2000AD Prog 1513 - 8 November 2006
	Judge Dredd (Wagner / Ezquerra) Chiaroscuro (Spurrier / Smudge) Sinister Dexter (Abnett / Williams) The Red Seas (Edginton / Yeowell) Nikolai Dante (Morrison / Fraser) Synopsis by Gavin Hanly 1st opinion by Adam Crabtree 2nd opinion by Jordan Smith Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue. Cover: Arthur Ranson

Cover Review

AC: “Hey, cool, that’s a nice surprise!”

Excellent art from Arthur Ranson and all (I don’t think he can DO poor quality anyway), but the biggest reaction provoked by this for me is the unprecedented return of Red Seas. Classy work from a real professional.

JS: My first thought on this week's cover was "Oh God, this sucks", which was a bit of a dumb reaction because on consideration, this is actually pretty good. At first it actually seemed to be a Steve Yeowell cover but surprisingly it's revealed as an Arthur Ranson one. I think the only story Ranson's been on art duties was a Dredd tale at the beginning of the year, and I actually think it'd be good to have this artist working on an episode of The Red Seas!

But as for what's on the cover, well it looks quite cool. It's got a nice setting with a mysterious character on the front but yet there's one tiny problem. And that is the wolf. Nice teeth and all but it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the cover. But hell, that's only my opinion. Great cover, despite that.

Origins - Part 9 - Secrets of State

Fargo lets off some steam...

Synopsis: Round a campfire, Dredd tells the fellow judges that, as opposed to the "official" version, Fargo did not die in a drive by and didn't even die when he was reported to have. Dredd notes that even he might not have the full story, but proceeds to tell then what he knows, warning them to keep it to themselves.

Fargo had started building the precursors of the iso blocks and built up the justice department - all the while living by the strict rules of abstinence that he laid down for all the judges. However, Fargo fell to temptation just the once, sleeping with a woman called Sequenta Tells - vice chair of the commission of legal reform. The judges were tipped off and caught him en flagrante. Deputy Chief Judge Solomon told the investigating judges to forget everything, but Fargo felt he'd slipped badly. He handed in his resignation despite objections and as judges Goodman and Solomon left his office, they heard a gunshot...

As Dredd tells the story, they detect the Scrapyard Army following them and prepare to wipe them out...

AC: Ah, I think this is finally on track now. After putting even the bluest, nay, the most arsiest blue arsed flies to shame in past weeks with its roller-coastering nature, Origins seems to have found smooth terrain to walk over at last. Last week’s more humane instalment is followed up by some more future history, a compellingly well thought out delve into not only a potential world to come, but of an individual, of one character with all of our title character’s strengths, only with added weakness.

We are left to speculate what “Vice Chair of the Commission for Legal Reform’s” agenda was (indeed, the necessity to keep Fargo’s head hidden makes it a little unclear just what is transpiring at times) when she lured the Chief Judge out of his monastic shell… I only know that that outfit is not what I’d ascribe to the “Vice Chair” of anything.

Carlos, you sly old devil!

JS: It's Part 9 already? Bloody hell, that was quick! And this part, without a doubt was one of the best. I think this mainly because we actually find out what really happened to Fargo. It kinda bugs me that people are saying "I didn't see that coming!" since I thought it was pretty obviously laid out in The Connection, where Dredd witnesses Fargo commit suicide in a dream.

But I have the feeling that there's going to be more to this. Wagner's been playing us like fools since the beginning where we got the impression that Fargo was alive. With the recent discovery that Fargo had a bad twin and that was maybe it was the twin who Dredd and his crew were searching for - Wagner's certainly got a few tricks up his sleeve in this one. Any guesses for the next one?

And, of course, Carlos Ezquerra's art is also great on this awesome story.

Elvy gets in too deep...

Elvy returns home late at night, his place being watched by the police who are obviously concerned at his proximity to so many violent deaths. Rather than going to see his wife, he starts listening to the tape of the interview with Berry. He said that in 1985, Meyer was looking for something new and found it on Haiti. He said he was looking for voodoo and found the real deal and that they went to film it. Something got "called through" - "Gregor Marquand" lost his nerve and something escaped, but whatever it was was linked to the film print and they couldn't destroy it or it would be completely free.

Meanwhile, Slim has tracked down the remaining copy of the film with Berry's dealer, Lars Handell, and takes it after threatening him.

Elvy's wife appears downstairs and Elvy shows her the death films he's been watching - telling her that this is what he's been searching for - "another slice of reality". But she accuses him of being obsessed - just as Slim calls him and tells him to come over to watch the film...

AC: Still operating on an entirely different level from the strips surrounding it, I fear this will not be as praised in either short or long run as it ought to be. Thus, I can only continue to sing its praises as loudly as possible.

With almost surgical skill, Spurrier chooses his tools; a death by avian carnage here, a set of carved stage directions on a man’s flesh there… one of Spurrier’s greatest strength (and sometimes weakness!) was his ability to fly off the handle with the bizarre ideas, and yet still tailor them into a coherent, consistent whole.

Chiaroscuro is an exercise in the sort of restraint Spurrier showed in this year’s Dredd “Dominoes” crossover; whereas strips like more recent Harry Kipling DO have nigh on boundless energy and vitality, they nonetheless struggle to carry the sheer weight of outlandish ideas.

We seem to be nearing the coda of this one-off (and it’s been a good year for them), and the breadth of perspective on display is impressive; we can see the whole picture, even WITH Elvy’s narration, and it’s up to US to decide what Elvey’s true intentions are with this quest of his.

Even if this were presented as a graphic novel unconnected with 2000AD, it would be well worth a look however you look at it.

JS: This story, like Origins, is getting better and better as it moves along. We've reached Part 7 and it looks like it's finally beginning to reach its climax.

It's been very mysterious so far and definitely the best thing that Simon Spurrier has written this year. By mysterious, I mean that I'm trying to figure out what the hell's going on in the opening panel. Some kind of strange ritual it'd seem... but is it Chiaroscuro? Ah, it's impossible to tell. The dark atmosphere of the story is great and if Spurrier didn't choose the greatest artist for the job then I can't guess who else there is. Smudge's art is brilliant stuff. It just looks cool and I especially like the panels where we can't see the character's eyes due to the darkness. Very spooky indeed.

It's not been as violent as I suspected but it's sure had its gruesome deaths. I think the sickest one was the poor guy wrapped up by film reels. Bloody ouch. I'm really not sure what's going to happen at the end but I hope we're up for something rather downbeat...

Places to go, People to do - Part 6

Sinister shoots the breeze...

Synopsis: Sinister confronts Tracy Weld who is afraid that he has come to kill her. Tracy has been suspended until the end of the internal investigation they are calling the "Dexter Affair". She told the force that Appellido was a clone of Moses Tanenbaum, but without her revealing the source as Dexter, the information was useless. While the police know what he is, his lawyers will throw out any case against him unless they get more evidence and now the turf war with the Mover has made things worse. Weld also tells Sinister that she shot Dexter to bring him down with a bodyshot before the rest of the force opened fire on him. She tells him: "Ray is still alive."

AC: Disappointing. Not the strip itself, which as most agree is enjoying an unprecedented surge in vitality with the advent of the Moses Wars, and Abnett’s talents as a comics scriptwriter seem to be improving with each passing week; this week’s charged encounter between Sinister and Tracy Weld is one that I have been waiting for most of the year, and that hasn’t disappointed me.

Nope; of course I’m talking about the strip slinking away from the cataclysmic events of And Death Shall Have No Dumb Minions, negating the very events that made this a potentially seminal strip in the title’s history.

It remains to be seen just how they’re going to take it from “He’s alive, Finny”; perhaps, as I’d previously surmised, we’re going to get an alternate universe Dexter in, who’s lost his own partner.

Or perhaps, as seems more likely, Tracy “shot him gently”.

Either way, they’ve chickened out, and there’d better be something special coming out of the bag on that score.

JS: I'll admit that, like many others, that I saw Dexter's apparent resurrection coming without any surprise this week. It's been a great story so far, especially following Malone and I still think it has great potential.

The art this week was very good with its darkness and moodiness and it set the scene very well. The expressions on the faces were one of the best parts about Anthony Williams's art this week and I hope that once this story's finished, we'll see more of him soon.

Can't wait for the forthcoming "Moses War" tale and hopefully some more of Simon Davis especially after his art in Stone Island. Roll on the next parts...

With a bound he was free... - Part 1

Sir Isaac reveals himself...

Synopsis: While Jack Dancer was on his last adventure, Sir Isaac Newton waited in London for news but feared them all lost. After learning that one of Dancer's crewmen, Julius Caesar, was the son of the composer and pianist Chevalier Augustus, Newton was given a note to give to Augustus should Julius not return. He confronts Augustus, who proves to be a pompous buffoon until Newton reveals who he really is. He tells him he has a message from his son, and despite Augustus telling him that his son is "dead to me" Newton urges him to read the message as his son wished to make peace.

Suddenly, they hear a woman's cry and despite Augustus's aversion, Isaac charges towards the noise, dragging Augustus with him. They arrive at an alleyway and witness a wolfman about to attack a woman...

AC: If there’s a script droid that could use a good showing at the moment, I’d say it’s Ian Edginton. After a seemingly continuous stream of unmitigated hits, perhaps the train wreck of Stone Island was inevitable; the inescapable waste product of all that talent.

Well, let’s just hope it’s out of his system, and get on with enjoying the latest Red Seas adventure. An interlude in the style of “Meanwhile…”, I personally really appreciate world-building efforts like this. The alternate world of Captain Jack Dancer takes sublime shape with these side adventures.

One of the more quietly ingenious concepts from the adventure before last (I can’t help saying “adventure” instead of “story”, I find!), that of an underground society of which the strikingly well preserved Isaac Newton is a member of, is explored this time round, and Newton’s eloquent enthusiasm and chivalrous manner is immediately endearing.

Edginton gets back to doing what he does best; the skilful and dextrous crafting of language, and truly Red Seas is one strip in particular where just ONE strategically placed curse will speak volumes, or at least far more than many of his contemporaries do in a whole diatribe!

You can’t beat an Englishman “when his dander is up”, so Edginton tells us, and reading this, I’m inclined to believe him.

On the artistry side of things, I have in the past described Steve Yeowell’s art as a little insubstantial. I’ve come to the conclusion that I would have it not other way; this approach lends Red Seas a degree of distinctiveness and, dare I say it, class that other strips are lacking in since the post-full-painting days began in Tooth.

JS: A bit of an unexpected return but a welcomed one at that. It's great to see this fun story again, even if not a great deal happened apart from the appearance of the wolf at the end.

I'm glad we're focusing on a completely different character or at least one that wasn't in the Hollow Land. It's always good to move to the secondary characters, something that we don't see much in most stories. Here it's very welcomed, as is the return of Steve Yeowell. I've never seen his work before The Red Seas, but here it's incredible. Background buildings and characters are extremely detailed, and I don't think I had any problems with it at all apart from one tiny thing. As this has the feeling of a classic horror tale, I wish it was that little bit darker to go with the setting. Other than that, Yeowell's art is great.

Sword of the Tsar - part 3

Dante loses his bottle...

Synopsis: Dante and Jena go to see Count Felix Dudayev, who they believe to have crest technology like Dante's. The count and Jena are acquainted, and she asks him to come with them as the man he recently met, Stolypin, is a traitor and they are interviewing everyone in contact with him. The count refuses to come immediately as he has business concerns and, after it's clear that they are going to force him to come, attacks them - and jumps out the window, sprouting crest powered wings. Jena and Dante take off after him, and Dante jumps from his craft onto the Count's back. He bio-links with the count, causing him to crash. The Count says he's no match for the "White Army" but Dante still manages to kill him, having retrieved information from the bio-link. A crowd gathers and Dante tells them that he's back in town and is now the Tsar's right hand man, much to the glee of his adoring public...

AC: Dante’s astonishing rejuvenation continues with ribald humour blending perfectly with sophisticated, high concept science fiction and traditional swashbuckling action. I’m beginning to see why people have been so keen on rehashing the olden days of this title; it’s a real blend of different time-elements - if it was like this, then they had it gooood….

Although, with not a lot to complain about, and with it being good in a fairly simple way (NOT a bad thing), that doesn’t leave me with a lot more to say about it…

I guess we can just read from the sports pages then…

…let’s see here…

Oh, whatta you know? Rooney IS a Betelgeusian… Boragg Thungg and so forth.

JS: Now this is Nikolai Dante at its best! The story's changed place for the better and the original artist is back on duty! And after the Dredd tale Jumped, Simon Fraser is very welcome indeed! His art is excellent and aided by the colouring of Gary Caldwell, it looks even better! Caldwell has great palette, especially on the faces, and he and Simon make for a great team! I definitely prefer the current line up over John Burns, who I still enjoy but isn't in the same league as this.

And as for the overall story - it's been a major improvement. Even last week, where sod all happened, was great. This week was written very well, with a nice blend of action, romance and comedy altogether making a hell of a good episode. I hope this story will be continuing all the way till Prog 2007 because already it's looking great and I can't wait to find out where it's going...