Cover: Charlie Adlard & Chris Blythe	2000AD Prog 1452 - 17 August 2005
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Ezquerra) Savage (Mills / Adlard) Leatherjack (Smith / Marshall) Breathing Space (Williams / Doherty) Robo Hunter (Grant / Gibson) Synopsis by Gavin Hanly 1st opinion by Richmond Clements 2nd Opinion by Martin Charlton Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

RC: Nice image from Adlard, with effective use of the two main colours he’s allowed himself. There’s quite a lot of writing on this cover, and it’s to the credit of the designer that it doesn’t swamp the picture. I just noticed, looking at this again, the smashthevolgs.net website above the barcode. I’d try it, but don’t want flagged up as a resistance member.

MC: A nice enough effort from Adlard & Blythe on this one, with a greater amount of detail than the majority of covers. I especially like the different website listing, and the ‘official comic of the revolution’ banner. The faded edges that had my local newsie checking he hadn’t been sent a beaten up version only serve to improve the authenticity of the piece. Much like the Cabbalistics inc. cover recently, if this doesn’t strike the balance with readers, non-readers and potential readers, I don’t know what does… Great Stuff.

Matters of Life and Death

Dredd fills Giant in on Rico's progress

Synopsis: Almost 2 months after the explosion that almost killed him, Giant is back on the streets as Dredd takes him on rounds to see if he's fit for duty.

Meanwhile, Vienna discovers that she is pregnant with Pasha's baby. The doctor says that Pre-natal adoption is a possibility - where the child is replanted in another womb or cryofrozen until a potential parent comes along. Vienna doesn't have to think twice and agrees to the procedure.

Elsewhere, Dredd and Giant wade in on a rioting mob, as Giant starts to feel the wear and tear in his body. Dredd tells Giant that Rico is back on the streets with a new titanium jawbone and Guthrie is still touch and go. Giant says that he should have taken the brunt of the blast, but Dredd replies that Guthrie pulled him out of the way as he knew Giant was the better judge and needed saving. Giant finishes off his assignment with a well placed ricochet shot and Dredd welcomes him back to the streets.

RC: It was a nice surprise to see Carlos drawing this one. So really, I don’t have to make any comments on the art in this episode, you know with this artist, you’re going to get the good stuff.

As for the story. There are some very interesting points raised by Rennie’s script. First off, there’s Mega City One’s law on termination of pregnancy. I was surprised to find that abortion sees to be illegal in the Meg, I would have thought that, with the chronic overpopulation there, any way to thin out the numbers would be encouraged.
Another surprise was the discovery that no one seriously injured in the Blood Lines storyline seems to have been killed. Giant’s alright, Rico’s getting a new jaw, and Guthrie is hanging on in a life support machine. So this rather begs the question: why was that story trailed as featuring the death of a major character?

Apart from that niggle, this was a tremendous script, and should really put paid to the ‘he’s good, but he’s not Wagner’ school of thought that seems to surround Rennie’s Dredd work. Rennie writes Dredd perfectly, and he really has taken Vienna and made her his own. Giant too comes out of this story with more characterisation than he’s had for a long long time. “That’s a pass, right?” is a fantastic line, conveying just the right amount of arrogance/confidence and humour.

Even though I know it’s soap opera, and I shouldn’t be falling for it, I still am, and the questions about Vienna’s baby: who will adopt it, and what will Dredd think when he finds out, are bubbling away, and I can’t wait until Rennie lets us find out.

MC: Can this strip do no wrong at the moment? While the art wasn’t great on Blood Trails, the writing was top notch, and gave the strongest hints yet that Rennie now has greater authority with Dredd than any writer other than Wagner has. While last week’s story was one of the more topical Dredd stories in a long long time, this serves as the perfect epilogue to Blood Trails, with some lovely little details such as Rico & Dredd now being easier to tell apart, and the fate of Guthrie. However, the enduring image of this strip has to be the final image of Vienna juxtaposed with the caption. The kind of strip that leaves you thinking ‘what a bloody good comic this is’.

As far as the art, whilst many boarders have stated their dismay over Carlos’s rendering of recent events underlining the artistic shortcomings of Blood Trails, I really think it’s time to get over it. No use crying over spilt jaw bones…

One side note, if anyone reading this is still doing so in about 16 years, let me know if Vienna’s child either enlists in the academy of law or decides to track down & kill whoever carries the bloodline at that time…

Book 2 - Out of Order - Part 3

Savage's team scores another...

Synopsis: Noddy is down on the streets, watching a parade of Isaac tanks and feeding through their positions to Savage. He warns Savage that they're protected with uranium armour. Savage and his team are aware of the dangers of the armour, and he orders his team to shower and destroy their clothes when they get home.

They get ready to fire a missile at the tank, but the drivers attract children with sweets. They hold on until the kids disperse and then fire. The shot appears to do no damage, but then the tank catches fire and finally explodes. Savage warns them not to go for a second shot or the Volgs could establish their location.

Elsewhere, Tom Savage, Bill's brother and a writer for "The Day" newspaper is telling his daughter Jan that she can't go out. She calls him a "double yellow" as he puts his other daughter Annie to bed. But Jan manages to escape her bedroom through the window and heads out. She runs straight into a Volgan patrol and tries to use her Uncle Bill's advice by telling them in Volgan that she has syphilis - hoping they'll leave her alone. But one replies "That's all right. So have I".

RC: Noddy’s back! And he’s got a new hat! I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed Bill and his psychotic ways until I started to read this new series. This week has some lovely little moments, with Bill’s fatherly concern for the younger members of his resistance cell, shown as he dispenses advice about making hit and run attacks and the like.

Mills really is on top form here. We’ve got one of his trademark gizmos, in the Uranium armoured tanks, and a cliff hanger that leaves the reader desperate for the next episode.

Also, has Adlard ever been as good as he is here? This is beautiful work, with subtle facial expressions, where he manages to convey Bill’s emotions even when the character is wearing a surgeons mask. His tanks too are splendid. In fact, all his hardware is realised perfectly, and in places is reminiscent of Colin Wilson’s Rogue Trooper stuff.

MC: Okay, so maybe I’m missing the point. I mean, its all well and good enough, Britain in a time of crisis, metaphor for various occupations throughout the world, and the frailty of the human spirit in times of struggle, but god, it’s hardly V for Vendetta, is it? I only mention this because the final page of this strip is massively unlike the early events of V, only with less subtlety, and less charm. I’ve had my problems with Robo-hunter, but it never leaves me feeling unclean. This, on the other hand, does. And not in a good ‘politicized’ way, but in a ‘hole in the pit of my stomach’ way. I REALLY don’t like this.

Chapter 3

Leatherjack unleashes hell...

Synopsis: Leatherjack heads deeper into the library, getting closer to his quarry. But the alarm is raised and a number of Shibboleth converge on him. He reaches his goal, the power generator for the shield protecting the planet and destroys it.

The Spinsters detect the shield dropping from orbit and begin bombarding the planet. Leatherjack uses the chaos as cover and edges closer to his next goal - getting the Codex Supspirorum. He finally locates the target deep in the library, but as he takes it from the shelves, he is surrounded by guards...

RC: This story is one of those that’s going to require a straight read through of the whole thing once it is finished. It’s not as opaque as some of Smith’s other work, but at the same time, it does require more work from the reader that the usual thrill. Smith manages to pull a few surprises, with the Censorships attack, which I had guessed would be part of the big climax, coming in only the third chapter. Apart from that, I just love the idea of an entire world being a library, laid out and attended to by giant ants.

Whatever your feeling about this strip, love it or hate it, you have to admit that this kind of lunacy is what 2000AD is all about. Where else in the galaxy would you find a comic that would dare to publish a story as off the wall as this one? Nowhere, that’s where.

Better mention the art too while I’m here. Lovely line work from the underused Mr. Marshall, with some excellent panel layouts, especially on the third page, and this is complemented by the faultless colouring of Blythe.

MC: And the vote for most improved story of the year goes to… Well, probably Second City Blues, but this is a close second. After an iffy start, this seems to be getting somewhere, and while I’ll never love it, I certainly appreciate it more with each episode. The art gives the story a dream-like feeling to it that helps it float along, and while I’m not prepared to give it 10/10 just yet, I get the feeling I’ll enjoy it more in one sitting in six weeks time or so.

Part 2

King gets a few home truths...

Synopsis: King arrives to find a message on his computer "Hello there lover boy. I know who the Earth Murderer is. Do you?" He deletes the message, but it preys on his mind as he goes to the murder scene at Crater Stadium deep in gangland territory. The victim is Alfred Franklin, an air industrialist. King says that the high profile site of the body means that the killer wanted him found.

Larter, visiting the widow, they discover that Franklin signed over his will to Edward Rinken - one of his competitors. King tries to goad her to see if she'll crack, but she shouts at him, telling him that as a judge he'll never know what it is to love someone.

Elsewhere, Rinken is brought news of his inheritance, but he seems as much in the dark as Franklin's wife. He has been warned that King is on his way to see him and orders his guard to pay the judges, Trent and Goddard, that brought the news. But the arriving King sees this and asks then what's going on. One of them tells him to "cool it, lover boy" and King goes berserk, pinning him to the wall...

RC: Peter Doherty is another artist who has been missing from the pages of the comic for far too long, and by grud, he makes a spectacular return to the fold with this strip. Brilliantly realised characters and some of the best colouring I’ve seen in a long long time combines with the moody shading make this a feast for the eyes.
It’s a good thing then, that Rob Williams’s script is up to the standard of the artwork. He’s building up an intriguing whodunit, which I can only hope will continue to unfold in the highly enjoyable fashion it has so far.

MC: Now this I like. A real feeling of helplessness built in from last week’s first episode continues to build this week, as rob Williams continues to cement his place as the primary writer of ‘not overtly political Dystopian sci-fi Dredd world fiction. The perpetual night-time lighting gives a lovely noir feel to the strip, but also means every development; every background detail is shaded in mystery, in intrigue. I also liked the use of the disused Olympic stadium just days after watching a news report about the long term effects of hosting the event on a nations economy. Unintentionally topical, and well worth the wait.

Stim! - Part 1

Samantha shows off her circus skills...

Synopsis: Slade runs from the robot chasing her and jumps onto a cab, only to be shaken loose by its over-zealous driving. She eventually manages to knock the crazed robot off a ledge, and it crashes to the ground below.

Elsewhere, Hoagy and Stogie are doing an inept job of pretending to buy drugs. Instead, both Stogie and Hoagy are given samples of Stim - which makes Stogie have dreams of an army or robots destroying an army of Hoagies. While Hoagy is completely unaffected by the drug Stogie is instantly addicted and agrees to a deal where he gets a hit for every drug he sells.

Samantha, meanwhile, is looking at the logic circuits of the robot that chased her and sees the same strange markings in the circuits. She calls Hoagy who tells her of Stogie's new profession and she decide to "leave em to their fate" while she sees Steve Oregon to pick up her fee...

RC: What the hells going on here? Last time I checked this strip, Grant wasn’t turning in his best work, and Gibson seemed to be only turning in half a panel of art at a time. It’s a pleasure then, to see both these legends back to top form on the strip again.
This is a really funny story, which is managing, for me at least, to capture the mentalness of the old series. There were three occasions in this episode where I laughed out loud, which in a script of only five pages, is not a bad hit rate, I think.
This Gibson fellow: just how good is he when he gets going, eh? Check out the portrait of Samantha in the penultimate frame. That’s class that is.

MC: If you’re looking for a nice, gentle 2000AD nostalgia ride, this is certainly the strip for you. If you’re looking for something to fill your appetite now Shakara is gone, then this prog has 5 pages of black space. Harmless fun, and about as far from the cutting edge as I care to go without pipe and slippers, Robo-hunter continues to… be in the prog. That’s about it, really.

Ian Gibson’s art has seen better days, but is ideally suited for Robo-Hunter (as it always was). And that’s it. Five pages, with words and drawings. Drawings that are coloured in. and words that are in English. Nothing to write home about, nothing really to write on the internet about.