Prog 1310 - 25 September 2002
Cover by Peter Doherty

Peter Doherty provides a pretty good cover featuring Sinister Dexter. It'd be nice to see some more interior work from him - especially his colour work which is rarely seen since he started mainly producing work for the US. Not a bad issue - despite the obvious Future Shock filler. Asylum, by Rob Williams and Boo Cook is revealed as a forthcoming story. There's an announcement that 2000AD is headlining a night of Sci Fi films, including the premiere of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. Just as long as they don't attempt an adaptation this time round...

Class Project
Synopsis: A group of "exceptionally gifted" juves find out that their school might close, and decide to come up with the money by killing Dredd and cashing in on the reward. Dredd is lured to the scene by on of the kids reporting abuse, upon which they strike. A big armed-to-the-teeth robot on wheels, a flying bomb and an exploding dog all fail. Unfortunately, one of the juve has signed his wok - leading Dredd to them. They plead that they are not legally responsible for their actions, but Dredd, with the kids having an average IQ of 178, figures different and carts them off to the cubes.

Review: Another one of Wagner's "quirky" stories, and much better than last issues. Also features wonderful artwork from David Millgate, who redeems himself after his recent Bison cover. Al all round solid Dredd story.

Part 3- Odds and Evens
Synopsis: Two stories interweaving this week. First we hear the story of the avatar - an AI called "Alpha" created to "watch the skies" as a missile defense program, and then "given cities to govern, records to maintain, genetic research to undertake". War starts, but as the AI launches its payload without authority, it is decommissioned and replaced with "Beta". Alpha is given The Scrap to maintain as a "thanks".

The other story revolves around Maliis being attacked by a group of "deviants" - all the time worrying for her unborn child. Then they are all attacked by one of the creatures from the previous episode, and as a deviant escapes, he stabs Maliis in the stomach, leaving her bleeding on the floor.

Review: Much, much better this week, as the story really gets into its stride, and starts to do something interesting with the premises set up in previous issues. The interweaving story works very well, and is again complimented by great artwork from Elson. I may have underestimated this strip, and will be paying it closer attention in further issues. The stupid quasi-swearing still pisses me off, though.

Deaky Poobar. We Hardly Knew Ye. Part 4.
Synopsis: Conclusion. The Poobars attack, while Sinister and Dexter make a run for it. Driving through Manchester, they come upon an unexploded nuke, now used as a tourist attraction. Sinister launches a limpet mine at it and they drive like hell. It seems to be a dud - and then explodes - destroying what's left of Manchester. They bury Poobar and drive off, quoting bad puns...

Review: This has been a great run for Sinister Dexter. Parkhouse has made a welcome return to the comic, and hopefully we'll be seeing more of him soon, and the story has been the lighthearted romp that this strip does so well. As mentioned in last week's reviews, hopefully we'll have a few more longer Sinister Dexter stories now, as the longer ones seem to be generally much more successful.

His Master's Voice
Synopsis: Young Xu has had enough of his emperor's barbarism, as a student is killed for teaching. His uncle warns him against it but XU, using his formidable psionic power breaks into the Emperor's inner sanctum. The emperor is frail, but is controlled by a monster, who plans to take over Xu's body. XU attempt to kill himself but is stopped by his uncle, under the monster's control. The monster takes over the body and continues his reign as emperor.

Review: A bit so-so this story. It's OK, but the twist is given away far too early, leaving the last two pages to just mop up the story. It also gives the feeling of being a "seen this before somewhere" story - which is unfortunately a pitfall most Future Shocks fall into. OK art by Jim McCarthy, who makes the most out of an uninspiring story.

A Visit to the Boneyard: Part 1
Synopsis: A Souther reconnaissance patrol comes across a pile of skulls, all numbered. They're quickly attacked and killed using what appear to be crossbow bolts made of bone. Rogue comes onto the scene later, originally the Souther evacuation point, where 3/4 million refugees were killed in a bio-chem strike. He comes across the pile of skulls, and is then surrounded by troops decorated with bone fragments...

Review: After the slight improvement of last issue, it's back to another dull set piece here. Some truly painful exposition as Rogue explains why he's wearing a facemask ("I got something against the idea of breathing in powderised human flesh"). Pedestrian and dull - but with some decent artwork from Mike Collins. It's time to give this strip to another writer. How about John Smith, who did the last great original Rogue Trooper story? Anything would be better than this.