2000AD Prog 1429 - 9 March 2005
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Gibson) Second City Blues (Kek W/ Pleece) Tiger Sun Dragon Moon (Parkhouse) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Pingriff/ Caldwell) Nikolai Dante ( Morrison / Burns) Synopsis by Gavin Hanly Review by Richmond Clements 2nd Opinion by Hugh Platt Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

RC: At first, I didn’t recognise the artist for this one. Indeed, even when I read the name on the cover, I still though, ‘Not Jim Murray..?’ But it was indeed he.
When I think of Murray’s work, I usually think of muscle-bound hulks with big guns or axes. But his Dante is perfect. What a great pose, cool looking swords and monsters. It might be interesting to see what he could do with an episode or two on the strength of this cover. I love this.

HP: Jim Murray giving another yearly nod to 2000AD, and while I’d prefer it if he did some strip work, this is an absolute cracker of a cover. After the rather weasely-looking Nikolai we had on the last Dante cover, this time the Russian rogue is everything you could hope for.

Missing in Action - Part 1

Judges to the rescue...

Synopsis: While embarking on a siege to rescue a kidnapped girl, Dredd is contacted by Gary Ouziek of the Planet Gary bar (previously seen in After Hours). He says that Richie, one of his regulars, has gone missing and thinks that something has happened to him. Dredd agrees to check it out.

Arriving at Richie's apartment, He discovers that Richie got a recent verbal warning for wasting judge time and harassing his neighbour. Dredd calls down forensic when he finds the apartment spotless. His hunch plays out as they discover that the place has been ransacked, but covered up. Dredd decides to investigate the neighbour and calls up the investigating judge, Harriman, who tells him that Richie thought his neighbour was a sov block spy.

Dredd visits the neighbour, Nyman, who says Richie used to follow him but he didn't want to file a complaint as he felt sorry for Richie. Dredd feels that Nyman isn't telling the truth and orders an immediate tap on all calls in and out of his apartment. His hunch pays off again as a call is made to an unregistered number, with a scrambled image and voice - the neighbour clearly knows something, and is told to come and see his contact. Dredd orders surveillance on Nyman.

Elsewhere, Richie is tied up as two heavies come in to interrogate him...

RC: Oh man, where do I begin?

Let’s start with the artist of a change. A lot of Gibson’s recent work has been notable for the lack of any detail in the backgrounds, or the complete absence of background at all. On looking at his work on this, I would suggest that this is a reaction to the scripts he’s been receiving. That is, if he sees a script where the writer seems to be not really trying, then he responds with art in kind. So you see where I’m going here? He’s put effort into the art here his usual perfect figure work, imaginative layouts and background detail! What more do you need?

I’ll tell you, a cracking script, that’s what. A lot of work has went into this script I think. And if it hasn’t, if it’s something Rennie has just turned out, then I hate him. He has crammed a load of plot into this. With the opening pages telling two different tales, one through the pictures and one in the dialogue, and then with Dredd. I know, it’s been said a million times that Rennie can write the character as well as Wagner, but with this weeks episode, he’s nailed it absolutely. I don’t know if this is a mark of more confidence from Rennie, or more trust from Wagner, allowing Rennie further inside Joe’s head.

‘Harriman. A good Judge, but young. Only six years on the streets. Forty-seven years on the streets. Not much passes below his perp radar...’ Surely with this, Rennie has killed ANY doubts anyone ever had about his ability to write Dredd?

HP: Both the prog and the meg Dredds seem to be looking to the past a lot recently. But unlike the Nosferatu, I’d completely forgotten the events of After Hours, and had to root through my back-progs to get to grips with this week’s episode.

But once I got down to it, Rennie’s latest has really got me. Dredd’s doing some detective work that goes beyond deciding what ammunition to fire out of his lawgiver, and while I’m pretty sure Nyman isn’t a Sov-blocker (surely a spy wouldn’t be dumb enough to contact his handler on an open com?), I’m intrigued to what the conspiracy within Phil Seymour Hoffman Block will turn out to be.

Gibson has stepped it up a bit since his last Dredd outing, even if his colouring looks a bit anaemic. Keeping him for this follow up was the right move though, and here’s hoping it steps up in the weeks to come.

Part 11

The coach liked his clichés...

Synopsis: The match continues, while Minger's dad and his heavies break in to find his son - unfortunately arriving in the away team's enclosure. In the infirmary, we find out that Minger has Bauman's Syndrome a, a neurological disorder, and the pills he's been taking are medication.

The coach goes to find Salter to track down the pills, taking them from Salter's bodyguard. He gives the pills to the doctor while he investigates further. He discovers the broadcasting rig, and almost gets shot by an Oboch - an alien on whose homeworld physical or emotional expression is punishable by death. Sense clips of human sport sell for a fortune, and that's the racket Salter's been in on. But the broadcast breaks up suddenly as it gets jammed. The coach asks if it's the police, and they respond that they are - but the signal is coming from a space ship over earth...

RC: What the hell is it with this series? It checks all the boxes that tell you it should be rubbish. But somehow it’s not.

Oh don’t get me wrong, we’re not looking at the next Halo Jones here, but it is a lot more fun and is a lot more entertaining that it has any right to be. Yes there are problems. As has been mentioned on the board, the twist with the pills is a bit on the cheesy side. But then again, there’s still time to snatch that one back, and have Minger lying about it being brain medicine.

The coach was good, once he finally was given something to do, which served to highlight one of the problems with the strip. There are a lot of characters, but very few of them are actually given something to do, and when they are, like the girl in the porno, it never lasts long enough to have any effect.

Still, with two episodes left, things are being set up for a nice chaotic finale, with Minger’s dad, those aliens and no doubt trying to win the game in the dying seconds of injury time.

Oh, the aliens. ‘Physical expression is... punishable by death.’ I would have thought that the act of putting someone to death was physical expression too, so does the executioner get put to death? Then the guy who kills him? Etc?

HP: Too much, too little, too late.

After weeks of non-events, recently SCB has decided it better shoehorn some kind of a plot into extra time. Maybe if they’d started this earlier on, instead of cramming it all in at the end, it might’ve stood a chance of working.

While SCB hasn’t managed to hit the lows of last year’s first quarter abomination, eleven weeks in and I’m now counting the days till it’s gone.

From the clichéd dialogue (“He might be a knobhead…but he’s our knobhead!”), to the clichéd deus ex machina plot devices (Salter just happens to leave all the evidence of his scams lying about to be discovered), there simply isn’t a suitably mediocre metaphor to describe how little excitement this generates in me.

And Minger turns out not to be a drug addict, but on medication. Wha…but…you could ride a slamboard through that plothole! Thankfully, it’s all coming to an end in two weeks, and hopefully we won’t be getting a season ticket to the Blues’ next attempt at the title.

Part 4

Kiri cuts loose...

Synopsis: The invaders attack Kiri, but she draws her sword and defends herself, killing or wounding some of the attackers. But she is soon wounded herself and almost beaten, before Mizo bursts in with Tiger Sun and starts to wipe out the rest of the invaders. He leaves two standing who he says to return home and report that their mission has failed - while he comforts Kiri.

The invaders return to their base, with some of Kiri's blood, hair and clothing - which they give to Kabal who says that everything is in place - with Dragon Moon hidden inside the palace. They also tell Kabal of the sword, which Kabal recognises as Tiger Sun, but Chang believes that the sword has appeared so that it can fall into the hands of them. He says he has had visions which show the fall of Ukiyo, Hondo City and then Mega City One...

RC: Like Logan in last weeks review, I’m too am usually wary of any strip that’s such a one man show. I’m liking this one though, and as the plot seems to be, at last, kicking in, things are getting more interesting.

I’m even seeing now why it’s set in the Dredd universe. It’s giving us, the reader, and easy frame of reference. For example, when Chang says, ‘Ukiyo will fall- then Hondo City... Even Mega-City One will bend the knee,,,’ we immediately know, because of our knowledge of the Dredd world, what he’s talking about, and see the scale of his plans.

I prefer Parkhouse’s art here, where he’s working with action between individual figures, rather than the giant robot stuff of previous weeks. Though the girl’s face, in frame five of page two is clearly that of her male stunt double.

HP: Limbs flying everywhere, mystic ninjas, some kind of Chinese voodoo vibe – what’s not to like?

I’m sure some Squaxx will have issue with the breasts on display, and I’ll confess I was a little bemused by their appearance. Okay, so the plot requires the ninjas to get some of her clothes, but at the risk of sounding vulgar, is a full-on tit-shot something we need in the (supposedly) all-ages prog?

But as a whole, the strip looks incredible, and I’m hungry for the next installment already.

And I didn’t even mention the Dreddverse thing.

Latte Animals - part 1

Sinister gets nasty...

Synopsis: Sinister and Dexter pay a visit to Perk-U-Later, a family run coffee shop in Shredny, Downlode. The man in charge, Tinto, tells them that a coffee restaurant chain has opened down the street and that its undercutting prices are in danger of closing him down. Sinister and Dexter decide to lean in the place, called Barstucks They go to see the manager and threaten him to stay away from Downlode.

Elsewhere, in the head office of Barstucks, the management realises they'll have to get tough and a few days later, Perk-U-Later has been burnt to the ground. Sinister and Dexter have decided that this makes things personal. and head into Barstucks HQ - guns blazing. but the CEO has plenty of hired guns himself to help see them off...

RC: I enjoyed this. Perhaps it was because we haven’t seen the pair for a while and lord help me I missed them, or maybe it was because I enjoyed seeing Abnett attacking a certain multi national chain of expensive coffee houses that are putting a stranglehold on the market. But what I like most about this strip is Abnett’s seemingly never-ending stream of corny puns for shop names. Except for Barstucks, that one is so bad it hurt me physically.

The art, on the other hand, I did not like. Ramone looks like a fourteen year old boy in a red tank top, and Finny is just way to healthy looking. Combine this with some unimaginative colouring and you’re on a looser. Nothing wrong with the art style, I like the cartoony stuff, and it works well in Sin/Dex, I just don’t like this.

HP: Okay, I’ve got a confession – I’m one of those people who still likes Sinister Dexter.

But after last year’s Kal Cutter-heavy stories, this just doesn’t cut it. I know the puns in Sin/Dex could never be described as the most high-brow comedy, but seriously, “Barstucks”? Jeez.

More than ever, the uncomfortable juxtaposition of “they might be cold blooded killers, but they’re still the good guys!” is there. After all, if they hadn’t gone and intimidated Barstucks, Tinto would never have got burned alive, and they’d never have to go and extract a 9mm revenge.

And despite being based in Downlode, Barstucks are only now deciding to break that market? After swallowing every other city on the planet? Erm…?

The art is just too flat and grimeless for the Downlode I know and love, and I think it must’ve took both Pingriff and Caldwell to stay firmly in 1st gear to produce something so flaccid. Thank Tharg Simon Davis is back for a big one this summer.

How could you believe me when I said I love you when you know I've been a liar all my life... - Part 2

Lulu begins the hunt...

Synopsis: Lulu's crest-powered cybernetic monsters start attacking Dante, Jena and the Regent. They fight back while Dante and Jena keep squabbling. Lulu had escaped from Imperial custody and embarked on a terrorist campaign against the Empire and now, after killing many, she had finally decided to target the Emperor's daughter. Just when things look bad for Dante, Lauren arrives in a flying taxi and they all get in, rushing away to safety. Once on their way, Jena berates Lauren as "the latest love of his life" who tells her that she is their hostage. Jena starts to stir things up by telling Lauren that Dante called her his "darling damsel in distress" and Lauren takes the bait as the cat-fighting begins.

Elsewhere, Lulu was still the high priestess of the Cadre Infernal, a society of debauchery, cruelty and sexual excess. Membership of the Cadre was high in Britannia society, and Lulu has used this influence to take control of the higher echelons of power in Britannia as a high official enjoys her dominating tactics. He tells Lulu that he's set the Rippers on Dante and his gang...

RC: Johnny Alpha is my favourite 2000AD character ever. But there is every possibility that Dante is in second place, even above Joe.

Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves here, especially John Burns who turns in, for my money, some the best work he’s down since the War. Just check out the Lulu on page three, or the expressions on the King’s face as he’s stuck between Dante and Jena during their argument in the back of the cab. Priceless.

The best thing is though, I don’t know which way this is going to go. It could end up a bawdy comedy romp, or just as easily become something a lot darker. And that’s what I love about Dante.

HP: Dante’s return to dry land has rejuvenated him after his last, slightly soggy, seabound caper. The welcome return of a few old faces would be a cause for celebration whatever they got up to, but Morrison manages to mix action with recap beautifully.

Lulu might not have shown her face since Prog 2004, but by the end of this week, even the most inattentive reader will have been brought back to speed as to who she is. Her escape from captivity, her Crest abilities, and the Cadre Infernal – all slotted in nicely amongst the swordplay.

The rivalry between Jena and Lauren kicks off the moment they meet, and the look of glumness that Burns slowly paints creeping across Nikolai’s face as he realises what he’s let himself in for is a treat. With the mad king throwing in a bit of comedic foil, and the dialogue’s really crackling.

Burns has nothing to prove with regards to his depiction of The Most Wanted Man In The Empire, but this week was a true treat. Coupled with Morrison’s vastly more digestible script, Dante is easily the best thing this week.