2000 AD #1751

Prog 1751 of 2000 AD announces the launch of a new SF thriller with a cover by Simon Davis that stops you cold: a figure seen from behind, head bowed and curly hair falling forward, bears twin rows of brutal surgical stitching running the full length of their spine — a barcode tattoo visible at the shoulder adding to the sense of something engineered rather than born. The tagline says it plainly — "Fast. Lethal. Engineered to Kill. Impossible to Control." — and Davis's painterly, quietly unsettling image makes every word feel earned. Inside, John Wagner and Henry Flint continue "Day of Chaos: The Fourth Faction Part Two," with Chris Blythe on colors and Annie Parkhouse lettering, keeping the weekly's 2011 line-up in characteristically sharp form.