnetti’s art is absolutely electrifying, and lures you into the “book of the dead” narrative with a seemingly bottomless bag of visual tricks and delights. Combining the extra-dimensional dynamism of Jack Kirby, filtered through Mike Allred’s ginchy gloss, with a dash of Michael Avon Oeming or maybe Bruce Timm’s less-is-more stark cartooning, and Ditko-esque metaphysics.

Kristen Gudsnuk has such a uniquely witty approach to comics storytelling that I really gravitate toward. I was a huge fan of her series Henchgirl (TPB currently available through Dark Horse!) and I’m thrilled to have a new book from her to look forward to each month. If you’ve never checked out her stuff before, Touched by a Demon is a perfect potion of humor and horror to get you started.

Writer Sophie Campbell does a stellar job with what she’s given here, using a second-tier monster first as background to tragedy, and then as vehicle for redemption for twin sisters Emi and Mira, who are separated as children in a battle between Mothra and Antra.

This is perhaps a different kind of evaluation of 2000 AD, the towering institutional edifice at the center of British comics, than you might usually find, because this is the first issue, or prog, I've ever read!

I read a lot of comics at my desk. My kids pass by constantly, used to seeing their dad buried in panels and speech bubbles. But while reading this first issue, something new happened. My youngest daughter, six years old and usually far more interested in K-pop demon hunters than indie sci-fi, stopped, stared at the page, and said, “Wow. What is that?” She sat beside me and wanted to see more.

The book is a one-shot set on Third Earth, the planet the ThunderCats call home. The THUNDA-TANK (how I hear it in my head) breaks down due to some unforeseen circumstances in a very cold area and a mysterious person attacks them.