Prog 1352 - 6 August 2003
Cover by Clint Langley
Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by John Amans

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH:Another Cliff Robinson cover, but this is much better than his recent efforts on the weekly, as it actually reflects events inside the comic, as opposed to being another stock Dredd image. A pretty striking cover (no pun intended) but I'm a little put off by Dredd's fist covering the main tag-line.

JA: A rather pointless Judge Dredd cover. After some really good covers, the recent Slaine cover being the best, we're back to cover by numbers stuff. Sorry, it just doesn't do anything for me. A pity really because Cliff Robinson can do a lot better.

The Satanist - Part 3

Synopsis: Dredd heads out to see Rupert Silfe - ignoring crimes on the way, but reporting them to the Brit Cit judges. He asks Silfe about Stackpole and tells him he attended a cannibal dinner, and that he has records of a personal call to Stackpole from Silfe. However, Dredd gets nothing from Silfe, and he doesn't appear to be connected to the kidnapping. Dredd leaves, beating 2 guards on his exit and gives Silfe's details to Brit Cit. Dredd heads for the other known Brit Cit contact of Stackpole, looking for Heath. Heath's place is deserted, but he's suddenly attacked. Dredd easily fends off the attacker, and sees an SSS ring on him. The attacker says "I though it was them" but doesn't elaborate. Dredd asks him if he recognises Vienna, and the man says it has something to do with Grandmaster Horus Mercator. They realised Vienna was Dredd's niece, and that she could be bait. suddenly the room erupts with a violent wind - "I've said too much already! He knows! He'll kill us!"

GH: The plot thickens, and there's one thing that bothers me. Dredd has put two and two together really easily to work out that there's a connection between the Stackpole case and Vienna's disappearance. Did I miss anything? Why has he come to this lucky conclusion? He says "it's a long shot" - but frankly it's a little too long and it's this thread of the storyline that I'm having trouble accepting and therefore the whole detective aspect isn't quite working for me. That aside, Dredd's guiltfest from the first two episodes appears to have been toned down as we get into he meat of the story. There are still questions being raised at this point (who is the Grandmaster etc.) and the revelation that they're using Vienna to get at Dredd is perhaps a long overdue storyline. Still, an enjoyable strip with a fair degree of depth. If Wagner can keep the interest level high in a way that he wasn't able to with the Chief Judge's Man, this'll be worth watching.

Adlard continues to do a good job on the art, keeping things dark and moody (helped by Blythe's artwork.)

JA: Occasionally we have a slow burning, simmering Judge Dredd series. Rather than being a "crash bang wallop" story, "The Satanist" is the former. Charlie Adlard's functional dark artwork complements the story and gives it a good feel. What I like in this story is the "driver" behind Dredd's motives for solving the crime. Rather than the usual slavish adherence the law, we have a personal dynamic. This not being our JD's strongest point, you feel that this is not a stereotypical case. John Wagner produces a characteristic tight script with a dash of good old casual violence thrown in to push things along. Did the "gimps" really think they could eject good JD from the lovely named Orgy Club? This is starting to look interesting, just hope it is not rushed to a contrived conclusion. Quality as ever.

Pest Control - Part 2

Synopsis: Kawl is being attacked by a demon in the other dimension, but Pierre Romanov, also trapped there, saves him. Back in Little Wickering, Bec goes to the toilet to find Kawl, finding only slugs. The women try to get Bec to eat the green cake...which Romanov tells Kawl (in the other dimension) is used to control the minds of the women. The men were sent into the other dimension. All Romanov needs to get back is a single drop of Virgin's blood - lucky Kawl is on hand...

Bec is about to eat the cake when she sees a slug on it - and drops it, also knocking the other cake out of Alliss' hand.They try to escape but are dragged to the top of a hill by the women, where a wicker man (in the shape of a slug) waits. They offer them to their leader as a sacrifice, but as they are about to begin, the portal opens, and Romanov & Kawl return...

GH: Some nice touches here (Kawl and Romanov's escape from the dimension) are weighed down by the fact that I still don't like the main characters, and there's a little too much reliance on referential humour. The story does, at least, seem to make a little more sense here than the previous outings. Steve Roberts work is decent enough, and matches the tone of the strip, but I still can't warm to this series.

JA: I have struggled to like this story from day one. I found it unfunny, dull and just plain annoying! Like some other 2000AD stories, I decided to give it a second chance after Simon Spurrier's excellent Lobster Random. The first episode was, much to my surprise, OK. I actually read it all without skipping to the next story. After finishing episode 2, I was even more amazed. I actually found some of the jokes funny. It wasn't a pathetic contrived mess and even more amazing I'm looking forward to the next episode.

So what's different? There's a slightly better story, some great caricatures of those nice "country folk" and the French and a droll reference to that great film "The Wicker Man". The artwork is adequate, not great, but it does not have that thrown together in 5 minutes look. Considering how rubbish this series has been, this has been a refreshing surprise. Please don't disappoint me in the next episode!

Part 2

Synopsis: The Leviathan's governing body meet in first class to discuss the murder. They want to keep it quiet, treating it a another suicide. Sir William Ashbless says they can downgrade the wife of the victim to steerage if she objects, but the captain slams down his drink and demands they get a policeman to investigate. He introduces, Detective Sergeant Lament to the body, including Lord Basil Copper, Anthony Blanche QC and Dr Finlay. Lament tells the doctor that they've met and that he was responsible for his wife and child's death due to his drunkenness. The doctor explodes, but is stopped by the captain. They ask Lament to track down the killers, who tells them that they have no idea of what is going on in Leviathan - any number of crimes are constantly occurring, from pit-fighting to drugs, and he says that there's usually 4 murders a week. But Ashbless tells him that there hadn't been one in 1st class - "not until now" and it's a killer that flays its victims alive.

Elsewhere in 1st class, Ashbless' butler is cleaning his masters clothes, when something drops on him. He looks up to see a creature on the ceiling with its tongue wrapped around its head. The tongue unravels, and coils around the butler, flaying his skin off...

GH: This is a character setting episode - we are introduced to the main protagonist, including our "hero" Sergeant Lament. This is well written in that Edginton clearly sets out a certain amount if individuality for the characters: Ashbless' blasé attitude, Blanche's nervousness, the Drunken Doctor, and the apparently trustworthy captain. Obviously the work put into this episode will make the rest of the series speed along at a faster pace, so the character establishing is necessary. Certainly we start to get a better feel of the inhabitants of the Leviathan, and the "seedy underbelly" that Lament refers to. So far, this is very intriguing, and the early 1900's setting works as a good counterpoint to the rest of the stories on offer this week. I still think I need another episode of this before I can make up my mind, but it is showing extremely good promise.

As last week, one of the main reasons this works so well is D'israeli's fantastic art, which seems actually better suited to black and white, especially given the period setting. The grey tones used on the character to bring them out of the black backgrounds works wonderfully, and he's distinctively set up the main characters, each of who seem to clearly match the vocal characteristics that Edginton has given him, and I love the "2nd class" badge hanging from Lament. Brilliant work.

JA: This is one of those excellent little, oddball stories that 2000AD come up with every-so-often, which has "surprise hit" written all over. A good story with atmosphere and a mysterious edge. You want to know more, you want to skip forward a week to see what is going on. Throw in a ceiling hugging cool-looking monster and I'm hooked. Though the black and white art doesn't exactly "blow you away", it does its job. This is a strip that is not about artwork; the story & mystery will carry it. Any story involving potential pit fights, narcotics, brothels and flesh ripping uber-monsters certainly floats my boat (no pun intended). Roll on the next episode!

Golamh - Part 3

Synopsis: Princess Scota stands between Sláine and Gael. As she does, Odacon tells Gael to attack - but Gael refuses as Sláine had saved Scota from his own fate. Odacon orders the guards to attack, but they are no match for Sláine who defeats them with ease. Sláine recognises the Atlantean forbidden weapons, and realises that Moloch was right in his predictions. The high king Sethor orders Sláine to stop, who refuses, as Niamh dies the last time he listened too the council. But Sethor ha already agreed to give Odacon half of Ireland in return for "knowledge and wisdom". But Sláine still sees it as a trick, and continues to attack the guards - until Sethor tells him he must lay down his arms for his son's sake - "What's happened to Kai?"

GH: Oh Dear. After last weeks intriguing character setting piece, things have gone downhill. Why? Well, it's simply because Sláine is back. All Sláine appears to be able to do is throw his axe around. He really is little more than an unthinking thug - and without Ukko to back him up on the thinking side of things, Sláine just wnders around killing just for the sake of it. And once again, the rest of the council are seen as bumbling fools without Sláine's "wisdom" to guide them away from a clearly insane pact with the Formors. It's just very very dull, and we've seen it all before. The only thing which raises the interest level is Langley's art. While it can become confusing if you don't pay enough attention, there's enough detail and some great effects here to make it worth looking at the art alone.

But the story needs a bit of a kick up the balls to avoid the same-old same-old routine that were getting fed here.

JA: The Anti-Sláine lobby seems to have been very vocal lately slagging this story off. I originally though Sláine was a bad Conan rip off back in the early 80's. Over the last 5 years or so I thought Pat Mills rather ruined the character with some feckless, ranting stories which made me think that this was one story that should have been put out to pasture. I will make no apologies though: I am a big fan of this particular series.

I really enjoyed the Moloch story and this has so far not disappointed. I love the wonderfully detailed, overtly red and orange artwork. Though it has the usual clunky Pat Mill's dialogue in places, this is the first story I turned to this week. It has the usual hack and slash killing and the interesting ending. I think the excellent artwork holds the story together and it could still go one way or the other. One major moan though. Why has Pat Mills stooped to a low point by throwing in some cheap tacky "F" word innuendo? What does this add? This sort of language may sit well in Preacher, but in Sláine, a supposed ancient Celtic warrior, it sucks. Insults to Formorian Sea Devils should not include this kind of language. It may be a slight over- reaction, but 2000AD does not have to stoop into using rubbed out F words. Clever it is not, extremely pointless it is.

The Tax Dodge (Part 3)

Synopsis: Alpha tracks down the brothers - and discovers they're heading for the planet Gnob. But Paxman is still on his trail, so Alpha tells him he's on a job that could cover the bill - but he won't be able to work if Paxman gets in he way. Paxman agrees to let him work, but will be tagging along. Alpha tells him which ship to get, and after he boards one going the wrong way, they get on another one and head for Gnob.

The Gnobbians are a race known for their short temper, which the bounty hunters witness immediately after landing, at the information booth. After calming the clerk down, they eventually confirm that the brothers are on the planet. They head to the free trade area to look for them and learn that the feast of Dingas is on the next day, attracting all manner of bigwigs to Gnob. Alpha decides to make the Brothers come to them, pinning up a reward notice for them in the bar.

The Brothers are holed up nearby, and are confirming that the bird is what they need. They fire at it to test whether it can fly, when a spy is caught outside. But the alien says he's not a spy and wanted to let them know that bounty hunters are after them - and hands them the reward notice...

GH: Apart from the rather unfortunate mistake of printing the last two pages out of order, this is another fun episode in the lives of the Stronts. Johnny and Wulf continue to play cat and mouse with the tax inspector while chasing the real quarry of the Brothers. Perhaps the best part of this story is the characters of the Gnobbians (i have to admit I did pause initially - "is he really sending them to a planet called Gnob?"). The idea of a race which is constantly out to pick a fight is a great one, and when combined with the excellent caricature work on the Gnobbians by Ezquerra, it works wonderfully. Wagner has peppered this script with plenty of asides about the Gnobbians and how to interact with them - and touches like the "Where to eat" guide are wonderful. This is much better than the last humourous Strontium Dog story, as Wagner is clearly having fun and it shows in the script.

As said, Ezquerra's work on the Gnobbians is great, and this week's episode in particular is filled with some amazing artwork, with little nuggets all over the shop, from the alien smashing through the window, the Gnobbians fighting with one another, and the vast array of wild looking aliens at every turn. A great way to finish off the issue.

JA: 2000AD made a grievous error when they killed off Johnny Alpha. We could debate the rights & wrongs of this forever. 2000AD has redeemed itself a little by bringing Messer's Alpha and Sternhammer back to live and slotting them back into their pre-Max Bubba lives. Unlike the recent Rogue Trooper episodes, this retro move works with Strontium Dog. Coupled with a good story, the usual array of great characters, a dollop of humour to save the thing from getting too serious, and hey presto, 6 pages of grade "A" 2000AD thrill power.

As mentioned before, Mr Ezquerra's art is up to its usual top standard. Does this man ever submit second-rate work? Well I've never seen any in my 26 years of reading this comic. Also, I love the tax collector Mr Paxman, the taxman. John Wagner has a real talent for throwing in some clever comedy that doesn't ruin the story. Coupled with the rather excellent Unrighteous Brothers we have another story that justifies my subscription on its own. Was I the only one with the last page swapped around in this weeks issue?