2000AD Prog 1512 - 1 November 2006
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / Ezquerra) Chiaroscuro (Spurrier / Smudge) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Williams) Harry Kipling (Spurrier / Cook) Nikolai Dante (Morrison / Fraser) Synopsis by Gavin Hanly Review by John Amans Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue. Cover: Rufus Dayglo

Cover Review

JA: Rufus’s cover rather lacks some colour and dynamism. It’s a little bland and rather sinks into the pages rather than the other way round. It should jump out, but instead it doesn’t and is a little bit of a damp squib. Good idea, but it lacks good execution.

Origins - Part 8 - Meet the Fargos

Dredd meets the family

Synopsis: The townsfolk threaten to hang Logan and Cohn. Dredd warns them not to do it but before anyone can act there are two shots from the raiders seen in last week's episode. The hangman's ropes are cut by the bullets. The raiders attack the town and kill the leader and the sheriff telling them that they were warned what would happen if they tried to hang one of their "kinfolk".

The leader of the raiders introduces to Dredd himself as Randy Fargo, the great grandson of Ephram. He recognises the familial likeness and says that the "Fargo's" much more extended chins are a mutation. They are taken back to the Fargos' town, where everyone has the same mutated chins. Their injuries are treated, they are fed and they hear Ephram's backstory. Apparently Eustace being held up as some sort of saint was the reason Ephram went "ornery".

Dredd tells them about their mission and says that they need to be sure that the DNA they have isn't from Ephram. After some consternation, the townsfolk agree to exhume Ephram and check the DNA - after which Cohn confirms that it's not from the same sample they received with the ransom note - but that doesn't confirm whether it's Eustace or Ephram in the grave.

Dredd and the judges ride off the next morning, as Dredd retrieves his back-up lawgiver. The Fargos say that they'd like to visit Dredd in Mega City and Dredd agrees. Logan comments that they are mutants and wouldn't be allowed in - but Dredd says that perhaps it's time things changed...

JA: Some reviewers have been less than enthusiastic about “Origins”.

In my mind, the last really great Dredd epic to my mind was Necropolis back in the mists of 1990.

What I like about this, though, is that the ingredients in this series have been sown and that is important. Firstly it’s well paced, we’ve had the build up in previous episodes and its looking different from the other “bad guy” turns up and Dredd wins in the end and everything is fine run-of-the-mill saga. Having seen the evolvement of the Dredd’s world since 1977 its good to see the back story of the Judge’s rise to power being drip fed to the reader rather than just being spoon-fed too easily.

Ezqerra’s art is impeccable as usual and here we have a mix of violence, plot development and further intrigue on the quest.

What we get is more quality story and outstanding artwork and my appetite well and truly whetted!

Dianne's unpleasant end...

When thy finally get there, an old man dressed in a bathrobe opens fire at them with a shotgun - this is David Berry, the man they've come to see. Berry's wife rushes out and calms them down and says that somehow, David's been expecting them. Slim asks her if she has a copy of the film but she says that they sold it as it was driving him insane. All the copies seems to have been destroyed along with their owners and they came to the Orkney's to escape. Elvy asks her "what is Chiaroscuro" but before she can respond, David Berry appears, carrying a knife and displaying words that he's cut into the skin all over his body - "cut" and "action".

He says - "It's OK Ellie - I'll tell them..."

JA: Simon Spurrier has at least served up something different and intriguing that has at least got a modicum of plot development and atmosphere. Functionally drawn by Smudge this has moved on unravelling the story bit-by-bit. We know something is following our two investigators and perhaps we know that the latest lead is going to cast significant light on what has been going on.

The main thing I can say is that this is the third story I read after Dredd and Dante. I read the best stuff first and the rest in descending order. This has at least kept my attention and has some atmosphere and decent plot.

Places to go, People to do - Part 5

Sinister sets out his stall...

Synopsis: Sinister wipes out Chevy Brakes and his men without breaking a sweat. After he kills Chevy, he calls Appellido and tells him that he's killed his men and that he'll be coming for him soon.

Later, Sinister visits his attorney, Clayton Tushman, to check in on his accounts.He tells Tushman that Dexter is dead and that he'll be using their retirement money to tie up a few lost ends as he goes into business for himself - something of a war chest.

Later on, Sinister arrives at an apartment block as he visits Tracy Weld, the cop who killed Dexter.

JA: Ah, the return of Sinister Dexter. Loved and loathed in equal measure. I’ve of the persuasion that thinks that the series was in one of its lesser periods, simple filler laced with guns and cheap predictable story lines. However, when S&D was hot it was real HOT. It has acres of back-story, great characters and moments of real drama and emotion.

All of the best parts of S&D can be seen in the first two pages; sharp dialogue, pulp fiction-esque narration and lots of guns, dead bodies and casual violence.

OK, Anthony Williams’ art isn’t up there with SB Davies but it does what it says on the tin. S&D has never been about flashy artwork, it’s about the script. If the script was poor then it didn’t matter how good the artwork was. This time, however, we have a semblance of a plot and you get the feeling that this story is on the way up in a serious way.

The Hitman and Hermoth - Part 4

Hermoth gets mad...

Synopsis: Hermoth and Bellin Bellin start ripping the spaceship to pieces. Klux tries to patch the holes in the ship, but can't cover them all and Harry is thrown out into space as Hermoth follows him, blaming him for everything.

Inside, Neela stops Bellin Bellin's rampage by feeding him pure Soma and giving him an overdose as Klux reaches out to bring Harry back to the ship. But Harry uses the pipe he took off the Aztek queen to control Hermoth's 8 legged horse. Harry manages to get the name of Hermoth's boss and then kills him anyway.

However, Hermoth's boss is watching everything and is happy that Kipling is on his way to see him "My darling puppet..."

JA: In my previous reviews of Harry Kipling my main comment has been that, though not bad, Harry Kipling isn’t that brilliant either. You can’t say that it hasn’t had a go and has not been given the chance to establish itself. It has a great consistent artist at the helm and the story isn’t bad but I still find it a little abstract and “samey”.

I always find the “middle of the road” stories that I neither love nor hate the hardest to review. We’ve been given a nice base mythos to get interested in and I won’t be unhappy to see another series. But, let’s crank it up and really have a series that turns it from something quirky and mediocre into a real quality story that stands out from the rest.

Sword of the Tsar - part 2

Dante calls it a day...

Synopsis: After the wars, most of the Romanovs were dead or in hiding, like Jocasta. The Tsar adopted Arcady Romanov (the Romanov who was supposed to get Dante's crest) as a ward to the Empire while Lulu remained at large. But the only real danger to the Tsar was Nikolai Dante who had such a groundswell of popular support that if he ever decided to make use of it, he had the best chance of taking the Tsar down.

Dante, alive and almost well, is taken to see the Tsar, Jena and Arcady by the Tsar's enforcer (the Lord Protector - secretly Konstantin Romanov). The Tsar is actually offering Dante a job. Arcady explains that they tracked down a spy called Edvard Stolypin, formerly one of the Raven Corps. They dispatched troops to catch him but video footage showed that he had a crest power almost identical to Dante's. The crest technology was taken from a warring extra dimensional race, the Red Guards. But Arcady believes that their enemies, the White Army, won and is preparing an invasion of their reality. They want Dante to hunt him down. Dante says that he wants his death sentence commuted. The Tsar agrees, but says that if he fails, he will kill his mother and destroy the Pirate fleet. Dante has no choice but to agree...

JA: With the return of Simon Fraser and Dante returning to Russia, some momentum seems to have been added to this strip and it’s once again reaching the heights of a few years ago. Plus, the return of Vladimir means that we’re going to get back to the core of what made this story great. All of the best plot lines have involved the Tsar and Jena. All of the mumblings in the Pacific has been like treading water while we get back to the main stuff.

Here we get to draw breath with a page of story recap. Though not all action packed, this week it has enough to perhaps suggest that Dante may be back on track and I also got the feeling that this may lead onto a new sub-plot and get back to what made Dante so good in the first place. Vladimir rather turns the story in a new direction and yet we know something that Dante doesn’t about the “Lord Protector”.

It’s good to have Dante back and firing on all cylinders again.