Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: Clearly, this is a cover that shows that sometimes it’s the simple images which work the best. There have been a few other Dredd/judge badges on covers throughout the comic’s history, and they’ve all been classics. This made me instantly want to turn to the Dredd story inside, and as such more than fulfils the basic reason behind such a cover. Simple and excellent.

Total War - Part 7

Nimrod introduces himself...

Synopsis: The judges discover that Keeler committed suicide, clearly not able to live with the millions of deaths on his conscience. With 9 hours left before the next device is due to go off, the judges are running out of options. Dredd says he needs more time to follow up the leads, and after weighing up the objections Chief Judge Hershey sees only one option, and announces the disbanding of the judges, with them only the duties of a police force if requested by the civilian authority, and even setting up a complaints division.

Elsewhere, Vienna is introduced to Nimrod as she has been requested to sign his euthanasia order. Nimrod moves quickly between lucidity and lunacy during the visit. Vienna still doesn’t know what to do, and tries to call Dredd to discuss a decision.

Elsewhere again, the team behind the Total War bombings are revealed (two men and a woman) watching the events unfold on TV. They don’t trust the judges, and send in a message to the news networks…

GH: After the almost desperate need to read this story generated by the cover, it’s more than reassuring that we’re still operating at an extremely high level. From the announcement of the end of the judges coming immediately – so that the cover is not too much of a spoiler – to the further development of Nimrod, this is all excellent stuff. Indeed, it’s mainly due to the frenetic pace that Wagner keeps up week on week, getting much more into a single episode than anyone else writing for 2000AD. And what of the plot developments this week? How long will the judges stay out of action? Will Nimrod prove to be of use after all? Who are the mysterious triumverate behind Total War? It’s the mystery behind all of this, over half way in, which makes the story a must read.

As ever, it’s capped off by some wonderful character work from Flint, particularly on Nimrod and in the somewhat surprising introduction to the people behind the bombings. Easily the best thing to appear in 2000AD this year.

Part 3

Kilquo meets the royals...

Synopsis: Back on Kakkak, General Stunal has decided that Earth poses a threat to the rest of the universe and is massing an army to stop this. Back on Earth, Kilquo and Carl are attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace, where Carl gets drunk and is thrown out by the guards.

Elsewhere, the group behind Kilquo’s training are meeting with their mysterious benefactor. They indicate that they are trying to open up the dimension portal and are crating an army of clones to “restore England’s glory”.

In Knightsbridge, Kilquo is on her first mission, being felt up by a drunk American. She has enough, and knocks the man out, telling her employers that she has quit. Another “man in black” arrives, and she punches him while he tries to talk to her, but he then morphs back into a Kakkian called Kolqak. They return to her house where they find Carl in bed with two women. She throws him out the third floor window…

GH: This series is going from strength to strength, and becoming more enjoyable with each passing week. Part of the reason for this is the amount of infectious fun that Newell and Higgins appear to be having with it. There’s an entertaining amount of lunacy lingering in the background at any time, whether indicated by Carl’s rather unsavoury behaviour or by Kilquo’s rather loose grip on her temper. Plus there seems to be an intriguing plot developing.

Matched with Higgins’ art which skilfully treads the middle ground between cartoon characature and the more serious elements of the strip and we have a winner. In addition, the opening scene is an impressive set piece, as is the design that has gone into the Men in Black’s base.

So after a couple of unsure weeks, this proves to be a welcome addition to the comic.

Tooth & Claw - part 3

Lobster puts his claws to use...

Synopsis: Random and Redd land to confront Billiam Kergan. He had created an addictive form of “transcendental Psi-Rawk” before trying to quit. However, his promoters hired Random to convince him that that would be a bad idea. Now they are confronted by Kergan’s followers on landing. Random leaves her butler to do most of the fighting and walks up to the temple, using his claws to cut the remaining guard in two. They find Kergan, now hooked up to a synthesiser that feeds the music straight into his head. Random plugs himself in and goes in after Kergan, but Kergan remembers Random and forces him out. Now he has to work out how to torture him and get him to come out voluntarily…

GH: Random is easily proving to be Spurrier’s best creation yet. The Simping Detective is fun, but there’s something about the lunacy of Random that seems considerably less forced. Part of it seems to be the fun that Spurrier has with the language: “the holy powerchord”, “zwenty” and Kergan’s hit “Frag fragging bastards with claws” being good examples. And finally we get to see those huge claws put to some real use, with some excellent art from Critchlow. Indeed, it’s Critchlow’s efforts that raise Random to another level – with some excellent framing, and wonderful timing in the aforementioned scene with the claws. As with Faces before it, the creators seem to be having fun, and this clearly shines through in the final product.

Part 9

Holt lets loose

Synopsis: Holt learns that all those on the island are dead, and begins to understand where his loyalties should have lied. He says he’ll do whatever he can to protect his people, and as he does, starts to get full control over his powers. Buchanan orders the troops to open fire on him – but it’s too late, as Holt is now protected by a field which easily destroys the attacking gunship. He grabs Buchanan.

Back on the island, XXX cradles a dying Meg as human troops close in. He kills himself before he can be captured.

Holt orders Buchanan to help his people – but he replies that it’s too late, and that killing them was the right thing to do anyway. Holt tosses Buchanan off the bridge, and goes to Spore, while the remaining aliens on the island are being wiped out. Holt releases Spore’s disease all over Sydney…

GH: Unfortunately, this just didn’t work for me in the end.

In its favour was some startlingly good art from Boo Cook who has considerably matured as an artist during this series. The scenes with Holt reaching his full potential worked particularly well in finally illustrating just what he’s capable of, leaving the reader with a feeling of “ooh – he’s quite powerful, isn’t he?”. In addition, he copes equally well with the scenes of devastation and despair on the island, the reddish tints adding much.

But the main faults lie in the storyline. There is a feeling that Asylum has been “trying to say something profound” when its first aim should have been to attempt to tell a good story. When a script sets out to make a message, and the storyline appears to be built around that, it’s often too much, and Asylum hasn’t been able to stand up to the strain. Plus there’s the problem that I really don’t get what the series has been about, either.

We’ve also had a whiny hero who realises far too late what his purpose is, and by that time we simply don’t care. The role of Buchanan was too faintly sketched out, when what we needed was more of a foil for Holt. The idea of him keeping Holt on edge was fine, but not resolved early enough and he needed to be more of counterpoint towards the end.

And perhaps that’s the problem – the story is simply trying to do too much given the time it has. If we focused on just Holt and the island, not taking him to far away from his people, the story might have held together better. Unfortunately, it’s ended like the last asylum – good at the beginning, but ultimately losing its way.

Traitor to his Kind - Part 9

Alpha takes a shower with Wulf...

Synopsis: The Kreelers continue to go after Clarkie, but Wulf takes out the attack ship with a well aimed hammer thrown at the ship’s pilot. Clarkie feels ashamed that all his new mutant friends have died, and Johnny says he should remember that when he gets him back in office, telling him that the First Lord has ordered him to take Clarkie into custody.

The Kreelers continue their hunt, but Johnny, Wulf and Clarkie evade them by hiding behind a waterfall.

Later, they find shelter at a nearby cottage where Johnny tells Clarkie about Culliver’s plans to kill him and give them the excuse to stamp down on the mutants. Culliver storms in, having tracked them down. But before he can act, Alpha shows him a vid phone with the First Lord, who orders Culliver to stand down, and to explain his actions when they meet with the Prime Minister the following morning….

GH: As the latest Strontium Dog tale draws to a close, I find myself having enjoyed it, but realising that it ultimately fell rather short of the admittedly high expectations that many of us forced on it.

There are, however, some positives to take away. One being that the character of Nelson Culliver seems to have been left alive to hold a considerable grudge against Alpha. This can only prove to give a much needed villain to the overall Strontium Dog lore that has been missing of late – and it will remain to be seen whether Wagner decides to act on this. Another was the return of Alpha to Earth, and the seting up of a “relationship” between him and the ruling partners – something which again could prove to be a mine of storyline ideas. However – there’s still one episode to so, and Wagner could pull the rug from underneath us yet.

This has proven to be an entertaining Stront tale – if not a particularly groundbrealing one.