Prog 1342 - 28 May 2003
Cover by Boo Cook
Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by Jamie Brackell

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: An in-your-face B-movie style front cover from Boo Cook this week, which proves a good introduction to new Thrill Lobster Random. Nice touch of finally admitting that there's more than one strip inside the comic, with the banner advertising the new Dredd strip too.

JB: An average image of Lobster Random which looks a bit cluttered at first glance. I didn’t feel that the font of the words "Rock Lobster" suited the cover since it made it look unclear and messy. Overall, not an effective cover and not one I would remember. Hopefully soon, Interceptor will be given a cover, since they have not had one yet and I enjoy Steve Pugh's artwork.

Revenge of the Chief Judge's Man - Part 1

Synopsis: Dredd arrives at a Cursed Earth correction facility, and asks to see Judge Edgar. Edgar was the previously disgraced head of the MC1 surveillance unit, and holds a grudges against Dredd. As he walks by, there's a mail call. One prisoner breaks down as he gets a note from his wife wanting a divorce, while a judge berates another, Armon Gill, for not getting a letter again. (Gill, a genetically modified soldier, believed himself to be the Chief Judge's man - responsible for undercover killings against democratic subversives in her name. However, someone else other than the Chief Judge was pulling his strings). Gill throws his pick-axe at Dredd, and leaps at him: "Tell her the Chief Judge's Man is coming!" He's thrown into a solitary cell.

Dredd visits Edgar and raises the question of Gill. He tells her that the judge in charge of the case, De Klerk came up blank and want to know if she could help (Note. we know that DeKlerk is in fact the man behind Gill). As he says this, the prisoner who got the message from his wife tries to scale the wall of the camp, but loses his grip and falls to his death. Edgar says it may be a better end than staying in the camp. She turns her mind to the case, suggesting that it's a deskbound judge with previous excessive judgements, especially against democratic elements. She also notes that Gill murdered a prisoner, Bubba O Kelly the day he arrived - and that could have meant more that first seemed (indeed it was, as Armon had to get captured so he could be taken to the camp, as this was the only way to reach Kelly, who knew too much about De Klerk and had to be silenced). Dredd decides to investigate the Kelly case...

GH: It's been quite a while since the last Armon Gill story, so he's been wasting away in this camp for some time. I dug up and took a quick peek at 1266 (his last appearance) for a primer, so it was useful to be reminded that DeKlerk was indeed the man behind Gill, although I expect his character to come to the fore fairly soon after Gill's inevitable escape. This is an 8 part story, promising much from it's somewhat lengthy stay, and it'll be good to see Wagner getting involved in the democracy vs the Judges debate again, but it remains to be seen at what degree. As for Edgar, I assume this is only a cameo from her, but this brief appearance highlights how Wagner populates Dredd's world with fascinating character. Edgar was never really given centre stage, but her resentment against both Dredd and the Judges is still clearly visible here.

As for Burns, he's always been one of 2000AD's best artists, and indeed a particularly good dredd artist, bringing a healthy amount of realism to such a fantastical main character. As always, it's Burns' characters which shine through, especially in Edgar's ever-so pissed off response to Dredd's "respects". However, his depiction of the remote and harsh penal colony is excellent, especially with elements like the the sun drenched solitary cells, and the towering walls surrounding the facility.

JB: The beginning of another Chief Judge's Man story and it looks like we are going to find out who put him up to it. This storyline has started off well with the appearance of old characters like Armon Gill and Judge Edgar. I always enjoy stories with lots of mystery and twists and this seems to be leading to a conspiracy story.

I am a big fan of John Burns' artwork. His painted style is very realistic and I feel it suits the tone well. He excels when painting Dredd and Nikolai Dante. He puts a lot of detail into the Cursed Earth Correction Facility and adds much to the atmosphere of the place. The location looks stunning and the wall that Daker attempts to climb really looks particularly dangerous and high.

Bad Thoughts

Synopsis: In a distant world, a group of highly intelligent beings are meeting at the Institute of Big Ideas, where they strive to build a perfect civilisation and share ideas for the good of the people. But one of them, Professor Borib believes that great ideas are found in the search for recognition. His friend Karlob, disagrees, as he is building a quantum computer to allow them all to instantly contact other worlds. But Karlob's machine is not a success, as it kills him. Borib sees potential in the device, and asks to take over Karlob's work.

He manages to fix the problem after some work, and discovers that the device uses thoughtwaves, and he has captured a thought in a jar. But the thought is sentient, and asks to be let free, as their kind lives in tandem with Borib's species. They help Borib to repair the machine, until finally it works. Borib turns it on, ready for his moment of glory, but it seems the thought creatures, effectively a virus, are going to use the machine to transport anywhere instantly, infesting the universe. They leave the people of Borib's planet as a species of living brain dead vegetables...

GH: A fairly intriguing Future Shock, which works OK, especially in keeping the twist right until the end. It is well enough written, but something leaves me a little cold about it. Maybe it's just trying a little too hard to be clever in what should be a throwaway story, I don't know. Or maybe it's that I've read so many of these Future Shocks that the twists are starting to become a little too clichéd for my hard-to-please tastes. And is it me, or do too many Future Shocks end with the protagonist explaining the twist rather than it just happening?

I always dread seeing a Future Shock as part of the line up in 2000AD, as I know it's always going to let me down, but as I've mentioned before I can see their usefulness in training up new writers and artists. And the art on show here is certainly not bad at all, working particularly good in black and white, and looking quite polished (no doubt helped by Dylan Teague on inks).

JB: The plot is quite clever but the final shock wasn’t that much of a twist. It was unexpected but not completely shocking. Maybe I have grown tired of these Future Shocks since I haven’t seen any truly surprising endings for a while. The story is entertaining but I had predicted all the clever people would end up stupid, just not how.

I am beginning to feel that 2000AD feels obligated to add at least one black and white strip into the line-up, whereas I would have preferred an extension to one of the other strips rather than this ‘fill-in’. For me, a strip should only be in black and white if it looks better that way, not for the sake of having a black and white strip in the line-up. I enjoyed the art of this strip but feel that it could have benefited from being in colour, in order to show the different colour between the thoughts and the skin. It looked as if the peoples heads had string coming out the top. An obvious change in colour would have made it clearer.

Part 6

Synopsis: Lyra is upset about Marcus, while Rose and Carter search the place for clues. She asks them why they're not going after Proteus, but Rose tells her that there is only one Orrery for each world as a safety protocol (a protocol put in place by Rose - as Carter points out).

But Lyra feels there may be another way in and takes them to the NYCU astrophysics dept, to Professor Love (who has a crush on Lyra). She asks him to take Rose 7 Carter through his work, part of SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). He shows them his device - the Quantum Accelerator Torus and Carter thinks he can do something with it. Rose knocks out Love so they can work on the machine, locking it to the Orrery's signature. It seems to work, and they step through the gate, getting to the prison. But it's too late, as Proteus and some others have already been reunited with their real selves...

GH: Another great episode of Interceptor, made all the more so by Pugh's art which seems particularly well suited to the story. Moments like Rose angrily shrugging Carter's hand off her shoulder, played across three panels work particularly well, and emphasise that an artist's job isn't merely to put down exactly what's in the script, but to add a number of nuances that add to the overall package. The three main protagonists of Lyra Carter and Rose work particularly well in this regard, with Pugh able depicting Lyra as feisty and ready to get her own back, Rose as a particularly surly alien/woman and Carter as the charming gentleman trying to get everyone to get along.

This combined with a story that doesn't take itself at all seriously from Edgington has resulted in a surprisingly entertaining story, and a welcome addition tot he 2000AD clan.

JB: A new character is introduced and Ian Edgington hasn’t looked far for his name. The scientist is named "Buddy Love" which is coincidentally the same name as the character played by Eddie Murphy in the "Nutty Professor". This bugged me as it was so obviously a "homage" or a "rip-off" and drew my attention away from the story. The ease of reaching the other dimension without the Orrery seemed a bit rushed as it seemed to be a major hurdle. The cliffhanger at the end promises some more action next prog.

Looking back from the first part of this story, it is easy to see how far Steve Pugh's art has improved and the characters all look the same in each panel, which is something I like. When the agent, Rose, becomes an alien, she still looks a bit like her human form despite being blue. The fact that Steve Pugh can draw a character as an alien and still look recognisable is a testament to his talent. I hope to see an Interceptor cover from him soon.

No Gain, No Pain - Part 1

Synopsis: Lobster Random is about to be sentenced to death by Terminal Regression, which forces a mind into rewind: you live your life backwards until it stops, and then you die. Going backwards thus, we learn that Random has been caught several times in the past for a number of crimes. In his younger days he was a torturer-for-hire, getting the details for a number of hidden fortunes and other hauls from his unfortunate victims. He went into that line of work after being discharged as a soldier. He was a surgically modified soldier, unable to sleep or feel pain, and with some huge claws surgically attached to his sides.

As he reaches the beginning of his life, he starts to fade away, until someone switches the machine off. Back in the real world, an odd looking group has stormed the prison, and have come to get Lobster Random out...

GH: The first of a brand new series from Spurrier and Crichlow, and I'm already hooked. Having the first episode work as a quick summary of the character works wonders. The backwards nature of the strip is innovative, and surprisingly well written (although the lobster claw part does seems like a hastily thought add-on to the character). The idea of a quick primer into the character is certainly something that a strip like Snow/Tiger could have done with, and this eliminates the confusion that occasionally occurs with the first episode of a brand new story. As readers of these review know, I'm not really taken with Spurrier's work on Bec and Kawl, and while he continues to turn out first rate stories like this, I'll continue to hope that his other strip never ever returns...

Carl Critchlow continues his new style as first aired in the recent Dredd/Werewolf tale. It's a good mixture of clever colouring/shading and scratchy linework that seem to suit the character well. Some of the panels do look a little cluttered (the last in particular), but I much prefer this style to Critchlow's less unique painted work.

JB: It is too early to give a judgement over how this story is going to pan out, but I feel that it is going to be a little ridiculous. Starting the story with the "execution" of the title character was a good idea because Simon Spurrier used the technique of "life flashing before your eyes" to give us a quick background on the character.

The art is good, but seems a bit too drab and grey. I hope this is because it is set in a prison and the flashbacks. Hopefully next week’s part will feature more colours and locations. The art seems to be covered in many blotches or stains. Lobster’s orange suit, his manacles, the walls, everywhere seems to have a patch of rust, blood or just dark stains on it.

Pax Americana - Part 7 (Final episode)

Synopsis: The Gantry retracts, and Tiger dives for the rocket, opening the emergency access panel and letting himself in. He kills the two pilots and pulls the escape separation lever. The rocket detonates, and the section containing Tiger parachutes safely to ground. Snow takes a snow truck out looking for Tiger, and finds him taking a break and a cigarette beside the landed capsule - just as the rest of the TACTIC team show up and destroy the silo. Snow joins Tiger for a cigarette, and says that while most of the Aryan Alliance from the bunker will be caught, she doesn't know who's behind them yet - but they'll be ready for him when he makes a wrong move.

Back in Washington, Senator Lydecker vows to continue the war against terror, and a journalist suggests he might be running for president...which Lydecker doesn't confirm or deny, winking into the camera "God bless America".

GH: Ok - so the first series of Snow/Tiger is over. This seems to have got an overall positive reaction from the 2000AD readership, and on the surface it's easy to see why. Andy Clarke's art, combined to great effect with Chris Blythe, is particularly suited for this job. His attention to detail in everything from the guns, the planes, and the hardware in general is to be lauded, and is just what you want from this series - he's by far the best man for the job. There are the lingering doubts over the heavy linework he uses on his male characters, which he desperately needs to tone down on the next series, but in general he has the grand approach that is needed.

The premise for the series too, is great. Bond/True Lies style action works particularly well in 2000AD as a counterpoint to the heavy Sci Fi from the rest of the comic. The idea of the two diametrically opposed main characters is also promising, as is the use of American militia as the bad guys.

However, for me there is still something seriously problematic with the story. The main characters are not fleshed out enough, with little or no background on either of them, and by the end, there's not a great deal to tell them apart as both of them seem quite happy to wave a gun around. This is my main concern with Snow/Tiger - that after 7 episodes, I still really don't care about the two main characters. Hell, there's a part of me that was even hoping that Tiger was going to be incinerated by the rocket (alas, no). As for the bad guys - Lydecker seems perhaps to much like a Preacher reject for me to be totally happy with him as anything more than a pantomime villain.

Now Diggle turned in some great work with Wagner on Dredd/Aliens. That's the only other work I've seen of his so far, but seeing as he was voted Best New Talent at the recent comic festival, I'm hoping that his work on Lady Constantine and the Losers is going to be an improvement on this.

Here's what I want to see in the next series:

• More background on the two main characters
• A toning down of Tiger's arrogance, or at least explanation of why he acts like that
• more info on TACTIC and how it works
• A more slowly burning plot that doesn't rush to a smash-bang denouement at the end

I'm still willing to give it the benefit of the doubt next time around - and I've warmed to series I've initially disliked before (see Caballistics inc.), so there's hope yet.

JB: An average end to an average series. The ending leaves a chance for a sequel, which will depend on the reader’s reactions, I guess. In addition, Snow and Tiger seem to have lost all the rivalry and friction that they were meant to have. Hopefully, in a sequel, the two would re-engage in the opposite personalities friction.

The art is beautiful with the sky looking much better than a plain blue sky, with added textures and clouds. The excessive lines remain in the strip but I have found myself used to the detail that Andy Clarke adds onto the faces, explosions and inanimate objects. Hopefully, if there is a sequel Andy Clarke will be able to draw it.