Goddammit, Al Ewing.
It’s a phrase I’ve found myself saying so many times. Not because he did something to anger me, but because he is such a brilliant wizard who understands that comics is an inherently silly medium that also is inherently capable of doing powerful things.
Like having a team of zombies play a game that combines elements of cricket, chess, Skee-ball and competitive baking.
“The Harlem Zombos” combines the future sports of classic 2000AD strip “Harlem Heroes” with Ewing and Henry Flint’s undead creation Zombo. The result is utter nonsense in the proud 2000AD tradition. You can find it in the 2000AD Sci-Fi Special, out July 3, in which a gaggle of creators mash up some of the magazine’s popular strips from the past nearly 50 years.
If you miss Ewing’s work on X-Men already and want to read something that will make you smile, check out our exclusive preview of “Harlem Zombos” from the 2000AD special below, and keep scrolling for the basic deets.
SUPERNOVA STORIES FROM A SIDEWAYS UNIVERSE!
It’s the summer of true nuclear fusion as 2000 AD mashes and smashes its most popular strips together in the return of its pulsating Sci-Fi Special!
Exploding into shelves on 3 July in a 48-page supernova, the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special will feature an all-thriller AND killer line-up of creators including Ian Edginton, Dan Abnett, Ben Willsher, Nicolò Assirelli… and the return to 2000 AD of the mighty Al Ewing!
This all-new Sci-Fi Special comes beamed from an alternate dimension – one in which familiar characters from the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic have been given a different twist. The Thrill-powered characters you thought you knew have been amalgamated into one another in strange and unpredictable ways, creating an all new version of the Galaxy’s Greatest!
In this sideways universe there is only one person who has the strength to enforce the law in Mega-City One… and he’s a high-powered mutant! With eyes which can emit piercing Alpha waves, JUDGE ALPHA makes sure that nobody messes with the Justice Department!
When robots go rogue and start causing chaos in the neighbourhood, who’re you gonna call? Sinister and Dexter, of course, the ROBO-SHARKS! Hired to track down and terminate troublesome droids, this pair of robo… hunters? never miss their targets!
The Search/Destroy Agency have a number of highly-trained bounty hunters on their intergalactic roster: but none were as skilled as Friday! Framed for a crime he didn’t commit, this ROGUE/DOG is now being hunted by his fellow bounty hunters!
Ahoy! When you’re out on the wild seas of the world, flag flying in the wind and your team of scurvy dogs on deck, no bounty goes unclaimed! But the Red Wench’s captain is a rather strange chap: who is STICKLEBACK?
And if you’re a fan of high-octane thrill-sports, there’s only one place to enjoy extreme and enervating combat! The most violent sport of the future features undead, flesh-eating teams… welcome THE HARLEM ZOMBOS to 2000 AD!
Priced at £4.99 for 48 pages of interstellar amalgamation action, the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 2024 is out on 3 July from all good newsagents and comic book stores, as well as the 2000 AD app and webshop! Pre-order your copy today!
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
