2000AD Prog 1574 - 20 February 08

Cover by Richard Elson

Gavin Hanly: After last week's rather sub-standard Strontium Dog affair, this is much more like it - an action packed scene actually drawn by the series artist. Elson has been coming on in leaps and bounds with Kingdom and his depiction of Gene's possible doom here is a great example of an artist who's moved well into the league of A list 2000AD artists.

Daniel Payne :This week kicks off with fairly routine cover artwork; there is nothing conspicuously wrong with it, but it is not really one to frame either. However, it would probably to a better job of selling the prog
if it was left to itself rather than swamped with imposing banner headlines, and the unnecessary secondary logo, which still persists.

Emphatically Evil - Part 7 Script: John Wagner Art: Colin Macneil Colours: Chris Blythe Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dredd gets his own way...

Synopsis: Quilp is restrained by Beeny before he can kill himself. Beeny launches a full investigation and looks at the DNA that's linked to Quilp. The only listed person she doesn't recognise is JP Buwick.

Meanwhile, Dredd is told that the mutant laws have been repealed as Hershey warned the council of Dredd's threat to quit. The council voted to back the lesser of two evils.

Later, Beeny interviews Quilp who doesn't know why he killed - and Beeny starts to smell a rat. She decides to speak to Jimmy Buwick...

GH: This has been a peculiar story - with the mutant vote relegated to background detail for the main PJ Maybe tale. In retrospect, this is a good decision by Wagner. It'd be hard to fill out seven issues of political wrangling - and unnecessary when it came down to the final vote - with the judges willing to take the chance and repeal the laws rather than lose Dredd. So, leaving this story as a sideline until the actual repeal is actioned makes perfect sense. The real story will be what happens once the mutants come back - and how the judges are going to handle that.

In the meantime, Wagner gets to play with two of his seemingly favourite supporting characters, Beeny and Maybe/Ambrose. Somewhat oddly, these are two characters who have been built up in the Megazine over the past few months. Regular readers of the weekly who don't pick up the Megazine have unfortunately missed out on some backstory that makes the current storyline all the more pleasurable. It's an odd decision, and perhaps Wagner would be better off ensuring that continuity-important events are best placed in the weekly only.

That said, this has been a pleasant little diversion for the past few weeks. It won't stand on its own as one of the best Dredd tales ever, but backed up with Origins and all the related tales Wagner has been firing at us over the past year, the overall arc is shaping up into something rather special...

DP: This sixth episode of the current Dredd tale continues the ongoing plot, centred on the city's treatment of mutants. It also continues the excellent quality that has distinguished the tale so far. Wagner's writing still reigns; the mutant series in general is one of the best Dredd stories in recent years, and there is ample substance in this week's strip to entertain.

It is not his best work, but the art from Colin MacNeil is good; Chris Blythe's colouring is a little lacklustre
but okay nonetheless.

Adventures in the War Trade Script: Alec Worley Art: Staz Johnson Letters: Annie Parkhouse

War, future stylee...

Synopsis: Cameron Vargner is hired to direct Earth's latest war. however, he's double-crossed by his assistant director who decides to work for the Aliens after being cheated of the credit...

GH: Acceptable filler material from the reliable Staz Johnson and Megazine reviewer Alec Worley. Worley turns in a decent enough job here but, like most Future Shocks these days, the tale seems slightly over-stretched at 5 pages. Most of the war scenes could have been cut away, leaving the strip as a nice little satirical aside.

Shorter Future Shocks of 2 - 3 pages allow for more than one Shock/Terror Tale/Time Twister in one issue and may well be something that the more established writers would want to play around with too. It just seems like the format needs to be shaken up a little to bring it up to date.

DP: The story itself is nothing to write home about (although it is nice to see new writers), but the artwork is very good – it is amongst the best Staz Johnson has produced, to memory, and a good example of how
black and white artwork can be used in modern comics.

The Promised Land - Part 9 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Richard Elson Letters: Simon Bowland

Gene doesn't like to be ignored...

Synopsis: Gene awakes, still shackled, to find that Them have broken through the fence. Gene realises that the humans will not survive and realises that he has to save them. He uses one of Them to break through his chains and runs towards the farm. Leezee Sower is surrounded by Them - but Gene comes to her rescue...

GH: The first series of Kingdom was a surprise hit back in early 2007. It was an ingenious set up backed up by some rather good art from Richard Elson. But, while entertaining and diverting, it didn't seem to be up there with the best of that which 2000AD had to offer. So while news of a sequel was welcomed, it was difficult to know what to expect of the continuing adventures of Gene the Hackman.

However, this second series has turned out to be something of a classic. With the set-up out of the way, Abnett and Elson have turned in one of the best series in recent years. Every week, this has been the first thing I've turned to in the comic, with Abnett tossing in more than enough twists and cliff hangers in the past few weeks to keep anyone at the edge of their seats. Indeed, the revelation of the tick monsters as the controllers of the village was fairly obvious in retrospect - but Abnett manages to throw in enough distractions to stop the reader from looking for any twists. It's something he's proving to be quite adept with - another example was his sleight of hand in Malone - and certainly helps to mark him out as a storyteller of considerable ability.

As for Elson, he's always been a favoured 2000AD artist, but he's gone into overdrive here. Elson is one of those incredibly talented artists who just needs the right series to really show off what he can do - and it's something he's finally achieved with Kingdom. Everything about it screams "class" - and is highlighted even more by some astonishingly good colouring. Indeed, he's only rivalled by Chris Blythe as one of the best colourists currently working for the weekly.

Overall, an excellent tale - and let's hope we don't have to wait another year for the next one.

DP: Kingdom does not warrant a great deal of attention – the story, about a lone good monsters battling against lots of bad monsters, is more than a little tired. It gives rise to perfunctory dialogue, suggesting that even the writer was perhaps losing interest. Richard Elson rarely leaps out from the crowd, but he can hardly be blamed for failing to excel here.

England's Glory - Part 9 Script: Ian Edginton Art: D'israeli Letters: Ellie De Ville

Ashenden opens fire...

Synopsis: Ashenden and his men have used Stickleback's crew to lead them to Cody. He decides to kill everyone and sort them out later - so Stickleback and his crew crawl through the portal inside the fat man to find the stone. While Cody prepares to change into his real self - Stickleback's crew fine themselves in a demon dimension...

GH: As another promising series of 2007, Stickleback hasn't quite lived up to its excellent predecessor. Of course the artwork is still astonishingly good - and like nothing else seen in the comic - but the story doesn't seem quite as compelling now that Stickleback is the main focus of attention.

It's very difficult to keep a series going when the lead character is a complete bastard and Edginton almost, but not quite, pulls it off. There are plenty of nice touches in the search for the egg, Cody's circus and, of course, Stickleback's mob, but this time around the story has been lacking a strong plotline to hold it together. Many issues - including this one - have looked like a long fight scene - and as such, it seems that the plot development has been on the back-burner.

It's by no means a failure and still a highly enjoyable strip - but just manages to not quite live up to expectations.

DP: Ian Edginton and D'Israeli have produced excellent work lately, particularly when they have been working together. Unfortunately Stickleback will not stand as one of their greatest achievements. The original series was reasonably good, but the character is not really strong enough to merit further attention, and is beginning to grate a little. The artwork too is not particularly easy on the eyes; D'Israeli's skill would shine through much more if he relied less on computer generated effects.

The Glum Affair - Part 9 Script: John Wagner Art: Carlos Ezquerra Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Alpha makes a point...

Synopsis: Johnny bets Groule by sticking a pipe down his throat, while Wulf kills his gang. Now all they have to do is collect the money...

GH: Even the best writers have off days, and this latest Strontium Dog strip was definitely written on one of Wagner's. As The Glum Affair has progressed, I've been trying to ignore the nagging feeling that it really wasn't very good, but I can ignore it no longer. This is a 5 part story - at best - stretched out well beyond its natural life. When you have two parts in a row filled mainly with the Alpha/Groule dance lesson it becomes clear that there's something wrong in mutant town. Hopefully the next Dog tale will see a return to form.

DP: Strontium Dog always seems somewhat out of kilter, given that we know the character is essentially dead. But this is a solid episode from what has been an entertaining story; and Ezquerra's art remains consistently excellent.

GH: Kingdom And Dredd are the winners in this week's issue - but the remaining tales are well above average, with the exception of the must-try-harder Strontium Dog.

Best Story: Kingdom

DP: This was an enjoyable issue, albeit with few major incidents. Kingdom and Stickleback don't produce much excitement; Strontium is still fun, and this week's Future Shock offering was decent, but it falls to Dredd once again to keep us fully entertained.

Best Story: Judge Dredd