Prog 1349 -16 July 2003
Cover by Graham Rolfe
Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by Leigh Shepherd

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: An absolutely fantastic cover from Graham Rolfe this week. Often 2000AD covers don't take enough risks (see the endless run of stock Dredd poses) but this tries something fresh - and as such will stick out on the news-stand. This "medical chart" type picture may have been done before - but not in 2000AD as far as I am aware, and that's what I want to see more of - something with originality that will grab the attention of a casual passer by.

LS: It's a nice idea, though the execution is a bit tatty in places - the head looks out of place and obviously pasted on, while the logo could have been a little bigger and the image a little larger.

Revenge of the Chief Judge's Man - Part 8 (Final part)

Synopsis: Gill's hoverbike is hit by the judges' fire, but he keeps going and breaks into the tunnel. Meeting another group of judges, Gill takes another few hits and the bike crashes - but he keeps going, climbing into control cabin of the tunneller. He starts up the machine and send it towards the Chief Judge. Dredd attacks Gill in the cabin, as the tunneller moves towards the Chief Judge, and eventually grinds her into pieces. Gill lets his guard down and is shot, falling into the grinders where he too is destroyed.

The judges stop the machine and look at what's left - it turns out that the Chief Judge was a robot designed to lure Gill out. Back in De Klerk's quarters, a judge arrives to arrest him, but De Klerk has already committed suicide, leaving a suicide note which confesses he was behind the killings.

GH: The end of the Chief Judge's man finally, and it's something of a shame to see him go out in such a disappointing way. This story had great potential at the beginning, with the prison breakout and the return of Edgar being particular highlights. However, once the action returned to Mega City one, the plot became gradually more by-the-numbers, and there seemed to be too much of a rush to the climax.

Gill's potential as a good villain for Dredd appears to have been thrown away, and he seems rather pathetic by the end. Perhaps that's the point, as he had nothing to live for any more, but there's something about it that just doesn't work. Also - De Klerk's unmasking was handled in scenes particularly devoid of any tension. It seemed too clear from early on that he would be discovered, and as such, the story merely plodded along as the readers waited for the inevitable. Perhaps this story would have been better suited to more episodes and a slow-burn plot?

A plus point for the series has been John Burn's art. Burns is certainly one of the key contributors to 2000AD, bringing a unique old-school,and photo realistic approach that seems ideally suited to the comic. Certainly his scene depicting the "Chief Judge's" death is impressively nasty, and he can draw one hell of a kinetic fight scene, as seen in this issue and in the previous téte á téte between Dredd and Gill.

So overall, an average Dredd tale that failed to capitalise on some great opening episodes.

LS: And so ends the saga of the Chief Judge's Man. Wagner seems to have decided the best policy is to finish off this character in the old Dredd tradition - that is, quickly and brutally. It's always been a plus for the world of Dredd that villains rarely return to bother our Joe, even though in this case, there seemed a lot of potential still untapped in the storyline. All three Chief Judge's Man stories have seen Gill attempt an assassination run on the MC-1 equivalent of a push bike, so it would have been nice to see him come up with something a little more ingenious than "head-on death run".

Robo-Hershey might scream cop-out to some, but really, with the technology available, it would be a surprise if they didn't use a robot double as standard for all Chief Judge walkabouts (that would certainly been more of a old school idea).

Overall, another great tale, though for me the final panel fell a little flat. De Klerk's message really needed some note of regret or defiance, and perhaps we were also missing Dredd's response (I always like it when Dredd gets a little "Jerry Springer" with a final thought!).

Otherworld - Part 4 (Final part)

Synopsis: Oberon teleports Moll and Kelly back into the throne room after they promise they'll take Titania away. Drake and Raleigh have been drugged and become stupid, as Moll takes out Titania. Drake & Raleigh try to shoot each other, but manage to kill all the guards instead. They capture one of the flying ships and manage to get back to the portal. Leaving Titania, they escape, destroying the portal behind them. Although all this has happened in a few hours, Dee says they've been away for months, and the Spanish Armada is already in the channel.

Raleigh & Drake, now recovered, head to the channel, and use the guns to destroy the armada, although the guns eventually run out of power. Kelly and Dee decide to write he whole experience up as a play, and call themselves Shakespeare, and Moll becomes a "lady", using the jewels given to them by Titania.

GH: While things finally start to happen in this episode, I stand by the assertion that this is a 2 parter at most, but has been extended unnecessarily into a 4 part story. As such, this has plodded along for far too long now, and has outstayed its welcome. However, as stated in previous reviews, there are positive elements to admire, notably Moore's deft comic touch, which is used to better effect here than in any of the previous episodes and also Cam Smith's artwork, which shows strong potential for the future.

But the lack of a really good Past Imperfect twist is felt here. OK, so we get three twists instead, but none of them are particularly impressive, not least the Shakespeare one which must have been done HUNDREDS of times before. Perhaps Moore should have concentrated on the Midsummer Night Dream elements, and made the whole tale a clearer reference to that - then the ending might have been more acceptable?

I still remain to be convinced about the Past Imperfect premise in general, as I have yet to see a tale which really takes advantage of it.

LS: Oh dear. This week we are treated to another handful of clichés: Catfight? Check. Shakespeare conspiracy theory? Yup. One particularly poor bit was the drugged Drake and Raleigh becoming "stupid" (why?) and hilariously trying to shoot each other but wiping out the guards instead. A lame enough joke in itself, but compounded by a "tell, not show" execution, with various characters explaining to us what has happened, rather than showing it (though if that would have meant another episode, perhaps we got off lightly).

The art wasn't bad, though it is an ugly, angular style that isn't quite as graceful as other artists who use distortion for effect. Still, if this is the same Cam Smith who did an old Friday story for the Rogue Trooper annual, he has improved immensely, and I could see his art working given the right kind of story.

No Gain, No Pain - Part 8 (Double sized final part)

Synopsis: As Lobster again flashes back to the last days of his platoon, he heads for a showdown with Copious. On the way he runs into Klik, now working as a cleaning droid, and unaware of who he or she is, although aware that some of her "attachments appear somewhat specialised". Lobster offers her a change in career and drags her along with him. He takes out Copious' guards along the way and they get to the Mindsphere. Klik shuts down the stasis field surrounding the mindsphere, and Random breaks open the container, letting it loose.

Copious is in the lab as all the tech assistants go insane, and he's forced to kill them all. Lobster makes himself know, so Copious reveals himself as Random's sergeant from his time in the army, telling Random that he caused disaffection among his platoon, and prevented him from doing his job. They fight, but Random takes him down easily, tying him to an operating table. With Klik's help he opens the Sarge's skull and inserts the mindsphere, dropping him off on a planet, in the middle of nowhere, but with big cities too..."go find some friends".

Lobster and Klik head off for new adventures...

GH: With this and Caballistics Inc, 2000AD has done the pretty good job of creating two new series which clearly have long term potential. This frankly isn't too bad at all given that many 2000AD stories have such a short shelf life.

I didn't know what to expect from Lobster Random when it started. I had mixed feelings about Spurrier's work before this, having enjoyed The Scrap, but having a deep seated loathing for Bec & Kawl. With this series, he's managed to prove himself as a very good storyteller indeed, using the whole of the series to set up the character of Lobster Random, but still managing to wrap an engaging plot around this exposition. The writing has been funny without the need for pop-culture references, and Spurrier has a knack for creating innovative sci-fi ideas, like the mindsphere and Dinera's vault. In addition, he's managed to make the main character of a torturing, robot-loving psychopath into a sympathetic hero, which is something of an extraordinary coup.

Backing Spurrier up has been the newly resurrected Carl Critchlow. His new art style, previously unveiled in prog 1313 has been far better than his painted artwork, and allowed him to develop a truly unique style. I had previously been critical of the overuse of grey and dark tints in his artwork, but I have grown used to this, and it works well when used with elements like the dark red of the mindsphere. He's made this series a success just as much as Spurrier, and hopefully we'll see him return in the inevitable sequel.

And this is one story that truly deserves a sequel. Spurrier just needs to make sure that he retains his style of storytelling developed for this series, and doesn't go too "wacky" in the next one. If he can set up an overall arc for the Random character, we could surprisingly have the best thing since Nikolai Dante here...

LS: Now this is more like it. With the revelation that the villain is from Random's past, the flashback overload we've seen in this story now makes much more sense. The reunion with Klik was funny, with some great laugh out loud lines. Similarly, the ending was also well thought out, with Random able to tie up the story and deal with the villain in a satisfactory way, following through the themes of the story. This seems to be something that Spurrier does well, as "The Scrap" had similarly well thought through issues. And although I enjoyed the Scrap, it lacked this tales well balanced combination of humour, action and pathos.

There are a few lapses in the internal logic of this story (Lobster being knocked out when he is supposedly incapable of sleep, for example), but overall these are minor quibbles when set against how much fun this story has been. The true acid test of this strip will be if it can build as interesting a universe for Lobster to inhabit as the main character himself, and any follow-up would do well to start creating a setting fit for the character. If this could be done, I would certainly rate Lobster as the best new strip since Dante.

Ghouls - Part 6 (Final part)

Synopsis: The scavengers come out of hiding and eliminate the remaining Norts. The commander promises to kill Rogue if he ever sees him again, if he isn't already dead...

Elsewhere, the atomcraft with Rogue and Kinsella is losing height, and Rogue is in bad shape "I don't think he's going to make it". The craft crashes, and Rogue's systems start to crash too. There's only one option left, Kinsella has to remove the chip. But before she can, a group of Nort commandos stop her.

Back at Nort command, there's no word of Rogue being captured. But the Warmarshall can wait no longer - saying the planet is hiding him, and they must ensure there is nowhere left to hide: "The scouring of Nu Earth begins now!"

GH: This series has renewed my faith in Rogue Trooper as a viable character. Rennie appears to have learned from the mistakes of the last series, where short stories and an overly powerful Rogue prevented the reader from caring enough. This time, he's successfully widened the conflict, made Rogue far less powerful as well as putting him in mortal danger and created a number of potentially recurring characters with interesting backgrounds. There are enough situations that need resolving that it will make the next appearance of Rogue much more highly anticipated (after all, this series was released rather quietly) and hopefully Rennie will concentrate further on the greater conflict outside of Nu Earth, which bears further investigation.

The art for this series has been pretty good too. Both Mike Collins and Staz Johnson have provided some decent black & white artwork, backed up by David Roach, but it's Staz Johnson's early solo work on the series that impressed so much. Give him a bit more time next time round and lets see if we can have a whole series drawn by him.

LS: I've been quietly enjoying this current run of Rogue, but this weeks installment really upped the stakes, being a prime example of how to wring interest out of a flashback story. Of course we know Rogue survives this, but how? And who are those strange looking norts that arrive at the end? And how will the War Marshal be stopped? After a slow burning first series, this second run has set us up for a potentially great run of stories - hopefully Rogue will be allowed to play out all the plot threads in this without suffering his usual fate of having the storyline cut short, or the format meddled with.

I prefer Mike Collins art to Staz Johnson's, being much dirtier and less shiney. He also draws some mean Nort uniforms, with the Ghouls leaders outfit and the Norts at the end being good examples of how to riff off the original costume. Hopefully, we'll see more of his work in the next run.