2000AD Prog 1487 - 10 May 2006
	Judge Dredd (Rennie / Richardson) Lobster Random (Spurrier / Critchlow) Nikolai Dante (Morrison / Burns) The V.C.s (Abnett / Williams) Low Life (Williams / Coleby) Cover: John Burns

Synopsis by Gavin Hanly
1st opinion by Paul Ingram
2nd opinion by John Amans

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Cover Review

PI: A lovely cover by John Burns that really does leap out at you. The position of Dante is particularly impressive, with him standing out from the other characters in a typical dynamic pose. it is interesting that the only character who overlaps him is his mother, perhaps telling of the story inside? We'll see.

Overall, I love the effect of this cover and it defiantly stands out as one of the best this year.

JA: An ornate John Burns’ cover that conveys the ensemble nature of Dante with a mix of colour and exquisite fine brownish pen. This sets up the return of Dante nicely. As covers go it’s nice and functional and shows off Burns’ skill to great effect.

House of Pain - Part 3

Guthrie and Dredd get ready to break some heads

Synopsis: Guthrie shows Dredd one of his old perps as he's taken on the tour of the iso cubes, while looking for Rensick Nyman, who is linked with Ballan Pryce. Dredd thinks that if the House of Pain exists, they'll be after Pryce next. They walk into the middle of a riot and get ready to stamp it out.

At the House of Pain, they have discovered the whereabouts of Ballan Pryce and go to collect him.

Meanwhile, the riot has been stopped, but Nyman has been knocked unconscious as a result.

Meanwhile again, Faustus is visiting a premiere and his right hand man despairs at his disinterest in his work affairs.

Dredd gets the address for Pryce and witnesses the House of Pain picking him up. He shoots one, but they have suicide boxes implanted and they all explode, bar one. Dredd gets his knife out and prepares to do some surgery...

PI: I'm not really sure what to make of this story yet. There's quite a few plot strings left dangling - as well as the overall House of Pain there's also Krush's part in all this and exactly what Guthrie is up too. He seems to be quite intense with the perps,
which is made even more unnerving by Dredd constantly turning a blind eye. This is a really fun,action-packed instalment that manages to deal adequately with all the plot strands in a few pages.

The art is quite good, although the lack of names on badges is quite irksome after awhile, although you can't fault that face in the knife when Dredd states that he's going to cut him open.

JA: Previous reviews have indicated that we have seen House of Pain before in a different range of guises. That maybe true but it is not to say that this isn’t any good.

I’ve constantly commented that Dredd works best when another character is around to add some support and depth and not let old one-dimensional Dredd for being like any other episode. The inclusion of Guthrie does that as well as a multi-layered story to give it some depth and bite. Ok, we all know that Krush runs the House of Pain, but I just doubt that Rennie would make it that easy and predictable. The end of this episode sees Dredd starting to do some DIY Uxbing and the direction of the story change. My only concern is that this doesn’t become a by the numbers Dredd solves the case in two episodes with Guthrie hanging around beating the crap out of anyone that he comes across.

The art isn’t bad, it’s very functional and suits the story. I’m looking forward to the rest of this and hope that it doesn’t take the cheap and easy way out.

Random backstabbing...

Random is taken to his quarters by Ms Teak and immediately restrained, as she doesn't trust him and thinks he's after the reward or the 6 bill in drugs. She they reveals herself as the bounty hunter, a Joy Glyph who focuses hypnotic lust to break down defenses. However, as Random doesn't swing that way, he is unaffected and manages to break loose. They fight, but the joyglyph can't experience pain. They decide to call a truce...

PI: If you could bottle insane genius, then Simon Spurrier would be a very rich man just by selling what he's poured into this part of Lobster Random alone. It's filled to the brim with both robots and dinosaurs! What more could a man want? Well, I'll
tell you, more insane technobabble than you'll ever hear in ten episodes of Star Trek, and far more entertaining technobabble it is too! Unfortunately, that's the double edged sword of Lobster Random. It is very wordy because of it. Sometimes far too wordy for it's own good and you just wish Spurrier would cut back a little. But it works better here than in some of his other strips (Harry Kipling, for example).

Yet, whatever madness is thrown his way, Carl Critchlow brings it to life stunningly. Certainly some of the best art in the prog.

JA: I’ve been struggling a little with this run of Lobster Random. I’ve had to go back and reread it from the beginning as I’ve got sort of lost with all of the plot twists and turns. It’s not that this is done badly, Simon Spurrier’s script remains witty and appealing while the artwork is as excellent as ever. It’s just starting to get a little too clever for its own good. The previous series have benefited from sharp, terse scripts and razor blade dialogue, not quite so this series.

It’s good, but not as good as before.

Dante shows his true colours...

Synopsis:   Katarina Dante asks Lauren if she loves and trusts her son, but she has no time to answer as the delegation arrives.

With the Kraken's death, his shipping routes are up for grabs and Katarina has called a meeting to discuss how they split those up. But Katarina's will has grown weak and others have designs on her power. They all look to be spoiling for a fight until Dante arrives and suggests that a formal duel is the way to sort things out.

Last one standing takes control of the fleet. And he'll be fighting for himself, not for his mother...

PI: As good as it is to have Dante back in the prog, I don't remember anything that went before it. What was the Kraken again? When did Nikolai kill it? It's a shame, because Dante is such a good strip, with so much life left in it, I just wish we could see more of it. Aside from patchy scheduling and my poor memory, this is an excellent opening to what could be a really interesting story. The entire cast of characters shine, with some really great lines of dialogue.

John Burns' art really shines here as well, with the two-page spread looking especially impressive. My only niggle is that Katrina Dante seems to hold that sour, too-much-botox expression throughout the whole strip, which makes her look almost like a cardboard cut out next to the others. The last few panels also promise that Dante is actually going to start going somewhere again, with the character finally seeing some much needed development after far too long.

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the next part of this!

JA: It’s good to see Dante back and hopefully “Usurper” will see some closure of this story arc. Though it’s been enjoyable it has somewhat lacked the intensity and drama of the last big story arc with the Romanov family’s demise. However, with John Burns on art duty I sense the “epic” being put back into the story with a beautiful double page depiction of the Pacific Pirates.

It’s a classic intro episode that is setting up a bar room brawl to end all bar room brawls next week. It’s all a little expected but then again the last couple of panels where Dante indicates that he’s not fighting for his mother perhaps bode of things to come and give this series a bit of a hurry up. I don’t want it to be forced, but I would like to see some of the threads tied up and perhaps a killing of a major character. Dante has always been best when it has been bold, don’t disappoint us Mr Morrison!

Part 2 - Small Talk

The Hoff gets some action...

Synopsis: Keege starts talking to the Apologist Geeks, but it's taking time. Tycho and Hoff stand guard outside, Kali stays on the ship while Ryx and Smithy stay with Keege. Smith says that the Apologists are afraid of the Loyalists as they are too strong - plus they are the ones with the weapons. They also lack the leadership necessary to take the plunge and fight with the humans.

Hoff calls from outside and says they've spotted geek Loyalist ships. A firefight ensues and Keege is knocked to the ground, and about to be vaped...

PI: Another strip I'm all too happy to see back!

Anthony Williams art is much better than I remember it being the last time we saw this strip, especially later on when the action kicks in. The art feels alive with movement, however it is sometimes hard to distinguish gunfire from the rain. Abnett's dialogue is another high point, with plenty of lines that made me chuckle and smile. I certainly think so far, this is more engaging than the last time we saw the VCs,
with the promise of a Geek civil war and a battle against the Polity on the horizon.

JA: After a good opening double episode this week’s episode of The V.C.s has the two main components, Geeks and bloodshed! Though I’m not that enamoured with Anthony Williams’ art, I have many fond memories of Cam Kennedy’s superb work on the first run The V.C.s in the 1980s, it does have a sense of atmosphere. It’s all a bit grey and rock-like and scenes on the colony’s surface really work. Though there is a general lack of detail, this works and the spindly wire-like Geeks are portrayed just right. We have hordes of Geeks and Major Smith coming out with such wonderful lines such as “Lick my Blitz, Geek Freaks!” It also ends on a good cliff-hanger with Keege at the mercy of an invading Geek.

Ok, it’s a bit shallow, but can’t wait to next week!

Con Artist- Part 4

Morse gets into deep water...

Synopsis: Nixon goes to the roof of the con to cool down and a couple of convention goers corner her. She fights back and takes most of them down easily, but one picks up a gun...

Downstairs, there's excitement that Blackbird has arrived and is going to kill off the competition. In this excitement, Morse believes he can steal the datapad with all the information to prove his worth to Nixon. unfortunately, he's caught in the act and threatened. However, as he's thrown to a floor, he manages to grab a weapon and, as he hits the ground, it goes off, killing one of the convention goers.

Things do not look good for Morse...

PI: I'm finding it hard to follow, or care about this strip, which is a shame as I usually love Low Life. But everything that made the previous adventures so exciting and quirky seem to be gone, and so far this has been pretty confusing and below average.

I think the most annoying part of this story is that for an undercover judge, Aimee seems to be making a complete mess of this investigation. Giving her real name and going into a convention of professional killers, some of whom she may have taken down in the past, without a disguise seems sloppy, and this is only highlighted by the fact that somebody has already recognised her. I have no idea why she left for the
roof, but I have a sneaking suspicion her comedy sidekick is to blame. Aimee is a Judge, she's under no obligation to take this man with her and I'm sure she could have got him arrested for obstruction if he'd have said otherwise. The fact that he's there just makes Aimee look all the more incompetent, as he's a liability and has done nothing but cause her trouble since even before they got there.

Perhaps I'm just nit-picking, but there seems to be far too much unnecessary carelessness on Aimee's part for me to enjoy this, it also makes for a rather confusing read, which isn't helped by Simon Coleby's art. Lovely as it is, I often find it hard to follow or determine exactly what's going on.

JA: I have been a little underwhelmed by the last couple of episodes of Con Artist, this episode include. It started off OK and with a promising premise. However, it seems to have fallen into a bit of a muddle, plot-wise. It seems as if too much is trying to be packed into this, with everything that is going on a sort of “hitman” murder mystery at a killers convention seems a little contrived and predictable. I also think that Simon Colby’s somewhat messy black and white art does not help the story flow and it s all a bit disjointed and lacking clarity on both the script and art front.

Is it a case of a good series but the wrong story? Morse is ok as a sidekick but is not that credible is he, c’mon, lets be honest! Its not all bad as its reputation somewhat keeps its head above water, but it’s just a little dull and uninspiring to really get excited about.