2000AD Prog 1420 - 5 January 2005
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / Brashill) Second City Blues (Kek W/ Pleece) Slaine (Mills / Langley) Caballistics Inc. (Rennie / Reardon) Nikolai Dante ( Morrison / Burns) Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly 2nd Opinion by Martin Charlton Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: It's a wraparound cover spread so it must be by Clint Lagney.

Now why is this, exactly? We know Langley's a great artist and that these double spreads clearly highlight the detail that he puts into his work but why must he monopolise them? Does he have some compromising images of Tharg? Apart from a sole Frazer Irving Dredd/Aliens cover, none of the other artists have been given a look in. Seeing how many of last year's covers seemed uninspiring, 2000AD would do well to break the mould this year in the way they have done inside the covers. Let's see Henry Flint, Ezquerra or John Burns take on a double cover for once.

In the meantime, this is a fine image, but it still isn't enough to brush aside the comments above and leaves me wishing for something that didn't look like I'd seen it all before.

MC: Despite a slightly subdued palette by Mr Langley’s Slaine cover standards, this is another impressive example of his work.

I do have one or two gripes with it, however. Firstly, the new box with all the info in is obscured. What’s the point of redesigning it, only to cover it up? The cover wouldn’t be any worse for the axe being obscured. It just confuses the poor people in the shops who have to look for the price every week. Secondly, I’m all for wrap-around covers, but this one has so little going on on the back (and certainly nothing we haven’t seen before) that I can’t really see the point of it.

After the Bombs - Part 1

Gaia starts seeing things...

Synopsis: A female citizen wounded by one of the Total War bombs is brought into casualty with a piece of metal embedded in her skull, unable to remember her name. She starts to see things, including a doctor being killed by a cleaver and Dredd interrogating the surviving Total War suspects.

A group of perps bursts in, killing a doctor with a cleaver in the face - just as the woman foresaw. She grabs a gun and kills the perps, as if by reflex, running out before she could be questioned. She manages to find her way home subconsciously to the "quiet singles block" getting another shock from her neighbour's pet alien. As she enters her apartment her memory comes flooding back as she gets another psi flash. Dredd has identified her as Gaia Louise Innocenti - the fifth member of the Total War cell responsible for the bombings and a cold blooded killer...

GH: After the break for Prog 2005, it's great to get straight back into the aftermath of Total War so fast. This feels like the post-epic tidy-ups that Wagner used to undertake after series such as Necropolis and the Apocalypse War and helps to brush away the feeling that sometimes these epics don't change the status quo enough. Instantly addressing the question of why the Psi judges were so useless during Total War's antics, this looks promising from the outset. Gaia witnessing the interrogations may be little more than a way of pushing the story forward, but it does show that the Judge's efforts haven't ceased since the end of the crisis. And the way Wagner spins out the tale of her identity, with us first thinking she might be an undercover Psi Judge to finally a key member of Total War, is handled perfectly. Only Wagner can pull off such twists.

A continuation/spin-off of the greatest Dredd story in years is indeed a fine way to start the year.

Wagner is ably supported by Brashill, putting in his first appearance in what seems like an age. His rest from the comic has clearly done him good as his work on this episode is stunning. Making the best of a computer/painted style, Brashill produces some of the finest painted art I've seen since Irving's work on the Simping Detective. From Gaia's visions to her puzzled/terrified expressions throughout the episode, it's great to see Brashill's return.

And a new logo too! Or rather the Dredd logo from the Rebellion DC collections is used. It actually looks pretty good, but let's see how long it is before they go back to the original...

MC: And so, once more unto the breach that was Total War. The first of undoubtedly many stories spinning out of the latest epic, and it’s a cracker. The story rattles along, and I at least felt like a Nam veteran having flashbacks, what with the images of horror laid across the pages. Wagner brilliantly drip feeds us information about Gaia, with her first playing the role of a confused civilian, then seemingly an undercover helmet, then a member of Total War, with flashes of Pre-Cog thrown in just for good measure. Brilliant stuff, keep it coming!

The art, for me is less about what is actually drawn and more about structure & composition. A real sense of the art working in unison with the story, as Gaia’s sense of delirium comes across via blurred images, chopping and changing of panels, and the shock of that creature on the last page. 5 stars for Jason Brashill.

Part 2

Shaila makes a fateful decision...

Synopsis: The gang try to get money for the contest. Brian (Minger) asks his friend Ray for some money, but he can't help - instead giving them a sure-fire tip at the dog track. But the winning dog fails a dope test and they are back at square one. Meanwhile, Shaila comes to a decision. She goes to a dodgy looking dive, and visits Mr Kasenour, a huge bloated alien - saying she'll accept his offer of five thousand. He tells her to take her clothes off and reveals a number of probes and tools. She leaves later, without us finding out exactly what happened, crying, but with the money. They prepare for the contest.

GH: After last issue's woeful starter, this show something of an improvement. Certain interesting plot threads are laid down, with some interesting sci fi elements, especially in Shaila's scenes. However, some of these scenes mix badly with others. ONe minute it feels like we're in a sci fi tale, the next in a bad BBC soap. There are other niggles too. The betting scene shouldn't have been the disaster they made it out to be - they would have got their initial stake back, after all? And the inclusion of the "centaurian" still seems more than a little pointless. The whole world simply isn't gelling yet.

But it's still early days, and Pleece's artwork as shown considerable improvement when dealing with day to day scenes over the action pieces - always his stronger area, anyway. Still there's the promise of more Slamboarding action coming up - so I'm still wary...

MC: All right, I thought. Give this another chance, it’ll improve. Loads of stories that went on to be great didn’t have the most auspicious of opening episodes. So, after episode two I’m left thinking of Robbie Morrison’s comment about wanting to tell Nikolai Dante in a different era, but being forced by the constraints of 2000AD, as I’ve never read a story so uncomfortable with being sci-fi before. This just seems shoehorned into the prog. As for the scene with Shaila and the creature drafted in from Atavar, did she have sex with it? Was it the selling of a kidney, as hinted at during the episode? I don’t know, and I’m not bothered to find out. The characters all seem interchangeable, and the setting is as generically dystopian as they come. Pound shop Blade Runner.

The art is marginally improved from the first episode, but seems too murky for me. It’s not bad though. Real potential to be great, given time…

The Books of Invasions - Tara - Part 2

Danu makes a special guest appearance...

Synopsis: Slaine and his army battle through the Formorians as they head into Tara. He wants to kill Sethor, now a Golamh, but is stopped by the priestesses who tell him he must seek safety in the city. Meanwhile, Gael escapes from an ever more desperate Fais who still believes that she can win him back.

Slaine is tired from the battle, but it is decided that he should visit the earth goddess for information on what to do next. He plunges into the cauldron and finds Mongan waiting. He tells Slaine that he has to hunt the goddess herself in order to get his answers.

GH: Over time, Slaine seems to be scraping the barrel more than ever. In may ways each new series seems to be doing that irritating JK Rowling thing - namely telling us everything that went before - again and again. Now, in a book series it's almost forgivable, with long periods in between each outing, and a lot covered in a single book that can occasionally need reprising for the less with-it readers. But is it really necessary in a comic?

In many ways it feels like we're revisiting earlier Slaine series and events with a new artist - almost Pat Mill's "Ultimate Slaine". So we have scenes where Slaine describes the goddess (all that nonsense about her many forms) and the words are directly lifted from an earlier tale. Indeed, Slaine going into the Cauldron also feels eerily familiar (was that last seen in the Horned God?).

All this is mixed with some dire dialogue. When Slaine says "My blue eyes that menace enemies are red from lack of sleep", you long for someone to turn to him and say "Oh, please just fuck off!"

So, as ever, Slaine continues along its merry way, being OK one week and dire the next. Luck we have Langley on board to make it worth reading, but we also need someone to tell Mills to stop retreading old glories and do something new. In the process, he might achieve similar success to his work on Savage.

MC: Aaah, Slaine. Like Marmite, isn’t he? Love him or hate him. General synopsis to any episode of the books of invasion: Things happen. We aren’t sure why, or sometimes even how, but they do. People sit about trading clichés for three pages, then have a bit of a scuffle before for one reason or another Slaine has to leave the battle.

And this is no exception. As has been reiterated on the forum time and again it’s sometimes difficult to know where this is going, and when it’s going to arrive. Like when you miss your bus, and another pulls up with the same destination, but of a different number. It would be really easy to dismiss this completely if it wasn’t for the art, which once again is exceptional. Langley continues to impress, be it via the subtleties of the main characters, the background details, or little effects like sunlight. He’s a real treasure, and it’s an absolute must that Tharg do everything he can to hold on to him.

Safe House - part 1

Jenny smells a rat...

Synopsis: In 1960 a boy kicks a football into an old abandoned "ghost house" whose friends dare him to go in there. in the present day, Chapter and Brand are in the same location, breaking into the house which is now securely boarded up with barbed wire and iron-plated windows. They break in using some bolt cutters while Ravne, Jenny, Verse and Ness are meeting their client in a Shropshire mansion.

Jenny suspects Ravne had something to do with Slater's disappearance. As she leaves, Ravne tells the others that "demonically speaking" it's her time of the month, and that her powers are at a low ebb, with the real Jenny clawing away - still alive - at the back of her mind. They go to visit their client Vesper Nox, a rock band singer, whose band is dead or missing. Ravne asks him what happened in Switzerland when they held a black mass in the recording studio.

Meanwhile, A number of hooded figures gathers outside the mansion.

GH: After a somewhat muted response to the series from early last year, prog 2005's episode was a return to form that this looks like continuing. If Rennie can avoid the pitfalls of the last series - i.e. dropping all the sub plots after the second episode and creating too much of a diversion from the overall thrust of the series, this could continue to improve. Already, plot strands are being laid, with Ravne's belief that Simmons may still be alive being the most intriguing. A decent start marred only by some clumsy exposition in the first 2 pages: after mentioning "the east end" 3 times, I think we'd got the location by then, OK?

There's some especially lovely art from Reardon on show in those first two pages, however, and he really seems to be settling down with all the characters - including having fun with Demon Jenny's look.

MC: The way I always feel after Caballistics is that it’s less important what happened this week than what will happen next week. Rennie really has become the master at the drip feed of information. We learn a little more about the characters every week, but at a rate that merely teases us. This story promises to be another corker, with the interaction between Jenny & Ravne being this weeks personal high for me, as well as the question of ‘who or what are those things massing outside the mansion? Here’s hoping it takes seven or so weeks for Rennie to tell us. One slight grumble might be the overuse of the ‘drugged up rockstar’ archetype, but when the worries are that minor, we can sleep easily…

Agent of Destruction - Part 2

Dante does even more foreshadowing...

Synopsis: Dante returns to Pacifica to see the children, Mina and Karl (last seen in prog 1326) who are being held prisoner by Lady Sagawa. They are kept relatively comfortable, and have been given a pet dog, but still want to be set free. Dante meets with Akita Sagawa and tells her that his taking over of his mother's fleet must happen gradually or it will fail. He asks her to release the children, but she refuses. She suspects that the csar is developing a bio weapon and she gives him all the information that his mother's spy was due to give him. He is to get the weapon to Akita, not his mother, as well as lead an assassination squad to his mother's spy and make sure she is dead. Akita warns him that she'll use the pet dog's control chip to kill the children if he refuses.

Later, he meets the spy in a bar - a woman who recognises him, but he isn't sure who she is...

GH: After what seems like an eternity, we finally find out what happened to the kids that Dante rescued some two years ago. This series looks like being much more satisfying than the previous one, with a clearer indication of the sides that Dante is being forced to take. Now, I can only assume/hope that Dante has his own very hidden agenda here somewhere and that both his mother and Sagawa are going to end up being double-crossed. It does feel like things are coming to a head, however, and with the knowledge that Dante was supposed to be a finite series, I hope we're not getting too close to the end.

Fine artwork from Burns again. Get the man a wraparound cover - now!

MC: God, I’m glad this is back.

I was lucky enough to get the Romanov Dynasty GN for Xmas, and it’s a wonder to see how far this character has come. Dante, now visibly worn by the events of the preceding years still demonstrates everything we love about him in this one episode. The noting of the guard (who’ll probably get a nasty enough death in time), the playing with the children, the (seeming) betrayal of his mother and everything in between is like meeting up with an old friend again. Morrison really seems to be enjoying this, with some lovely dialogue (‘You won’t get far by stabbing your opponent in the ass’ ‘I was aiming for your brain’ being my particular favourite this week) and a deliciously complex plot that had me reaching for my back progs without being indecipherable on first read. Great Stuff.

The art? I know I’ve said before that I don’t like Burns’ work, but I’m a humble man, and would like to retract that statement, instead saying this: I don’t like his Dredd work. On Dante, however, he seems to be pouring his soul out, every panel perfectly capturing the essence of the tale. Top Notch.