Cover: Kev Walker	2000AD Prog 1463 - 2 November 2005
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / Walker) The Red Seas (Edginton / Yeowell) Leatherjack (Smith / Marshall) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Davis) Rogue Trooper (Rennie / Coleby) Synopsis by Gavin Hanly 1st opinion by Richmond Clements 2nd opinion by Martin Charlton Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

RC: A nice dramatic image and a lovely big big gun pointing out at the reader. While this makes for a moody cover, it’s not, to my eyes, really one that’s going to stand out on the shelf and yell ‘Buy Me!’

MC: A somewhat subdued palette is used on this cover, and although it’s hardly the most eye catching of covers, it fits my criteria of a cover that ‘works’, in that it’s done by the artist inside and actually represents the action inside. So, once again, no random covers of Dredd with his gun pointing at the reader, drawn by Patrick Goddard or some other artist.

Kev Walker draws a lovely piece here with some nice lighting effects, using a palette that gives both a cold & dark feel to the image, with the subtle image of Dredd watching over Slaughterhouse’s every move, in a throw back to the first cover of the series. I like it, but whether it’ll convince anyone new to curiously investigate is another thing all together…

Mandroid - part 10

Getting out of the heat...

Synopsis: Slaughterhouse reaches Schultz's hunting lodge and kills the first guard he sees, alerting the judges hovering above in H Wagons to his arrival. Slaughterhouse and his mech start to take everything out that moves in the lodge. He spots a descending H Wagon and blows a hole in the wall, taking the mech through it.

Once inside, he uses napalm to take out one of Schultz's robo body guards - but the resulting explosion backfires and Slaughterhouse is forced to abandon the suit. Once out, he destroys the other robo guard and tries to get some distance from the battlesuit.

Outside, Dredd and the judges secure the roof, and detect the fire inside. Suddenly, the Mech suit blows up sending Slaughterhouse flying and causing the roof to cave in - and bringing the judges down with it.

RC: As Morgan Freeman said in Se7en, ‘This isn’t going to have a happy ending’.

What is astounding about this particular tale is the way Wagner somehow manages to write Dredd as compassionate and yet at the same time utterly ruthless in the pursuit of his prey. Nate Slaughterhouse is surely one of the most sympathetic characters to be introduced to the Dredd universe in a long time, but the masterstroke is not the fact that we empathise with him, but the fact that Dredd does.

This week's episode is only the bridge between us finding out about his wife and Slaughterhouse doing the same, but it’s no less entertaining for that.

I love Walker’s work, very economic in both the line work and the colouring. The best thing I can say about it is that I can’t imagine this strip in the hands of another artist.

MC: The bang bang shooty episode, leading to the final conflict over the next few issues. While perhaps lacking the impact of Total War last year, 2005’s ‘long’ Dredd has had every bit the emotional impact, with an almost conscious effort on Wagner’s part to keep this story on a much smaller part that 2004’s mini-epic. While it would be easy to suggest that very little happens in this issue, it’s hardly the point, is it? Even if this stretched all the way to Prog 2006, it still wouldn’t feel stretched with story telling and art of this quality. The only problem is, if you read the prog front to back, the rest of the issue can feel somewhat underwhelming.

Underworld - Part 3

Brotherly love...

Synopsis: The crew heads out for a night on the town. Julius looks at a poster advertising a performance by Augustus, but tells the others "there's nothing for me here" when they ask if he wants to see the show.

Meanwhile, Jack and Alexander discuss their father as Alex says that the only way to get close to him was to study - so he could be taken on as his assistant. In Armenia, he met Jack's mother, descended from Sinbad, while searching for the Eighth Sea. Jack mentions that Sarita told him something similar. When he was born, Jack was spoiled and Alex pushed aside. Eventually, Jack was pressurised into joining the navy - where he eventually mutinied against a tyrannical captain. He says that this is when he discovered his true self but Alex tells him that his father was aghast and he made Alex keep track of Jack. He also tells him that Jack's mother is not dead, but has moved back to the east.

Meanwhile, the lads are winning money by betting that Billy the Bull can defeat anyone who comes their way. A prostitute approaches Jim, only to be told by Tommy that she is his mother...

RC: Just when you think this strip can’t get any better, it does. I was delighted to see this series return, as the previous adventures have been firm favourites of mine. So this week we find out a little about Jack’s past, no doubt setting us up for some future meeting with his mother. And talking about meeting mothers, the last page is spectacular!

Steve Yeowell is one of my favourite ever artists, and he just keeps getting better and better. Long my this strip continue.

MC: It only struck me this week how rich a tapestry has been pencilled in for this series, with many little details and hints dropped at a potential wider arc than the self contained swash buckling the strip can possibly be seen as. Somewhat exposition heavy, without being clunky, this week fills in many of the gaps around Captain Jack Dancer’s pre ‘Banner of King Death’ career. This fills me with hope that Edginton has this strip planned way into the future, as I’d like to see it become a regular annual feature for many a year to come.

On a side note, the strip also feels like a more manageable, bite-size way of reading Alan Moore’s Traveller’s Almanac from LoEG vol2, which is a daunting proposition to even the most hardy of readers.

Chapter 13

Leatherjack vs Hartley Hare...

Synopsis: Leatherjack (previously known as Aaron) remembers his childhood and returning home to find that the crooks who had invaded the school have teleported back to his home ahead of him. One of them removes his mask to revel himself as Whipcord. In the present day, Whipcord doesn't remember any of this as Leatherjack breaks free explaining that the book is bringing back his memories. The Werehare attacks him, but he shrugs it off and continues after whipcord. The memories continue as we learn that Aaron's father was forced to shoot his mother and turn the gun on himself to save their son's life. he then took Aaron to Qwish who turned him into Leatherjack. He's about to kill Whipcord when a voice speaks "No".

RC: Here’s a thing. I had a stack of eight progs sitting that I hadn’t read yet, and then Gavin asked me to review this week’s one, so I used it as an opportunity to catch up on the backlog.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this has worked in the favour of this strip. Reading it almost all in one go has helped no end. There are still times when I haven’t a clue what’s going on, but they’re few and far between. If you’re having a hard time with this strip, then I would recommend you wait until it’s done and then reread it all in one go.

But as for this week’s episode, it’s a total blinder. The flashback is genuinely harrowing. I haven’t been sure about Marshall’s art in places during the previous episodes, but have no complaints with this. And of course, it would be ridiculous to praise the art and not mentions Blythe’s colouring. The warmer sepia flashbacks, the cold blue/grey present and how he brings them both together on the final page.

Brilliant.

MC: Part 14! My goodness, has it been that long? While having major reservations about this strip after the first few issues, it’s progressed along a thread that allows us to trace everything back logically to the first chapter, but seems a million miles away on first glance. While chapters 13 & 14 have been somewhat similar, it’s a credit to John Smith that he decided we did not require great amounts of background information immediately, and gave the narrative room to breath for 10 or so weeks before explaining things. It’s also a credit to Matt Smith for clearing the space in the schedule to fit an 18 part story in an era when this is the exception rather than the rule.

It’s easy to herald the Winter special as a bold experiment, but this is equally bold, if less immediately grand.

And Death shall have no dumb minions... (Part 4)

Sin patches himself up...

Synopsis: Ron opens fire at Sinister and Dexter, wounding Sinister. Kal tries to get him to stop and has to kill him when he has no luck. Sinister, instead of being grateful that he's been saved, is appalled that Kal killed his own partner. Dex tells him that when they are on a job - nothing is allowed to become personal. Later on, Sinister patches himself up at Rocky's. Rocky tells him that Kal did the right thing, even if Sin and Dex can't see this. They talk and seem to decide that things are about to change. Dex goes to talk to Tracy, while Sin goes to retrieve Billi - they seem to be about to quit as gunsharks.

Meanwhile, Kal leaves a bar with a data CD...

RC: There are those among you who believe these guys should be put out to pasture. Perhaps you’re hoping, with the final dialogue between our two heroes, that you will at last have your wish granted. Me, I think there’s life in the old sharks yet, and the fact that Abnett has managed to find another tale to tell about them proves it.

The last series of The VCs was strengthened by Abnett concentrating on the characters rather than a flash bang plot, and the focus here on not only Sin/Dex, but the responsibility they must take for what they have created in both Kal and Billi gives the tale a depth missing from many other of the gunshark’s adventures.
Then again, if you don’t like the strip in the first place, anything I say here will not make any difference.

Davis’s art is as brilliant as ever, with the final panel on page 3 being almost with the price of the prog alone. That’s a magnificent pot belly Finny’s got going!

MC: A few years back, when I was heavily into Professional Wrestling, you could always tell who would win a retirement match based on who was scheduled to appear in action the next night. Likewise, you can always tell when a long running character in 2000AD is to be retired as Tharg makes it known in the Nerve Centre well in advance, with the recent climax of Durham Red being a prime example.

With all this in mind, Ramone & Finnigan’s comments about leaving the business and retiring seem somewhat empty, as if this truly was the end of Sinister & Dexter, I think we’d know in advance. I’m not one of those SD bashers who will look at this retirement comment and think ‘it’s cruel to tease’, but I just think it’s a bit ‘gunshark who cried wolf’ syndrome. While this is neither the best or worst strip to appear in 2000AD this year, it reads nicely, features some lovely (as always) art, and is streets ahead of the muck being produced over the waters by Marvel or DC, so I find it disheartening when people have a go at this strip. If it’s not to your taste, reread Dredd, or go buy Super Ultimate Awesome House of Infinite Identity X, published over 24 months at £3.75 an issue, with 6 covers available that fit together to form a map of New York as an ongoing tribute to 9/11.

So there.

Burned Out - part 2

Covering fire...

Synopsis: The Souther soldiers reach the downed craft - four of them having died en route. As they near the crash site, Rogue contacts them to tell them he's got their back and warns them to get into cover because enemy forces are arriving. He shoots down a Nort armoured transport but another manages to land, deploying mech soldiers. Then, Rafe swoops down and takes out the remaining transports but has to land as she's running out of fuel. Rogue joins the Southers and help scans the downed Condor Six. They pick up an energy source and it leads them to an artificial intelligence computer - this is what they need to protect.

Outside, the mechs have arrived...

RC: I’m sure it’s been said before, but this wouldn’t even be here if there wasn’t a game coming out soon. That’s not to say the writer and artist are not pulling their weight; it would be insulting to both creators to suggest such a thing. Rennie is building a solid intriguing tale, and Colbey has a nice line in the cool pose: like the splash panel on the second page. But I do think that the tremendous talents of both these men (sorry, droids) could be employed elsewhere.

I’m thinking that Rennie should be forced to write more Cab. Inc. and Colbey sent back to the Low Life, and that the Rogue strip could have been used to break in a new writer and artist or two.

Oh, and that’s two weeks in a row this strip has ending with the same cliff-hanger panel. Hopefully Rogue will off then next week, and we’ll get another final panel.

MC: Another strip that gets a lot of slack, but which provides a nice, slight, drop of nostalgia, and is a fun, high-octane way to end the prog, and keeps Gordon Rennie with enough pennies in his pocket to place another Amazon order for books about the occult to inspire the next Cabs series.

I know that’s a somewhat philosophical approach to this trip, but there’s not much to say, really. It's Rogue Trooper, isn’t it? You know what you’re getting, and you take it or leave it. It’s part of 2000AD’s history that struggles to be updated/altered without losing the crux of the story to the void. Short of somebody having devine inspiration and writing Rogue Trooper: Year One, or GI Maus: A Nu Earth survivor’s tale, this will remain what it is, for better or worse.