2000AD Prog 1585 - 7 May 08

Cover by Lee Garbett

Gavin Hanly: A decent, Saul Bass-y, cover from Lee Garbett - an artist that it'd be good to see more of in the comic, but is alas doing most of his work for Wildstorm these days. Certainly Eye catching, with a nice negative effect as the "10" crosses the top logo.

Road Stop - part 3 Script: Gordon Rennie Art: Dave Taylor Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Yet another crazy cit...

Synopsis: Dredd confronts the serial killer, who's started on the citizens, and kills him immediately, just as the perps are blowing up the door to the basement of the building. Meanwhile, a woman who appears to be the hit"man" kills another citizen with a view to taking his vehicle. Dredd goes downstairs to see if he can hold off the perps and sees them fleeing from a huge monster - which the old woman running the place calls "mother".

GH: Gordon Rennie receives a considerable amount of praise every time he does a Dredd story with most people, myself included, marking him down as the most obvious "successor" to Wagner. And it's true that he's always capable of turning in a pretty good Dredd yarn - but this time he's really outdone himself. What originally appeared to be a run-of-the-mill tale of Dredd vs the Citizens has become something far more due to Rennie's expert juggling of the multiple plot threads. From Dredd's silent discovery of the "heads in a bag" last week to the "class of 79" moment this week, this easily marks Rennie's best turn on the character yet (that latter moment being one to almost rival "stare into the fist of Dredd").

Good as it is , the script would certainly elevate any artist. However, coupling Rennie with Taylor has made this an instant classic. Taylor's work is amazingly good. His Dredd is perfect - i.e. a powerful figure without being overly "muscled up" and there's an astonishing amount of detail evident in every panel. This is all alongside some great invention, best seen in the reveal of the monster at the end, which works so well due to its unconventional appearance.

In all - excellent.

The Guv'nor - Part 9 Script: Pat Mills Art: Patrick Goddard Letters: Ellie De Ville

Savage pours on the charm...

Synopsis: Savage starts the hunt for Steak Knife and discovers that he's in the unfinished Eurochunnel hotel. Savage gets there just in time to stop him from firing a missile into the crowd, but it shoots down the blimp overhead instead...

GH: In my last review, I lambasted Savage for simply not getting anywhere interesting in 7 episodes. However, the very next issue, the Steak Knife plotline started to come to fruition and Mills appears to have remembered that he's supposed to be entertaining us.

These last couple of issues have been more reminiscent of the past 3 series of Savage, and have certainly rekindled my interest in the character. Hopefully, when Savage next returns Mills will drop all the confusing preamble and concentrate on telling a compelling story second and infusing that with any political asides he might want to get across as a secondary concern. Here, alas, he tried the opposite, hence the despair at early episodes.

But, there's clearly some life left in the character yet...

Part 9 Script: John Smith Art: Lee Carter Letters: Simon Bowland

So much for the bad guys...

Synopsis: The soldiers start attacking and slaughtering the Neanderthals - but they fight back, with the white lights killing the attacking squad. However the discovery has set something off in the shrine - and a huge electromagnetic surge begins...

GH: I just can't get into this. As mentioned by an earlier reviewer, Smith seems to be channeling the Finn era Pat Mills - with Dead Eyes being more of an excuse to create a mythology than an actual story. Far, far too much exposition and too little action have made Dead Eyes very dull indeed.

In addition, the slaughter depicted in this week's issue should have left the reader feeling like poor Geoff - but as we were only introduced to the victims last week, it's somewhat hard to invest any emotion in their demise. As for the attackers being killed by the funny lights? It would have had far more impact if I knew what the hell was going on.

A mis-fire from Smith - but a rare one, thankfully.

Make Believe - Part 8 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Shaun Thomas Letters: Ellie De Ville

Root meets his match...

Synopsis: The leader of the vampire cult confronts Root, telling him that he's overcome the "guardian" - but doesn't confirm whether or not it's been "activated". Meanwhile, Malloy plummets to Earth - but is caught by someone...

GH: Ben Oliver, the third artist on this series of Ten Seconders, seems to be the best fit for the series yet. What both Reardon and Thomas failed at in their stints was in depicting coherent action set-pieces, something which Oliver has no problem with. It's also finally possible to tell who's who, which caused a few problems in the earlier episodes.

So far, however, this series of the Ten Seconders has failed to re-ignite my interest. The huge delay in the sequel combined with a lack of a proper recap (I know I tend to go on about this - but it is a problem) has handicapped the story right from the start. There's just too much going on that demands knowledge of the first series - especially with regards to the character of Jennifer, and Malloy/Harris's goal. It's not a bad series by any means, and if there was a chance of a few more immediate and shorter runs after this to enhance the series' mythology (in the frequency of Dante or the Red Seas), this might just have a real chance as a great addition to the 2000AD family. However, this seems unlikely on the evidence we've seen so far, and it's more likely that this will generally be seen as a missed opportunity.

Still - it's not over yet. Williams is clearly a very talented writer, and as seen with Mills on Savage, there's still a hope of turning a corner...

Part 5 Script: Al Ewing Art: PJ Holden Colours: Eva De La Cruz Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Kolnikov/Morris fails to stay awake...

Synopsis: Kolnikov appears to have been a car crash victim, Jacob Morris, and has been in a coma. New drugs have brought him out pf the coma, but his doctor tells him that the relief is only temporary and he will soon return to the coma. However, he has to fight and remember who he is if he wants to survive. Morris succumbs again and wakes up as Kolnikov. He decides he's going to "fight back and kill them all"

GH: PJ Holden mentioned that Dead Signal was going to cause more head-scratching as the series continued, and it's certainly delivering in that respect. Last week, a fantastic twist was pulled off, and this week's strip builds on that with a remarkable set of splash pages from Holden and Ewing (Ewing does like his splash pages...).

What started off as a perfectly entertaining distraction has gradually morphed into something far more compelling, and with further twists promised, this has the potential to become a story of the year. Holden once again proves that he can turn his hand to almost anything, pulling off the stark change in style with apparent ease while Ewing is really starting to live up to the hype that's been coming from the 2000AD fans over the past few years.

Certainly one to watch and a great way to end the issue.

GH: With an excellent beginning and end to this week's issue and a couple of middling stories backing them up, it's easy to forgive the single misfire. Both Dredd and Dead Signal have got me looking forward to the weekly prog again, and that can't be a bad thing...

Best Story: Dredd/ Dead Signal