Prog 1320 - 4 December 2002
Cover by Trevor Hairsine & Len O'Grady

Synopsis and 1st review by Gavin Hanly
2nd opinion by W.R. Logan

GH: Another stunning cover by Trevor Hairsine, made particularly eye-catching by the large speech bubble. The colouring, however, does not do a particularly good job of enhancing the image. I still think it's odd to have a cover for a new story just as it's ending but 2000AD seems to do this regularly, so perhaps there's an editorial reason I'm missing...

WRL: This should be a great cover, artwork by Trevor Hairsine is usually a joy to behold, especially big aliens shouting "Be Nasty!" but somehow between the large head and the colouring it all blends into one and loses all its possible impact.

Dead Funny
Synopsis: Daniel Makepeace Gimm's family and friends are gathered for his funeral. His family is a mixture of practical jokers, fatties and crime bosses. As the funeral progresses, Gimm bounces out of the coffin and begins his act - as he's been stuffed and animated by the practical joker element in the family. As the "body" starts to insult the crowd, a riot breaks loose. Dredd bursts in and tries to ease the situation with little success - so resorts to using knockout gas. Dredd takes the family away, and leaves the animated corpse - still telling jokes - with the beleaguered robot reverend...

GH: A fairly decent one-off from Wagner with the emphasis on citizens rather than Dredd himself. Pretty good and entertaining - but Wagner has to compete with Rennie these days, and this story does very much feel like the filler material it is. Perhaps it's caught me on an off day - but wasn't as enamoured with this as I usually am with the Dredd stories.

Staz Johnson turns is a good job on the art, and proves himself to be a dab hand on the judge (his last art on Dredd was almost 80 issues ago) and also does a great job of conveying characters like the dead Mr Gimm, who really does come across as a old style lounge entertainer. His art seems to have more impact in colour - provided by Angus McKie - as opposed to his black and white art on Killer and Rogue Trooper.

WRL: Wagner's back and we get 6 pages of mirth and merriment. Staz Johnson does a decent Dredd but as Dredd doesn't appear till page 4, it’s a good job he can do the citizens as well.

Under the Banner of King Death - Part 8
Synopsis: (double sized story) Doyle and Isabella progress through the island where time is warped - as experienced by a zombie who suddenly ages backwards out of existence. They finally arrive at an ancient temple. Meanwhile, Dancer's crew has been washed up and come across the severed talking dog's head. They're about to destroy it, when Dancer stops them and fills them in on what's happening. despite the danger, his crewmen still follow him.

Orlando prepares his ceremony to summon Hecate, and tries to kill Isabella. He misses, and Dancer and his crew storm in. His crew take on the zombies, while Dancer unties Isabella while knocking a couple of arrows into Doyle - but to little effect. Doyle uses his own blood to complete the ceremony , as all the zombies are killed. But it is too late, as the skies have darkened - "She is coming!"

GH: Another double sized helping of The Red Seas this week, which does help the story progress nicely. The two disparate bands are brought together for a good bit of swashbuckling action, ably rendered by Yeowell, who appears to have a great deal of fun in depicting mutilated zombies. This has been a well paced, and welcome addition to the comic, but I'm going to put off any further comments until the final part next week...

Part 8
Synopsis: Belly is trying to break through the door, but is blasted at by the guards and apparently stopped before he can burst through. But he then turns himself inside out through the mouth and flows into the room attacking the guards - who are shot dead by Megan. Ashcroft, however, has been crawling to the console, and activated a large button marked "Danger" - and the station starts to move. AS Ashcroft lies in a pool of his own blood and faeces ("I had a holy movement! Yea, verily") - it becomes clear he's sent the station on a collision course with Earth, which would wipe out life on the planet...

GH: A little confusing this week - it took me a couple of reads of this to work out what was going on - especially with Belly turning himself inside out. With that and Ashcroft shitting himself, this episode has certainly upped the "grossness" content of the story... The story is still well written and drawn but, as mentioned last week, I miss the slower, intrigue-laden pace of the earlier episodes. Ah well - I'll see how it all turns out next week before making a final judgement.

The Off-Lode Experience - Part 8
Synopsis: The crew have finally found Lux's "guru ship". Sinister and dexter break inside, guided by Billi from Manx's ship.They enter a room filled with a number of different species - human and alien - frozen in stasis beams. As Billi loses the link with them, they are contacted by Lux, who calls the stasis "suspended illumination". Lux questions their vocation - "As executioners, you are singularly determined, almost admirable. But is there really a point to what you do?". As they killed John Croak, Lux needs new representatives on Earth, and S&D fit the bill. Dexter thinks this ridiculous, until they finally see Lux - who seems to be Demi Octavo...

GH: The story finally gets going here, but let's be honest this storyline has never really been about the plotline up until now. Not that that's a bad thing, mind, as we've had some amusing episodes on the way (something wildly contested by my co-reviewer...). More impressive brushwork from Davis this week, especially on the last page - but i have to admit I could see that ending coming two pages earlier. Not sure where this is going - as I never understood Sinister and Dexter's connection to Demi Octavo, and I only started to really enjoy the series when she got killed! I've enjoyed the Sinister Dexter storyline immensely - but as it appear to be taking itself seriously again, my interest has waned...but again, I'll reserve final judgement for next week.