Prog 1335 - 9 April 2003
Covers by Jock & Chris Blythe

Synopsis and 1st review by Gavin Hanly

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers.

GH: So - the latest 2000AD marketing ploy finally arrives, and what's the verdict? Well even if releasing two covers seems a bit 80's, us subscribers can't complain, as we got both in the post. And both are certainly prime Jock/Blythe examples, although I find myself preferring the second effort more. The swarm of Aliens raining down on Dredd has much greater effect. As for the revamped layout for this prog, it's certainly eye catching, even if the logo is suspiciously small - and you'd be forgiven for mistaking the actual title of the comic (which may confuse new readers - "Mr Newsagent - Where's this week's "Last Man Standing?").

And what about the "experiment" of the variant covers? Well, it's clearly a marketing ploy, but may very well have been spawned from getting the two Jock covers first, as opposed to vice-versa. Whatever - if it's a minor success and gains the comic more readers, then perhaps more gimmicks are indeed worth trying - especially to coincide with the launch of the Dredd vs Death game (an exclusive cover mounted demo perhaps?). But next time, perhaps do this when there's all new stories starting?

Dredd vs Aliens: Incubus - Part 15 (Final double sized part)

Synopsis: Faced with the Alien Queen and her eggs, Dredd has only one option - he opens fire. He and Sanchez blast at anything that moves, and eventually escape through a subway exit, bringing down the ceiling on the Queen. Sanchez starts to wonder if they should kill themselves before the Aliens inside them hatch, when they run into Giant and his troops. Dredd warns him of the Queen, and the nuke is armed in preparation. Dredd tells Giant about his and Sanchez's condition as the Queen breaks free, decapitating a Mechanismo robot. Another robot responds, killing the Queen, but the acid spray destroys it, and the nuke it was carrying.

With no way of destroying the hive, Dredd decides to use the lava source of the power towers - ordering Giant and his men to pull back. Sanchez decides to stay with Dredd - "might as well go down fighting!" They try to burst the lava tubes, but their shots ricochet off. Surrounded by Aliens, it looks like the end until Packer bursts in, flying to the tubes and waiting until the Aliens get close before blowing her jet pack - the resulting acid spray melting the tubes.

Lava pours out into the tunnels as Dredd and Sanchez grapple to safety. The nest is destroyed as they escape - where Dredd tells the remaining Verminators that Packer won't be back. Back in HQ, Sanchez and Dredd's Aliens are removed (the process learned via the attempt on Brubaker), and Dredd tells Sanchez - despite her own feelings - that she'll make a good judge, as she "faced her fear".

Finally Dredd sees the now fully grown Aliens removed from their bodies - the Tek judges want to study them - but Dredd has other plans and microwaves them - "Guess I'm just not the motherly type!" The End.

GH: So the epic finally comes to an end - and it's time for an overview of the series.

Without a doubt, this has been the making of Henry Flint. Continuing to produce some astounding work week after week has proven him to be a fantastic talent - and a great artist who can keep to a deadline! His depictions of Giger's Aliens have been some of the more original I've ever seen in comics (with the possible exception of Mike Mignola) and should reinvent the way the franchise is handled in comics. Plus his Dredd is never less than extremely tough, and at the end of 16 episodes, he's still managing to create interesting and unique poses for the lawman. As mentioned in previous reviews, this should get Flint the attention he deserves from the American publishers, but let's hope he continues to produce stellar work for 2000AD in the future.

And we mustn't forget Chris Blythe, whose computer colouring has revolutionised 2000AD in recent years. His work has meshed seamlessly with Flint, and he consistently proves himself to be one of the best computer colourists working in comics today.

The story too has been great - extremely fast paced, with only a few expository episodes to help us get our breath back in-between action sequences. Diggle and Wagner have produced one of the most entertaining Dredd stories in ages. True - it doesn't exactly advance the character, but it's been bloody good fun - and isn't that what comics should basically be about?

There are perhaps a few minor niggles. The Sanchez character seemed poorly thought out, and the change in character at the end somewhat hard to take. And Dredd's almost unconditional approval at the end also seems out of character for old stoney face. Dropping this character and making more of Giant could have been time better spent. And despite everything - the end seemed a little too easy? I certainly would have preferred a bigger showdown with the Alien Queen. There's a small feeling of running out of time in this last episode.

But as said, those are relatively minor niggles. All in all, this has been the story that made me want to open 2000AD every week, eager to find out what happens next, and annoyed that each episode was over so quickly. And 2000AD needs at least one story like that every week if it's going to attract new readers. A triumph.

Charon (Final Part)

Synopsis: The VC's head to the landing pad, Jupe in tow. Kali is busy fighting off Geek ships, but Laker covers her as she goes in for the pick up - with Veto nowhere to be seen. All the VCs make it on board, and the ship takes off. As they escape, Laker's ship is destroyed. Jupe tries to transmit the data to earth, but the Geeks are jamming them - they have to take it there in person. Kali attempts to slingshot around Pluto's moon Charon to gain speed, but they're hit - and they start crashing towards Charon. "We're hit. We're dead. And if we're dead, Earth will never know what Geeky's got coming." End of Book Two.

GH: So the second book of the new VCs comes to an end, and unfortunately, I'm not going to be as gushing about this as I was about Incubus. All in all, this has gradually become a big disappointment. The emphasis on one-off stories has been a total mistake for the series, and has resulted in a disjointed overall plot, with little room for character development. So many things set up in the first series and indeed in the prologue in Prog 2003 seem to have been wasted. For example the mistrust of Keege, who could have been a great and sympathetic character, and is now relegated to comic relief. And Veto has no motives at all to make him an interesting foil to Smith. Instead there's been far more concentration on ever more tedious "action" sequences, which consist of little more than the characters shouting orders at each other.

And then there's been the artwork. Williams is a talented artist - there's no doubt of that, but it's become gradually clear that he's been badly mismatched on this series. The strip places a great deal of emphasis on great dogfights, and unfortunately Williams just doesn't come up to scratch - unable to make the ships of the series seems as compelling as they did when Flint worked on it. It was always going to be a hard job to follow Flint, and unfortunately Williams just hasn't managed it well. This is all the more surprising, as his work in Prog 2003 seemed quite good. Some of this may be down to Abnett not writing to William's strengths, but it's very clear that a change of artist is needed for the next series. One significant positive aspect of Williams' work is is his adeptness at computer colouring, creating some very nice effects indeed, especially in this last issue. He just needs to know when to tone it down (as was needed on the jungle episode) and not to neglect his pencil and ink work.

Overall - the series needs to do a hell of a lot to win back the readers' hearts and minds when it returns...

Part 7 (Double sized final part)

Synopsis: Atavar sends a message back to Binod command, as he and Worldbreaker head towards "God". Worldbreaker says no Binod has ever travelled this far into the rim sectors and is worried by the remoteness. They finally see the huge organic object, which dwarfs them. Momentarily shaken by the sight, Atavar takes Worldbreaker in for a closer look - it seems to have no energy source. They enter a cavern filled with the husks of Wosk ships - with zero life signs. Atavar sets the weapons sheath to a walking mode and they explore, but are suddenly attacked by what appear to be zombie Wosk. Worldbreaker and Atavar fight back as Worldbreaker is over-run and loses contact.

While fighting the Wosk, Atavar analyses the OU op-sys for information, and he discovers that the organism is effectively a cancer, drawn in by the Wosk's psychic prayer, and is eating away anything organic. The UOs knew about it - but being robotic let it come as it posed no threat. Atavar tries to launch a message to the Binods, but it's too late, the Zombie Wosk break through the weapons sheath and everything goes dark. End of Book Two.

GH: Book 2 of Atavar proves that Abnett knows how to write a great space story, and it's because of his success here that makes me need to criticise him even more for his work in the VCs. When put side by side like this, Atavar is clearly streets ahead, in terms of writing originality, and indeed suspense and action. I enjoyed the last series of Atavar - even though it seemed to take too long to actually get anywhere, there was something at the heart of it that made you want to find out what the story was behind his origins. This second series has made me want to dig out the previous one and read it with fresh eyes, to see if I can see early signs of the plot developments that have grown further here.

The series - at only 7 episodes (or 8 since this is a two parter) seems a little short for such a plot heavy story, and care needs to be taken that too much time doesn't go by until we get to the next book. After all, it seems many people had forgotten the plot of Atavar 1 by the time of this sequel.

Much like Incubus, this series has also showcased the growing talent of its artist. To be honest, I really only started paying more attention to Elson's work in the latter stages of Atavar, but more intently, in the Scrap, which I still feel is an under-rated work. But his art has come forward in huge leaps and bounds with this series, mainly because it plays to his strengths of creating some wonderful alien creatures. His line work is detailed without being overly "finished" and he shows incredible understanding of the use of computers to enhance art without necessarily overwhelming it - which can often be the case. But most of all there's a huge element of originality in the designs here - something emphasised in the roughs that accompany the interview on this site. 2000AD has a great talent in Elson, and it's perhaps time they put him on something far more high profile in the near future.

So overall - Atavar has been extremely enjoyable, and I look forward to it's return - especially after that cliffhanger!