Cover: Cliff Robinson	2000AD Prog 1465 - 16 November 2005
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / Ranson) The Red Seas (Edginton / Yeowell) Leatherjack (Smith / Marshall) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Davis) Leviathan (Edginton / D'israeli) Synopsis by Gavin Hanly 1st opinion by Gavin Hanly 2nd opinion by WR Logan Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

GH: It seems that, on past form, whenever a stock pose of Dredd is called for, Cliff Robinson is on Tharg's speed-dial. As a result, some of his previous covers have disappointed mainly due to a lack of originality. But recently, there's been more of a shift to getting Robinson to illustrate covers that relate to the story inside - a common cover request from many a reader - and the results are far more satisfying.

This cover in particular duplicates such a scene, with Robinson adding his own slant. It's a fantastic cover - a clear shot of Dredd fighting off a swarm of nasties. The light colour palette and prominent logo help to frame the image too. Now all we need is to get the words "featuring Judge Dredd" back on the cover permanently and we'll be making real progress...

WRL: Covers of late have been quite dark in both their colouring and subject matter so its makes a nice change that although the subject matter is no picnic the colouring is bright and distinct. Although any covering of the 2000AD logo is a crime to some, [I’m not one of them] and even the slight cropping of the bottom right hand side of the logo doesn’t detract from the clearest logo of the last couple of months.

This cover ticks many boxes for me, an image with a direct relation to a story that appears inside the comic, a good strong image, text that doesn’t get in the way and a distinct logo that stands out from the magazine rack.

Everything in the Garden

Dredd gets back to nature...

Synopsis: Percival Croaker is justifiably proud of his amazing virtual garden, and is distraught when he finds bugs appearing in his pride and joy. He calls in the judges and Dredd takes the case. Croaker tells Dredd that the other contestants in the Virtual Garden of the Year Show must be jealous of his winning streak, and that one of them must have done this to him. Dredd takes a look and sees a swarm of locusts destroy the garden - Percival grabs the VR set off him and has a heart attack upon seeing the destruction.

After he's taken to the hospital, Dredd investigates and they discover a letter sent to him which had the original virus attached to it. Dredd has Croaker's voice duplicated and sends a ghostly message into the virtual gardens of all the competitors, saying that they killed him. Pipi Greengage takes up the bait and confesses. In the hospital, Croaker starts putting in measures to prevent the garden ever being attached again - starting with a virtual version of Banzai Battalion..,

GH: After the emotional roller-coaster of Mandroid, this is the perfect Judge Dredd story to give us something of a breather. Wagner often seems most at home in Mega City One when dealing with the more mundane aspects of its citizens. He also occasionally seems to revel in Dredd's stubborn need to investigate even the minor crimes if he feels an injustice is being done. Indeed, with Mandroid before it and this tale, Dredd is being depicted in an overwhelmingly positive light at the moment and I can't help but think that Wagner's going to pull the rug from beneath us fairly soon and have him acting like a crotchety old bastard again. In the meantime, this is a one-off in the best sense - with Wagner crafting a complete tale in the space of six pages - something that few others seem capable of achieving.

Of course, another reason for the success of this one-shot is the astonishing work of Arthur Ranson. Ranson has been going from strength to strength in the last couple of years with his Anderson run on the Megazine and this scales similar heights. Previously, for me, he's been an artist who's photographic reference could be quite apparent on the page, but lately Ranson seems to have developed an impressive style which seems to camouflage these references. Witness Croaker's reaction to the infestation of his garden and we can witness a great comical approach to this strip. There's also a huge amount of attention to detail in the piece, from the astounding opening page and the detail in the garden to a decent rendition of the Battalion at the end.

If only all "fill-ins" could be like this..

WRL: Although we are used to seeing Arthur’s work in the Megazine it’s been nearly 4 years since his artwork has graced the pages of 2000AD. I love Arthur’s work so it was great to see his work appearing outside of the Megazine but no matter how great a fan I am of his work I don’t particularly like his depiction of Dredd. I’ve never really been able to work out why but I love his views of the big Meg and his work on Anderson (Dave Taylor has some big boots to fill when his Anderson appears in the Meg) but for all of this I just don’t enjoy his take on Old Stoney Face. The backgrounds are fine, the flowers, the supporting cast and even other Judges but Dredd, no.

If the art on this week's Dredd nearly gets my Thrill Circuits reaching overload levels then the story does push my straining circuits over the edge. In recent times we’ve heard how Wagner is slowing down, that retirement from Dredd may be around the corner but every time we here this he goes and turns in some of his finest work ever. We have a replacement waiting in the wings, the Rennie droid is in my opinion the only other writer working for the Mighty One that comes close to having the voice of Dredd. Rennie has gone from just doing the odd one part story to multi part stories and even has the big man's permission to play with characters that are generally off limits to other writers.

Is it the thought that there is someone who can produce this level of work if Wagner wants to take it easier or the thought of raising mutant chickens in the sight of the Welsh border that makes him continue to write stories of the calibre we’ve seen recently, or is it just the fact that there is more life left in the old droid than even he himself realises? Personally, I don’t care as long as he continues to write stories that entertain and thrill me but it is good to know that if he does choose to take it easier that after years of other people trying we finally have a droid worthy of filling those tight boots.

Underworld - Part 6

Captain Jack puts on a brave face..

Synopsis: As Alex and Jack continue to catch up, Alex lets it slip that their father's classics teacher was a Dr Orlando Doyle (possibly the same as the villain from the first series?). Before Jack can ask more about him, Erebus comes flying through the door. Alex and Jack go down to the library to see what the commotion is and confront the Lizard creatures - who see Jack as their quarry.

A fight ensues during which one of the vials that the creatures carry around their necks falls to the ground. Jack steps on it and the creature dissolves. The other creature threatens Isaac Newton, but he has worked out their weakness and throws its vial to Jack who destroys it - and therefore the creature as well. After, Isaac fears that all this means that the Dancers' father might have already been killed.

GH: As has been mentioned in previous reviews, the saga of The Red Seas has really started to make some significant leaps forward with this latest sage. There's been a growing realisation that a number of plot points that have been dropped by Edginton over the last few years are really starting to bloom. For instance, the revelation that Orlando Doyle, the villain from the first series, might have much more relevance to Dancer than we initially thought, shows that there seems to be much more to this series than first met the eye.

It has, therefore, become even more entertaining and captivating. Even though we have had, admittedly, almost 6 issues of exposition up until now - it all seems worthwhile given that everything seems to have a reason. It also strikes me that the current adventure of Dancer and his crew cannot possibly be wrapped up before Christmas. If so, the promise of a further adventure with the team soon (surely one to coincide with the release of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie in the Summer?) would be great news indeed.

Yeowell's artwork is as accomplished as ever, bringing a level of clarity to the strip that many other artists could to well to learn from. Despite this, I'm not quite sure what to make of some of his sketchier moments - there's a much lighter touch to this work than I remember from some of his previous efforts - but I couldn't conceive of anyone else taking over the art on this tale.

The whole project is one of 2000AD's high points over the last couple of years, and here's hoping the soon-to-arrive trade does deserved good business.

WRL: If you described the basic story of Red Seas to me I wouldn’t see it as a story to appear in The Galaxy's Greatest Comic. I’ve enjoyed the previous adventures of Jack Dancer and his crew and will probably enjoy this one when I read it but it just doesn’t hold my interest enough to read it week by week.

Looking at this week’s episode I see that the art is of the standard that we expect from a droid of the capabilities of Steve Yeowell but as to the story it’s passed me by. In the past it’s been stories like Sin/Dex that I’ve completely ignored and the works of John Smith that I wait to read in one sitting, so to that list I now add Red Seas, Its not that I don’t enjoy it but I don’t enjoy reading it week by week. Also by now you may have realised from the list above that recent Progs haven’t taken me long to read before I put them in to a pile awaiting certain stories to come to an end.

Chapter 16

Leatherjack gets all uppity...

Synopsis: Whipcord and Hartley hold back, drinking tea, while Leatherjack investigates the Temple of Borobudur. Whipcord indicates to Hartley that he may not be quite the ally that Leatherjack seems to believe he is - "let's see if he can unlock the puzzlebox". Meanwhile, Leatherjack, walking through the temple, is absorbing the dead language and culture, while his memories still flood back. At the same time, the Spinsters prepare to nuke him from orbit.

Elsewhere, the Arkhive receives a signal from the "Urbook" and heads on its way - while Leatherjack opens something at the heart of the Temple...

GH: We do appear to be entering the "ever so slightly incomprehensible" stage of this tale as some of the more out-there aspects of Leatherjack come to the fore. I won't pretend to understand a great deal of what Smith is going on about here, especially in the Temple section, but the long time and care that it has taken us to get here makes this far more penetrable than similar tales he's told in the past.

Indeed, the length of this tale has been one of the reasons for me that it's been so successful. You can go back and see the reactions of many readers on the earlier parts of the tale, but as it has slowly unfolded, there has been a growing appreciation of the story. Because Smith has spread out some of the ethereal mumbo jumbo that can infect his scripts, this has been much more acceptable and easier to take in. It's also a clear indication of the benefit that a story can get from an extended stay and the chance to develop some real characterisation.

Paul Marshall's artwork hasn't flagged either during this extended run and has continued to make Smith's script even easier to follow. Both artist and writer have joined together to create something really special here and this is well on its way to becoming my favourite story this year.

And I was very happy indeed to learn that Whipcord isn't quite the happy camper yet...

WRL: Has this really been going for 16 weeks, no wonder the pile of Prog’s by my bed has steadily been getting bigger. From having a look at this weeks pages I can see that this is some of the best work that Paul Marshall has ever produced for the house of Tharg.

I’ve heard people saying how much they are enjoying Leatherjack but I’ve never been able to read John Smith in small weekly doses so gave up when he wrote Firekind over 10 years ago. So a pretty poor review so far but all I can say Is that no matter what dimension John Smith’s brain may be phasing through at any particular time I’ve enjoyed most of his work for Tharg so look forward to sitting down with Leatherjack.

And Death shall have no dumb minions... (Part 7)

Billi gets mad...

Synopsis: Sinister heads to Appellido's den to try and retrieve Billi before she learns of his real origins. His phone has gone dead, so Dexter rushes off to help him out. Weld calls the Police who try to stop him. Dex tells them to get out of their car.

Back at Appellido's, Billi pulls a gun on him, telling him that she holds him responsible for dragging her sister into the underworld. Sinister arrives and tells her to stop...

Meanwhile, Dex is forcing the policemen out of the car when Weld arrives, shocked at what he is doing. As Dex is distracted, one of the policemen pulls a gun, but Dex guns him down and takes the car. Weld calls in the killing...

GH: The fact that the overall Sinister-Dexter plot is finally getting somewhere is a considerable thing in this tale's favour. As is the art of Simon Davis who makes any episode of Sinister Dexter well worth reading (although, working against him, the shooting of the policeman did look a little pantomimey). So with these two things in its favour, should this finally silence the Sinister Dexter naysayers? Well, perhaps not...

For one, there's Billi's reaction to the revelation that Appellido is the clone of Tanenbaum. Now, I've read every episode of Sinister Dexter over the years, but they have a nasty habit of not actually sticking in my head. So we are left with the catch 22 of continually demanding more characterisation and continuity from the series but, when we finally get it, we can't work out what the hell's going on. Why is Billi so peeved? Wasn't her sister killed after Tanenbaum was offed by the boys? What exactly was so bad about Tanenbaum, and if the cops could arrest Appellido for his crimes, why didn't they do the same to Tanenbaum when he was alive. Maybe this was answered many moons ago, but there's a mist of confusion that surrounds Sinister Dexter whenever the plot develops significantly.

I feel I should really care about what's about going to go down, but instead I feel strangely ambivalent. To a certain extent, it seems that Sin and Dex are going down a path of no return, both with the bad and good guys. Could this lead to a new age for Sinister and Dexter? Will it see a drastic improvement in the tale? Maybe, but will it be enough?

It's been said in the past that Sinister Dexter still keeps coming back because it's popular with the readers. Is it really that popular? If the gunsharks disappeared never to return again, can we imagine an Internet poll clamouring for their return? Unlike a series like say, Slaine or Rogue Trooper (which really deserves another major reboot - and not at the hands of Rennie, but that's a tale for another time), Sinister Dexter simply doesn't seem to be striking a particular chord with 2000AD readers. So could 2000AD actually gain something by putting the boys out to pasture and investing those pages on a new tale?

Sure, it's entertaining for the time you read it - in a McDonalds of comics kind of way, but is this really good enough? Is this really what 2000AD needs? At what point should we say "enough is enough" and retire these gunsharks for good?

WRL: I gave up with Sinister Dexter many moons ago and I can pretty much say that I’ve never enjoyed the tales of Downlode's gunsharks. From time to time I’ve tried. I even picked up the latest graphic novels hoping that, if I read certain stories in one sitting, I'd finally see the light. But it hasn’t worked. I know they are popular - if they weren’t, then they wouldn’t keep appearing with the annoying frequency that they have over the years - in fact it’ll be 10 years in December that we first came across Ramone & Finnigan. Although I must admit it feels a lot longer.

Sin/Dex is one of the stories that I cite as one of the strengths of 2000AD. Strange, you may think, considering how much I dislike it but it’s for exactly those reasons that show why 2000AD is The Galaxy's Greatest Comic. At the moment I’m only reading two out of the five stories that appeared this week. Two of them I’ll read at a later date, one I expect to really enjoy and the other [Red Seas] I’ll enjoy but won’t be fussed if it never appears again. Then we have the one that I’ll skim over purely to look at Simon Davis’ art but won’t really read.

The Galaxy's Greatest Comic is like a big bag of pic ‘n’ mix that someone else has bought for you - plenty of choice and amongst the selection will always be something that gets the taste buds tingling, something that is OK but amongst it all there’s bound to be a coffee or liquorice flavoured sweet that you’ll spit out. It’s the diversity that brings so many different people to 2000AD and forums like this and if we all liked the same thing it’d be a boring place to frequent.

McLean's Last Case

Getting the last drop...

Synopsis: The Leviathan cabin boy arrives at Lament's quarters with his latest stock of illegal booze. It's called Captain McClean's old Rot Gut and the cabin boy proceeds to tell him the tale behind it.

Captain McClean was an officer in the Great war and a hunter after it - but he didn't seem to fit in after the war ended. Once on the Leviathan, he was appalled at the rationing of booze and Ashbless challenged him to visit hold 13 - loaded with first class supplies - but located in a dangerous part of the ship. McClean took up the task and fought his way through the ship - and finally found the hold. As he reached it, the Stokers attacked and McClean blew up crates of the hidden booze to hold them back. He sampled the merchandise before he burned to death.

Lament asks who brought the tale back if everyone died and says it must be a load of nonsense. The cabin boy admits that the truth might just be the other story that the Rot Gut was made by "a bloke from Aberdeen in his bathtub"

But somewhere deep in the bowels of the Leviathan, McClean - horribly burned and disfigured - is brewing up another batch of old Rotgut, in as many bathtubs as he can find...

GH: Every year we get another taster of Leviathan that reminds up just what a wonderful story that was.

This is an almost perfect one-off to round up this issue. Indeed, it is this tale which emphasises just how much better a one-off like this is compared to a Future Shock or Terror Tale. There's a very minor twist at the end, but it's the telling that is more important and the clever way that both of the stories of the booze's creation are actually true.

In fact it's tales like this that could lead the way to a better replacement for Future Shocks or Terror Tales. Why not let newcomers take a stab at a Downlode Tale or something set in Slaine's world without actually crossing over into the main stories. Or even a few one-off's featuring other Strontium Dogs? We don't have to have series of these (like the misguided Whatever Happened To's in the Megazine) but the occasional strip playing around in the outskirts of the worlds of some of 2000AD's better known characters could get around the malaise that Terror Tales or Future Shocks seems to bring in their wake.

In the meantime, this is an excellent and perfectly paced one off, with suitably brilliant work by D'israeli to complement the entertaining script. Let's have a few more of these peppered throughout next year?

WRL: After saying how much I didn’t really care for Red Seas it’s a relief to feel completely differently about the Edginton droid's other tale in this week's Prog. I really enjoyed this one-parter at the end of the Prog which was a great read before putting it in the pile with the others by my bed.

Leviathan was a surprise hit for me and I’m glad this ‘Tales Of The’ didn’t disappoint but as much as I enjoyed Ian’s story it was the artwork of D’Israeli that again was just inspired. It just looks so simple but in many panels there are just depths that aren’t always apparent when you first scan across the page reading the story. Page 2 panel 2 is a good example, you have Captain McClean leading his men across no mans land, but then on close inspection you see his faithful dog and then melding in with the background is the body of a fallen comrade.