Prog 1359 - 24 September 2003
Cover by Simon Fraser

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

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: A good cover from Simon Davis this week, clearly making up for his recent Bec & Kawl debacle.

EM: Gordon Bennett – how come, when its my turn to do a review, it's usually one with a Simon Davis cover? That said, this one's not too bad, with the dreary duo barely standing out from the overall design. Not a cover that’s going to have them snatching the Prog off the shelves though.

Meet the Flooks

Synopsis: The Flook family have had a fantastic streak of luck, as the reigning champions of "Chumps get Lucky" for the 44th week in a row. But the Judges don't believe in luck. Investigating their home, they find a huge amount of luxury goods, all allegedly won. After bringing them in for questioning, they pass all the lie detector tests, so Dredd brings in Psi division. Test are run, and it seems that the Flooks are capable of solving any problem and answering any question correctly but only if there's a there's a prize in it for them - a latent psi power. Dredd confiscates their property but offers them a chance to win it all back. So a few days later Dredd and the judges intercept a Zziz consignment at the spaceport - and give the Flooks a prize as a result. Back at Justice HQ, the Flooks are given another brain teaser - "I think the brains behind the Linddy kidnap case was (insert perp's name here)..."

GH: This is a much better effort than Rennie's work last issue, which was something of a non-story. He's remembered to include a plot here and this makes the whole thing much more acceptable. This is great fun and the Flooks are very much a Dredd world phenomenon - a clever idea, that is ever so slightly insane when you examine it closely. Certainly the Flooks would be worthy of a repeat appearance, especially if word gets out about what they're capable of, so hopefully Rennie's already planning their return.

But top marks here goes to PJ Holden, who's setting himself up as one of the best artists currently working on Judge Dredd. Mixing a moody and imposing dredd alongside great character designs and also able to come up with the goods in the action sequences, Holden is clearly an artist on the verge of being very big indeed. It's about time Rennie got stuck into a meatier Dredd tale - so lets pair him up with Holden and see what they can do.

EM: This is what we want! Implausible plots, outrageous characters, all mixed together with some great black humour. Both this tale, and the superb "Stern and Dang" over in the Meg really encapsulate what Dredd should be about right now. Top marks to Gordon for a nifty plot and some great dialogue. The up-and-coming PJ Holden shows a real knack for Dredd’s world, with some of the characters bordering on caricature which totally works within the framework of the tale. Lovely stuff.

The Burning Deck

Synopsis: At the motherlode inn, a commando monk visits an old man who is supposed to know the future. He's searching for the Star of Chronos, and wants to know how his quest will turn out. The old man shows him his deck of cards - temporary time portals which show potential futures. In them he sees himself infiltrating the Karnasaur stronghold, where the jewel is kept - losing an eye in the process. He finds the wizard's inner sanctum, ready to fight to the death but the wizard gives him two choices: to end his quest or possess the secrets of the jewel in the process. The monk sees to possess the secrets of the jewel - thus existing outside of time itself - but if he had chosen to end his quest he would have simply been given the jewel.

The monk has more questions, but there the foretelling ends - and he tells the Monk that he will eventually understand the jewel's secrets, and he'll be an old man before he can return to his own time - but he won't recognise himself when given the chance to escape his fate. The old man draws back his hood and we see he's the Monk...

GH: Future Shocks are often used as an opportunity to showcase new talent, and as such can be a very mixed bag. However, very occasionally, one comes along with a certain degree of promise. Now I have to admit up front, I didn't see the end coming here. Whether I'm out of practice or not, that has to be a plus point in the writer's favour. There are some decent ideas floating around here, and Jaspre Bark could have potential. However, he needs to learn how to simplify his storytelling skills. There's an awful lot going on here, much of which could have been stripped away to give a leaner and more satisfying plot (the pointless "demons from the past" is an example). But that aside, there's definite promise - but Bark probably needs a few more Shocks under his belt to develop his skills.

As for Rufus Dayglo, he's also produced some pretty good art for his first work in 2000AD. There's a certain freedom to his artwork that's hard to put into words, but it shows influences from artists like Flint, McMahon, Parkhouse and others. Going over the work several times for this review, he's put in a lot of nice touches and I would certainly be interested in seeing his artwork in the comic again. His use of shading also works very well to make the most of the black and white medium too.

EM: So the brilliant Rufus Dayglo makes his debut. A familiar face (pen?) on the fan scene for quite a while now (with some excellent work on “Dogbreath”), it’s great to see him finally arrive amongst the big boys. His Mike McMahon worship is evident – especially with the young monk, especially bottom left hand panel on page 4 – but he has a style of his own, which has developed nicely. The script is quite good although rather unremarkable. Get Rufus a gig on a mainstay strip please Tharg.

Junk Bond - Part 4

Synopsis: Surrounded by armoured warriors, the gunsharks are prepared this time, carrying armour piercing rounds and easily destroying the robots. Then Shinzen reveals himself, holding a knife to Wendy's throat, threatening to kill her unless they drop their weapons. They agree, and are told that The Yakuza, Sinister's wife Carrie, gave them away. Sinister asks Shinzen to let Wendy go, but Shinzen says he has decided it is time for him to assume the mantle of Yakuza, and take Wendy as his concubine by his side. He's going to reveal Sinister and Dexter to the other underbosses, and therefore prove that the Yakuza did not kill them - and her claim to the title is therefore void. The underbosses are arriving, ready to witness his wedding coronation, "and the ritual execution of the both of you ...and the usurper Carrie Hosanna"

GH: Sinister and Dexter bumble from one mess to another and like last time, seem totally outclassed in Mangapore. The plan by Shinzen sounds far too obvious, so I would be very surprised if Carrie hadn't worked all this out in advance and was using the boys to draw him out into the open. As usual with Sinister and Dexter, it's enjoyable hokum, but there's still a degree of indifference that creeps in while you're reading it. Surely it's about time we got a bit of a rest from them? Meanwhile, Davis performs very well on the art chores, turning in his best work on this run so far. He seems to have much more fun in depicting the oriental designs, than he does in illustrating the gunshark's guns n' violence, though.

EM: I'm not going to repeat myself except to say please finish this strip soon. This week we have good guys: "Please let the girl go", bad guy: "No, and you will die too". And that’s it, taking five pages to say it. Such a waste of space.

Part 3

Synopsis: At 32 Kaith muses about when he became a monster - possibly when betrayed by his brother, or when his mother left him (possibly suicide?) but really believes it happened when he was 28 and the humans invaded the village looking for food. Most of the Shee fled, but Kaith stays and beheads one of them - showing to the other shee that they are weak. The Shee return and kill all but a few of the humans. The few are taken before the tribal council, and Kaith says that he's had enough and it's time to strike back. Kaith kills all of the humans bar one - sent back to pass on the word.

But at the age of 32, Kaith decides his father is the root of all his rage and bitterness...

GH: Fast becoming a must-read in the comic, as Kaith grows into a very nasty piece of work. Spurrier is setting him up creature of circumstance, but we can only assume that there's going to be more atrocities to come that he's going to have a hard time redeeming himself for. My only slight concern with this story is that it could end up being too short. Leviathan has shown the importance of letting a story breathe, and with only a few issues to go before the Autumn Offensive, will this end up being over too quickly? Other than that concern, this could end up being another high point in 2003 with both story and art meshing well together to create a fine tale.

EM: This is proving to be a real vapid affair for me. We’re a good way into the tale now and what’s really happened? We’ve a sulky main character who starts to think differently from his brethren, has a to-do with the neighbouring humans once a week, kills a bird, nicks a hat, gets some new wings and offs his brother. Now he's going to lead a slaughter on the humans. This should be compelling stuff, with some real weight to it, but it just isn't. I can't fault the art – which is lovely – so it must be the script. Maybe if it was actually told in a linear fashion it would flow better. With these flashbacks I guess the best way would be to read it all in one go once finished.

Part 9

Synopsis: Lament confronts Ashbless, who's unimpressed, but surprised that Lament believed Hastur's story. Ashbless says he only wants him out of the way so the whole ship can be brought to hell - and that Lament is the 17th person sent by Ashbless. Lament gets off a shot, but misses, so Ashbless beats Lament - throwing him into a corner. As Ashbless frets about his ruined coat, Lament fires, hitting him several times dead-centre. Lament staggers to his feet, but Ashbless isn't dead, as he's immortal and thus cannot be harmed. He tells Lament that the magi "cursed him with good fortune". The only way to escape his life, constantly seeing loved ones die, was to free Hastur, but that meant eternal damnation - hence the stalemate in limbo. He holds the gun to Lament's head and pulls the trigger.

GH: Leviathan moves to the back of the issue in another of Tharg's reshuffles, but it does help to end things on a very high note. As expected, Inspector Lament is careering downhill fast and we still have no real idea about who's telling the truth. Is Ashbless a truly evil character, or are he and Hastur simply as bad as each other? This is solid storytelling from Edginton, with the only odd point being the rather out of place "Dorien Gray" reference. But as usual, it's the remarkable art from D'israeli which makes this stand out from everything else in the comic. The clash of the two characters against the black background looks incredible and this has been some of the best work that he's ever produced. With only one episode left, I'm torn between awaiting a resolution and wanting many more tales of the Leviathan.

EM: This is more like it. The last couple of episodes have had me starting to loose interest a tad. It was the way the inspector seemed unfazed that he was talking to a demon and could argue without any sense of horror or shock at what was occurring. Now we’re back in first class, the dialogue is sparkling again with the physical and verbal sparring being top notch. Still loving the artwork, especially the use of grey’s for the facial features.

I’m a bit dismayed that it’s looking more and more likely that we’re not going to be seeing much more of the huge ship. Hey Tharg, how about some "Tales Of The Leviathan" one-offs?