Prog 1329 - 26 February 2003
Cover by Simon Davis

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

GH: A pretty good cover from Simon Davis this issue. Well designed, allowing space for the logo to breath, as well as a prominent tagline. Good characterisation too. Shame it's for Bec & Kawl...

WRL: Geez, where to begin. Simon Davis can paint - It's no secret that I dislike of Sinister Dexter, but even I recognise that Simon has made those characters his own more than any other - but this weeks cover just isn’t very good. On first seeing it as I took it out of the envelope I thought That Sin/Dex were returning as I didn’t recognise a single character and associate Simons work more with the gunsharks than any other strip. The box at the bottom right of the cover then informs me that’s in fact a Bec & Kawl cover, so why not get Steve Roberts to do the cover. As a piece of art this weeks cover is fine, as a cover it just doesn’t work. A waste of cover space and Simon Davis abilities and one that will remain in my memory for the wrong reasons.

Dredd vs Aliens: Incubus - Part 9

Synopsis: The citizens are warned of the Alien menace, as the verminators pay their last respects to their dead members at Resyk. Packer, their leader blames herself for their deaths. Back at Justice Dept, the facehugger has fallen off Brubaker, who's in surgery as they try to remove the Alien embryo from him. Packer catches up with Dredd and says they want to help. Dredd's en route to a briefing with the Chief Judge, and tells Packer to sit in.

At the briefing, the judges admit they've hit a dead end, but that there are more than likely more Aliens. Packer suggests that they're probably held outside of the city, even in the Undercity - while Dredd says they'll start targeting pro-democracy groups and try to get someone to crack.

Back in the undercity, Mr Bones has led the Aliens to a foundation wall. Once it's down, the Aliens will get straight into the Grand Hall of Justice. "And then...the Incubus will rise!"

GH: The next phase of Incubus begins, with the judges taking stock of the situation as Mr Bones' plans start to come to fruition. It's good to see that the Verminators aren't going to be thrown away too early, and it seems they may yet have a crucial role to play in the plot. This story has managed to shoehorn many of the best elements from Dredd's world - Resyk, Hall of Justice etc. that I hope it's a big success when it finally gets released in the States. Perhaps this will be the series that will prove to the Americans just what's so damned good about Judge Dredd.

Flint continues to make a great story even better, and the team provides the main reason to read 2000AD at the moment. I'm actually quite excited by the story now, and can't wait to read each installment - something I can't quite say about the rest of the prog.

Oh, and it looks like we're in for total carnage next issue if the Aliens erupt into the Grand Hall - something that should be well worth waiting for.

WRL: This episode takes stock of what’s happened before and gives us a breather from Aliens and acid blood. Dredd and his team try to discover where the Aliens come from and how to locate them without delay. This episode may give us time to get our breath back but it moves the story along. The last panel just sets the stage for the mayhem that is undoubtedly to come. Take the chance to fix those thrill circuits as it looks like they may be exposed to maximum thrill power in the weeks to come.

Eeevil.com - Part 2
Synopsis: Kawl is will held by the "spider" who threatens to bring down the whole world with a virus. Bec is held by the Men in Black, but rescued by Norm, with some friends from the computer club - a bunch of hackers/geeks with "special powers". They beam into the Internet and rescue Kawl - beating off the spider. But someone else arrives in a robotic body suite - "It's the Arch Geek!"

GH: Ah... so it's a parody of the Matrix! Well, that hasn't been done before, has it? As the series once again descends into ham-fisted parody and attempts at humour, my patience is wearing thinner than ever. Yes, let's name check every nerdy sci-fi reference we can think of! Let's make an evil Bill Gates type villain! Let's not waste any more time on this...

WRL: Si Spurrier and Steve Roberts continue there deep and enlightening look at life the universe and everything, with this story that will answer the ultimate question. Well actually it doesn’t - this strip is fun, easy on the eye and a pallet cleanser to everything else that in the galaxy's greatest comic. It may not register on anybody’s greatest story list but it's entertaining, fun in a disposable way and for me is a change from what has previously appeared in this slot in recent months.

Tickover
Synopsis: The VC's are on silent running, waiting for the Geeks to make their move. Ryx is bored and muses about the rest of the crew.Lin Fu is meditating in the turret, Keege is reading about human social interaction, while Diderot and Kali are playing a modified game of Scissor, Paper, Stone. The major stares at the tac scope - waiting for something to happen. Ryx feels the Major's got unfinished business in the war with the geeks. Then tickover's over, and they're ready to hit the Geeks again...

GH: The latest series of the VCs is starting to need a bit of a shot in the arm to get it moving again. The 3 one-offs we've had so far have been enjoyable indeed, and well created, but I can't help but feel it's about time we actually got an ongoing plot to hang things off of. This episode could have been the ideal chance for some friction between team members, but again, they all seem to get along a little too well. It just seems like a missed opportunity for some drama in the series.

The episode does manage to convey the feeling of silent running quite well - but perhaps it's a little too early for this kind of episode? Abnett seems to be falling into the same trap as with recent Sinister Dexter episodes - namely that the one-offs are never as good as the ongoing sagas. There was a great deal of foreshadowing in the Prog 2003 episode - but none of which has been picked up on yet. So, Mr Abnett - can we please get a move on?

The Black Arts of Skrixlan Nort

Synopsis: Skrixlan Nort, Artist/Sorcerer/Royal Magician, is painting a demon's portrait, which gives him the power to call on him again if needed. After he's finished, dead men are seen approaching the palace. Upon arriving there, Nort is told that a Warlock Lanrak Sor is demanding a virgin bride each year (starting with the king's daughter) - or his zombie army will attack. Nort goes to see the warlock - and after beating back a few zombies, comes to face with Sor - saying he wishes to negotiate. Stripped of his magical gear, he tells Sor that the king's daughter isn't a virgin - but he can provide one. Whipping out a piece of charcoal, he draws an image on the wall - summoning Vishla Veelo who tears through Sor and his dead men, as Nort starts drawing the scene for posterity..

GH: Now the Tales of Telguuth are, at heart, another version of Tharg's Future Shocks. Or more accurately, Tharg's Fantasy Shocks. This joins others such as Tharg's Scary Shocks (Terror Tales), Tharg's Alternity Shocks (Past Imperfect) and Tharg's Time Travelling Shocks (Time Twisters). The main difference with Telguuth is that it's effectively all owned by one creator - Steve Moore.

Now, not being a fantasy fan, it's always something of an uphill struggle a far as Telguuth is concerned. I've never really understood the fervour of fantasy fiction followers, much preferring contemporary fiction myself. But despite this - will admit that I kind of like Telguuth. True, the quality can vary wildly from story to story, but Moore does suffuse them with a good degree of humour, and the occasional good twist. I'd much prefer him to put his hand to something else in the comic, or even a proper Future Shock from time to time, but Telguuth does have the occasional flash of brilliance.

As far as this episode goes, it's a bit throwaway, but enjoyable in a dumb manner. The ending is telegraphed, but still carried off with aplomb.The art is OK, but Haward would benefit from taking a lighter hand to some of his panels. There's an occasional feeling of clutter to some of the pages that make the story a little too much to take in. There's a definite talent underneath all the embellishing, but he needs to hold back on the inking.

WRL: I've never been a big fan of Tales Of Telguuth, it just doesn't get my thrill circuits buzzing. Steve Moore has written some classics in the past but with Tales Of Telguuth we seem to tread the same ground over and over again. Instead of the one-off Future Shock style stories this may benefit from having more episodes to tell a story and not lead us towards a twist ending. I like Jon Haward’s art on these tales, and would like to see him do more within the galaxy's greatest comic, but he is an artist whose work has to match with a particular type of story, which is probably why we’ve never seen more of his work within 2000’s pages.

Part 1

Synopsis: Decider Jad of the Kalens is meeting with the Binods as military advisors. He tells them that the expanding Wipe is slowing down, as if something internal is stopping them. The Binods are creating Voidshaker, in the depths of a gas giant - a new intelligent weapon against the enemy. The binods send data it about the wipe, and Voidshaker goes off to battle. It descends to a planet, wiping out everything in its way. But as it lands on the planet, more UOs appear from beneath the ground, swarming Voidshaker - which loses contact...

GH: It's been a while since Atavar last showed up, and I'm having trouble remembering what happened - although for once, the summary at the beginning of the issue helped out here. I did enjoy Atavar last time, but it's a little too early to see if that will carry through to this series. It's yet another Dan Abnett creation (Hey Tharg - any chance of finding some fresh writing talent?) but one that has promise, and ended a little prematurely last time around. I'll wait until next issue before I feel I can tell where this series is going.

The artwork's fantastic, though. Richard Elson once again shows himself to be one of the most underrated artists in the comic, after his great work on The Scrap late last year. Yes, his Binod's may look like glove puppets with sphincters, but they certainly look impressive, as does the opening page shot of the Kalens approaching the planet. He makes this series worth sticking with.

One last thing - why did they have to call it "Atavar II" - as opposed to something a little more original?

WRL: Avatar I is a dim and distant memory, its not that I didn’t enjoy it but it's one of those stories that I enjoyed at the time but not enough to remember the exact details. Hopefully not remembering much about the first book wont get in the way of reading book two, but may have to dig the first book out again to refresh the memory. Richard Elson’s artwork is up to his usual standard and can never work out why he’s appeared so sporadically since his first appearance in Prog 564.