2000AD Prog 1448 - 20 July 2005
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Currie) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Davis) Shakara (Morrison / Flint) Atavar 3 (Abnett/Elson) Caballistics Inc. (Rennie / Reardon) Synopsis and 1st opinion by Nick Margerrison 2nd opinion by Nathan Milner Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

NMa: In this review you’ll notice I’m not currently excited by “big men” grimacing with guns. This cover represents to me what’s poor about this particular Prog. Mainly the “tough guys grimacing with guns!” approach. Furthermore the art is badly composed with the two characters added it, appears in, retrospect. The absence of detail in the bottom left hand corner is embarrassing, and what’s the deal with those white lines? Are they supposed to be bullet trails? They’re childish and annoying.

In short: not a winner for me.

NMi: Well, you can't complain that what's on the cover isn't what's inside the prog.... we've been faced with this picture for pretty much every page of Sinister Dexter for the last three progs.... it's a good picture, but it suffers after last week's excellent Caballistics, Inc. cover.

Blood Trails - Part 9

Judge Dredd gets ready to show just how anti-smoking he is

Synopsis: Hostage negotiations with Dredd begin and we see his tough no- compromise approach isn’t at risk even when it comes to Vienna. A quick bit of detective work locates the baddies and Dredd decides to go it solo. We also get told that Rico, who had half his head blown off in the last installment, is not actually dead but “touch and go,” as is Giant. Guthrie hasn’t been found “just a few limb fragments”.

Dredd heads out to the Black Atlantic and climbs aboard the Sov's boat, stealthily taking apart its crew. Elsewhere on board, Vienna strangles her guard with her chains while Dredd and Pasha stand off.

NMa: “How about it, creep? Want to take your shot at the title”. Ye gods! If this gets you excited you need to have a word with yourself. The ‘big men with guns and a grimace’ shtick is old hat. If this storyline doesn’t show you that Dredd’s had his day as a character, nothing will.

Everyone with a brain knows that the trick behind all good classic Dredd stories is to use him as a vehicle through which we can look at our ambiguous relationship with authority. You don’t do that by playing ‘goodie versus baddie’ and only engaging one brain cell. This installment further turns Dredd into an uncomplicated Batman – Superman type character which says nothing about real life. Pages 4-6 could easily be found in any other comic. Go stick things like that in the latest Hero Turtles issue or whatever. It’s shameful childish nonsense and I’ll bet everyone involved knows that.

Even worse though is the potential retreat on Rico and Giant getting goosed! If you’re going to kill ‘em keep ‘em dead. No one really cares anyway.

NMi: After ambivalent opinions about the art at the beginning of this story, I've really started to hate it over the last few episodes... the 'cameo' faces are really grating now, especially the one's I don't recognise. Because I'm sure there's not a single character in the strip who isn't based on a real actor, and it's irritating not knowing who's playing Rothman and even Dredd himself. None of the characters look like they usually do.

But plotwise, the story is on fire. Top level policing going on here, the speed in which the justice dept track down Pasha's location is quite frightening - you really wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of the law in MC-1.

Pasha's demands at the beginning are quite laughable, really. Dredd's response was totally 'Dredd'.

Slow Train to Kal Kutter - Part 6

The boys fight over the best use of onomatopoeia...

Synopsis:The armoured train full of Albus and Fuscus clones continues to rear end Sin and Dex’s train. They hold it off while we discover that Kal has fallen in love with Isobel and that’s why he didn’t kill her.

Isobel then retreats into the train as the main characters and Kal try to fend off the attackers. We’re told it’s Friday morning and that the line ahead is blocked and the train will have to stop. We see the first page of the story from 1443 again as Isobel has a lazer sight placed on her forehead.

NMa: This pedestrian romp confuses things by using a pretentious narrative device which is known in the trade as ‘having the scenes arranged in the wrong order’.

And someone needs to explain to the team behind this snooze fest that, once again, big tough guys grimacing and shooting guns does not traditionally solve a problem. It doesn’t solve the ‘how do I fill 2000AD this week’ dilemma and it does not solve the ‘how do I stop this big train from crushing my little train’ pickle the protagonists were in.

May I remind you that was last week’s ‘cliff-hanger’: “It’s going to ram us”. Shouting “Heads up, amigo’s. Last stand time” doesn’t equate to exciting drama and the constant skipping from timeframe to timeframe just makes for irritating reading. It’s a dull shoot ‘em up story with tiresome artwork as a consequence. All those bullets! Woo! Fireworks! I’m not a moron, these things don’t excite me.

NMi: That bloody Belgian silly accent!

This story is taking it's time over quite a long, repetitive shoot out scene. But it's a brilliantly painted one, and sets things up for a finale. Looking forward to next week.

The Assassin - Part 8

Shakara undresses in front of Phaze...

Synopsis: Shakara starts clobbering Phaze’s duplicates. He manages to defeat her by infecting her with The Red Death, a virus which wiped out his own kind.

D’eath then steps up to take him on, revealing that he’s immune to such wiles. He then taunts Shakara telling him he’s “a ghost” who's “already dead”. Shakara responds that he’s actually “death” and jumps into action.

NMa: It’s a constant source of amazement to me that a comic which can pump out, in my opinion, the raw sewage that is the last two stories is able to also produce the sublime beauty of things like Shakara. The artwork is beautiful and the script is understated. On the surface it’s another combat romp but it oozes style and subtext. This is the best story in 2000AD this week. It caters for the meathead market in that it’s violent and it covers the more cerebral types like myself. A cup of tea, a cheeky smoke and this comic strip from start to finish: perfect night in.

NMi: I am so loving this story, and it's certainly better then Book I. Sure, there's not much complexity to the plot, but the action, the artwork, the dialogue(!) is all perfect.

The colours though - magic. That swirl of red/green as Shakara & D'Eath face off. Too cool.

Part 6

The Atavar's better half...

Synopsis: Atavar V1 realises that the Kalen must have created the second version and detects Kalen ships - telling them to reveal themselves. The ships decloak and Decider Jad confronts the Atavar. Jad says that the new Atavar will use its abilities to destroy the UOs from within, while Atavar tries to convince him that they need the UOs to destroy the infestation. Atavar decides to talk to Atavar V2 himself but Jad tells him that her free will is inhibited and she is entirely under his control. Jad connects to Atavar V2 and attacks V1...

NMa: Dan Abnett here shows us the awesome power of his mind in full flow. How can he be responsible for the Sinister Dexter nonsense of this Prog? He should be ashamed of himself! This story is great. There’s a huge imagination driving a unique story and painting a totally different world for us to gaze at. The artwork is mind-blowing with the colours being of particular note providing an ‘otherworldly’ type feel. It’ll stand up to repeated reading, unlike the pot-boiler that is Sin Dex.

NMi: This continues to up the intrigue - and confusion - levels. Gorgeous artwork as always from the Elson droid. I'm enjoying this, but don't know how it's going to get tied up in one more episode - presumably it'll be a double length episode next week.

Northern Dark - Part 6

Ravne and Ness are reminded that they left the cooker on.

Synopsis: Ravne attacks the people behind the summoning, but Magister destroys his pawns before they can say anything. The supernatural goings on in Scotland were due to Michael Magister who’s “power was growing all the time” … “soon he’ll be ready to make his move for real”.

Inspector Absolam’s bodyguard dishes out a beating to Jenny as she's violated an ancient treaty by killing in London. He's dying of cancer, but his bosses will only let him die when they decide to let him retire. He tells Jenny that she’s “been a naughty girl” … “but maybe there’s a way we can help each other out”.

A missed call to Ravne’s office informs us that Mr Kostabi is on his way to meet the team.

NMa: A classic ‘so-what?’ story. Shame, as it was briefly good a few progs ago. What we’re told in this –ahem- ‘conclusion’ is that we’ll be able to read the “real” story later. Presumably this is to ensure Rennie doesn’t have to worry about paying the mortgage. What you’ve just read was actually a preamble to another story. In reality it was a waste of my time and a waste of yours. What rubbish. It’s the third ‘thrill’ in this prog which, to be fair, should never have been commissioned. Tharg needs to get tougher on his droids, in my honest opinion. They’re taking the proverbial.

NMi: Gosh darn, I can't simper enough over this strip. Exposition with simultaneous trafficlight-post violence! Huge explosions! Murder! Torture! Mystery!

And the artwork is brilliant. Please Tharg, don't let it be too long before Caballistics, Inc. returns