Prog 1338 - 30 April 2003
Cover by Andy Clarke & Chris Blythe

Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by Jamie Brackell

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers.

GH: A much better cover than Clarke's last attempt, and combined with Chris Blythe's colouring, this makes for an extremely dynamic offering that grabs the eye. Still too much of that facial embellishment - but I'll talk about that later...

JB: A good "explosive" cover which catches the eye. It’s a pity it was scattered with shards of yellow glass, which obscured much of the cover and gave it a more confusing look. I prefer my covers to be plainer like some previous Dredd ones.

A Night at the Opera

Synopsis: Jean-Paul Pierre Salinger is putting on a revisionist opera about the tyrant Judge Cal, which treats him as a tragic doomed hero. Dredd is present at the proceedings at the Chief Judge's order, annoyed that it's taken him away from his investigation of the "Eurotrash Extermination Corps" terrorist group - Judge Giant is leading an assault against the terrorists. The opera starts, with fattie Dario Mario in the lead role. Giant has meanwhile beaten the terrorists, and learns they had "something big planned for tonight".

Dario Mario takes a break, and wolfs down a box full of Cannoli from a well wisher before the final act. Dredd finally gets the news that the opera is the planned target, and the cannoli contains an explosive chem-mix. As Dario is to leap off the statue of judgement in the final act, the bomb will go off. Dredd rushes to the stage, but Dario has jumped, so he blasts open the floor. Dario plummets through the hole and explodes, leaving everyone else safe. As Giant says: "it ain't over till the fat guy explodes!"

GH: Gordon Rennie return as the regular fill-in scriptwriter on Dredd, and makes his usual competent stab at it. I say competent, because while this is a well written story as a whole, it feels a little too forced after the two more heavily plotted Dredd tales that have come before it. There are some nice plays on the revisionism of the Cal era, but I thought Rennie could have done a bit more with the potential satire to be wrung out of the situation. It's hard to be too critical, though, as it's a pleasant diversion. The last line is terrible, though...

Good to see Paul Marshall back on Dredd, as he does appear to have an affinity for the character, much like Rennie. I'd like to see Marshall's work tried out on some other strips though, as his Dredd work does seem to have lost the invention of some of his earlier 2000AD work, so trying him out on something new could be what he needs.

JB: This is the first single part story for a while after the mega-epic "Dredd vs. Aliens" and Orlok’s trial and it's a welcome change of pace. Written by Gordon Rennie who proves to be a worthy replacement for Wagner when it comes to Dredd stories, It's a humourous look on opera and society's way of turning a bad time in history such as Cal’s reign into entertainment. This can be seen nowadays in films about the World Wars.

The art is really clear and crisp and serves the light-hearted story well. I like Paul Marshall’s art and he draws a good Dredd, although at the top of page 3, in the circular panel, Dredd appears to have really big hands that seem overly stretched. Other than that minor detail, it's a well-drawn story.

Breaking Out - Part 2

Synopsis: At the research facility, the Caballistics are shown around to find a blood stained roof, with chains dangling. The facility was holding demonically possessed humans. Simmons realises that it's to gather secrets and information from them, learning about stockmarkets, wars, and catastrophes, so that the owners could profit from the information. The ex-humans were called Mary, Mungo and Midge. Mungo was destroyed escaping, but the other two escaped, and the Caballistics have to bring them back...intact. After the facility head leaves them alone, Chapter says there's no way they're going to bring them back in one piece at all...

Meanwhile, only of the possessed has attacked an abattoir and is feasting. In Oxfordshire, Ravne is meeting Sir Alex Nestor who, back in 1946, was part of Department Q, and in charge of capturing and interrogating members of Sonderkommando Thule, which was led by Ravne (See prog 1324). But Ravne says he know Nestor's secrets too, as his assistant appears to be a vampire. He wants to know everything about Kostabi that Nestor's kept from Brand...

GH: Well this just keeps getting better, and the plotting on show here and throughout the whole Caballistics saga so far shows that Rennie should be given a longer leash with Dredd, and allowed to make some more long term changes/plans for that character. Simmons development, moving away from the slightly prissy Englishwoman is a good move, as is Brand's raised eyebrow at her rather accurate description of the use of the demons. Looks like Simmons is only going to get darker before we learn more about what's possessing her. Again, all the characters are becoming defined, and the dynamic of "them against everyone else" does help to generate sympathy.

As said before, Reardon's art continues to improve every issue, and the scene in the abattoir is extraordinarily gruesome...

JB: The team have got a new mission, which involves catching two demons, while Ethan Ravne continues for more answers about Mr Kostabi. We also find out that Ravne was around in 1946 but hasn’t aged as much as Sir Alex Nestor who he meets at the end of the episode. The subtle hints dropped so far by Rennie seem to suggest that Ravne is a vampire (sleeping in a bath of blood) although these could be red herrings. I am interesting in finding out the secrets behind Kostabi and his motives.

Personally, I do not like the way the characters are drawn they seem too sketchy for me, although I like the way the blood soaked rooms are shown with a healthy amount of gore.

Part 2

Synopsis: The news carries the story of the shooting, leaving the "hitchhiker unidentified, but the large man was famed opera singer Tootles O'Leary. Lyra realises only she could see their true form, then thinks that the green gunk seeping out of the man was a drug which caused a psychotic episode. The vid phone rings - but with audio only - it's her boyfriend, who says something's wrong with the connection, but says he#ll be over later, ringing off. Lyra decides to examine the strange ball the dying man gave to her - and noticing sone strange markings, takes it out of the baggie she had it in.

She immediately appears to transport to a huge room which appears to be growing humans & aliens. A robot grabs her arm, saying she was expected, leading her to her "induction." But lyra rips the arm off the robot, rubs the ball, chanting "there's no place like home" and she materialises back in her apartment. but the old lady and the schoolgirl are waiting for her and knock her out - "ycomin home with us!"

GH: The fantastic art od Steve Pugh is the main attraction on offer here. From his distinct character models - which show that real work has gone into the design of this series, to his depiction of he alien machinery and futuristic environments, he brings to 2000AD one of the most overall futuristic looking science fiction stories in ages. This combined with a great set-up from Edgington that has already left multiple intriguing plot strands hanging after only 2 episodes makes for very entertaining reading. I definitely do not trust Lyra's boyfriend - especially as he's only hidden himself now that she can see the alien's true faces... Exactly the kind of sci fi romp that 2000AD does best.

JB: Most of this episode seems to be explaining and analysing what happened last episode, which is welcome, but can seem a bit forced. When Lyra gets sent to the other dimension, she is surrounded by many pods that seem very matrix-like with a machine seemingly in control of them. It ends with a cliffhanger that makes me want to read on since there are still many questions to be answered.

Steve Pugh draws a good mechanical other world, rich with blues and greens which in contrast to the homely browns of Lyra’s apartment seems more dangerous but is the robot trying to help her or harm her? Which is safer? Home or the new world?

The Shadow Warriors - Part 3

The first shadow is identified as Bootleg, an illegally built robot with no morality program, and a human bounty hunter. his creator is unknown. (Note that Pineapples passed by him unbeknownst in episode 1). The second is Dogtag, who barely survived his first encounter with Pineapples and wants revenge. The consultant's eye then flashes, as he is alerted to the presence of Deadlock's astral form (the consultant, Bloomcrater, is a Rent Man, who shares his brain with a 4th dimensional being). the shield is activated, and the astral guards attack Deadlock as he tries to escape - if his astral body dies, so will his physical one.

The rest of the ABC Warriors are still pinned down by the "Behemek" tanks. Hammerstein mindlinks with the heavy artillery, and gets them to zero in on their position. Blackblood complains that he won't survive such an onslaught, but Hammerstein prepares to shield him with his body as the attack begins.

GH: Mills continues to prove that he can be much more entertaining when dealing with sci fi and futuristic concepts than he is with magic. From the set up of the first two Shadow Warriors to Bloomcrater's revelation as a "Rent Man" this is great fun. A hell of a lot of exposition is going on here, and yet it all remains highly readable. Ongoing proof that it looks like it's too early to write off Mills yet. Nice touch of foreshadowing in revealing the first 2 Shadow Warriors before this issue too.

And there's not much more I can say about Ezquerra that I haven't already covered in previous reviews. Great art - although the clearly repeated panel on the last page is a slight disappointment. I look forward to seeing what he does with the other Shadow Warriors.

JB: This issue reveals two of the Shadow Warriors and Dog Tag from the first episode has returned, and I'm looking forward to another meeting between him and Joe Pineapples.

The story ends with two cliffhangers- Deadlock’s battle against the astral guards and the other ABC’s against the behemeks. The art remains consistently good, and despite it being black and white I enjoy it. Unlike Caballistics, the art seems less dark with less thick shadows.

Pax Americana - Part 3

Snow drops her automatic gun as ordered by the Aryan soldier, but as he fires she pushes away the muzzle, and kills him with her sidearm. Tiger chases after Stollen, who escapes through a tunnel. As Tiger attempts to open the hatch, he hears a countdown, and dives through a window, just before a huge explosion destroys the biolab. Later Tiger congratulates Snow on her kill, but Snow replies that she's never killed a man before and doesn't want to talk about it. They still don't know who is behind the terrorist group.

Meanwhile Senator Lydecker (who we know as the actual head of the terrorists) is being interviewed on television, and questioned about his racist policies - which he says are exaggerated. He later orders his men to make an example of the interviewer for attacking him on his own network. Stollen calls Lydecker and tells him "the sword of Damocles is ready to rise." - something which a captured terrorist repeats for TACTIC - but they don't understand what it means. However, they now think there may be a second site in Alaska, with more virus - but Snow insists this is to be a strictly stealth-based mission...

GH: Ok - so the art is still great, but I reiterate my previous concerns at Clarke's tendency to overly etch character's wrinkles. This is never more apparent than on Lydecker's face. It's quite distracting, and unnecessary embellishment on what seem to be decent character designs. His design of Snow is particularly good because it avoids this pitfall. Other than that, he's still very much at home in this hardware- heavy storyline, and the last page of the TACTIC Op Centre looks great, especially as few artists would have put in the attention to detail he does here.

I still have concerns at the story, and Tiger's "congratulation" of Snow's kill seemed overly false. So we're supposed to have a cold blooded killer as our hero? Diggle needs to get some sympathy for this character, and fast, as he's little more than a bundle of clichés so far. The overall plot, has good potential, and just manages to survive this unsympathetic character, and is just about retaining my interest.

JB: With two clichéd opening pages, Snow/Tiger doesn’t fill me with hope. The clichéd survival by Snow at point blank range and Tiger’s escape from the bomb at the last second seem too unlikely for me. Snow admits she had never killed anyone before and Tiger seems to still be uncaring when he tells her it was "a good kill". Both Stollen and one of his men mention "the sword of Damocles" and its "rise". This perhaps sounds like some sort of device or it could simply be the Ebola.

The art is good but I dislike the lines that Andy Clarke draws on the faces of his male characters. (Although I seem to recall Katarina Dante having similar lines on her face a few covers back) It’s a minor quibble but just one that appears on almost every panel.