2000AD Prog 1427 - 23 February 2005
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / D'israeli) Second City Blues (Kek W/ Pleece) Tiger Sun Dragon Moon (Parkhouse) Low Life (Williams / Coleby) Nikolai Dante ( Morrison / Burns) Synopsis and review by Gavin Hanly 2nd Opinion by David Knight Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: Not a completely successful cover, for me. Cliff Robinson has done his best to ape the menacing visage of the Nosfertu inside the issue - picking up on the new design from D'israeli. However, wheras the design works incredibly well within the main tale thanks to D'israeli's particular style of cartoony artwork, it looks a little too much like a bad special effect on the cover. But the cover does have something of a pulply feel which helps to rescue it, and at least it's not another Robinson "stock pose" Dredd shot.

DK: A nice, muscular cover by Cliff Robinson that must surely make this Prog stand out on the magazine racks. The alien Nosferatu looks a lot tougher than the one seen in episode 2 of Horror in Emergency Camp 4. The colour scheme works well, with the red, orange and green elements in Dredd’s uniform nicely complementing the overall mauve look.

Horror in Emergency Camp 4 - Part 3

Dredd closes in...

Synopsis: The Norferatu feasts on a victim but is interrupted by his human accomplice who is attacked by the beast. The accomplice stumbles back to warn others as the nosferatu flees.

Elsewhere, people are being killed, mistaken for the Nosferatu, and the eldsters we saw last week are found killed too. They investigate the scene of the slayng and find a shoe print but it's too common a brand to help at that moment. The killings grow until Psi Division has a breakthrough. Innnocenti, the Total War precog, has found something and keeps repeating the name Pedro Martinez - there are 819 Pedro Martinez's in the city - and also a city block by the name.

In Pedro Martinez block the Nosferatu feels it has been away from its planet for too long and needs to feed more than before to survive, while it looks for a way to return home. Dredd and a unit of judges closes down the block and start checking the citizens who match the shoe found earlier. Eventually they find the apartment of Roald McDonald and see the owner hanging inside the cupboard - clearly a victinm of the nosferatu.

GH: Not only is Wagner keeping us all happy by dragging out the fallout from Total War, but he's already started referring to events that have taken place since the disaster. The reference to Innocenti from a few issues back is extremely pleasing, given that it further increases the sense of continutity that has been in place since the last big crossover. While such continuity can occasionally be a bind - see the countless issues of the Xmen for an example of continuiy gone wild - Judge Dredd (the strip) was in dire need of somehting to keep the reader interested for a longer period. One-offs are all very well from time to time, but a greter sense of an overall story arc has been needed from Dredd for some time - something that events since the Terror arc of last year have finally given us. There's been a coinsistently high quility in the Dredd tales of late, and let's hope this keeps on till well into 2005.

As ever, D'israeli's art is revelatory. As many have said, he brings a bizarre weirdness to Mega City one that few have managed. He laps up the more bizarre elements in Wagner's script from the shot of The Big Meg vidzine (Big Pix, Big Print, Short Words!) to some excellent images of the cornered and hungry Nosferatu - the shot of it half changed and hiding behiond the door being a great example.

I believe some have found his rendering of the Nosferatu not terrifying enough, but I love the redesign, which works wonders here in depicting the creature as both a monster and a cornered animal. Special mention must also go to O Grady's colouring too - as he makes a perfect match for D'isralei.

All in all an excellent job.

DK: This story is developing well, with the plot growing in complexity with each part. Di’sraeli’s depiction of the Nosferatu alien has improved greatly compared with how it looked in the previous episode. It now exudes menace when required, and evokes sympathy when cowering in its lair. The pacing is great, because I’ve no idea how many parts this story runs to, and the rate at which events are unfolding gives no clue as to whether it all ends next Prog or runs for a bit longer.

Part 9

Another "unexplained accident"...

Synopsis: Mourn Salter appears on TV telling the presenter how he pitted a team without gimmick, the Second City Blues, against the other enhanced teams, and their gradual success showed that it was something the audiences were looking for. He denies that the accidents that have befallen the team are because he ignored safety regulations or that he is linked with organised crime.

Elsewhere Minger's dad, MacCready abducts one of Salter's ex-employees to find out what Salter's really up to, while back at the team hedquarters, Danny is telling Minger to lay off the drugs.

Salter is watching everything from his close-circuit monitor room and wonders what will happen if they confiscate Minger's drugs. He is planning for the next match to be their last and starts drugging the ball - so that he can get one of the players killed, and can boost the rating accordingly.

GH: After somewhat disparaging comments about this series in earlier reviews, my ire has dampened somewhat.

Perhaps it's the familiarity of the characters that is helping the series along, although so few of them are likeable that I feel that's not the case. I think it's more likely that the story finally appears to be finding its feet. Admittedly, last week's cliffhanger (is it all some sort of virtual reality?) seems to have been a red herring, and the true extent of Salter's machinations are yet to be revlealed. One thing that is obvious from this issue, is that the series is better whenever we're not subjected to some Slamboarding action. Indeed, the series might have benefited greatly if the sport had been kept to a minimum and only told via clips and excerpts on TV - as in this issue. Thus we could have seem some of the plot threads built on earlier in the series.

I do still have issues, however. Ideas and plot threads are laid only to be forgetten or quickly wiped under the carpet later (Shaila's experience, for example) and not enough has been done do sufficently develop the individual characters of the Blues (Donna in particular seems effortlessly one-dimensional).

However, despite this, I find myself pushing the complaints aside and allowing myself to find it mildly entertaining. I still feel it could be so much better, but as shown earlier in the series, it can also be oh so much worse. But does it deserve a second series? The jury's still out on that one.

DK: SCB has won over a lot of readers who, like me, didn’t warm to it from the very beginning. It has turned out to be one of the most entertaining of recent new strips, and features a host of amusing sci-fi concepts alongside some peculiarly old-fashioned trappings like Brian’s gangster dad and references to page 3 girls, etc. Given that the Birmingham of 2278 appears to be even more saturated with porn than our present, you’d have thought that would be a page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 girl at the very least. Anyway, these oddball touches contribute to the distinctiveness of the world depicted.

Arguably there’s not enough of the sport shown, as only brief excerpts of matches are ever seen, and here we see an entire season’s fixtures described in flashback. We’re only getting the highlights, whereas once upon a time, a series like Mean Arena would have drawn out a major clash over several episodes. Perhaps writer Kek-W was strait-jacketed to condense a lot of plot development into a fixed number of episodes. That’s fine as long as the story we get is as good as the sport action we’re missing.

It was good to have some light shone on the Blues’ lack of gimmicks by explanatory dialogue. The alien sensory stimulation market struck me as odd, since one would imagine all teams could be making mutli-sense recordings of themselves to sell to sponsors. Just how Salter has cornered the market isn’t clear.

Part 2

Defending Ukiyo

Synopsis: The floating world of Ukiyo is a mishmash of Japanese culture from ancient times up to the present day. General Mizo prepares the Lady of the exiled Imperial family for an audience with Judge Kai. Kai has been granted an audience with its leader Sashi - a young boy. Kai tells him that Warlord Chang has emerged from the radlands and intends to strike at Ukiyo first. Judge Kai is to take them all to safety as soon as possible, but before he can act, the attack starts. Sashi's protectors fight off the invading armoured warriors, and Judge Kai destroys some of the incoming ships. But the judge's craft has been destroyed too, and he is now stranded on Ukiyo.

GH: A somewhat disastrous decision seems to have affected Tiger Sun Dragon Moon since it was first mooted. For some reason, the whole thing appears to be set within the "Dredd universe" with multiple references to Hondo City, Judges and Mega City One throughout. This seems so out of place and uncalled for that the words and pictures could almost be from different series. Judge Kai's uniform looks absolutely nothing like a normal Hondo City judge's and there is nothing else in the strip artwise that seems to indicate it being part of Dredd's world.

So, the series seems woefully misplaced and almost gives the impression that it's the result of a focus group/test screening (or whatever the comic equivalent is) that dictated that it should be be set in Dredd's timeline to increase its sellability. Whetever the reason for the setting, this is certainly coming across as extraordinarily awkward, when a straightforward sci fi/Japanese legend mix would have been much more acceptable.

A great deal has to be achieved in the next couple of weeks to help the series get past this awkwardness.

DK: The first part of this The first part of this series did nothing for me, but the second really gets going after the air raid on Ukiyo gets underway. For a single episode of a story that contains so many genre elements I loathe, including nanotechnology armour, it actually impressed me as the best single episode of this Prog. The nanotech armour was itself such a good example of the form, and so well done, it was actually one of the strengths of the piece. The shooting down of the fighter aircraft with a hand gun is a cliché too, but one that is done with such style that Steve Parkhouse gets away with it.

So far, so good.

Rock and a Hard Place - part 3

Indeed...

Synopsis: Dirty Frank destroys the bouncer droid that is attacking the lead singer of Kill Kill Kill Kill and they both escape.

Later, he asks Aarghhh what he was doing backstage who replies that he was only trying to steal some gear. He tries to sing, but the bouncer droid had crushed his throat and he can't get a note out. The Battle of the Bands gets underway and now Dirty Frank has to sing lead vocals with Aarghhh out of comission.

As they are about to go up on stage he discovers that Bloodaxe, the leads guitarist has set up the pyrotechnics and has taken course in "advanced heavy metal explosives".

But Frank can't pursue a line of quesitoning, as it's time to get up on stage himself...

GH: This interlude has shown Dirty Frank to be the megastar we all thought he was from his cameo appearance in the first Low Life series.

Williams is clearly enjoying himself and this comes across in a highly entertaining strip. From the introduction to the main players (each panel here being a classic - especially "Yay Dirty Frank") to Dirty Frank's mistakenly teary eyed reaction to Aarghhh's throat condition, this doesn't hit a bum note at any point. Everything works towards providing a very funny strip that nears, but doesn't quite cross, the line into complete ridiculouusness.

A joy to read, and there'd better be more Dirty Frank soon.

DK: There’s not a great deal to say about Low Life this Prog – it’s another episode in a story that’s been consistently entertaining and how could it not be with Dirty Frank centre stage? Dirty Frank’s habit of referring to himself a) in the third person, and b) by his own name even when undercover is an endearing quirk and a hilarious comedy gimmick I don’t think I’ll be tiring of quickly. The plot device whereby the bouncer droid crushing the singer’s throat would necessitate Frank fronting the band was heavily signposted last prog, so didn’t come as any surprise, but why should it?

Agent of Destruction - Part 9

Marguerite's last moments...

Synopsis: The refinery explodes into a ball of fire, as Marguerite and Dante are dangling from their safety cords. The crest believes that Kraken will be susceptible to the fire and that they have escaped. But the Kraken is still alive and leaps for Marguerite. Dante kicks him back into the fire, but Marguerite's cord has burned through. Danten manages to catch her by the arm, but it's now on fire too and he can't hold on. Marguerite plummets to the floor of the refinery. Dante pushes Kraken into the fire - breaking open more barrels of oil to keep the fire fuleled and walks away. He finds Margueriete who asks Dante to promise that he'll protect his mother, but Dante doesn't respond. They escape with her body in Lauren's ship.

Later, his mother says she can't remember a time when Marguerite wasn't there to protect her - but Dante grimly replies "It's Ok mama, I'm here now."

GH: So the latest Nikolai Dante comes to an end, and it appears that the huge gap in between series hasn't done the character much good at all.

This lengthy series has done very little to further the character, apart from putting him into a position where he can potentially do damage to his mother's operation. it's certainly hinting at some larger plan lurking in the bckgound, but Morrison has spent far too much time skirting the issue. This series could easily have been half the length and still achieved its main goals. Indeed, the introduction of Lauren should have been ditched altogether and instead just Marguerite and Dante sent into the Refinery together. We could then have had a little more time to see their characters spark off each other, and learn more about what makes Marguerite, in particular, tick. Unfortunatley, when her death comes, it doesn't quite have the impact that it would have done had Morrison taken the opportunity to explore her character.

Now if Morrison can concentrate on moving the overall polt forward, then this can certainly be salvaged. Finding out what Dante's intentions to his mother actually are seems intriguing - expecially given his refusal to tell Marguerite that he'll protect her. So as long as we don't have another year long break, where we all forget what was happening, this could get up to speed again.

Burns provides some passable art, but it still feels like he's not putting his all into this. Frankly, it might be worth giving another artist a short run on Dante while Burns takes some time out. Dante did work well in the earlier days with alternating artists, especuially in the Fraser/Burns Tsar Wars epic, so perhaps it's time to try that out again and breathe some fresh air back in.

DK: Agent of Destruction seems not to have been popular with readers, being such a departure from the world Nikolai Dante usually inhabits. This last episode was a nice finale, with dramatic art framed by very formal panel borders, especially the grid on the third page. How sad was the demise of Marguerite? Well, in the great scheme of things we never really got to know her that well, but John Burns’s painting gave her death a great deal of humanity, and nobody reading the last page could doubt the emptiness and the aching of the Pirate Queen’s heart.