2000AD Prog 1449 - 27 July 2005
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Currie) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Davis) Shakara (Morrison / Flint) Atavar 3 (Abnett/Elson) Synopsis and 1st opinion by Mike Nye 2nd opinion by WR Logan Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

MN: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Richard Elson's artwork on Atavar, but I have mixed feelings about this cover - and I really can't put my finger on why that is. The art is undoubtedly beautiful, but some combination of a composition I've seen a thousand times and horribly clichéd tag-line leaves me cold. Still, it's the kind of cover that would grab the casual browser's attention, which is what it's supposed to do.

WRL: What a difference a day makes, someone once sang and that’s how I’ve come to feel about this weeks cover. When I ripped open my envelope Monday morning I really didn’t like Prog 1449’s cover but during the week it’s been on my bedside table and each time I’ve picked up the Prog for another read my opinion has changed slightly. 5 days later and I’ve grown to quite like Richard’s cover artwork, it’ll never make it in to my top 50 list but it’s a hell of a lot better than my first impressions.

Blood Trails - Part 10

Dredd and Vin settle a dispute

Synopsis: Dredd and Pasha begin to struggle while the narrator describes their differing histories: Pasha, in his prime, the product of years of training and physical modifications and enhancements at Sov institutions; Dredd, in decline but still the best Justice Department has to offer as a result of years on the streets of Mega City One. Dredd breaks Pasha’s arm, but Pasha’s physical advantages soon begin to tell, however, as he overwhelms the older man. Dredd tells him that reinforcements have arrived; Pasha will never get off the boat alive. Pasha retorts that at least he will have the pleasure of killing Dredd. As he is about to deliver the killing stroke he is shot in the head. Vienna, having overcome her guard, has saved her uncle’s life.

At the Black Sea, Yuri informs Kazan that he is to be placed under house arrest until an investigator arrives to formally charge him. Recognising that both he and Yuri are to be executed, Kazan decides that it is time to leave. As they make their way to the H-vehicle a streak of light heads towards the dacha and a massive explosion follows.

At the Grand Hall of Justice, Hershey informs Dredd that the streak of light was actually a ‘malfunctioning’ MC1 satellite. She is confident that the Sovs will get the message, and that Kazan is either dead or will be shortly. Dredd is unconvinced, however.

MN: Well, that’s the end of Blood Trails, a story arc that’s provoked a lot of comment and controversy. Is that Vin Diesel? Is that Giant? Is the whole thing actually any good? Put me down as being in the "pro" camp.

There have been things I haven’t liked: Pasha bringing unnecessary attention to himself and Vienna by murdering her friends; the handling of Rico and Giant’s injuries; the odd panel of artwork that looked like it came from the pen of a man struggling against deadlines; the sudden change from Mexican stand-off at the end of the last prog to fisticuffs at the beginning of this one (and the mysterious disappearance of Pasha’s gun).

On the whole though, the good has certainly outweighed the bad. Yes, it’s been slightly-hammy melodrama, but it’s been good slightly-hammy melodrama. One of the joys of Dredd is the sheer range of stories that can be told with the character. In this arc we’ve dug deeper into a different side of Dredd, one that was touched upon in the Satanist and Total War storylines. We’ve also had the idea of Dredd getting older reinforced, too. I’ve also enjoyed Currie’s art, despite a few glitches, and felt it has suited the tone of the story nicely.

It’s strange; a while back I would have agreed with some of the people calling for Dredd to be killed off. I now find myself thinking that Dredd is becoming an infinitely more interesting character now that physical and emotional ‘weaknesses’ are developing.

WRL: Gordon Rennie takes more of a grip on Dredd’s world with the 10 part Blood Trails and gets to play god with the full supporting cast. It's just a shame that it been depicted by some of the most sub-standard Dredd artwork to ever to appear in the pages of 2000AD and, unlike my opinion of the cover, no amount of looking at it could change my mind.

Rennie once again shows that he is the only successor to Wagner and at least we know we’ll never get any sentimental stories about children and blind women. Death destruction and the feeling that no one is safe is more likely to be what Dredd fans will get whenever they see Gordon’s name in the script box.

As a story, Blood Trails has been a great read just let down by the visuals. However, like any good Dredd story, it’s the way the aftermath and fate of the supporting characters in the weeks to come which are the most important factors. This will tell us whether we’ve really seen the torch being passed or whether, when Wagner writes any future tales, the events and repercussions are forgotten. The king may not be dead but his heir apparent has surely been found.

Slow Train to Kal Kutter - Part 7

The cavalry arrives...

Synopsis: The person at the other end of the infra-red beam on Isobel’s head is revealed to be Sanjeev, Kal’s older brother. Sanjeev has also brought reinforcements with him, and the train-load of Albus and Fuscus clones are quickly subdued and sent packing towards Downlode.

In Mumbai, the gang relax and discuss their latest escapade. It is revealed that Apellido is also a clone, and all that remains now is to find out who the gene-donor was. Isobel was originally an employee of the cloning lab, sent to oversee Apellido’s development. She accidentally saw the name of Apellido’s gene-donor shortly after arriving in Downlode, the reason why the original contract was placed on her back in Just Business. She reveals that Senor Apellido is really the clone of "Holy" Moses Tanenbaum, the big-time gangster the pair killed back in the Gun Lovin' Criminal story arc many, many moons ago.

Albus and Fuscus place a call to Apellido/Tanenbaum to warn him that trouble is on its way, though the man himself seems unconcerned.

MN: The last part of the latest Sin/Dex arc, and it feels a bit rushed to me. The train packed full of goons is subdued a little too easily for my liking. Still, the scene with everyone unwinding after a hard day of death and destruction is a nice change from the previous 3 progs of near-constant shootiness, and Isobel’s revelation at the end is intriguing. It’s a filler story, which might upset some, but I’ll let it slide as it raises the possibility of some interesting stories down the line.

I thought the art was consistently lovely, but I’m a sucker for Simon Davis’ work, and make no pretence otherwise.

WRL: Sinister Dexter has completely burnt out my thrill circuits. No matter what thrills a prog contains and how buzzing my circuits are, any appearance of Sin/Dex is like an Electro Magnetic Pulse shorting out all my circuits. I hadn’t read the previous six weeks worth of episodes and I did consider digging out the progs, but why subject myself to something I just can't normally bring myself to read? As Gavin has asked me to review Prog 1449, I’ll do it just for 2000AD Review, that’s how committed I am, here goes… BBBBZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!.........

………….Compu 73E Initiate Restart………

See what I mean? Absolute rubbish. The only saving grace is Simon’s artwork. I just wish we would see his work on something different in the pages of 2000AD.
I love the way Simon works and if you ever get a chance to get a sketch from him I thoroughly recommend it as I’ve never seen another artist paint their convention sketches, but while I like his work I can’t stand to read the story it accompanies.

The Assassin - Part 9

Shakara takes a beating...

Synopsis: We finally get the fight between Shakara and D’eath we’ve been waiting for, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Mr D’eath is no slouch and, as he proceeds to kick lumps out of Shakara, we get a bit of back-story on the character. The child of the galaxy’s two greatest assassins, Valentine is quite a piece of highly-trained, genetically-modified work. He chides Shakara for his lack of panache as a killer. Just as it seems D’eath has Shakara at his mercy, the little skinny fella proves that there are major advantages to not being alive in the first place, as he reaches through a gaping hole in his own midriff and stabs D’eath. Dying, D’eath begs Shakara not to say “that word again”. No chance, buddy. “Shakara!” Whack. Black. The end.

MN: A very satisfying end to a fun storyline. I’m disappointed that D’eath is dead - he was such an enjoyable character - but, on reflection, it had to happen. I worry about Shakara being basically unstoppable (see my Dredd review for my thoughts on vulnerable protagonists) but I’m sure that Robbie Morrison can come up with a suitably sneaky and/or outrageously powerful nemesis for future books. The briefest glimpse of character development we saw at the start of the book dangles the tantalising hope that we’ll see Shakara expand to 2-, or possibly even 3-dimensions in the future.

I’m not going to bang on about the art, I’ll just say that that everybody loves it, and so do I.

And Mr Morrison; if you ever want to write an Adventure of Young D’eath series, you’ve sold one copy!

WRL: How Tharg manages to keep Henry Flint is a mystery to me. Or, more likely, I can’t believe that any other publisher hasn’t snapped up the Flintmeister in some exclusive deal. He is by far one of the most original artists around; even though you can see his influences he twists them in to something new and exciting.

No matter how good the visuals, it has to accompany a story you want to read and pick up again and I’m a big fan of both books of Shakara and hope there will be a third. It may not be the deepest story or win any awards from any of the numerous comic awards around the world but who cares? As a reader, I personally don’t think of other readers when my visual receptors are scanning through the prog. It’s a personal thing and I’ve been turning to Shakara before any other thrill for the past 9 weeks. I'll will miss the harbinger of death but, in his own words, "Too… Much… TALK!"

Shakara!

Part 7

Jad underestimates the Atavar's friend...

Synopsis: Atavar v.1 is getting a kicking. From a girl. So he does what any self-respecting man would do in the situation: he legs it. The female Atavar is having none of that, however, and pursues. The Kalen have obviously made some improvements in their latest model, and Atavar is only saved by the interjection of the Binod champion constructs. Atavar realises he cannot defeat his replacement and instead goes after the puppet master, ramming and boarding Decider Jad’s ship. With Atavar bogged down by Kalen warriors, it’s left to Imoti Langual Shra to seek out ‘the Death’ (Jad) and break his link with the new Atavar – along with the Decider’s neck. Freed from Jad’s control, Ms Atavar ceases her assault on the champion constructs, apparently leaving only Voidshaker intact.

The two Atavars discuss their common memory-loss and feelings of isolation and loss. Atavar v.1 points out that they are the last members of the human race, and all the possibilities that entails. The discussion is put on hold while the two Atavars used their combined control over the UOS to attack the star cancer, and attempt to “save everything else there is to save”.

MN: Hmmm. I can't say I've been the biggest fan of any of the Atavar books. The art has been excellent throughout, but I just haven't got into the story, and it's more of the same here. There's some decent enough interaction between Atavar and Imoti, and Atavar and Ms Atavar, but nothing much else that caught my attention. It's finished. I didn't hate it, but I won't miss it.

The view that the series stands up much better if read in a single sitting has been expressed on the boards recently, and I can see how this series might have suffered from scheduling. If I see a copy of the trade sitting on a park bench I'll test that theory out, but I can't see me be interested enough to go out and pay money for it.

WRL: Is that really it, the last episode of Atavar? 3 books and to be perfectly honest I couldn’t tell you a thing about it. I know I’ve read all 3 books, just don’t expect me to answer any questions about it. I have vague recollections that I didn’t dislike it although I wouldn’t go as far as to say its been a fave.

Richard Elson’s art is perfectly adequate - in fact, it’s very good. But there is something about it that I can’t put my finger on which means that I don’t ever associate him with anything else he’s worked on previously. I even had to look at his profile to check his earlier work and some of the stuff surprised me because, once the list was in front of me, I remembered much that I really enjoyed: some of his Dredds and The Scrap. So why couldn’t I remember? Was it the old circuits showing their age or has story and art been matched so perfectly that, between the two of them, they are just an inconsequential thrill? Not a bad thrill, not a great one but one that ultimately doesn’t register and, like the proverbial Chinese meal, leaves you wanting more 10 minutes later with no real memory of what you’d just digested.