2000AD Prog 1446 - 6 July 2005
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Currie) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Davis) Shakara (Morrison / Flint) Atavar 3 (Abnett/Elson) Caballistics Inc. (Rennie / Reardon) Synopsis David Knight 1st Opinion by Ed Berridge 2nd Opinion by Andrew Howe Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

EB: A nice enough image by Greg Staples, but there’s something slightly uninspiring about it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice enough image with McMahonish touches like Dredd’s big boots, but it is quite a generic looking picture and I personally prefer covers that actually relate to something inside of the comic.

Also the painted Dredd artwork really smacks of the mid-nineties period, which is never a great thing. I thought the Greg Staples worked on the computer now, and this cover makes me long to see some of his linework in the pages of the comic again, as his was an artistic reinvention to rival Kevin Walker’s return to pen and ink.

Having said all that, it is a very nice image taken by itself and is at least eye-catching, which in the end is what a cover should do.

AH: Greg Staples presents instalment 346 of the “Dredd in Stock Pose” series, but an arresting piece of eye candy is a fair trade for the inevitable sense of déjà vu.

expect the failure to reference the current storyline is the result of an absence of action – a painting of Dredd performing detective work isn’t going to sell progs, though a take on the first couple of panels in this week’s episode could have made it the best-selling issue ever.

Blood Trails - Part 7

Dredd delivers the boot of justice

Synopsis: Judge Dredd’s niece Vienna Pasternak is met by her boyfriend Travis (Soviet agent Pasha) during a break in the filming of her tri-d show. Travis explains his bruises, lying that the judges beat him up because of trouble with the law in his past, and not because he is a suspect in the murders of Vienna’s friends. He tells Vienna he plans to leave Mega-City One so as not to cause her problems, and she says she wants to go with him. Travis tells her he will make the arrangements.

Judge Dredd is on street duty when O’Brien from accounts queries his use of resources investigating the deaths of Vienna’s acquaintances. Next Dredd is contacted by Guthrie, who tells him the analysis of Travis’s blood reveals DNA alterants, but matches known DNA traces of the Soviet agent Pasha from the crime scenes of politically motivated professional hits. They have firm evidence that Vienna’s boyfriend is an undercover Soviet assassin.

Judge Dredd calls in his trusted team to facilitate Pasha’s capture. Judge Roffman from the Public Surveillance Unit identifies the driver of the vehicle that picked Vienna up from work. Since his build means he cannot be Pasha, the judges infer that the driver must be a Soviet sleeper agent. Dredd and his team split up to find clues to Vienna’s whereabouts while Roffman attempts to locate the vehicle she was driven away in. Meanwhile, Pasha’s accomplice delivers here to a safe house where Pasha and his sleeper cell accomplices hold her at gunpoint.

EB: Judge Dredd has no nose – how does he smell?*

This latest thriller by Gordon Rennie has been entertaining. Although it has somewhat divided reader opinion, you can’t but help but think that the proof of this pudding will be in its finish. This story was heavily trailed as featuring the death of a major ‘Dreddverse’ character, and half the fun of the story is trying to work out who exactly the unlucky person is going to follow Psi Judge Karyn into Rennie’s Hall of Fallen Heroes (my money’s on Guthrie, by the way). But this can distract from the story itself, which actually is quite entertaining, if a little predictable (up to now).

Andrew Currie’s artwork continues to shift between revelatory and inappropriate. Some panels look really dynamic, particularly when combined with the excellent work of colourist Chris Blythe, but it sometimes lapses slightly too far into a cartoony look that doesn’t quite match the fraught tension of the script, like the strangely nose-less Dredd. There has been some controversy regarding Currie’s use of celebrity cameos as characters in the strip, but personally I quite enjoy it. The fun to be had in the strip is working out which characters are supposed to be some icon of the silver screen, though I can see the point of those who find it detracting from the main thrust of the story.

But in the end we’ll have to wait for the end of this current strip to be able to properly evaluate its merits, good or otherwise.

AH: “Next Prog: A Death in the Family”. It appears the time has come for Vienna to take her final bow, and my investment in her continued existence is such that I honestly wouldn’t mind if Rennie reneged on his unspoken promise to see things through to the bitter end (there’s an outside chance that Rico could be the “family” in the line of fire, but that would be grounds for commitment after the effort that’s been expended on grooming him as a replacement for Dredd).

When the smoke clears Dredd will be left to face some hard questions - Vienna’s decision to drop everything and run off with Pasha initially seems a tad contrived, but when you think about what she went through during Total War it’s an understandable reaction to the daily brutality of life in the Big Meg and a need for reassurance and affection that good old Uncle Joe is incapable of providing. This brand of character building is one of Rennie’s hallmarks, and it’s resulted in an absorbing slow-burn affair that’ll doubtless lead to an epic confrontation down the line.

I expect the true power of Blood Trails will only be evident when read in a single sitting, since the pacing occasionally leaves one feeling unfulfilled by the lack of progress on a weekly basis. Rennie’s also had some difficulty in working out how to present the interplay between the various characters – we don’t want a couple of pages of talking heads, but this is the third time we’ve watched one of the protagonists hold an extended conversation while beating the crap out of an assortment of generic perps (and while we’re talking about criminals, how come nobody’s arrested the actor playing a judge on page 1 for bringing the Justice Department into disrepute?)

None of this detracts from my belief that Rennie can do no wrong on Dredd these days, and the climax of this storyline will provide a significant insight into his plans for the future direction for the strip. It’s still a little early to start talking about a renaissance, but my review wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t use the word “revitalisation” at least once. Consider it done, and if you hear the sound of distant applause next week you’ll know where it’s coming from.

Slow Train to Kal Kutter - Part 4

Fuscus gets whacked. Again.

Synopsis: On Wednesday night, as the Suleiman Express streaks through the Russian Confederacy, apprentice gunshark Kal Cutter kills Albus and Fuscus, crime boss Appelido’s henchmen, who came to kill him and Isobel.

The next day, with the train travelling through Afghanistan, hit-men Sinister and Dexter arrive on the train by helicopter, looking for their apprentice Kal, and Isobel, whose killing Kal failed to carry out. Kal tells Sinister and Dexter about having killed Albus and Fuscus, and says he’ll do the same to them if they try to harm Isobel.

Sinister and Dexter are amazed to see the bodies of Albus and Fuscus on the train, after they killed the two henchmen in the Balkans two days earlier.

While Finnigan Sinister is threatening the Belgian sleuth Achille Bureau, Ramone Dexter warns of trouble: an armoured train is bearing down on them, bristling with guns and crawling with clones of Albus and Fuscus.

EB: Finnigan and Ramone are back doing what they do best – all out action with risible one-liners. The strip continues its boom and bust path, and fortunately this time we’re onto a winner. Dan Abnett uses a narrative device similar in its usage to that employed in the film Memento, and seemingly invigorates his writing of the strip too. Even the Poirot-like detective seems almost coherent this episode (though this may be because he has a lot less to say).

Simon Davis makes his return to the strip, and as usual his work is impeccable, employing a painted style which unlike many painted strips looks both unique and is actually worth painting rather than using more traditional techniques. The plot keeps on providing more of interest for upcoming episodes, such as the mysterious multiple gun sharks or the reason why there is such a fuss being made over Isobel and there is more than enough to keep up reader interest.

Sinister Dexter is never going to be the most taxing of strips, but what it does it does extremely well.

AH: Anyone who read my review of Prog 1435 will be aware of my feelings about this strip, but I confess to harbouring a soft spot for Kal Cutter. He’s everything the protagonists aren’t, possessed of human frailty and something resembling a moral code, and the revelation that he didn’t whack Isobel has sealed my support for the foreseeable future (and top marks to Abnett for allowing Kal to act in accordance with his nature instead of the demands of the plot). It’s unfortunate that Ramone and Finnigan had to show up to drag things down, with the inevitable cookie-cutter killing spree following in their wake. I’ve also given up trying to decipher Bureau’s speech patterns, which is the reason most novelists don’t try to replicate accents on the printed page.

My issues with the script don’t detract from my admiration for Simon Davis’s art, and if Kal survives we could be looking at a new direction for the series. It’s at least five years overdue, but it’ll only work if Abnett refuses to allow his creation to be used as filler, and that means an end to the single-issue stories beloved of sleep-deprived writers and editors with space to fill. It’s a big ask for someone who relies on a constant output to make a living, but with Kal on board, Davis at his peak and Abnett firing on all cylinders elsewhere in the prog, it’s time to seize the day and make this strip extraordinary. Plan B is a few more years of the same old song, and the time is fast approaching when I’ll be changing stations for good.

The Assassin - Part 6

So much for Fist...

Synopsis: Valentine D’eath and his team of assassins search the Shakaran asteroid world for their quarry. They have come to kill Shakara. Fist summons Valentine and the others back to the chamber where the Shakara battle suit stands empty: the suit is filling with the red Shakara substance. Fist attempts to smash Shakara into the ground, but Shakara leaps to land on the back of Fist’s hand, and slices off the top of his head.

The assassins communicate by radiotelepathic implants, causing them all to reel in agony from Fist’s injury. Blinded, Fist lashes out, and is oblivious to Shakara’s ship which runs him down, smashing him to pieces. Faced with Shakara’s ship, Phaze summons duplicates of herself from innumerable parallel worlds to increase the team’s firepower, and they unleash a barrage of gunfire against their enemy.

EB: I just noticed this issue that the words ‘Book 2’ feature within the actual letters of the title of the strip itself, just when I was wondering why it wasn’t called Book 2. The strip is filled with loads of little nuggets like this – Henry Flint’s artwork is simply sublime, there’s no other word for it. His work on the current story is worthy of that produced by Kevin O’Neill on the first three books of Nemesis the Warlock, whilst entirely retaining his own artistic integrity. Nemesis of course is Shakara’s obvious progenitor, and the series obviously owes that earlier strip a great debt with its tale featuring an enigmatic, cipher of a central character who battles in a mysterious ship against an evil empire, even though Pat Mills’ lapsed-Catholic fury and political satire are largely missing from this strip.

The current storyline features a group of assassins attempting to track Shakara back to his lair and delete him, and has currently moved almost into a haunted house scenario, as the assassins search the devastated remains of the Shakran homeworld, and the reader waits for the reader to begin killing them off one by one. And that’s part of a small problem: we are fairly assured of our hero’s survival. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem – Robbie Morrison seems to be beginning to reveal more of Shakara’s backstory in dribs and drabs so we can be fairly sure that another series is in the offing. But when you’ve taken the time to assemble a rather interesting band of cut-throats (somewhat reminiscent of Mills and Flint’s Shadow Warriors in the recent ABC Warriors story), it seems a pity just to set them up to be so obviously slaughtered.

The other problem, which is often true of Morrison’s work, is that the story tends to read quite jerkily in weekly instalments, and you get the feeling that it’ll work much better when read in one go. That said, this is still one of the best things in the prog at the moment and provides a bang up to date equivalent to the ‘old school’ Thrills of the past.

AH: Morrison’s overactive imagination has seen some wonderful concepts hit the page over the last few weeks (psionic bullets, dwarf galaxies moonlighting as assassins, and many others). There’s enough here for an entire prog’s worth of action, so it’s unfortunate that one flaw prevents Shakara from scaling the heights to which it obviously aspires - you know you’re in a whole mess of trouble when the villains are more interesting than the hero.

An alien killing machine with a single-word vocabulary is just the ticket for creating an oppressive atmosphere, but the absence of any remotely human emotions makes it impossible to become invested in the character’s fate. On the other hand, Valentine’s motley band of miscreants are some of the most interesting and entertaining supporting players I’ve encountered in many a long moon, to the extent that I’d rather be reading a story about their continuing adventures than watching Shakara carve them up (was I the only one rooting for Fist in this prog’s showdown?)

A flaw it may be, but fatal it certainly ain’t. I’ll gladly persevere simply to see what Morrison will come up with next, and that’s without considering the distinctive contribution of Henry Flint’s mind-blowing art, about which nothing more needs be said. Unless Shakara grows a personality it’ll never be more than a highly entertaining ride, but as long as that’s the worst I can say about Morrison and Flint’s creation I won’t be getting off the bus anytime soon.

Part 2

Atavar cuts loose...

Synopsis: The Atavar, in his damaged weapons sheath, suddenly comes face to face with the zombified Worldbreaker, contaminated by the galaxy-devouring cancer. Worldbreaker opens fire, killing Imoti Langual Shra’s three companions, leaving Imoti the sole survivor of the group. Atavar tells Imoti to get inside the damper field of his weapons sheath.

Atavar takes a direct hit from Worldbreaker’s weapons, and responds with a volley of cruise-ceptors, destroying Worldbreaker utterly.

Atavar returns to the Binod Union and tells his alien sponsors of his plan to use the inorganic aliens, the Uos, to destroy the cancer. Atavar is able to mentally control a limited number of Uos, but may be able to boost his control ability by entering a Uos primary gestalt node.

The binod Union lends its support to Atavar’s plan, sending the best part of their war fleet as his escort: Voidshaker, Earthraker, Doomraker, and Deathmaker.

EB: It’s been quite a long time since Atavar was in the prog – about two years, give or take a bit - and you can’t help but feel that new readers must be somewhat lost when faced with what is apparently the finale of this grand space opera. There are few concessions made for those unaware of the story prior to the third book, and you can’t help but feel that it might have benefited from a one page recap as they used to do in the early pages of 2000AD. Fortunately I own the collected Rebellion book of the first two instalments (a review of which you can read on this very site!) and so the story’s twists and turns prior to the current issue were not a mystery to this reader.

I can see why some readers are turned off by the strip, but I’ll always champion 2000AD for trying out different strips like this – it is an anthology comic after all. I don’t know if it’s because this was one of the first strips I read on my return to the comic, but I really enjoy this strip, with Dan Abnett really getting the chance to spread his writing wings a bit on such a story with wide brimming possibilities. Richard Elson is often criticised for all his creatures and characters looking rather similar, but in this case that is a positive boon – there are only four different cultures in this universe, and it makes a certain amount of anthropomorphic sense that they should all bear certain similar appearances and characters. If you go back and look at Elson’s work on the first two books you can really see his rapid artistic progression, and I’ll be hotly anticipating whatever project he moves on to next.

The current strip continues the diversion away from the threat of the UOS to deal with the ‘intergalactic cancer’ that is threatening to destroy all organic life, and it’ll be interesting to see how Abnett manages to link both storylines and finish them off to satisfaction in what few episodes are left to him. Though considering the tone of the series thus far, I doubt it’ll be a particularly happy ending.

AH: I’ve accused Abnett of many things in the past, but a lack of versatility isn’t one of them. Whatever grudges I hold against Sinister Dexter are matched by my admiration for Durham Red, and if I didn’t know better I’d swear they were written by different people.

Atavar is something else again – Abnett’s captured the essence of the action/adventure science fiction novels of the 60’s and 70’s, with the last surviving human and a posse of sentient weapons facing down two galaxy-spanning threats (because one, as we know, is never enough). I knew Abnett had nailed the genre when I experienced an emotional reaction to the death of Worldbreaker (“Worldbreaker. Champion-Construct. My friend.”), and every week I look forward to another serving of the kind of scientifically dubious but immensely enjoyable escapades that saw me through those long university days.

Elson’s still lumbered with the unenviable task of trying to communicate a sense of scale (it wasn’t until “the Death” ate a planet for breakfast that I appreciated the immensity of the threat), but his clean and colourful panels are the perfect partner to a rousing yarn that raised the stakes to a ludicrous level long ago and is all the better for it. Often affecting, occasionally endearing and always entertaining, Atavar is the old school for the new age, and I’ll be seated in the front row for as long as Abnett cares to continue the lecture.

Northern Dark - Part 2

Cops in trouble...

Synopsis: In Pimlico, Inspector Absolam arrives to investigate a gruesome murder, carried out by the Demon possessing Jenny of Caballistic Inc. She appears to be preying on sadistic criminals by preference.

Meanwhile, in the Scottish Highlands, Hannah Chapter, Lawrence Verse and Doctor Brand are moving to protect the most likely target of the neo-pagan cult’s terror campaign: the Royal Family.

The cultists are already moving on a royal hunting party on the Balmoral estate, killing police officers on security duty. The Caballistics Inc. operatives fight their way in past sceptical officers at a checkpoint.

EB: Short review this one.

Bloody marvellous

Those are the only words needed – I can’t really be objective about this one, since in my opinion it’s the best thing in the comic at the moment and one of the best new strips that 2000AD has produced in a while. Gordon Rennie proves why he’s so feted as a writer, while managing to avoid the usual fanboy clichés and pitfalls. Dom Reardon proves why he’ll no doubt be snapped up to work on Hellblazer or some other bloody American horror rubbish.

This has to be, unquestioningly, one of the best horror strips out there at the moment. This episode continues the Northern Dark storyline towards its conclusion, the Slaine pisstakes seemingly abated for the moment, whilst a new storyline opens up for Jenny and we are back to the area of Rennie’s drips of back/future story for the characters, which always makes me look forward all the more to the next episode, even though it’s bound to be just as infuriatingly vague.

Ah well, at least we might see a member of the Royal Family literally get it in the neck before the boys (and girl) of Department Q are able to intercede…

AH: There’s a lot going on in this strip at the moment, which is a direct result of the extended set-up in the first year of publication. Many things have to happen before the team can call it a day – Demon Jenny exorcised with extreme prejudice, Ravne getting what’s coming to him (and then some), the drip-feed backstory revealed in its full glory, and Hannah finding true love (though that last one might just be me). The impatience I occasionally experience is fuelled by my belief that any of the above events would be considerably more fulfilling than whatever’s going on in the current instalment, but since nobody told Da Vinci to hurry up and finish his masterpiece it’s possible that I complain without cause.

For the second time in one issue Rennie makes few concessions to the weekly format (note the absence of the traditional cliffhanger at the end of the episode), which will certainly improve the narrative flow when the graphic novel hits the shelves. However, when the writer’s juggling this many balls it’s difficult to review a single episode in isolation, especially when it consists of nothing more than three pages of violent dismemberment washed down with a dose of detective work. Taken as a whole the current storyline is an entertaining runaround that seems intent on maintaining the status quo for the time being, though the Demon Jenny subplot could still pay dividends (provided she doesn’t just slaughter the police and live to cackle another day).

At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll reiterate my belief that this is the best strip to grace the weekly in years. The pieces are in place for the mother of all climaxes in the next 12 to 48 months (hopefully the former, since I’m not getting any younger), and between now and then I’d gladly read an episode about the gang playing Twister just to revel in Dom Reardon’s distinctive art and enjoy time spent with characters that are fast becoming old friends. Now all we need is for someone to chain Rennie and Reardon to the grindstone, because if I die of old age before we get to the heart of the matter they’ll find themselves haunted by a very unpleasant ghost.