In its 36-year history, the venerable U.K. comics anthology 2000AD has only ever featured a handful of superhero strips. Of those relative few, most commentators would say they're a pretty strong bunch -- one cold classic ("Zenith"), and a couple of neglected psychedelic gems ("Storming Heaven," "Zaucer of Zilk").

Darkest of them all is Rob Williams' post-apocalyptic "The Ten-Seconders," an ongoing tale that sets humanity against a race of superhuman aliens, the self-styled "gods." When mankind decides to resist against the rule of their new super-powered overlords, the rag-tag group of surviving guerrillas dub themselves "The Ten-Seconders," as 10 seconds is the average time a human can expect to last in a confrontation with a god.

During its previous two runs in 2000AD, "The Ten-Seconders" has been drawn by four artists: Mark Harrison, Dom Reardon, Sean Thomas and Ben Oliver. Now, after a five-year absence,  the strip returns, revitalized by Williams' pairing with Edmund Bagwell, an artist whose work effortlessly traverses from scenes of ordinary human life before the invasion to the graceful arrival of the gods, to their violence and terror, and onto hints of oncoming cosmic threats. Basically, Bagwell was born to work on this scale. In previous arcs, the threats were analogs for the Justice League and then the Vertigo anti-heroes. This time, we have Galactus/Celestial-styled creatures looming over the planet. Bagwell is one of those few artists whose work has a clear Kirby influence without that fully overpowering his entire style. I've been championing Bagwell's work since 2006, and I literally cannot wait to see what he has in store for us this time.

2000AD has provided ROBOT 6 an exclusive first look at the full opening chapter of the return of "The Ten-Seconders." It works as an introduction, a recap and as a secret origin for the series' protagonist Malloy, and leaves us on a doozy of a cliffhanger. As such, it packs a hell of a lot into just six pages!

"The Ten-Seconders" returns July 3 in 2000AD Prog 1839.

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