Prog 1354 - 20 August 2003
Cover by Simon Davis

Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly
2nd Opinion by Eric Moore

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: This cover bizarrely manages to sum up in a single image just about everything I can't stand about Bec & Kawl. One of the first covers I've taken out of the subscription envelope and developed an instant revulsion for. Oh dear. This is a shame when my feelings for the strip were becoming a little less rabid...

EM: If you go to the official 2000 AD site, there's a section for the worst covers ever. This one should join it as soon as possible. I’m not a fan of Simon Davis' work at the best of times but this is just awful. It fails at every level – Bec looks about 50, Davis’ light-box style just doesn’t suit Roberts' cartoony style and we have yet another non-discript yellow background. Matron, take it away.

The Satanist - Part 5

Synopsis: Mercator taunts Dredd about whether he's alive or not - pointing to the exit wound on his head. He admits that he was responsible for the call to Dredd at Stackpole's residence, and tells him that "Vienna's one of us now" - offering Dredd the chance to see her one more time, but when he does he must leave alone. Dredd rushes him, passing straight through and the phantom vanishes.

Outside, a taxi is waiting to take him to a secret destination, driven by someone who's clearly not a cab driver. Dredd gets in anyway, the guilt pushing him forward. As they leave the city, Dredd demands answers but the driver closes the partition, and gasses the bulletproof passenger compartment. Dredd's respirator does him no good as the gas seeps through his skin and he passes out - realising that Vienna was the bait for him all along.

They land at Glastonbury, Dredd still unconscious, where the driver meets Mercator who is accompanied by his coven, including Vienna. "Prepare him for the ritual! Tonight, on Glastonbury Tor, he forfeits his life to Satan!"

GH: Things take a direction I wasn't expecting this week, as Dredd looks more alone than ever and even for Dredd, a little out of his depth. However, his feeling that the "creeps didn't know the trouble they were bringing down on themselves" rings very true indeed. I'm not sure what to make of the bad guy, Mercator. He actually looks very similar to Vitus Dance, the last big psi to fake his death. Is there a connection? I doubt it, but perhaps the design of Mercator should have been a little more original?

Other than that - it's nice to get out of Brit Cit and see a little more of the country. I still think there's plenty of scope for a Dredd era tale set in Brit Cit. I didn't care much for Armitage, also associated with Adlard, but given Dredd's association with Britain, I'm surprised that more effort hasn't been made to put together a decent Brit Cit judge tale.

But back to this week's story. The suspense is still there, as the facts are unfolding at a careful pace. Wagner's got the speed down well here, and I hope it's not rushing to a conclusion - something I find myself thinking more and more with 2000AD series.

EM: Two minds about this week's episode. On the one hand we have some good reveals with events moving up a notch plus Glastonbury Tor – if you’re going to have a mystical ceremony in Britain that's just about top of the list. Niggles include some of the dialogue - would Dredd really say "you devil"? I'm surprised it was Wagner that wrote that. Once again Brit-Cit looks just like the big Meg. And I still feel Charlie Adlard is sleepwalking it, with only the Tor and Vienna on page 3 looking like he’d turned in an effort. Couple of other things – odd isn’t it that only the Tor and Abbey remain in Dredd’s time? Maybe that's significant? And don’t you think the taxi driver is awfully similar to the one in Prog 1348's Sinister Dexter?

Pest Control - Part 4

Synopsis: As Kawl films the preparation for the sacrifice, Romanov captures the sorcerer and tortures him. He arrived in 1932 and found the village to be an ideal breeding ground - his slime makes the women slaves. As Romanov and Kawl ponder what to do with him, they both suddenly realise that they can use the salt, and dissolve him. They go back and attack the huge slug, who unfortunately seems impervious to the salt. So Romanov uses a grenade that he found in limbo and blows the beast up. Things go back to normal in the village, Bec & Kawl miss the concert and Romanov prepares for life in the 21st century.

GH: So Bec and Kawl are finished again. While I am happy to see the back of them, I haven't met this series with the hatred I had reserved for their previous outings. And the reason for that is that is twofold. One - there's less Bec & Kawl. I've seen 2000AD creators write about how they think these are fantastic creations but I just...dion't...understand. They're so extraordinarily irritating that whenever they are centre stage the bile starts to rise. So the fact that they were barely in the last couple of episodes improved matters greatly.

The second thing is that there doesn't appear to be quite as much poor referential storytelling which blighted the last series (especially with the really bad Matrix "homage"). There's still too much, with some Wickerman references for instance, but there appears to have been more effort from Spurrier this time around to create a slightly original story. and from the man who created Lobster Random, we should expect nothing less.

So while this isn't a total turnaround in my feelings for the series - I'm still glad it's over - I await their inevitable return with slightly less dread this time around...

EM: Nice art, shame about the rest. Don’t like the characters or the not-very-subtle references/humour. Love Simon Spurrier’s sly, wicked sense of fun on Lobster Random and would rather have that than this. Sorry.

Part 4

Synopsis: The captain visits Lament, telling him that he's practically an outsider in the governing body. He tells Lament that the executed steward blamed the "stokers" for the murders. Lament says the stokers are bogeymen, but the captain replies that they've had no word from the engine room in years, and the Leviathan should have run out of fuel decades ago.

Lament goes down into steerage, told that if he loses his pass he won't be allowed back. Steerage is a huge underground city full of poverty and crime. Lament is accosted by a gang, but easily fights them all off slashing with a knife he takes from one of them. As the gang leave, a woman, clad in what appears to be riot gear, hits Lament's hand with a baton, forcing him to drop the knife - "...round here. I'm the law!"

GH: This is significantly developing into one of the sleeper hits that 2000AD does so well. The storyline is being expertly handled by Edginton, with more about the world of Leviathan being drip fed to us all the time. It's really beginning to seem like a living community, as he establishes the much talked about Steerage. When I first saw the preview art for this series, I thought it was going to be a dull slasher piece. While there are elements of that (minus the dull part) this has greatly exceeded expectations. It's the sort of story that is ideally suited to both 2000AD and the weekly format, testament to Edginton's plotting, and I'm intrigued to know more about the world below decks, and especially what awaits in the engine room.

As said before - the series wouldn't be the same without D'israeli, whose art become dirty and less precise as Lament descends. I cannot imagine anyone else being able to match the work he's producing here.

EM: The summer assault doesn’t get better than this. More plot developments and distinct characters starting to emerge – hats off to Mr Edginton. This is the sort of tale that gets you twitching to read the next part and I can't wait to find out more about the ship – I hope we get to see lots more of it. I like the idea of the Stokers and the out of bounds engine room peopled by who-knows-what. Nods to "Deathline"? Yozzer Hughes is the only character from outside the strip I've spotted so far and, while it was a bit glaring, I wasn't bothered by it as some are. Steerage looks a nice place doesn't it? Reminded me a lot of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen's London. Can't wait for next and subsequent weeks then take a memory erasing pill when the graphic novel comes out and read it for the first time again.

Golamh - Part 4

Synopsis: The princess tells Sláine how she and Gael left Egypt after the rebellion and were swimming off the coast of Africa when Odacon struck. He went for the princess, but Gael got in the way and became Odacon's Golamh instead - with other Altlanteans falling to Odacon's brethren. Odacon then made an agreement with Gael to return him to his lost homeland in return for obedience. She had to agree as Gael was her husband - but Sláine tells her that he isn't any more.

Sláine is summoned to the council where Sethor tells him of the civilisation that Odacon promises - but Sláine says that the civilisation will destroy them and they have to fight. Sethor tells Sláine that they tried to fight them back with sky chariots but Odacon used flaming artillery and then the power of the black pyramid to open a gateway to another dimension which sucked all the chariots in. The council says they have no hope, but Sláine shows them Moloch's eye, proving that the serpent people can be defeated. The council are impressed, and agree. "It's war."

GH: Well that was easy, wasn't it. "oh no, Sláine - we're too scared. What's that? An eye? Oh, OK then, we'll fight." All right, there was a little more to it than that - but not much.

This strip once again sways from being intriguing to downright annoying, and suffers from the same problems as Bec & Kawl - a thoroughly unlikable main character. Things start off well with the origin of Odacon's union with Gael, accompanied by some fantastic Clint Langley artwork which tells the tale wonderfully without the need for words - one of the few times I've been able to say that this series. The flashback to the sky chariot attack is also beautifully illustrated. But the rest of it doesn't really work for me and worse, seems to promise more generic mayhem come next issue.

EM: Pat Mills seems to be invigorated just lately, with this enfolding tale light years on from the dull, hackneyed, recycled plots we've had to watch Slaine endure for almost the last ten years. Decent plot, interesting new characters and Slaine doing more than jumping around saying "kiss my axe". With a script as good as this, any artist would have done but Clint Langley's art continues to astound. Can someone interview this guy so we get an insight in to just how he does it? Those blues on pages one and two are just beautiful, offset by the delightfully gross Golamh. Plenty of panels per page this time, which, by the book, is a no-no but here works in speedying along the plot. First of the two rather phallic designs rears its head (sorry!) on the bottom of page 4.

The Tax Dodge - Part 5

Synopsis: Alpha drags a protesting Paxman after the Brother outside, destroying the "bag of tricks" which deflected his blaster in the last attack. It explodes, taking the Brother's arm with it. He fights back, but Alpha easily kills him - but there are no other Brothers around. Alpha gets into a fight with the easily riled Gnobleman Norb, who is forced to hold back as the "Hour of Dingas" arrives, when no violence is permitted. Alpha dumps the Brother's body in a taxi and asks the driver to take it to the morgue - as Paxman implores him to get a receipt. Alpha then gets an update on the Feast of Dingas from Wulf...

On this day and hour every year (which are much longer than Earth years) the sun shines on the temple and the casket within, holding the Kabob of Gnob, which is withdrawn for adoration. The undergarment was worn by the prophet Dingas who brought about the Hundred Year Peace in Gnob. Dingas was murdered by being infected with the "shrinks" disease when he shrank away to nothing, leaving only his underpants - the Kabob of Gnob. If it is ever lost, it is feared that war will start again.

No outsiders are allowed on the temple grounds, but Alpha realises that the Brothers are after the Kabob...

GH: In many ways, Wagner is telling the kind of tale here that I'd like to see him try on Dredd from time to time. A great deal of effort is put into the backstory, and the whole story of the Kabob of Gnob is simply brilliant. I'd like Wagner to do more of these outlandish and totally unlikely tales in Dredd's world too (currently Rennie seems to be the only one attempting this) but in the meantime, this will be more than enough.

The tale of Dingas combined with the opening action piece, and Paxman's chiding Alpha for not getting a receipt makes this a fantastic read - backed up by top class work from Ezquerra. The fact that Alpha is playing it so straight makes it even better.

EM: Gordon Bennett – it’s like I’m back in the early eighties again! This is classic era Alpha with John Wagner mixing together just the right amount of humour and action and Carlos' art back on form with a vengeance after the quite sloppy ABC Warriors. Everything works perfectly here with the new characters being memorable from the word go. Although Paxman and the Unrighteous Brothers are great creations, my favourite has to be the Gnobbians themselves. The guy on the information stand a couple of issues back was brilliant but the scene with the guy picking the fight with Alpha was just fantastic. Great character with great dialogue and a perfect rendition by Ezquerra. Give the guy a strip of his own! The second dodgy design pops up here. A planet called Gnob with a temple that shape? Oo-er missis. The Tax Dodge could be a classic in the making.