2000AD Prog 1492 - 14 June 2006
	Judge Dredd (Smith / Fraser) Harry Kipling (Spurrier / Cook) The V.C.s (Abnett / Williams) Red Seas (Edginton / Yeowell) London Falling (Spurrier / Garbett) Cover: Boo Cook

Synopsis and review by Robert Cornell
2nd opinion by Paul White

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Cover Review

RC: Despite the lack of dinosaurs, this is a great cover. Something a bit different. Hours of fun to be had watching the eyes follow you around the room as the finger accusingly points. (The only trouble is that apart from the original “your country needs you” propaganda masterpiece and original Harry Kipling being contemporaries, there’s no connection between it and the strip inside.)

PW: An overused concept used very well in a striking stand-out-in-WHSmiths kind of way. Boo Cook turns in an excellent eye-catching job here and it'll make the casual observer look at it and think something interesing going on outside

Jumped - Part 2

Dredd gets his man...

Synopsis: In the aftermath of the killing and gruesome discovery, Reefer is starting to panic. Lola tries to calm him and tells him to dispose of the hand. He stashes it in his cam-jacket. At the same time, three men, apparently Sov-Blockers, are also discussing the hand. They have used the eye-cams taken from the dead reporter to get Reefer’s home address.

Reefer tries to call home but the line is busy. He jumpjacks to the apartment and finds the bodies of his mother and sister. In the bathroom there is a message written in blood on the mirror: “THE CASE.” Reefer tries to call Lola but the line is busy.

Meanwhile, PSU have identified Reefer. They have also discovered the dead man was not from the city and was wearing a bodysuit disguise. A judge finds the bodies in Reefer’s apartment.

Reefer returns to Lola’s but finds she has left with Moxxy and “two big macho brutes.” The third Sov has been waiting for his return and chases him onto the roof. Judge Dredd has arrived and follows them. Dredd kills the Sov when he ignores two warnings. This gives Reefer time to jumpjack to the ground and escape.

RC: This second episode covers a lot of ground, two murders, a kidnapping, some CSI: Mega City stuff, a chase and associated gunplay. A little too much, in fact. You can see just by looking at page five, eight panels in 2 x 4 layout, that the artwork is struggling to keep up. I also wonder about the sovs logic in killing the mother and sister, and the amazing coincidence of Dredd turning up at just the right millisecond to make the plot work. And yet, despite these faults, I’m still quite enjoyed this. On the level of an action story, pure and simple, we could do a lot worse. And there’s a good mystery building up.

The artwork is efficient, if unremarkable. I like the Sov with the hole through his back. Something about that image appeals to me.

PW: I had to do a double-take on the credits to see who was actually writing this, and I was shocked to see it was John Smith. There's not anything particularly wrong with it, it's just a bit "meh". Stuff happens to people, goons are on the scene, people die, Dredd's on the scene. I'm one of those Smith fans who likes all the shatterlight poppycock stuff, and this is just another of the Dredd-by-numbers stories that appear now and again. It's backed up by adequate art from the oft-maligned Simon Fraser, and isn't a patch on his Dante days. OK, I suppose, is my verdict here.

Whetting the Whistle - Part 1

Kipling relives old times...

Synopsis: Neesha is trying to persuade Kipling to take her on as his assistant and is baffled by his refusal. The pair stop for refreshments at the Winged Helmet, a watering hole for the gods. Although the place is full of deities, it’s time for tea, not god slaying. When the humans are served first, the rude customer on a neighbouring table transforms into the Spider Queen of Teotihuacan. She kills the waitress and, what’s worse, spills the Earl Grey. Now it is time for action but Harry stung by one of the queen’s spiders.

Paralysed and incoherent, Harry has a flashback to an encounter with Ama-Tsu-Mara, the Shinto blacksmith god, shortly after the destruction of NeoBritannia. Unimpressed by Harry’s efforts, Ama-Tsu-Mara grows to giant size.

In the present, Neesha is desperately trying to get Harry to tell her how to fire his god killing gun. Harry gets to the point of his story and tells her the bad news: “only gods can kill gods!”

RC: Well, “El Spurioso” certainly put me firmly in my place earlier this week so I’ll just say that I’m delighted this ISN’T going to be a “monster of the week” strip because it sure looks like one at the moment. I can’t warm to Kipling as a character; his faux-colonial jabbering annoys me too much. In contrast, Jack Point’s faux-noir quips and Lobster Random’s faux- er… lobster are hilarious. I guess it’s just a matter of personal taste. The strip has gained a much needed dose of coherence from a brief pause and Harry’s “secret origin” flashback. An amusing diversion but not the absolute top-floor material we’re used to from this creator.

One man who will thrive on a monster a week is Boo Cook. His dynamic, colourful and distinctive artwork is a real treat.

PW: Like the concept, like Si Spurriers work (here, and in general), love the rich colourful Boo Cook art, hate the stop-start schedule which means i have to get my head fully in gear before reading it thoroughly. I think (and hope) that this will go places and hopefully we'll get a schedule (like that of Lobster Random) where a longer tale can take place and cement the character as a full-on fan favourite.

Part 7 - Jimmy Cart

The Hoff repentant...

Synopsis: The battle carrier James Earl Carter eagerly awaits the arrival of the VCs with their important guest, the apologist politician Gaek’rr.

On the VCs' ship, Hoff is attempting to apologise to Gaek’rr for nearly shooting him. The ambassador doesn’t see the need. He then lectures Smith on the perils of judging by appearances.

The James Earl Carter has detected an approaching craft, but it isn’t the VCs. The Naxon mercenaries hired by the Polity open fire. The carrier’s shields prove useless and it is destroyed in a nova.

Smith orders Kali to find somewhere to hide. Fast.

RC: Ho hum. The VCs has always been a straight out bug hunt, not my favourite genre but you know what to expect from it. I assume that all the stuff about “recognising your enemies” is hinting that someone isn’t quite what they seem. My money’s still on that shifty bastard Keege. But maybe it’s Hoff. Or Smith. I should care more but ugly alien butts need to be kicked and the strip isn’t delivering. If Abnett’s attempting a genre hand-break turn, I wish him luck but it may be a bit late for all this Robert Le Carre shenane… sorry, stuff.

I’ve always liked Williams’ artwork on this strip, especially the muted, sombre colours. Very military.

PW: This strip regularly stirs conflicting emotions within me, and this weeks episode is no different. In 7 episodes nothing much seems to have happened, the pace slowing down to a trickle; the art isn't brilliant (but then it is consistenly so) with it being sometimes hard to distinguish between characters due to the 'blocky' artwork; the regular large gaps in the "books" means that I've pretty much forgotten what has happened before, meaning a delve into the disorganised chaos that is my 2000AD filing system. But, for some strange reason, I sort of like this strip. I always read it and take it in, then read it again - I'm more than vaguely interested in what's going on and what may yet happend Now this may not seem like a compliment, but compared to some of the stuff served up over the last 6 months or so, it's all relative.

The Hollow Land - Part 2

Dinoman no more...

Synopsis: Jack Dancer, his crew and the T’silu dinomen have won the battle but are losing the war against the Ma’har Empress’ forces. The T’silu King tells Jack that the rate at which the Ma’hars are replenishing their forces is “confounding.” When the king is attacked by a Ma’har survivor he declines assistance and casually decapitates the assassin himself. This gives Jack an idea, “cut off the head and the body dies.” He proposes that they assassinate the Empress, despite moral objections.

Jack and his bother plan to fly into Ma’har territory and hit them from the air with explosives. A simple mission, as far as Jack is concerned. However, their conversation has been overheard.

RC: A case of the second episode blues for Jack and his gang. It’s all very well for part one to consist entirely of a double-length dinosaur battle but by part two things have to start happening, the story coming to a shuddering stop while the characters discuss what to do next. Edginton tries to get around this with a somewhat obvious “look, one’s still alive” action break in the middle. It does get things rolling and the king’s throwing star thingy is dead cool. I really like The Red Seas, it isn’t complicated or clever but it usually moves at a hundred miles an hour and is always immense fun.

Yeowell’s artwork is, as always, just wonderful.

PW: More Yeowell-lite scritchy-scratch artwork detailing a story that seems to have lost it's way. So far this is in no way anywhere near the quality evident in the Red Seas' early days. To be honest, and this might sound unfair, but the artwork is putting me off reading it too closely - it seems so empty and lacking detail. Yet another to add to my ever increasing "read in one go" list.

The perils facing today's broadcasters...

Jack Capelthwaite leaves his human family and joins Shuck and the others. He is dropped off outside Buckingham Palace. The other three travel on to the Shepherd’s Bush TV studios. Shuck declines to sign in at reception and instead kills the security guard.

Meanwhile, the Oxford-Cambridge Boat race has ended in tragedy with both crews being massacred by “green hands” in the river. Jenny Greenteeth has carried out her mission.

Shuck and his followers take over the news studio, killing the newscaster and announcing to the horrified audience, “we’re back.”

Jack makes his way into Buckingham Palace, casually killing the guards he encounters and eventually reaching the Queen’s bedroom. He is exhilarated by the return to action after many years but also troubled by his own brutality. He wakes the Queen with a “boo!”

RC: The prolific and versatile Spurrier turns his hand to contemporary supernatural horror. And why not? “Ruddler’s Cuddlers” in the Meg this month had a real sense of dread coupled with humour as black as a black hole with the lights turned off. “London Calling” is even darker. I liked this second episode on my first reading but even more when I re-read it for this review. And it really benefits from a second look, there’s a lot going in a multi-tracked narrative. It reminds me of Mike Carey’s “Lucifer” comics except those have trouble bridging the gap between personal horror and universal events. Not so here. These bastards mean business. When all the characters are monsters, we’re forced to accept Jack as the “hero” simply because he draws the line at slaughtering his own family. It’s a disturbing notion.

(It’s nice to see the Queen Lizzie making a cameo, although I notice Phil’s been sent to sleep on the couch.)

On the other hand, I’m not so keen on the artwork. It doesn’t work for me.

I have no idea what’s going to happen next week and that’s priceless. If it hasn’t peaked too soon, London Falling could develop into a classic. And, “your fear tastes like butter, your Majesty,” is a line worth killing for.

PW: Nice suprise in last weeks prog and something different for me to get my teeth into. Not sure if I read correctly that it's a finite 5 or 6 episodes or so, but that suits me perfectly at the moment. As it's a Spurrier story there's a bit of research to be had to fill in some of the gaps, but it appears to be worthwhile so far and is backed up by some nice different (and dare I say it, non-2000ad style) art. I especially like her maj being roused at the end - how buttery *exactly* does her fear taste..?