Synopsis and review by David Knight
2nd opinion by John Amans
3rd opinion by Paul White

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

DK: A nice looking cover this week, but Synnamon is one of many red-headed comic book women, which makes me wonder if there are any at all in black & white comics. When I picked up my copy I wondered who was on the cover looking like Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, and I’m aware other readers have pointed out her resemblance to Black Widow, Tyranny Rex and Emma Peel. So much for Synnamon’s distinctiveness as a character, then. Nice artwork, but it looks like it was a struggle to fit it on the cover.

JA: My heart sank a little as I saw this week’s cover, oh no…Synnamon’s back! I wasn’t enamoured with the pink look one bit. It’s all a bit plain with our heroine’s guns coming out of the page with that “sleazy” gun toting femme-fatal look plastered all over the place. OK, but hardly inspiring.

PW: I'm not familiar with Ben Oliver's work (although a quick look at the official site reveals that he's done a couple of PJ Maybe Dredds), but this cover works for me and is more Synnamon than the previous Ian Gibson cover. Only one main problem though - the background. Yes, we know she's a sexy lady, but the pink is a bit much (except oddly for the alluring sheen on the pvc/leather catsuit). i'm glad she's back
(more later).

Total War - Part 9

The judges come down hard on Total War...

Synopsis: ‘Jericho’, real name Paul Gee Ruskin, tells the judges that he was Benson Keller’s superior in Total War’s chain of command. Jericho informs on Total War’s leaders because he never agreed with the organisation’s nuclear strategy. Odwin Bierce, codename Michael, is in charge of the operation, aided by Miah Daller (Frank), and Hube Manto (Charles). There were only twelve bombs. The Public Surveillance Unit finds that all three Total War leaders left the city days before, and rendezvoused in Texas City. The known dietary preferences of the suspects matched with airline records give them away.

Judge Roffman reasons that the flying drones that relayed Total War’s messages to the judges must have been sent by a tek-nerd. A scan of surveillance footage discovers a bomb casing in the yard of suspect Roy Quint, proprietor of Roy’ll Fix It. Roy is arrested and interrogated, and reveals the locations of four more nuclear devices and the identities of the Total War activists who placed them. All but two bombs are removed and dumped in a crevasse in the Cursed Earth.

In Texas City, Total War’s commander Odwin Bierce doubts the judges’ sincerity in announcing their withdrawal from Mega-City One, and proposes to detonate another bomb. Hube Manto lacks his superior’s conviction. While Bierce and Manto quarrel, Miah Daller suspects that the judges are onto them, and that someone is snooping outside.

DK: As an extended Judge Dredd arc, Total War excels. John Wagner’s script crams in so much incidents each week that it’s a devil of a job to write a synopsis that isn’t long-winded. This latest part takes us from Jericho’s confession through PSU’s detective work, Roy’s fix-it yard, a round of arrests and the Cursed Earth nuke dump, to Total War high command in their Texas City lair.

Once the judges know who they’re looking for, they have no trouble tracing the perps through CCTV footage and airline records of passenger requirements, which is exactly how detective work in Mega-City One should be done.

It’s nice to read signs that the bigger picture outside of Dredd’s current case isn’t being neglected. The nuke extracted from the chem-pit, and the murdering Cursed Earth family that’s a tip of the hat to the Angel Gang remind readers that there’s more to Dredd’s world than inventing new geography as you go along.

JA: In many of my previous reviews I have bemoaned the lack of a real meaty story for Dredd. I’m glad to see that John Wagner has really come up trumps on this. Henry Flint’s art is beyond criticism as you can’t imagine anyone else drawing this. Sometimes the best Dredd stories are those which use Dredd sparingly and let an ensemble cast take the weight. It has really zipped along nicely with changes of pace to let us catch our breaths every so often. This has been a great detective story on the part of Wagner. Let us not forget that the Judges are policemen at heart! I love the way the story has unfolded, bit by bit. It all seems longer than 9 episodes. For the first time in ages I have a story that does something really special.

When I get in from work and my prog is waiting for me, I make a cup of coffee. I then say to my wife, “Do not disturb me for 15 minutes, I’m reading Dredd!”

Haven’t done that in years.I can pay no higher accolade than that. This is superb!

PW: The pace doesn't let up at all here, and although this may be in part due to the 12 prog length of the story, it's fascinating to see the Justice Dept. Machine swing into action so quickly and thoroughly (especially tracking the bad guys through airline food).

Flint's art is fantastic (and I say that as someone who took a long time to be
converted) and his Dredd is quickly becoming as much as a classic as Bolland and McMahon's. The story so far has so many plot strands (e.g. Vienna, Nimrod) that I wonder if there'll be time to resolve them all before the end. This issue is no exception and I'm sure those nukes (stashed away in the Cursed Earth) will come back to haunt Dredd at some later date. However, all this is no bad thing. In fact, it's a very good thing as the increase in back-story to the Dredd world over the last couple of years has enriched and given new life to a 27 year old character.

I'm genuinely excited and as to the conclusion of this story - something I haven't felt since Necropolis all those years ago. There's a touch of the 'deus ex machina' in Jericho's appearence, but i'll let that go for now and see how the rest pans out.

Part 5

Carl puts on a show...

Synopsis: Carl is imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason. The newspapers are full of Carl’s protestations of innocence and his claims that Earth is under threat of alien invasion. Unbeknownst to the public, Kakkakians are not the only aliens to have infiltrated Earth society.

Beef Eaters taking guided tours round the Tower point out Carl Woolf to tourists and mull over his impending televised trial and the public vote to decide his punishment. Meanwhile, Kilquo is on the run with Kolquak, and the MI5 are concerned to find Kilquo before the police or the press do. Kilquo and Kolquak prepare to break into MI5’s secret base of operations with Kolquak in his human guise and Kilquo disguised as his human partner. They think they’re getting away with it, but a sentry’s bio-scanner detects that they are both aliens.

On Kakkak, General Stunal becomes impatient that his agents on Earth haven’t signalled that the time is right to launch a full-scale invasion. His plan has opponents in the Senate, and he is being spied on by a diminutive bug-creative, which he stamps on.

DK: Although this series began well, it gets more confusing, as both the art and scripting become more slapdash with each episode. There were numerous typos, starting with the misspelling of ‘millennium’ in the first panel, and it was never made clear what a ‘stock traitor’ is.

Faces drifts into satirical fantasy just to inject more humor into the story. This doesn’t serve the readers or the story very well. It’s a pity, because the opening conceit – that even if the Kakkakkian invasion is averted, there are other aliens in our midst we don’t even know about – was satirical without straining the story’s credibility.

Kilquo and Kolquak’s efforts at espionage get the story back on track for the last few pages, and it was only the Tower of London page that really struck the wrong note. Faces was actually my favourite story of Prog 1413, but this week it was both sloppy and smug with it.

JA: I vaguely remember the first time Freaks appeared in the mists of time. I have tried to get into this but have sadly failed miserably. Every so often there is a story which just doesn’t “yank my chain”. This is one of them. I wait for it to finish, read all the episodes in one go and then give my full judgement. Its 1988-89 look doesn’t help and I’m a little mystified by what is going on (probably because of lack of interest).

I can’t say if it is good or bad as I sort of gave up on this after the second episode. A bit of a dud I’m afraid!

PW: I was a big fan of the original 'Freaks' and this has so far been a fun if slightly forgettable romp with enough twists and turns to keep me curious. It's a joy to see John Higgins back in the pages of the Galaxy's Greatest, but I'm with those that find the cartoony aspects of the art jarring with the rest of the storyline. It's almost as if
Higgins and Mindy Newell haven't quite decided on what path to take the tale and - although I have no idea how many episodes this is scheduled for - it wouldn't surprise me to have it all done and dusted next prog. I have to admit to not 'caring' about Kilquo and Karl, and I feel that this is one of those stories that needs re-reading when
it's all done to appreciate it more.

Tooth & Claw - part 6

Lobster and Kergan enter the subconscious...

Synopsis: Billiam Kergan induces a regression trance via psi-rawk that enables him to take Lobster Random on a tour of his subconscious. There are assailed by images of everyone Random has ever tortured, which Kergan interprets as guilty feelings, followed by repressed childhood memories. Kergan dumps Random in the numbers section, where the deactivation codes for the hungermissiles are located. While Cadmium Redd’s widow’s henchmen panic, Lobster Random transmits the codes by narrow-beam transmission and the approaching missiles are diverted from their path and disappear into the wormhole beside N-19. The ship touches down on the planet, and the widow reveals her treachery: she is not carrying her dead husband’s remains, but a sacrificial altar for summoning the cosmic omnidevil Warathaal, and her henchman shoots Kergan and the ninja squad as sacrificial offerings.

DK: The pace of this story seems to have slowed right down since Billiam Kergan and his psi-rawk transcendentalism were added to the mix, and it has been getting in the way of the action, really.

I know it would have lessened the dramatic tension, but wouldn’t it have made sense to locate the codes in Lobster Random’s subconscious before getting to Nixx, instead of waiting for the planet’s automated defences to be triggered first?

The last page was more like it though, with a twist Random didn’t see coming. The plan to summon up a sci-fi demon could make the next episode a lively one. Funny that the robot widow should turn out to be a ‘religiously deranged nutzoid’; the first time I saw her, I thought she was wearing a mitre. However, I thought she’d be something a bit more normal than a devil-cultist, though. It just goes to show, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

JA: I must admit, I love this character. He’s funny, cruel, borderline psychotic and a total deviant!

Though this story isn’t as good as his previous outing it is still excellent entertainment. Lobster and “his not quite what they seem” associates have reached planet Nixx, the one place that Random does not want to be. Though you suspect that they’re going to “do” Lobster over pretty soon, you just want to see where this story takes you.

This has all of Random’s hallmarks, sharp and witty script and now familiar artwork that seems to fit hand in glove with all around it.

I personally can’t wait for next week’s episode.

PW: Carl Critchlow turns in the usual exceptional artwork with some especially funky panel layouts (page 2) as Lob travels through his subconsciousness confronting all his victims (or, as he casually puts it, fraggers he's *worked* with). I overuse the word 'romp' and am afraid to go back through my previous reviews to check, but if a word
fits, it fits. This is indeed a splendid romp, and praise should go to Simon Spurrier for not only creating the character (and making him likeable as well as loathsome), but also obviously enjoying writing the damn thing. Lobster Random will never be in the top bracket of 'legendary' thrills that will appear amidst fervent expectation and
leave to rapturous applause, but it *is* better than 90% of the stuff that appears in the prog, which means - for me - it's pretty close. good stuff.

Recalibration Part 1

Synnamon takes aim

Synopsis: (Continues from the last series) Agent Synnamon returns to External Directorate Headquarters in Antarctica, where she is taken to meet Marshal Cromwell under armed escort. Cromwell’s life is sustained by a mobile life support suit after being badly injured in the mecha crisis. Synnamon is ordered to the observed combat training ground immediately. Protocols demand that she can’t be admitted for medical examination as a precaution against the mecha virus, despite there being no signs she is infected.

Synnamon disobeys orders by killing the mass-produced clones she is pitted against outside. She successfully evades the attacks of a robot dreadnought until she suffers a seizure that renders her immobile with blood pouring from her nose.

DK: Well, they warned us Synnamon would be back, and they were as good as their word. I try to keep an open mind, despite this being the kind of thing I generally hate: sexy assassin, baffling jargon, technology for its own sake.

On the plus side, there’s nothing wrong with the art, the colouring is top notch, and the seizure Synnamon suffers on the last page is really quite worrying. The transition from grinning with her gun levelled at the mechanized assault drone to blank-eyed with blood pouring from her nose is quite unnerving.

On the negative side it seems made up of so many identikit sci-fi components that they don’t give the appearance of anything distinctive.

JA: I hated this story first time around! Let's not beat around the bush; it wasn’t exactly universally applauded was it? I liked the art but the story was a bad rehash of a load of other third rate tales involving robot viruses and so forth. I just had no empathy to the character. Did we really care if she got blown to pieces? I didn’t!

So I was a little surprised to see her back, to be honest. At least this tale follows straight on from the end of the last so there is some continuity. It gets off to quite a good start. I loved the guy who had his back and skull ripped off and has some mobile hospital unit strapped to his back. Though the entire episode is basically a glorified combat/fight scene, it was strangely entertaining. At least it made me want to come back for more. Something the first series woefully fell short off every episode.

I’m willing to give this another chance; I think you should as well!

PW: I liked the first series a lot - even if the sexy-bird-in-catsuit concept does seem over-tired. I feel it would have been a waste for the series to disappear into oblivion, so I was pleased to hear of it's second coming (amidst a general mood of overwhelming indifference). Cutting to the chase, I'm not disappointed this time
either. I'm pleased that the story is 'linked' to the first series and not just straight into another mission, as we get more very welcome back-story (in addition to a suitably bitter Marshall Cromwell complete with perspex pod). I especially enjoyed Synnamon wasting the first clone without too much thought, and she seems determined to flex her muscles in a "fuck you for not appreciating me" kind of way.

The art is pretty good, but i must admit to preferring Lee Townsend's "looser" inks to David Roach's smoother lines, but that's a very small gripe for an above average return for a much-maligned (although not by me) character. looking forward to seeing more.

Meanwhile - Part 1

Erebus sounds the alarm...

Synopsis: (This story takes place following events at the beginning of the last series). While Jack Dancer and his crew are away, the landlady of the Jolly Cripple misses her Billy, and worries about him ever coming back to her. Mariah and Cora help her run the tavern and get rid of the drunks at closing time.

The landlady wakes up Erebus for information about Jack Dancer’s whereabouts. Erebus confirms the stories about Jack Dancer’s previous adventures and his battles with the forces of darkness.

A sinister figure in an overcoat and a tri-corn hat bursts into the tavern and his strange scarecrow crew, apparently made of sackcloth, make off with Erebus in his glass bowl.

DK: The fantasy setting of The Red Seas is a nice and versatile one, even to the extent that a low-key story about the ‘home front’, taking place while Jack Dancer’s crew are out of port, can be as entertaining as this is. It’s a shame that whilst the landlady of the Jolly Cripple is the central character in the narrative, there’s nothing to remind the reader what her name is, but that’s a minor gripe; another is that the phrase ‘by your leave’ got rendered as ‘by or leave’ (it’s usually better to have these things spotted by somebody involved on the production side than by the readers).

The last page introduces a new sinister villain, and quite a stylish one, going by appearances. His henchmen look horrific, and despite appearing in one panel only, the menace of their presence extends over the whole page.

JA: A welcome return. The last two series have been real quality. What is good about this is that the episode has shifted away from Captain Dancer and back to the cast of the “Jolly Cripple”. As per usual Steve Yeowell’s art is faultless. I’ve been a major fan of his style since I first saw Zenith back in 1987. You couldn’t imagine anyone else drawing this. As a first episode it sets everything up nicely. Judging by the state of the bad guys who make there appearance at the end, this is going to be class. Even if Jack doesn’t make an appearance you suspect there is enough depth of characters in this to carry this tale.

Another story I’m really looking forward to next week.

PW: In the vein of Zenith where we would get short interludes to the main stories, this is a very welcome return of some of the minor supporting characters. Erberus (or Fraiser / Niles as he / they seem to sound in my head when reading) is his usual underwhelmed self and is as inconspicous in the bar as a disembodied two-header talking dog can be. Stevel Yeowell's art seems 'blacker' than of late and looks more
polished and less rushed which is very welcome. Not much happens other than some ribald banter and erebus being kidnapped, but it's a welcome return anyway and - hopefully - no appearence from the main cast. More stories in the prog should be given the 'Interlude' treatment... let the minor characters shine (or be killed as no-one will probably give a toss)!