2000AD Prog 1515 - 22 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 Floyd Kermode 2nd opinion by Charles Ellis Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue. Cover: Simon Davis

Cover Review

FK: (Side note - after a long respite, my compulsive rating of things habit has resurfaced. It’s addictive, going over to 2000adonline.com and passing out-of-ten judgements on every story, writer, artist, you name it. I thought I’d cured myself of the judgemental urge, but  thanks to this review I’m addicted yet again, so it’s your fault if I wind up saying anti-semitic things to police officers at odd hours. )

Bleuch, what can I say, it’s another Simon Davis cover. I don’t like Davis’ art and my heart shrinks whenever I see it.  So this cover is subject to far too many caveats; I’m not much of an art critic, it’s Simon Davis so I find it hard to be constructive. If you’d never seen a prog before, this would be way dull (unless you have the ‘like Davis’ gene that I lack).  There’s a bloke on a bed, smiling, while another bloke points at him.  If you’re really into the comic, you’ll know that the smirker on the bed is Finnigan Sinister and that the story isn’t half bad. That was the redeeming feature for me.

I gave this a grudging Five, for the touch of humour and hinting at a good story. 

CE: Not the most exciting cover in the world, but Finnigan’s relaxed demeanour in the face of angry convicts & jail is a fun sight.  

Origins - Part 12 - Countdown to Armageddon

The birth of a legend...

Synopsis: Dredd continues his history lesson…

With Fargo alive but brain damaged, the judges decide to hold his funeral and keep him hidden.  Judge Judd tries to get the new Chief Judge Solomon interested in his cloning programme, but Solomon is wary of the appearance of trying to create a super race. In 2052 the president gives America’s three great Mega Cities autonomy in everything but Foreign and military affairs – something which Texas Governor Robert L Booth approves of.  Meanwhile, Fargo is making very slow progress but they reach the limit of what they can do to help him, so they put him in perfect suspended animation, hoping that one day they can help. 

In 2055, an immigration act comes into force in Mega City 1 as the Mega Cities try to control the growing population.  In 2057, Solomon stands down to be replaced with Goodman who introduces an experimental Psi Division.  Solomon warns Goodman that Harvisson’s running mate, Booth, is not to be trusted.  Indeed, in 2060 Harvisson and Booth win the election and Booth warns he’ll be taking a hard line against a growing anti-American Alliance. 

In 2064, Judd is finally given permission to start his cloning programme.  After 16 months gestation, they’ll emerge at age 6, fully versed in the law and 100% loyal.  6 viable clones have been produced – with 2 of them, Joseph and Rico Dredd being Fargo’s clones – the name Dredd designed to illicit fear in the populace.    In 2066, the clones are brought into the Academy of Law – and the future of law enforcement is just beginning…

FK :This story has been a steady grower – nothing too awe-inspiring, nice and long and looking very well thought out. My opinion of it, on the other hand, has been all over the shop.

First, pre-emptive cyncism, could it possibly be as good as the ads suggested? Could it stand up to the other epics? Then excitement – the beginning looked good, lots of wacky characters and action and that old western magic that Wagner and Ezquerra do so well.  Now I’m back to somewhere in between. 

Being told the full story of how the Judges began is interesting.   It will appeal to continuity nerds. I’m not one, to be honest, but there is a certain satisfaction in recognising characters from other stories; Judd, Goodman, President Booth and so on. What’s more, I want to know what happens next week, which is always a plus. But all this history isn’t what we’re really reading it for. I love the way the story seems to be taking its time. Too many recent thrills have promised a lot and been over, just as I was settling in. Hopefully waiting ages for the climax will make it all the more worthwhile. 

I gave this an appreciative 8 and wouldn’t be completely surprised if it upgraded itself to a 9 before the story finishes. 

CE: Six pages of engaging, planned-out future history? I love it! It’s a sign of Wagner’s skill that he can show us the events of fifteen years and the origins of much of the Dreddverse in just six pages without feeling rushed. We’ve got the cloning program, the brothers Dredd starting at the academy, Fargo being frozen, Goodman becoming Chief Judge, the rise of Bad Bob Booth, the Mega-Cities gaining autonomy and setting their own laws, little ominous bits setting up the upcoming Atom Wars, the debut of future baddie Judd… Some comics would spend a whole issue on this!

Aside from a little goof with the Dredd cadets – why is only Joe wearing a Dredd badge? – it’s flawless. 

The bad guy revealed...

Synopsis: Slim is attacked by the monster and although he tries to fight back, he’s soon ripped to pieces.  The monster doesn’t actually attack Elvy – but just tells him that there’s only one piece of him left.  Elvy suddenly thinks of Anna – who he left in the attic, with Meyer's film running.  He suddenly realises that the last part of Chiaroscuro might be tacked onto the end of that film – just like the one they watched. 

Elvy reaches his house – where the watching policeman is already dead.  He calls upstairs to Anna, and she seems to be OK at first, but soon she says that she now knows everything – and she says that Elvy has been leading the monster to destroy all the echoes of itself so it could finally escape.  He finally breaks into the attic and realises that the monster has killed Anna and has been mimicking her voice…

FK : Eeek!  Aaargh! Oh. It had to happen some time I suppose. The mysterious murdering whatsit couldn’t stay hidden from us forever. It’s still a dispointment to finally see it and have it (mostly) explained.  I’m sure Spurrier is familiar with the old adage that the scariest monsters are the ones you don’t see.  Mind you, we are treated to a classic ‘what’s on the other side of the door’ scene which is very cinematic in a horror movie way and well worth the price of admission.

El Spurioso gets an 8 here – for being super different to the rest of the prog, for telling the story with an unusual amount of control, and for writing something which is retro without being too camp.  By which I mean that Chiaroscuro looks as if it was written back in the early seventies. I know it wasn’t. I know it couldn’t have been. But it feels that way.  Now to finish my popcorn before this story (hopefully) scares me out of being able to think about food. While we wait, here’s another one of my crap predictions.  This story will either explain the monster completely and be a fizzer, or explain the monster completely and be absolute genius. 

CE: Remember London Falling, where Shuck went to kill Jack’s family but was stopped? Chiaroscuro turns out to play by different rules, and damn is the fifth page a shocker. We all expected Anna to be in danger at some point, since this is a horror strip and all, but dead? Slim too? And the revelation that Anthony actually was responsible for all those deaths and has only made the monster stronger? Add this to the relentless slaughter and the whole addictive sickness of mondo, it’s almost a pity to see the bogeyman in the flesh because the horror gets a face. It was far nastier when it was a glimpsed thing in the shadows that just left corpses in its wake, an unseen threat. (That said, the big panel of Anna’s death is bloody nasty, so kudos to Smudge.)

After all this, I’d be amazed if we’re getting any sort of happy ending. Between this and London Falling, it’s clear than Spurrier is a highly skilled horror writer and I want bloody more from him, damn it. 

Pros and Cons- Part 2

Sinister's reputation precedes him...

Synopsis: Sinister makes friends with Billy Fix, the sufferer of Tourettes – who says he’s appealing against his own case.  Fix tells Sinister that everyone knows who Finnegan Sinister is, and Sinister already manages to piss off the nazi Herman Vermin.  

Later, Whisk warns Sinister that if he hangs out with Fix, his reputation inside will take a dive. 

Later, in the canteen, Quint approaches him and tells him that in prison, gunsharks are the lowest of the low and that he should start making more valuable friends. Sinister shuns his advances but, later still, Herman Vermin is let into his cell and starts beating him “Where are your guns now?”

FK : Another 7 coming right up, as Dan Abnett rings the changes on the clichéd ‘nice-but-tough guy  deliberately gets into prison’.  My favourite line so far is when people keep telling Sinister that they know who he is. He tells one of these interruptees, “ I wuz going to say “I’m eating””.  Did I mention that he’s befriended a nice schnook who needs help? Or that he’s getting a kicking? Need I add that a softly spoken kingpin is threatening him in the canteen?  Listing all these predictable ingredients, I wonder why I like it, but I do.  It’s Sinister Dexter, so I want to like it. The story is told with good humour and affection for Sinister and the affection works. The writing, despite working through a menu of prison-movie clichés, is understated, without the frantic punning that we’ve often seen in Sinister/Dexter. 

I dunno, restraint from Abnett, restraint from Spurrier, has Tharg put something in the water supply? 

CE: First three pages – so far, so prison story cliché. But it’s quite well done so I’ll give it a pass. The last two pages, however, those are great. Most of it is two guys sitting and talking over a lunch and the violence takes place off-panel, but it’s still strong stuff. Sinister & Dexter have been uber-scary infamous badasses since the early days of the strip, so it’s a big role reversal to suddenly see Finnigan at the bottom of the food chain. Despite, his casual dismissal of Quint and his hierarchy – aside from being a really cool moment – shows he’s not going to play that game and we’re hopefully in for some violence. 

Remember last issue, when, as Cornell said, Finnigan showed up as a clown? He’s not a clown anymore – the red nose and long hair is gone, and we’re looking at Malone again, which is just appropriate considering the situation he’s in. This is a lean, mean looking guy and shows Finnigan looks a lot more impressive when he has less hair. 

With a bound he was free... - Part 3

History re-written...

Synopsis: Augustus hears the werewolf howling while Newton believes that the skeleton, which appears to have the head of a wolf, may be the cause of everything.  He warns Augustus not to touch it if he doesn’t want to become a wolf himself, as it appears the burglar caught himself on the skeleton’s teeth, turning him into the werewolf. 

Isaac thinks that the skeleton is that of Cadmus, half brother of Romulus and Remus – born of Jupiter and the she-wolf that protected the two boys.  They played together until Romulus ordered Cadmus to kill Remus.  When Romulus ascended into godhood, Cadmus stayed as the tool of countless emperors until Cadmus was sent to England.  The Druids offered Cadmus and his half-wolf soldiers (turned when Cadmus bit them) wine which made them insensible and easy to kill.  Cadmus himself could not be killed, so they staked him to the earth, grounding him with willow and wolfsbane.  His body rotted and his soul stayed in limbo, with his body kept in secret lest anyone would try to revive him. 

Augustus is impressed with the tale but a shadowy figure enters and is revealed as having a wolf’s head – and he says that certain details have been left unsaid…

FK: I never ever thought Red Seas would remind me of Dredd, but it does just now. Both stories are keeping their powder dry and saving the money shot for sometime in the near future.  Both stories feel, this week, like the quiet bit in a great story.  Not very much happens in Red Seas this week. Exposition occurs, yet more myths are ‘explained’ in the manner of a more lucid and interesting David Icke.

Spookily enough, I was on the train not long after finishing Red Seas, when a boy-girl couple got on and engaged in a long noisy explanation of conspiracies involving the Masons, the early Christian Church and Atlantis (“which was really amazing, right?”).  I suspect at least half of this couple was thinking “If I keep sounding enthusiastic about the Masons, I might get some sex”.  Since I had no such hope, I had to grit my teeth and remember Red Seas.  This courting couple weren’t half as interesting as Romulus and Remulus’s lost half-wolf brother, nor was their story told in such lovely pseudo-Egyptian art.  I suppose a fair bit did occur, if you count the mythological revision as action. 

Anyway, as I say, it’s a great story and it’s early days yet. 

CE: WEREWOLF ROMAN CENTURIONS!  

I could go into more detail, pointing out the well-crafted period prose that Edgington shows, or the interesting back story, or the flashbacks being done in the style of Roman pottery art, and use those as examples of why this strip is good. But sod all that, because the mere existence of werewolf Roman centurions is reason enough for this strip being great. Every time The Red Seas shows up, we get this brilliant mix of random mythologies and period adventure stories, all coming together over the years to be a big frothy mix of greatness – long may The Red Seas continue!

This thing’s crying out to get a cartoon or TV series, it really is. 

Sword of the Tsar - part 4

Dante has woman troubles again...

Synopsis: Khara tells Dante that after she returned to her own dimension, the war went badly as the White army’s technology outstripped that of the red guard.  It was the cybernetic technology that caused the war between the Red Guard who fought to keep their humanity and the White Army who embraced the cybernetic technology.  A deal had been made with the Romanov Dynasty to provide the Red Guard with Gulag conscripts for their war in return for the crest technology, but it only delayed the inevitable.  On her last mission, Khara infiltrated a White Army command post and learned that the White Army had created another transdimensional bridge that could send through one agent at a time – and they were slowly preparing an invasion, so Kkara decided to cross the bridge and try to help the Tsar.  She gives him a list of enemies that have turned, and the Tsar orders the Lord Protector to begin a purge. 

Jena decides that it’s time to mend bridges with Dante and invites him to dinner, only for him to spurn the invitation in lieu of a night on the town with Khara.  However, when they return from a night of debauchery, Khara reveals herself to be a Red Guard agent after all.  She tells Danta that the Guard is here to save them from their decadence and as Dante tries to shoot her with the rifle, he is thrown out of the palace and starts plummeting to the ground.

FK: Dante is in fine form too and, like Dredd, he’s going back to some old favourites - in his case the leggy ‘Red Russian’ woman from an alternative dimension.  I was half expecting the twist here, which is a bad sign as I usually don’t spot these things.  On the other hand, how nice to have a comic ask the questions you idly wonder when you read it.  ‘did you think one mere female could hold out against the White Reavers?’.  How indeed? We were mislead, O White Reaver, by that little girl who escaped the Aliens in Aliens and by about a thousand other plucky but unlikely fighters of evil (like Dante himself, come to think of it). Anyway, Dante has everything that ever made it good here; the derring-do stuff, a little jealousy from another woman, Dante acting like a boofhead and a little fight. Oh and those ‘possessed by the weapons crest’ faces that  Simon Fraser does so well. Takes me back to Dante’s bonkers half-brother.

The good news for lovers of the slightly unpredictable is that I have no idea what’s going to happen next. By rights the cyberorganic ratbags should eviscerate Dante in three panels and get on with making the entire future Russian Federation like them, Cyberman-style, but I’m sure something will work out. Probably Dante and humanity will be saved by the Tsar, thus enabling Dante to strike a bitter pose of some kind.

I’m enjoying this story. I hope this comes across. I gave it a swashbuckling 7.

CE: The death of Anna in Chiaroscuro was the only big shock I thought I’d be getting this prog, and then along comes Dante with Khara returning only to be revealed as having joined the enemy. Bloody hell! The threat of the White Army suddenly gets more immediate and personal now it’s claiming Dante’s friends. Just a few progs ago, the enemy was a local despot trying to get rid of pirates; then it turned into the Kraken at his most powerful and hate-filled, and that seemed a major step up – the White Army outstrip them both. This storyline is Robbie Morrison at his best.