2000AD 1372 - 14 January 2004
Cover by Clint Langley

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

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: Once again (for the third time following his efforts in 1351 and 1355) Clint Langley turns in another alarmingly good wraparound cover. There may be concern from some quarters about his work on the strip inside, but there can be little dissent about his ability to create some stunning cover images. Scota is in a tellingly modest pose, given her breezy clothing inside the comic, and the cover works just as well with only the front cover showing - an important aspect in a wraparound and something that was missing in Frazer Irving's effort. However, despite the undeniably impressive offering here, it's about time another artist had a stab at one of these double sized images.

EM: Yet another stonking cover from the Langley droid. Odd in that it features a rather prim pose from Scota, certainly the opposite to what she's usually up to inside (she'll be needing a Y-shaped coffin you know). But I guess that's because she's on the front. Far more interesting is what’s happening on the back – a real nice clear shot of Odacon (with what appears to be a Dark Crystal Skeksis coming out the top), Ian McKellan as the sorcerer and other Formorians seen but sadly not featured yet.

Cincinnati -Part 2

Saved by a rookie

Synopsis: The judges head out with the Crazy 20 close behind. Racing under an underpass, they blow it behind them, covering their escape. They’ve lost the money, but Dredd says it’s going to plan if they want to catch Elton Shingler. Elsewhere, Shingler is warned about the judges, protected by his friends: "That Chief Judge had it coming."

Meanwhile, the Crazy 20 have realised that Shingler is important and could be exchanged for supplies, and start searching for him. One of the 20 is caught by the Surf Monkeys hoverboard gang, so they know about Shingler too.

Soon, all the gangs are looking for Shingler – and Dredd's plan is in action.

GH: Details are slipping through the cracks on this one, namely that something has happened to the Chief Judge. This had me thinking that the series could be a follow up to an earlier tale, but I don't recall meeting Shingler before. Nevertheless, this is shaping up to be a good story, with Dredd's efforts towards turning the gangs against each other in an effort to flush out Shingler an inspired touch (even if it was a little unlikely that the other judges wouldn't be aware of his plans).

All this is easily matched by Carl Critchlow on top form, an artist who seems to get better every time I see his work. The escape from the Crazy 20 is particularly frenetic and Critchlow displays a good knowledge of action pacing. So it's another fine Dredd this week - but with one nagging doubt. This ends next week, just when it feels like it's got going. Shorter Dredd tales can work wonders, but we'll be in dire need of a long epic before the year is out.

EM: Part two and the mystery deepens. Just who is Elron Shingler? What did he do to the Chief Judge? And for that matter, which Chief Judge? Dredd's game plan is revealed – get all the warring factions to fight amongst themselves and pick the fugitive up from the victor. And they're pretty good factions too, with Biggie Little and the Crazy 20 being tops.

Wagner's script is superbly served by Carl Critchlow's art. I’m a big fan of Carl’s fully painted art but have to say I now prefer this "very detailed with masses of linework" style he'’s adopted. It perfectly suited Lobster Random, his own Thrud the Barbarian title and ditto with Dredd here. Dredd's nicely haggard, the gangs are suitably scruffy, the surfers are well grungy and he handles the crafts and vehicles brilliantly. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of the guy on this title.

Twilight of the Idols - Part 3

The perils of harpies...

Synopsis: The ship reaches Tabletop Island – where a portion of the map lies.

But the island is protected by harpies, so the crew are given Leonardo Da Vinci invisibility cloaks to help them get to the top. They climb up, using the harpy droppings to add to the concealment, but as they get to the top the island is fired upon by Sarita’s ship.

They manage to clamber up, but with the invisibility cloaks lost, the harpies can see them and begin to swarm...

GH: Already this is shaping up to be something of an improvement on the first Red Seas tale. Being a sequel, it has benefited from the fact that the main crew, nor the world they inhabit, have to be set up allowing us to head straight into the story proper with less preamble than the first series. Already we have the first caper for Dancer's crew, and despite the fact that they still seem a little one dimensional, Dancer comes across better with them to spar off of. The interplay between him and the crew seems put to better use than the first series, when his annoying girlfriend seemed to take too much of the limelight. Here the focus is much more on Dancer and Edginton seems to be having far more fun with the character as a result.

This is matched in the art - with Yeowell being given some wonderful set pieces to illustrate this week, from the initial opening shot of tabletop island, via the amusing invisibility cloak interlude (which thankfully just understays its welcome) to the climactic shot of some very angry Harpies. An episode which promises great things from this series.

EM: Have to say I'm not a fan of this series. Don't know why really, as I'm a big fan of Ian Edginton's other work and Steve Yeowell is a great artist but this just doesn't float my (pirate) boat. However, being a huge Ray Harryhausen fan, this week's episode made me sit up and take note. The thing that did niggle though were the "gawd", "bloody nora" and "prat" bits – a tad too modern-speak?

Part 3 - Absent Friends

Another Geek down

Synopsis: Jupe orders the VCs to head out, but the others refuse to leave their team behind, tracking weapons fire and believing it could be more of the crew. It’s Kali and Diderot who are fighting a losing battle against the Geeks. Diderot is down with a bad shot to his helmet, but the rest of the team arrives and fight the Geeks off. Jupe tells them they need to get to an auto plant to the south that could help them, but Kali says they have to get to cover and patch Diderot up first. They hide in a cave, and remove Diderot’s helmet, to reveal half his face gone and machinery beneath, “Diderot…you’re not human!”

GH: A frankly appalling"twist" this week all but eliminates the goodwill I had for this series when it started in Prog 2004. The "Oh my god, he's a robot" scenario is such a sci-fi cliché that I've completely lost hope. Never mind the fact that Diderot is so underwritten that I neither know who he is nor actually care that he's a robot, but this was done so much better and with greater humour in the under-rated Interceptor. Perhaps Abnett might be able to pull this around next issue, but I've all but given up. Dull characters, episodes where sod-all happens, and some atrocious dialogue make this the turkey of the comic. Only Williams' art has improved since the last series, but it's not enough to save this from the scrapheap. I hope to be proven wrong with later episodes, but this is a bad start.

The Books of Invasion 3 - Scota Part 3

Slaine and Gael clash

Synopsis: Slaine tells Gael he doesn’t want to fight and Scota pleads with him too. Gael throws away his weapons but Odacon tortures him until he picks them up. He begins to fight, but Slaine is careful to direct his attacks to Odacon, not Gael, who almost bests Slaine, but at the last moment directs his attack to Odacon, who is forced to withdraw and discipline his golamh. Slaine tells the Atlanteans that he wants them to send all his people into the alternate dimension where they sent the sky chariots so they can finally be free of the sea demons, and they will give the Atlanteans their land. In return he wants the fire staffs so they can drive the demons back. They agree and go for the staffs – although King Sethor is still in the dark about Slaine’s plan.

GH: For me, Slaine is still a strip that varies in quality in the space of six pages like nothing else I've ever witnessed. We start with Slaine and Scota's wooden dialogue and move to another overlong battle with Odacon/Gael. Yet Mills still manages to throw in the odd gem, like Gael's battle with his master, and Sláine's rather innovative way to solve the conflict once and for all. It's the latter part which is notable, because Mills covers the most intriguing idea in the strip, of Slaine's entire people moving, to just one panel. If he brought this economy of storytelling to the rest of the strip, Slaine would become far more enjoyable as a whole. He's even added another dash of humour in this week with the brushing aside of Sethor towards the end. So I end the strip willing to give it just one...more...chance. This alone shows that Mills still has it in him when I've been so willing to throw in the towel on Slaine before.

I fully expect to change my mind completely next week, though...

EM: The good – Clint Langley continues to astound (just wish Gael didn’t have that 70’s porn star moustache). The bad – Pat Mills. Three pages of "fight for me", "no", "oh, alright then" and "nope, I'm not going to after all" followed by the biggest cop-out he's done yet with the character.

Since Slaine started – which was what, early eighties? – the things dearest to him have been his people and his land. Now all of a sudden he's going to leave that precious land to the invaders, knowing it'll be overrun and fly off to an alternate Ireland where he doesn’t know what could await them. Sorry, but yet again I get the feeling Mills is just making stuff up as he goes along with no thought of what's been established before.

Like a Virgin - Part 3

Sam finds it hard to adjust to life in a jar.

Synopsis: The group rest in a café, with Sam’s head. Stogie presses a button which revives him, and he’s shocked to see Hoagie and Stogie – “Kill them! Kill them now!” But they are interrupted by robot enforcers who take them prisoner. As they are taken to another destination, it seems that Sam isn’t quite aware of his situation.

They are taken to Rich Guy, a millionaire film director who has been killing his stars and replacing them with robots, selling the bodyparts on. His wife, Rodonna, hired Slade to investigate, but he became one of Guy’s victims, and his body sold on. His wife ran off with Slade’s head, but he got her too, and the replacement lives with him now. He puts the two Slades and Hoagie in the basement with missiles pointed at them.

GH: I desperately want to enjoy this story. The idea of Grant and Gibson back on Robohunter was one of those things that made the current "retro-fad" actually worthwhile. But I'm afraid it just isn't clicking for me. The art is undoubtedly great in parts, but then becomes too much like caricature work by the time we get to "Rich Guy". And the story has it's moments, like Hoagie's incredible stupidity (although was he ever this stupid before?) but misfires in too many other places. Sam's dialogue seems one-note and the chance to really labour the fact that he doesn't realise he's lost his body is thrown away far to quickly in place of some tired Gut Ritchie/Madonna satire. I so want to like this, but I know that both contributors are capable of more, and there's a large part of me that is glad it's only running for 4 parts.