2000AD 1390 - 19 May 2004
Cover by Henry Flint

Synopsis and 1st review by Gavin Hanly
2nd opinion by Leigh Shepherd

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: A very impressive Henry Flint cover - it has chainsaws, so of course it's great. The "jaunty" angle makes this cover stick out from the crowd with the figure of Nixon well framed by the chainsaw and the creep behind her. There's a wonderful use of colour too, particularly with Nixon's hair that makes this cover just a tad different. Flint's work here reminds me of Bisley more than usual, with a certain scratchiness to his characters - but this works well, whereas others have been unable to ape this style.

Finally - and if you read these reviews regularly, you know what I'm leading up to - this cover illustrates perfectly how to use the logo to enhance the overall cover - with an image clearly designed with the logo's placement in mind. Making it semi- transparent also allays what must be editorial's fear of the image being obscured - so everyone's happy!

That makes 4 excellent cover images in a row - not a bad run at all.

LS: Has Henry Flint ever failed to deliver? Even on a cover where you could criticise the rather dull pallet or the general sketchiness, the only real problem is the see-through logo. If ever a cover needed a bit of an extra blast of colour, it was this one.

Tempus Fugitive

Dredd smiling is never good news...

Synopsis: Judge Dredd calls for the clean up of a bizarre contraption on the pedway when its owner, naked and crazy comes back to retrieve it. Dredd knocks down the perp and takes him back to question him - where they discover that his system is running amok with Sugar, Caffeine and Nicotine, all banned stimulants. Believing that the perp will go cold turkey and tell them everything, Dredd is suddenly appalled when he hears that the perp claims to be a time traveller, and thinks that he's trying to get off on an insanity plea.

He confronts the perp who identifies himself as Herbert George Sewell who invented a time machine to escape his own age. After travelling through time and space he landed in Mega City, only to be knocked off the pedway by a fatty. Landing in a pile of filth, he's soon picked clean by muggers and scavengers and runs back to the time machine - where he met Dredd (and we came in). Meanwhile, Sewell's tox screen has come back showing traces of materials only found centuries ago. Dredd returns to the interrogation room to find Sewell gone. Fellow Judge Lola surmises that he must have travelled back in time - but Dredd realises that he's simply pried up a floor tile and hidden under the floor. Seeing his escape attempt as an admission of guilt, he sends him down for 10 years.

GH: There's been a concern that with the rest of the issue proving to be so strong at the moment, that it seems odd that the lead Dredd stories are one-off "fillers". However, when they are this wonderful, it really doesn't matter at all. Edginton has a remarkable grasp for the character of Dredd and these quirky stories that work so well, that he's in danger of challenging Rennie for the "next in succession" to Wagner. This is a very silly tale indeed, but told with such tongue-in-cheek humour that it's hard not to enjoy it all. From the over-reaction of Dredd to a possible insanity plea to the "escape attempt" at the end, this is pure enjoyable farce. Edginton should be let loose on Dredd more.

But despite how great the script is, it's D'israeli's magnificent art that makes this such a welcome opener to the prog. His recent job in the Megazine gave us a taster of what he could do with Dredd's world, but this is several leagues ahead of that. He's picked a slightly different art style that seems partway between the intricate detail of Leviathan and his last work on Dredd. From the opening shot of Dredd on page one, you can instantly see we're in for something special, but when you turn the pages and see the details that he puts in to the denizens of Mega City, it's truly amazing. He brings the city back to completely bizarre locations that feel like the very early Dredd strips. We've almost become accustomed to the odd populace of Mega City One, so it's great to see someone make it all seem so fresh. And there's and abundance of details here too, from the faded borders which feature Dredd's rogues gallery as Sewell first appears in Mega City to the depths of the "low life".

A brilliant strip - let's see more of this team on Dredd soon.

LS: Another non Wagner Dredd tries to sneak past the radar, and does a passable job. It's Ian Edgington's second stab at Dredd, and he wisely plays it fairly safe; aided and abetted by his Scarlet Traces and Leviathan co-creator, we get the kind of Victoriana that you imagine D'israeli can knock out in his sleep. The great thing about Disraeli's art here though, is that he proves himself equally adept at the Mega City crazy stuff as he is with the already well trodden HG Wells imagery. I certainly thought this was an improvement on his (more than acceptable) debut on Dredd over in the Megazine. If only more artists realised the sheer 'rightness' of a skinny Dredd.

The only off putting point was Dredd's grin on page two. Given that Master Moves also had a gurning Dredd, i fear that this might become another Disraeli motif, much like the fishpaste! A special mention must be made for the Patrick Moore cyborg, who raised a smile without the need to have it tattooed to his forehead!

The story worked well enough, with a nice feel for the glitzy madness of MC1 that so many writers miss in their pursuit of "grim 'n' gritty". The scene where Sewell hides himself under the floor plate was nicely played. I wonder if the ending felt a bit forced though, with Dredd having to arrest the fellow for nothing much at all that's really explained. Perhaps a different ending might have moved it away from the formula a little more.. possibly if the time traveller had to be arrested to prevent him from returning to his own time and trying to change history (perhaps being locked up with a whole bunch of previous visitors from other times, which could have given D'israeli the chance to draw a few other famous time traveller cameos?)

Despite the quibbling, a nice enough one-off Dredd.

Book 1 - Taking Liberties Part 4

Savage messes up his coat...

Synopsis: Cassie, Savage's sister, is teasing a Volgan in her shop who doesn't understand English, when another customer, Vickie comes in. She looks pregnant and the other customers, thinking the father's a Volgan, start taunting her - although Cassie defends her. Jack (Bill) comes downstairs to the shop and picks up a newspaper, "The Day". It clearly supports the Volgans, and Tom Savage, Bill's brother is a lead writer. Savage gets a lift from Noddy, while he asks him to look up "Bill"s old file. Noddy tries to protest, but he's clearly scared of Savage. They pass through a checkpoint and are told to avoid Oxford Street where there's been a terrorist incident. Bill asks to be let out soon after and heads towards Oxford Street. He's stopped by Troops, but after pleading ignorance, he shoots them both. One of the soldiers barely gets a chance to radio for help when Savage kills him...

GH: On a first reading, I wasn't too sure about this week's episode, fearing that it was taking a backstep from last week's hugely impressive installment. But upon a second reading, this actually proves to be very enjoyable, both in the way that it adds depth to some of the characters that we have already met (particularly underlining Noddy and Savage's relationship) and also introducing a few more key people into the mix. Indeed the introduction of Tom Savage could prove to be the most intriguing. It was hinted last week that he and his brother didn't see eye to eye, but the idea of him being diametrically opposed to Savage could prove to be a brilliant turnaround. One thing I would like to see, and I can already sense Mills going this way, is that Savage isn't treated as an all out hero. After all, he's basically a sociopath, who stands very barely on the right side of right and wrong. But as long as we're not allowed to forget that he can be a very dangerous man, then this series will be very well worth sticking with.

As ever, Adlard puts in another wonderful art job, with the final scene with the soldiers being particularly brutal. This series seems very well suited to the black & white approach, and it's allowing Adlard to shine.

LS: On the whole, I'm enjoying this resurrection a lot more than the return of Sam Slade. It certainly seems to be living up to its promise of showing the effect of the Volgan invasion, rather than concentrating on Savages "shootah". There's a slow burning feel about the whole thing that will hopefully build to something special. This is reflected in the characterisation of Savage himself, who unlike his previous incarnation, is less gung ho, but has the air of a restrained psycho who just needs the right buttons pushing to bring out the old style Volg basher.

The art is well suited, and give or take the odd squashed face here and there, helps add to the mood. The only real issue I've got so far is the feasibility of the husband of the sister of Britain's top terrorist working with the Volgs' top secret files (though to be honest, it's not the sort of thing that's beyond the realms of possibility in Britain's Civil Service, let alone the Volgs' set up!). It's possible that Bills collaborating brother might have been able to open a few doors for Noddy - we'll wait and see. Certainly, the 'introduction' of Tom Savage opens up a number of interesting story avenues.

Part 3

AHAB gets a closer look

Synopsis: The Koheynu is caught and the ship begins dissecting it. Ishmael is retrieving the lachrymal fluid while Queequeg says that the rest of the carcass will make them rich. Meanwhile, Spence has made AHAB, who he believes he is most qualified, the captain of the ship to the protestations of his fellow scientists. Spence tells AHAB that the fluids they recovered could well hold a cure to the virus. AHAB sees a storage tank and is told that it's a culture of the virus - 6 times more deadly in that state - but not to AHAB as he is a machine. With full security clearance AHAB sends out one of his eye probes to the tank.

Elsewhere, Ishmael is attacked by Tashtego, but fight him off with a spray she developed, warning him not to try again. As she makes her way to the bridge, she sees a crowd gathered. Queequeg warns her not to look, but it's too late. Behind a glass shield they see Spence and the other scientists fully infected with the virus and dying...

GH: AHAB continues to be one of the best new stories unleashed in 2000AD this year, and as mentioned by other reviewers, this comes as a pleasant surprise. Perhaps the most effective part of this story has been the set up of the title character. Rather than go with the "is he or isn't he" set up of whether or not AHAB is a bad guy, we know right up front that he's a real bastard and the one they all have to watch out for. Therefore it adds an extra layer of tension to the scenes where AHAB is made captain of the ship (cries of "What are you doing??" abound). Therefore the reader is just waiting for something really quite terrible to happen to the scientists - especially when AHAB starts to take an unhealthy interest in the virus. I suppose my only concern is that I hope we do end up getting a reason of sorts for AHAB's sociopathic tendencies. Now that his intentions are in the open, it'll be a good turn if we start to find out a bit more about what makes him tick.

LS: Another tale that's holding my interest, principally because of the unpredictable nature of A.H.A.B. himself - he obviously has his own agenda, and is stopping at nothing to fulfill whatever schemes (of vengeance?) he has. Some of the dialogue's a little too sledge hammer every now and then (I really didn't need to see AHAB explaining how the virus wouldn't affect him), but the only other quibble storywise I'd have is that Ishmael has yet to establish much of a character for herself beyond being yet another in a long line of tough, independent women to surface in the progs over the past year.

I can kind of see where some of the criticisms of Elson's art might come from. He does seem to be given similar tales, and perhaps there's something about his solidly workmanlike art that might not appeal to lovers of more "out there" artistic styles. Personally though, I'm enjoying the art, and the aqua blue pallet is helping to evoke the right sort of mood.

Paranoia - Part 3

Nixon makes her excuses...

Synopsis: Amiee Nixon is caught in a drug induced haze, waking to find out that she's just executed a "Mr Gatusso". Coming to her senses, she runs, knocking out two guards. Cracker, the mysterious man from last week, appears and executes the two guards, while retrieving the footage of the killing. Elsewhere Nixon is still running but is knocked into a pit where two chainsaw fighters are duelling. They turn on her but she easily bests them. She manages to escape to find Link - where she discovers that Gatusso was a mob boss, the second one dead after Fleischmann. She's clearly being set up by someone who know that she's a judge. But as Link goes into her account to get her some cash, she sees that someone has deposited a small fortune there...

GH: Williams is managing to make this series yet another success for the new line up, with a slow unveilling of the overall threat to the Low Life. With luck, everything won't be revealed in this series, and we're only seeing the opening salvos of a much larger scheme. We have yet to find out who Cracker works for so I hope he'll be impressive once he's finally out in the open (I actually already have an idea who he might be - but I'm not going to mention it here, just in case). Matching his already impressive work on this week's cover, Henry Flint easily continues his "man of the moment" streak in 2000AD. With artwork that heralds back to the classic days of 2000AD he is easily one of the comics greatest assets. If he does get attracted abroad, let's hope he goes to DC and there's a better chance of him carrying on working in the weekly.

And lastly, and strip which features a fight with chainsaws has got to be good...

LS: Over in the megazine, the art on Mean Machine is making it hard for me to judge the merits of the story, such is my aversion to Millgate's style. It's almost the same story here, though in this case, Flints stunning visuals mean I'm enjoying this strip, even if the actual script might leave something to be desired. Not that that is particularly the case; I'm just finding it hard to separate out the two!

Trying to ignore the art, the actual story seems OK, if a little jumpy this week and possible lacking in anything we haven't seen before so far. Time will tell if the confusion of this weeks episode adds up to a clever plot, or is just an interlude that gives some interesting material for the Flint pen to deliver up. Either way, the calming influence of the Flint droid means I'm still intrigued as to where this might yet go.

The Big Meg - Part 4

Chopper starts thinking with his namesake...

Synopsis: Merci is shocked that her mother is OK, who tells her that it was all just a mistake. She says that they'll make Chopper comfortable until he can escape. Elsewhere, Dredd was combing the streets for Chopper, angry at his continuing defiance of the law.

Merci's mother Calista cooks for Chopper, telling him about Jug and how she saw him at Supersurf 7. She gets a call, and looks shaken, telling Chopper that she has to leave. Merci warns Chopper about getting hooked by her mother. Later on, Calista returns, distraught. She won't tell him why, but she needs comforting and ends up sleeping with Chopper. Later on, she tells him she is being blackmailed by Augustus Popp, who has documents that will lock her away for years, but she can't get at them. But Chopper says he'll help...

GH: I can see the attraction that many people have for the Chopper character. He seems to continually buck the unfair justice system, get away with it and in the process, as seen this week, really get up Dredd's nose. But while I find this Chopper tale a fun read, and by no means a major disappointment, I can only hope that it's going to take the character somewhere new. He does seem to be at a crossroads in his life and wondering where things will take him next - I can only hope that this is leading to some fundamental changes in his life. The "I don't know what to do with my life" storyline can only be considered a success if he makes some choices towards the end. Maybe I'm being a little too picky, as there's plenty of time for this story to reveal its intentions. But then as said, I've never been a particular Chopper fan, so my patience will only last so far...

LS: The smell of "set up" is so strong that Chopper is plainly acting like an idiot here, and perhaps it would have been better if this hadn't been so obvious to Chopper, if not the reader! Dredd's anger at Chopper's return seems a little strong; when last we saw them, Dredd had admitted a grudging admiration for Chopper, yet he's grumpier here than when Judge Death or Mean Machine have been released for the umpteenth time!

Perhaps it's because he not only sees Choppers return as "continuing defiance of the Law", but also because it means he's thrown back the chance Dredd gave him at the end of the Oz Supersurf to stay out of Mega City and remain free? It would certainly be interesting characterisation if Dredd is actually feeling as angry with himself for misjudging Chopper and giving him a second chance, as he is with Chopper himself.