Prog 1341 - 21 May 2003
Cover by Andy Clarke and Chris Blythe
Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by Jamie Brackell

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: A great cover by Andy Clarke for this issue that grabs your eye the minute you see it, helped by the clear and dynamic layout of the main figures. Mention should also be given to Blythe's colouring on this, as well as the main Snow/Tiger strip, especially with his unique rendering of the frozen wastes. One minor criticism is that this clearly shows Tiger winning the fight. If this instead showed the tables turned against Tiger, it could have added more tension to the strip itself.

JB: A striking image with Tiger punching Stollen down to the ground. This cover is better than the last Snow/Tiger cover and actually made me want to read this strip first. Even though I am not the greatest fan of Andy Clarke’s art, I think that he is the only person who could draw Snow/Tiger so I am glad he drew this instead of another artist.

Hard Day's Night - Part 3

Synopsis: Dredd lies in the water with a shot shoulder, as Moreno tells him how his mentor, Judge Callaghan, set up the kidnapping, but Moreno eventually cut him out of the deal. He says that in the hostage situation he mentioned (last week), he and his brother had guns held to their heads. As Dredd burst in firing, one of his bullets passed through a perp, killing Moreno's brother. After that, he tried to become a judge, but could never forget. Dredd just says, "the past's the past", and that his actions in general have caused more good than bad. The other kidnapper stirs, so Moreno turns and shoots him, giving Dredd time to escape with the kid.

The water current carries them out of the reservoir, but Casey stops breathing on the way. As Dredd tries to revive him, Moreno attacks him from behind. Dredd rips off his own badge, cutting one of Moreno's fingers off, forcing him to let go. He then knocks Moreno out: "Bottom of the class". Dredd revives Casey, and walks out...

GH: Again, I'm impressed with the way that Goddard has laid out the initial pages of each part of this series in a similar way. It's a very effective way of starting out the comic. The similarities between this and the panel for episode one is also a nice touch. The big splash intro page is something that Dredd used to do very well when it was in the centre of the comic, and following these examples, it's something I'd like to see return more often. Again, Goddard proves himself to be a very good Dredd artist indeed, and should immediately be installed as a regular contributor to this strip in future.

The story, meanwhile, is OK, but becomes a little slight by the end. After the revelation that Moreno was bad all along, there's not much else to do apart from a big fight scene. Perhaps another few episodes would have helped to give more depth to Moreno's character, but unfortunately he comes across here as a one-note bad guy. That's a shame, as this could have proved to be a much more detailed examination of the effects that Dredd's actions have on bystanders.

SB: I had some high expectations for this final part of this story since I was hoping for a believable motive behind Cadet Moreno’s attack on Dredd. I had expected it to be something to do with Dredd’s previous meeting with him, but did not expect the involvement of Callaghan in the kidnapping. Morrison did a good job of giving a feasible reason behind the Cadet’s turn to the dark side.

I enjoyed the art especially the first page, which was reminiscent of Callaghan’s body in part 1. It was a good use of repetition. The colouring was particularly well done and I hope to see more of this art in the future, but only in stories with a dark undertone.

The Shadow Warriors - Part 6 (Double sized final episode)

Synopsis: Deadlock is still caught inside the Red House's shield, while the Rev's team haw tracked his physical body to the mountains of New Sidona, ready to destroy it. The Rev's team blow up the rocks blocking the entrance to the cave, and the Rev goes in alone to kill Deadlock. He finds Deadlock's body, and pulls out his symbol of the gallows, before getting ready to destroy the body.

The rest of the ABC Warriors are running back to Deadlock. Hammerstein wants to know more about Blackblood's allegiance to the Rev's Church of Judas. Blackblood says the religion is legitimate, and being a member of it doesn't put him on the Rev's side. Mongrol tells him that many robots need the religion to stop them from self destructing for disobeying their masters.

Back in the cave The Rev prepares to fire, as Deadlock comes back to life. The Warriors hear gunfire and take out the Rev's troops. Deadlock knocks down the Rev, severing his gun hand. The Rev escapes into the tunnel, but is felled by falling rocks. Deadlock wants to finish him off, but Hammerstein says there isn't time. They mindmail each other reports. as Deadlock says the psychic energy held in the Rev's gallows trinket helped to give him the power to escape. They now head to New Sidona, awaiting the rest of the Shadow Warriors to make their move... End of Book 1

GH: Well, that was over quickly. Ok - we had two double sized strips, so it's effectively an 8 parter, but it's still a rather abrupt end to book one. So in retrospect, it seems little more than a set up for the Shadow Warriors, and indeed book two. And we've still only seen four out of the seven bad guys so far! I can't help think that some more dense plotting could have resulted in a more satisfying book one, but all that has really happened is that the Warriors are aware that the Confederacy has sent someone after them. Book one should have ended with something more of a cliffhanger or a feeling of real danger for the Warriors, but so far they have beaten back the Shadow Warriors they've met with a little too much ease. Perhaps it's Mills' intention to set it up like this, given the overall lighthearted nature of the strip.

Despite these misgivings of the plot, I've still enjoyed this series as a whole, and its served to raise my opinion of Mills' writing, which has taken something of a battering due to recent sub-standard Sláine strips. Mills is taking himself just a little less seriously here, and it works wonders. If he could combine this newly refound sense of humour with a faster moving plot, I'd be much happier.

Ezquerra has continued to provide exemplary art on this series, and as mentioned before, 2000AD can't afford to lose him, given the work he manages to produce here. While his black & white art is some of the best on the market, I am looking forward to seeing him get back t colour on the upcoming Strontium Dog series.

JB: This double sized conclusion answers some of the questions about Deadlock although I wasn’t too impressed with his "escape"; not enough explanation was given and since it happened off-panel, I felt cheated that it was just mentioned in one speech bubble. This episode showed some conflict between the ABC Warriors and a Shadow Warrior, which I had been waiting for since the first episode, which featured Joe Pineapples against Dog-Tag. All the episodes in the middle have felt like one episode stretched into five. Nothing much has happened in Book One, save the introduction of some Shadow Warriors and only two of them have been shown in combat. Hopefully Book Two will show some combat between the Warriors.

The art for this episode wasn’t as good as the art from previous ones with one panel of Deadlock on the final page split into two for no apparent reason. I also found the art to be grainier than before which drew attention from the action.

Part 5

Synopsis: Lyra tells Rose that the alien that's taken over Marcus, Proteus, has the Orrery. Rose opens fire, but Lyra stops her, saying that she'll hurt Marcus. Rose turns her gun on Lyra, who pulls it off her and throws Rose onto Carter, demanding answers. Meanwhile, Marcus is in the chamber Lyra visited, has destroyed the guardian and has found his real body.

Back on Earth, Carter tells Lyra that for 2000 years an "Interstellar peacekeeping force called the Judiciary" has been abducting humans and using their minds to imprison aliens, through nano-scopic nodes. it worked until "the Fall", a war in which all the keepers were recalled to fight. Escher, Earth's keeper said they shouldn't abandon the planets, but was over-ruled. After 200 years, Escher returned, and found that the increases in technology, and the resulting radiation, had led to the nodes degrading, allowing the aliens to take over the host bodies. Proteus, a former military leader and psychopath wanted the Orrery to allow him to release the
prisoners back to their real bodies - "all nine million of them..."

GH: It's exposition time again - it had to happen sooner or later - as we find out pretty much all we need to know about the backstory of interceptor. Unfortunately, the big revelation falls a little flat, due the fact that the alien prison idea was completely given away in the preview on the main 2000AD website a few weeks back. It's still a great idea, but I just wish I hadn't known about it before I picked up this week's prog.

Despite that disappointment, Edgington still delivers another great episode, filled with interesting characters, and the aforementioned idea of the Earth as a prison is still an ingenious one. This combined with some more amazing alien designs and general bloody good work all round by Steve Pugh gives us one of the most original and entertaining series to appear in 2000AD in a while. Inventive sci-fi, with loads of action, and ever so slightly subversive - this is what 2000AD does best, and better than any other comic out there. Let's see a lot more stories like this from now on. And less drivel like Bec & Kawl.

JB: Finally! Some plot exposition! I am enjoying this story more and more especially now that some of the mystery surrounding the Orrery has been revealed. I do hope there’s some secrets to come though, since we are about halfway through the story and it may become too action-orientated unless there are more shocks to be revealed. I am looking forward to see what happens to the characters, which is always a good sign.

Steve Pugh's art continues to impress which more and more strange depictions of aliens that instantly seem realistic and individual. The art seems to be improving with every issue and I am very fond of the blues and greens that the colourist uses to show the prison world of the Orrery.

Pax Americana - Part 6

Synopsis: Tiger is surrounded by troops, who tell him to drop his gun. As soon as he does, they open fire, but Tiger jumps into the missile silo, landing on a gantry. The troop have to cease fire in case they hit the rocket. Stollen decides to deal with Tiger himself, leaving Snow to a guard - "if she tries anything cute, kill her". Meanwhile, Tiger is trying to stop the missile, as Stollen arrives at the gantry. Stollen decides to try hand to hand combat, as they're too close to the missile, and slashes at Tiger with a knife.

Back in her cell, Snow pulls out the wiring of the overhead light, and then smashes the sink, causing a flood. As the guard comes in to investigate, she put the wire in the water, electrocuting him. Grabbing his gun, she gets to the launch control, just too late to stop the launch. Tiger is still fighting Stollen off, but manages to get the upper hand, eventually pushing Stollen off the gantry into the igniting rocket engines below. All Tiger has to do now is make a plan to get out of there before the rocket incinerates him...

GH: A much better issue this time around, possibly because Tiger doesn't say too much again. The escape from the jail cell is well executed, and almost believable (this series was never designed to be totally realistic), and while the fight on the gantry is over a little quickly, it's still paced well. So it's episodes like this that make me feel that there is still hope for Snow/Tiger. If there's another series (and unless Diggle signs an exclusivity agreement with DC, there probably will be) Diggle needs to follow Rennie's example with Caballistics, and spend a little more time in getting to know the main characters, and making Tiger seem far less of an arse.

More highly stylish art from Clarke this time - but he still needs to find that fine line between detailed embellishment, and simply obscuring his perfectly good character designs with what occasionally looks like facial disfigurement. He's clearly a very good artist indeed, but as said before, needs to place a little more faith in his drawing skills. The very clean look of pages 4 & 5 show how good a draftsman he is, with some wonderful panel layout and design. More of that is what's needed.

JB: A very good penultimate episode with lots of action, which is enjoyable to read although it is very reminiscent of James Bond or a computer game. Snow continues to kill people, which seems against the way she was introduced as a pacifist. It seems Tiger is rubbing off on her and making her as easy to dislike as him. I hope she shows some remorse for the men she has killed so she can differentiate herself from Tiger, who doesn’t seem as annoying as before but then he hasn’t spoken much these past few episodes.

The art although still covered with little lines (or wrinkles) on people’s faces is growing on me and I find myself getting used to the excessive detail. I could not imagine anyone else drawing this strip since Clarke puts some amazing detail onto vehicles, weapons and backgrounds but he just puts too many lines on people’s faces. Snow is the only character who looks realistic since she does not suffer from the excess lines.