2000AD Prog 1506 - 20 September 2006
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / Ezquerra) Malone (Hamilton / Coleby) Stone Island (Edginton / Davis) Banzai Battalion (Wagner / Roberts) Nikolai Dante (Morrison / Burns) Cover: Dylan Teague

Synopsis by Jordan Smith
1st opinion by Jordan Smith
2nd opinion by James Mackay

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Cover Review

JS: Some people could complain that the clown looks nothing like the one in the story but, in my eyes, it's still a great cover! I've seen the black and white version on Dylan Teague's blog and have to say it's a lot better than this coloured version. But thankfully, the dark and moody touch is still there and the choice of colours couldn't be better! Big up to Mr. Teague!

JM: Dylan Teague may not be my favourite cover artist, but this is, I have to admit, a great piece of work. It can't have been fun coming up with something that would do justice to both the Malone character and his revealed identity, without giving the game away: the idea of using a red florescent tube to light the scene, and therefore Malone's hair, is an excellent one. A suitably noir-ish setting combines with a properly scary clown to really get a sense of the strip across in just one image. Great work and, while not my cover of the year, certainly the best I've seen from this artist.

Origins - Part 2

Just outside the gates and already sidetracked...

Synopsis: Dredd and his team continue through the Cursed Earth and have stones thrown at them by the muties. One judge asks when the people with Fargo's body will make contact, just as they come across a burnt radwagon. They find bodies of the attackers and the people who were inside. One man is still alive and tells Dredd to find his son. The man passes away and Dredd tells the team that it's not their business to interfere but somehow the team convince "Old Stoney Face" to find him. He takes Curzon, Sanchez and Renga with him and leaves the rest behind with the truck.

Dredd and his team come across some muties and ask them if they've seen a party pass. The father tells Dredd that they don't look when the "abominations" go by. Elsewhere at the truck, the judges spot a group of muties in the mountains little realizing there's actually a full army! Dredd and his team have continued there journey and take a boy with two heads with them when he falls from some boulders.

JS: Wow! Two parts in and this is already kicking ass! But as much as I love it, I must ask about the action. Where is it? Surely there must be some next week?

There was a great first page to kick it all off last week but this episode brings something that's even better: A full army on the one page! Fan-bloody-tastic stuff! Which of course brings me to the art. My personal favourite Dredd artist has always been Brian Bolland, and boy was I happy to see that cover last week, but going by his work here Carlos Ezquerra surely is the greatest. The art's great and those skies? B-e-a-utiful!

But perhaps most interesting is the story. It's been months since we had a John Wagner story before The Connection and it's been worth the wait. I can maybe guess some of the direction of the story, as the van full of cash is begging to be stolen and the judges with it clearly in danger, but much of it remains fairly unpredictable. I'm getting really confused over Fargo's connection and hope it won't take too long to find out he's alive... Roll on Part 3!

JM: Origins remains very much in set-up mode. As such, this episode by itself comes across as being quite flat. The motivation for Dredd here seems a bit dubious: surely if he felt it was right to carry on he would have done so, and the younger judges' quibbles over dead babies be damned? We've all seen him do worse in the past. Hopefully this is just a short interlude, as the Helltrekkers-in-peril plot, the poor-muties plot, and the army-of-bad-muties are all things we've seen before ad infinitum. Wagner also seems to have given up altogether on cliffhanger endings: "Get him up!" really doesn't have me slavering to see what happens next week.

While I'm grumbling, Carlos Equerra's designs here are also pretty tired: the bad mutant with the mask has seemingly been dressed in cast-offs donated by the Titan Judges from Inferno. But, hey, this is early days: the first two episodes of The Cursed Earth aren't that much to write home about either. I certainly have faith in writer, artist and character, so there's no reason to worry just yet.

"Malone" starts to remember...

Later, when Sinister has recovered, Rocky explains how he saved Billi and how he took a mind job so he couldn't tell anyone his name. Rocky tells him he's been travelling from world to world, looking for him. Sinister says he has to go back to Downlode. He asks Missy if she'll join him but she's going to stay at Generica so Rocky and Sinister leave. Sinister asks what happened to Dexter and before Rocky can tell him, he interrupts: "Don't say it. I get it. I'm alone."

JS: So the beans are finally spilled. Malone is none other than Finnigan Sinister and Cal Hamilton is Dan Abnett! Holy funt indeed. I've really enjoyed this story and Dan Abnett just became one of my favourite writers as a result. It's been a great, mysterious story and I've enjoyed it all the way through. I must admit, it's been (now that i think of it) much better then Stone Island! So I beg Dan Abnett, don't screw The Moses War up, okay?

And the art? Sin City, completely reminded me of Sin City and I think Simon Coleby's been added to my list of fave artists. His work on Low Life with Con Artist's art was pretty bad in places and I can't excuse that, but I can't find one bad panel here in Malone. So well done Mr. Abnett and Mr. Simon Coleby. What a job!

JM: Funt me, just how good was that? The clues were all there: cigarettes, killer clown, Irishisms, internal PG censor, "I'm alone". It had even been noted (in various places on the internet) that the writer's only previous work was doing stuff on a series alongside Dan Abnett. Yet nobody, nobody put it together. What an awesome, clever, surprising and brilliant moment of revelation, utterly worthy of being held up alongside 2000AD's greatest-ever reveal, The Dead Man. The choice of Simon Coleby was also one of Tharg's brighter ideas: very different from the usual Sin/Dex artists, but more than capable, as he proves here, of doing a very decent Finnegan-as-drawn-by-Simon-Davis.

The final three panels, which repeat but utterly change the meaning of the repeated motifs "if she knows, she's not telling" and "I'm alone", certainly belong in the 2000AD pantheon. The sheer cheek of this mini-series, and the great heights it has reached in language and plotting, suggest that Abnett is using his best clone to write for 2000AD at the moment: this all promises very good things for the autumn's mini-epic.

Part 7

Harry gets a face lift...

Synopsis: David has another flashback about the night he murdered his wife. It is revealed that the man she cheated on him with was his best friend. Outside in his car he is taken away by some kind of claw.

Back in reality the unknown woman pleads for David to stop. David says she should be grateful she's still alive and tells her David doesn't exist anymore. He is The Light and the Way, and has been crucified inside out and is being experimented on by the creatures. Harry meanwhile, is turned into one of the monsters himself but seems to be fighting it back. David explains that they're aliens from another world and that it was his blood that caused the transformation of Grice and the other prisoners. He finishes with the words: "I have returned to unmake the world".

JS: Another story where the beans are spilled... This part was once again, great stuff, only second to Malone. I was initially rather disappointed when I found out the creatures were aliens but it was all still great nevertheless.

As much as I've been enjoying the story, I have to say the art's been the best thing about it, especially on page 3. Oh my God! It's a man stripped inside out and they've shown the penis again... inside out. I felt like being sick because something is definitely wrong with the mind of Simon Davis if he can paint something like that! Sadly, I feel this story could be heading downhill and fear it may be reaching its climax. Which could be a good thing...if there's a sequel (nudge nudge).

JM: Um. What?

Eh?

I have no idea what this series is doing. It seems to be based on the premise of "what would happen if shapechanging, bodysnatching aliens turned up in Porridge?", and the answer so far looks to be that it wouldn't be either funny or scary. Ian Edginton's cheery Cockney prisoner, Harry, really needs to have his language updated to the twenty-first century: at the moment, every time he speaks it jolts the whole strip off kilter, from visceral body-horror to light punning is just too big a leap. Another problem is that there's absolutely nobody in this strip that we have been given any reason to give a damn for: Harry's an annoying stereotype; David's the bad guy; Annoying Female Character lost my vote when she decided to argue about sexist terminology in mid-crisis, rather than save her own life; priest chap is down a hole and I have no idea about who he is other than "A priest. Bit wet." There's not even a decent anti-hero. Frankly, at the moment the monsters get my vote, what with their built-in advantage of zero mockney dialogue and brilliant design.

If it wasn't for Simon Davis producing some of his best ever art (what an amazing shot of Sorrel on the "cross") this series would be a dead loss. As it is, it's getting to the point where I want to Tippex out the dialogue and just look at the pretty pictures.

Robot Wars - Part 6

The Banzais finally act...

Synopsis: Captain Stomper and the remaining troops break into the house and free the rest of their troops. He orders Flambo to set the curtains alight but she says she can't due to the robot code. Suddenly Bug Stomper wraps his arms around her and does some flirting but it's all just a trick sets the curtains alight himself. The squad put Charlie in charge deciding that Stomper's not fit for duty. They seize him while others put out the fire.

Rose decides what to do with him and he's put in the parrot's cage where he kills a fly, laughing, as he says that he would never hurt one...

JS: This has been a fun little story with fun little art and yes, I have been enjoying it - although I honestly can't say why, especially as I thought it sucked at first... But like The Red Seas, all the fun won me over! It doesn't look like there'll be another Banzai story for quite some time with an the ending that suggests Captain Bug Stomper's flipped his lid! I hope there's more but I wouldn't count on it...

JM: I suspect that in years to come, once another few Banzai Battalion strips have been and gone, we'll look back on this as a stroke of genius. Certainly I'm looking forward to the inevitable mini-Apocalypse Now, with Stomper in the Kurtz role. But, as with any fundamental alteration to a well-established character, the moment of change stings pretty badly. I'd have preferred a denouement which brought the Banzais back to where they started, but I can't deny that there's a comic power to Stomper in the parrot cage.

Steve Roberts hasn't shone on this strip: brighter greens and more flowers would have served the comedy feel better - this garden's got too many laburnums and not enough foxgloves for my liking. This downbeat art and downbeat strip seem very out of kilter with what's meant to be the comic's light relief. An oddity.

Dragon's Island - Part 5

Sagawa's inevitable end...

Synopsis: Dante swings into action and takes Akita hostage. Akita orders her dragons to stand down when a soldier tells her the Kraken's regaining consciousness. She orders for him to be tranquilized but he still fights it back before waking up. He spots his daughter Mina to whom he asks for a hug. However, it is the dragons who say this, taking the Kraken's consciousness, and whom surround our characters. He tells Dante he's holding hostage the person he'd rather kill than him so Dante hands over Akita and the dragons kill her, laughing.

Dante lashes out at them as does his mum and Lauren. The boy throws Dante his rifle and he clears an exit. The crest tells him if he kills the Kraken, it might kill the dragons. He tries but with little effect, so he runs for it!

JS: If I drew a line graph to illustrate my opinion of this series - here's how it would look: up, down, up, down, up, down and so on. Usurper was great but this is honestly getting boring. There was some action this week, at least, and hopefully some more to come yet although I want to enjoy this, I just can't bring myself to. The series seemed so good the first time I read it but... what is this? It's like a heart monitor, that's what it is! Up, down, up down all the time! I can't wait for this to finally move on. Robbie Morrison can kill Dante's mum for all I care!

And the art's been a bit sloppy if you ask me. But I hear that the original artist Simon Fraser could be back on art duties soon! Hopefully that'll bring this strip to a high once again...

JM: Dante as a strip has been on its knees for such a long time that it seemed it would never recover its dignity and confidence. But, while not quite being up to the standards of The Courtship of Jena Makarov, this latest adventure has certainly seen the rogue return to some of his former poise. The Kraken, for example, has gradually become a great sci-fi villain, well beyond his humble beginnings as a Bad Pirate (to counterbalance all those Good Pirates out there). Robbie Morrison seems to delight in adding a new level of sci-fi cliche each time the old beardy appears: as I account it, he's now a shapeshifting alien disembodied group consciousness ninja vampire pirate. That's pretty villainous.

The death of Akita is actually a bit weak - I don't see why Dante would throw her to the wolves and then try to stop them killing her - but apart from that minor fault this is all good fun. We're clearly (finally!) getting to the point that was telegraphed about five years ago, where Dante will have command of a significant fleet of cutthroats and ne'er-do-wells: this autumn might, again, see something quite special.