2000AD Prog 1478 - 8 March 2006
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Kennedy) ABC Warriors (Mills / Flint) The Ten-Seconders (Williams / Harrison) Bec n Kawl (Spurrier/ Roberts) Rogue Trooper (Edginton / Pugh) Cover: Mark Harrison

Synopsis by Gavin Hanly
1st opinion by Stephen Watson
2nd opinion by Paul White

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Cover Review

SW: I was disappointed with this cover from ‘10 seconders’ artist Mark Harrison.
He is clearly an artist of great talent and this is ably demonstrated by his work within this prog, but the cover is lacking the same level of excitement and composition.

Basically what we have is a static image of a God over the New York skyline. His arms fall outwith the frame making it look cropped, and the skyline is near invisible unless the prog is at your nose. It could have been a cracker, but instead it looks like a detail from a panel, and a pretty dull panel at that.

PW: I'm not too sure on this I'm afraid. I can see that it's a composite of Hero and the "Scientist", but I'm not sure why. The usual Harrison art also looks like it was drawn at a smaller size and blown up. There's been plenty of worse covers, but plenty better too.

Direct Action - Part 2

Dredd puts on a show...

Synopsis: The captured Skysurfer daydreams about flying rings around the judges, trying to catch up to a mysterious surfer. The Judges have discovered that she is Marla Sloop, escaped from the city orphanage and her father certainly wasn't Chopper. Dredd drags her to her feet to answer some questions - telling her that her gang is in trouble. She says they're requisitioning food as the mega corps aren't doing enough to support the victims of the Total War bombings. She says they favour non violent methods - something which Dredd says only eventually leads to using stronger force.

He ignores her pleas and throws her in the perp wagon to take her and another perp on the way to the cubes.

Dredd doesn't think she'll talk but is using her as bait and sure enough - 3 bat gliders come sailing in towards the wagon...

SW: There was a great amount of speculation regarding the direction of this tale
after last episode’s cliff-hanger, and I have to say the outcome was surprising, yet disappointing. We learn that the renegade sky surfer has no relationship with the legendary Chopper and is only a wannabe mimic. This certainly wrong footed me but I feel it was cheaply done. The story possibilities of a Chopper sibling/lovechild would seem endless whereas we get a story about a fantasist which should barely register on Dredd’s radar.

All that said there is still a lot to admire. The dialogue is snappy and clearly a definite attempt to introduce some Mega City patois which has long been absent. I do always enjoy Cam Kennedy’s work although I did feel the proportions in some panels were a bit off - Merci/Marla looks about three foot tall in some panels.

The story is bubbling along well and there tales where Dredd is set up to be the bad guy are always interesting. Script Droid Rennie should be applauded for daring to be different, but I just feel the element of surprise was cheaply gained.

PW: Cam Kennedy on Dredd can never fail as far as I'm concerned, and with the choice of subject matter he was always going to be the first choice for this story.

Gordon Rennie gives us a nice twist on page two and I have to admit it had the feel of a two-parter to it, so when I saw that it's to be continued my interest was piqued as to where it was going. The dialogue between Dredd and "Shakespere" shows that Rennie "gets" Dredd more and more with each script. Solid stuff, though a bit light on plot.

The Shadow Warriors - Book 3 - Part 3

Dog Tag gets sentimental...

Synopsis: The Shadow Warriors bury Joe Pineapples and Dog Tag takes his trigger finger as a souvenir.

Elsewhere, the news of his death has reached the President, whose wife Juanita had an affair with Pineapples. The President had given her medication to make her forget about him.

Meanwhile, the ABC Warriors and their human allies are hiding, thinking that someone might have tipped the Shadows with Joe's location. Hammerstein is worried about Mek Quake, and Deathlok says he'll definitely have to go to "the place" when it's all over.

Outside, the Shadow Warriors are torturing a Martian and Hammerstein is unable to stand and watch. He heads out to help against the wishes of his team mates. He attacks, with covering fire from the ABC Warriors, but it's not enough and Hammerstein goes down...

SW: Anyone looking for a bit of depth from this strip is in for a disappointment. The ABC warriors long awaited battle with the Shadow Warriors is now well underway, with a variety of exotic ordinance being expended on both sides. Some of the twists, such as the demise of Joe Pineapples, have been well done but some may see the exit of such long established characters as being cheap thrills. I am enjoying the strip, but in a throwaway kind of way. It’s never been too complex but at the moment
it’s simply two gangs going toe to toe.

Henry Flint’s art is great and there are plenty of choice moments, but for now it’s certainly style over substance.

Hammerstein’s seeming demise at the end of this episode was to me a clue that things are not what they seem - no way will the whole Meknificent Seven go out in such an inglorious manner. Hopefully future episodes will expand the story and give us some real plot development. If not it will signal the end of the ABC Warriors with a whimper rather than their well deserved bang.

PW: The first thing to mention here is the usual sublime Henry Flint artwork. An oft-repeated question "why hasn't Flint been picked up by American publishers?" is bandied about here and there, but we have to be very grateful that we get the pleasure of his visuals in the prog a good many weeks of the year (and i'm sure someone will back me up in stating that percentage-wise, he's the most-featured artist 2thou has).

However, that's all we've got to enjoy in yet another tedius and clunkily-written episode from the pen of Pat Mills. The dialogue is simply awful - so much in fact that I find it completely unreadable. In the writer's defence (should he ever require it), the long gaps between "books" means that any momentum has been crucially lost. I don't care who the bad guys are, and I've lost the plot re Mongrol's personality changes. Is Joe dead? Probably not. Is Hammerstein dead? Don't know/care.

I read somewhere that Pat Mills intends to write something filling in the gaps in the ABC Warriors history, and this may be interesting, but right now I don't care.

The American Dream - Part 11

Jennifer gets a backstory...

Synopsis: Malloy crawls for his dropped book and then turns and fires at Hero - who laughs at his attempt and at their name - the Ten Seconders - named after how long they expect to live if they meet a God. "I only counted to Eight".

Elsewhere, Jennifer is being shown a laboratory by the Scientist. It appears to be where the Gods were created. The lab is littered with failed experiments - but after the Scientist perfected the project, he wandered the planet. He eventually wished to return, and Jennifer and his people helped him do that. He promises to help Jennifer so that no one can hurt her again...

Meanwhile Malloy has been caught by Hero, who is about to kill him - until Harris runs into him with a fire engine, ripping off one of his arms. With Hero pinned, they hear a scream - and realise it's Jennifer.

SW: I’ve really enjoyed this new strip and can’t believe that this is the penultimate episode. The reason behind the name was revealed in excellent style, and it was good to see the villains were worthy of the name.

Our hapless heroes are constantly on the back foot and frankly that’s where they should be when fighting Gods. The set-up is similar to the first book of Zenith and nearly as enjoyable. There were some great developments in this episode and clearly this is a strip which will run and run. Superheroes have rarely sat well in 2000ad but when juxtaposed against we mere morals, I feel they fit in fine.

Mark Harrison’s art is excellent although some of his bodily dimensions seem a bit off. I do like his colour palette and there are no wasted panels, In script terms there has been more development than outright action, but given this is a new story this can be forgiven. Always interesting, and good to look at and for me the most promising newcomer since ‘Leviathan’.

PW: This is something I've enjoyed a lot as it's progressed over the last 11 issues, and the post-apocolyptic concept on display here, complete with "gods" is different enough to make it stand out most weeks. The episodic nature of the prog means that plots are inevitably progressed quickly and, with only one week left, I feel that's the case here. I'd have loved to have seen the "gods" and the nature of their powers expanded upon, and i feel the world in which the characters inhabit could do with more exploration as it's the most interesting thing that's been in the prog for a while.

As it is, the story is coming towards its conclusion and it'll be sorely missed - although as it's subtitled with "the American Dream", I'm hoping that we could see it again some day. After reading Mark Harrison's interview in the month's Meg, I've taken more of a liking to his art and appreciate even more the distinction between what's on display now, and the art employed on Durham Red and Glimmer Rats. I hope he keeps the style and isn't away for too long this time.

Freakshow - Part 2

The only right thing to happen to clowns...

Synopsis: The clown starts to put on his show, but is getting no laughs. Meanwhile, Bec & Kawl arrive at a flat full of girls who worship Bec, who stop Kawl at the door. On his way home he runs into the girl he met earlier and after she sees two crows in the background, she agrees to go to his place. Bec looks up details on the things from the circus and seems to think that they are vampires. She also picks up an amulet that is supposed to glow in the presence of the undead.

Back at Kawl's flat, the girl scares away the birds with a water pistol, and seems perplexed that Kawl doesn't appear to have "a single malicious braincell" before leading him to his room.

Back at the carnival, the clown finally manages to get the crowds to laugh with slapstick, and this seems to such the lifeforce out of them and into him. Bec, nearby, sees her amulet glow in while close to the two birds from earlier - which immediately turn into huge vampiric clowns...

SW: Although it’s only part two, I’m already an episode behind in what’s going on. I can’t recall one humour strip that I’ve truly enjoyed in 2000AD and this does not redress the balance. It’s clever and referential without being insightful or funny. The layouts are lazy with three pages of eight panels all uniformly presented, and I usually take the attitude of ‘if they can’t be bothered why should I?’

I fully accept that my opinion may be jaundiced by the fact that I’ve yet to read a B&C adventure to the end, but that’s not for want of trying.

The cartoony art is fine and suit’s the style of the writing, but it’s just not my cup of tea. Sorry.

PW: I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that the more Bec & Kawl appear in the prog, the more i like them. Sure, it's a bit clichéd and some of the puns are truly awful ("exSex to SPP you"!!!), but then it has a role in the prog that needs filling every now and again, and it does it better than SinDex (last "death" saga notwithstanding).

Steve Roberts' art is as lovely and cartoony as ever (and I don't know if he'll take that as a compliment, but it's meant that way) and although I get the impression sometimes that Si Spurrier knocks out these scripts inbetween the gaps of his other "real" work, then fair play to him. Just don't ever attempt anything longer than 4 episodes, and we'll all be fine.

New Model Army - Part 2

Rogue uses his head...

Synopsis: Rogue picks a fight with some more Norts locked up in the Souther prison - as he is being toughened up by one of the other Nort prisoners. The Souther Guards enter, a dissection patrol, according to the other Nort. They order some of the Norts to follow them, and kill anyone who argues. The Souther guard suddenly receives new orders and orders Rogue to follow him.

He's taken to a lab, where he's told he is in a covert experimentation camp where they are trying something similar to the GI program. The scientist calls them War Golems, and says that they are essentially grunts - and can't tell friend from foe. However, the scientist says he wants to duplicate Rogues' biochip buddies and place them in the golems, even though there will be character degradation along the way. He offers Rogue the chance to lead an arm of 1000s of these war golems...

SW: I may be mistaken but didn’t Rogue have an adventure with the same name
during the lamentable ’Hit’ storyline?

I think I remember this due to the similarities between the two stories. Rogue is taken captive and offered a way out. He will be given resources and information in a bit to end the war by an individual who’s motivations are unclear. I know it’s a reboot in advance of the game release but why recycle the crummiest storyline ever?

The art is pretty poor and looks like it is the rough pencils rather than the finished work. Rogue and his buddies have lost all the limited personalities that they once had and are now acting like, well, video game characters.

Rogue for me has always been a great premise but that faded with the death of the traitor General and what was that? 15 years ago? I know Rebellion have put a lot into the game, but if it plays like this strip reads it may well be ‘Game Over’ pretty soon.

PW: So, another writer gets the poisoned chalice to flog the dead horse that is Rogue. Ian Edginton is a fine writer and has made himself a fan favourite with his collaberations with D'israeli, so i've no qualms about him having a go at pepping up the last of the gentic infantrymen... well, at least until the game is out anyway.

There were some nice touches this week - the explanation of Rogue's blue skin was interesting, as was the concept of using Rogue's bio-chips as a template to mass produce 'cognitive capability'. However, part of me feels it's simply just another 'special' mission that may well peter out into nothing. I'll watch and await with interest.

Steve Pugh's art is lovely, especially the grey tones. However, if I have a criticism (which of course, i do) i'd say some of the characters have been Clint-Langleyed into the pages but, other than that, above OK all round.