Cover by D'israeli

CE: A Stickleback cover at last, and what a beauty! The starkness of it – totally blank background, black-white-and-red colouring – is really eye-catching and Stickleback is a hideous , terrifying figure, especially with that blank eye leering at you. 

RC: Single character portraits tend to be action shots, usually with a big gun pointed at potential readers. D’Israeli rejects the armed robbery approach with an excellent portrait of an enigmatic and devious character looking enigmatic and devious. Turn to the story to see why. I really shouldn’t, but I’m going to say it anyway; “cover of the year!”

Judgement - Part 3 Script: Gordon Rennie Art: Ian Gibson Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Rico starts as he means to continue....

Synopsis: Once again flashing back to Joe and Rico's first days on the streets, Rico's assessor Kenner gets a call from Joe Dredd. He tells Kenner that he's been having some doubts about Rico and Kenner shares his concerns. He says that Joe and he should meet to discuss. After hanging up the vidphone, the caller gets rid of his "Dredd" badge revealing himself as Rico, who appears to be luring Kenner into a trap.

Back in the present, Dredd and Anderson set out after the Judgement killer while Ishmael takes care of the wounded judge. Dredd takes a short cut and gets to the killer before Anderson. Judgement appears to recognise Dredd, seemingly indicating that it is the spirit of Kenner who was killed by Rico. Judgement takes out Dredd's bike and has him at his mercy, but balks killing him. He walks through a wall, heading for the "hidden place" with the "whispering voice".

Anderson comes to Dredd's aid, who recognised the voice as Kenner's.

CE: A bit unfortunate, the strip taking place now – the 30th Anniversary is going to launch with all new strips and one halfway-done Dredd. Still, that’s not the strip’s fault and it’s got quite a lot going for it. It’s been a while since Dredd and Anderson have been working together and Rennie’s got a good grasp on both of them and how they differ, as seen by their different approaches to pursuit on page 3. Judgement himself is a great semi-villain: seemingly unstoppable, no nonsense when out to get someone, and a brilliantly eerie design by Gibson. And then there’s the mystery - what’s going on with those hints of a “Whispering Voice”? How did he decide one Judge was guilty and the other wasn’t last prog? What’s Judgement’s real agenda? 

Aside from the female Street Judge and Anderson looking far too similar, this is excellent stuff. 

RC: Good things:

• It’s filled the gap in Origins, not with filler but with a cracking good story from one of Rennie’s best Dredd scripts. A really pleasant surprise, whatever the circumstances.
• Gibson’s old-style artwork. I’ve always been a Gibson fan.
• Dredd bypassing the Ped ramp. How cool was that?
  
• Dredd ordering the SJS guy around. Ditto.
  
• Rennie’s take on bad Rico.
  
• The whole ghost judge thing makes me think of Scooby Doo. Anyone else? I didn’t think so.

Bad things:

• Gibson’s colouring. I suppose he’d been paid for colour so he got out the old felt-tip pens and finished the job. I think Dredd would work pretty well in plain inks every now and then. Anyone else? I didn’t think so.
• Rennie seems to have given away the story’s secrets a bit too soon. Or has he? Hopefully there’s more to the tale than meets the eye and there’s a real zinger of a twist a couple of weeks down the road.
  
  

Part 9 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Richard Elson Letters: Ellie De Ville Colours: Steve Roberts

The Hackman confounds the new pack...

Synopsis: The new pack proceeds to take on the attacking bugs with their weaponry. The Alpha Male introduces himself as Val Kilmore, while Gene confirms he is an Omega - without a pack. Gene tells Val about the land bridge that Them built so that they could take the only part of land that the humans still controlled. Gene takes them to the human, but he has died of a heart attack while the battle was taking place. The other pack doesn't believe that the human was a master and says they are going to return to their home now, asking Gene to accompany them. Gene says he has to go his own way, but before they go, the others show Gene how to use the guns. Gene heads out across the land bridge to take the fight to Them...

CE: I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a standalone or set-up for further strips – it could go either way based on that ending. Considering he’s a big dog thing with a silly name who fights giant insects, Gene is surprisingly sympathetic. Over the course of the strip, he’s lost everything and only barely understands what he learnt from ‘the Master’. You can’t fault the moment where he tells the stars “Gene got named after one of you”, it’s poignant, funny, and slightly cruel. I’d definitely like to see more from Gene and his hacking, or at least another Elson/Abnett collaboration.  

RC: Bad things:

• It’s been one long string of fight sequences. What about characterisation and plot?
  
• The final episode is an extended last page.

Good things:

• It’s been one long string of fight scenes. Who needs characterisation
  when you can have violence?
• The sheer “dogginess” of the Auxes. Sniffing each other in greeting. Doglike social order. Lines like, “yeah, I got the bone.”
• Elson’s artwork. It does the job and it’s certainly grown on me.
  
• The lack of pretension. Nothing more nor less than a simple idea well executed and all the better for that.
  
• The ending leaving things just open enough for a sequel. Let's hope so.

The Volgan War - Vol 1, Part 9 Script: Pat Mills Art: Clint Langley Letters: Simon Bowland

Mek Quake doesn't respond well to treatment ...

Synopsis: Before it can blow, Pineapples's bomb tag is disabled by Zippo, who suddenly appears on the scene. Together, they defend against the attacking Straw Dogs and Pineapples manages to escape. Back in the present, it seems that the ABCs are looking to find Zippo so he can be the replacement in the group for Mek Quake.

Meanwhile, Mek Quake has been downgraded to "non sentient" after performing badly in a series of Rorschach tests. He's told to clean the cell of a robot that only humans are allowed too because of its ability to influence robots - but it shouldn't affect Mek Quake. The prisoner is a dismembered Volkhan...

CE: Zippo is going to be the new ABC Warrior! …and boy, did the strip make that obvious from his second appearance. Joe and Blackblood’s war story fizzles out – though Langley’s glorious splash of ABC Warriors fighting monstrous Soviet robots in a graveyard is, well, glorious – and the gags on the third page are rubbish, especially the Easy Steam film one.  

But while this week started off slightly naff, it quickly becomes great again in the last half. Mek-Quake’s Rorschach blot test? Priceless. Volkan gets a drokking cool appearance too; he’s already been an impressive, if slightly one-dimensional, villain in the flashbacks but the Volkan in the asylum… He is absolutely terrifying. I hope he breaks out early on in Book 2.  

Ah, Pat Mills. When he’s good, he’s very very good; when he’s bad, he’s… well, let’s not go there. And in this storyline, we’re going from good to bad and vice versa not only in the same story, but this week in the same script! It’s disorienting and, though I’m sure he wouldn’t agree, could do with some heavier editing to keep it coherent. But I’ll take all the bad bits of Mills’ work in order to get the good, and ol’ Volkan on page 6 seems to be promising some very good stuff indeed!

RC: Bad things:

• More wretched plotting from Mills as Joe ends his story with, “oh, and then we escaped.” Mills may have had “Day of the Jackal” in mind. Pineapples wasn’t the only one to miss his target.
• Hammerstein’s unlikely Russian cinema joke. If that’s what it was. A real “did I just read what I think I just read?” moment.
  

Good things:

• Langley’s artwork. (Well, duh.)
  
• Blackblood stepping into the embarrassed silence. Programmed for treachery and sarcasm. Great combination. Way cooler than Hammerstein.
• Mek Quake. Apparently dumped from the unit to make way for the new guy. Then returning for an amusing Rorschach skit. And then…
• That fantastic last page twist. This story has floundered after a great start but suddenly I’m really looking forward to Volume II. Blackblood! Deadlock! Steelhorn! Oh, wait, forget that last one.
  
  

Mother London - Part 9 Script: Ian Edginton Art: D'israeli Letters: Ellie De Ville

Stickleback shows his true colours...

Synopsis: Lime prepares to kill Bey. Before he does, he tells him that he was the one who turned the secret society into something more active. They had helped the people of London, but nothing would stop them from corrupting themselves again, so Lime decided he wanted a piece of the action himself.

He takes Bey deeper into the tunnels, showing him where they grow the Black Dogs, until finally they reach two withered creatures on thrones, deep in the Earth - Gog and Magog from episode one of the story. They tell Bey that they are one with the city and the City Fathers enslaved them with magic to force them under their will. They also tell Bey that he is "destined to walk another, darker winding way". At this point, Stickleback and his crew arrive on the scene. Lime appears to recognise Stickleback "You and all those bloody Sepoys! I saw you die!" Stickleback orders one of his crew, Black Bob to kill him, which he does with a flamethrower, along with Limes' supporters.

Stickleback tells Bey that he's killed all the people in the party upstairs with the mustard gas he had earlier stolen from a train (episode 2) and suddenly Bey realises that Stickleback was responsible for the death of his family, as they know Bey would lead them to this underground lair. He attacks Stickleback, but it stabbed in the fight and tossed over the edge of the cavern far down into the roots of the tree. Stickleback orders Bob to burn Gog and Magog and takes his place as the ruler of London...

CE: Once upon a time, I read Scarlet Traces and the ending was bloody traumatic. And now, Ian Edginton and D’Israeli have done it again!  

Firstly, I’ll say not only are the Black Dogs great monsters but their origin is disgusting. Born from the wombs of murdered prostitutes? Urg! Beyond that, D’Israeli’s art continues to excel – the fiery death of Lime and his dodgy mates, that image of the City Father’s tree growing up into London, every time Stickleback’s face is in shot. As for the writing… y’know, I’d almost forgotten about the train robbery in part 2. Edginton writes a tightly crafted script, but bloody hell it’s a bleak one! Our hero Bey, who we’ve seen pushed to his limits and losing everything in the hope of doing the right thing, is revealed to have been manipulated from the start. Stickleback is shown as pure, irredeemable evil, and he triumphs despite it. When you get down to it, he’s not even that much different to Lime and his society. Both prey off people, both show no morality (Stickleback is laughing when Bey learns about his family), and both believe that people want to be preyed on. Stickleback says “I gives the people precisely what they want”, Lime says “they like living in shit” – what’s the difference? 

In the end, a complete evil bastard with no redeeming features has won and our hero has died after being used & losing everything. And it was great. What’s Ian going to do for an encore?!  

RC: Bad things:

• It’s a double length episode. One of my personal hobby horses this one. Not only does it cheat us out of one story this prog, it breaks the structure of the story. The last panel on page five, “say my name, make me real,” is so obviously the "to be continued" moment. Without the break, the rhythm is broken and it all ends in a fearful clatter with the tree things appearing, then being killed in a couple of pages and
  Stickleback taking over.
  
  

Good things:

• Everything else.
• Great character moments.
• Last second surprises, some very nasty.
  
• Dialogue gems like, “Bob, get your undead arse over here!”
• D’Israeli’s art. What do you want? Weirdness? Emotion? Atmosphere? A period setting? Be greedy and have ‘em all! The best artwork leaves you wondering who else could have drawn it half as well. No one, that’s who.
• The ending suggests this is only the start of a series of adventures. What better way to reach the back cover?
  
  

CE: Aside from the first three pages of ABC Warriors, it’s all good. But the winner is quite clear…

Best Story: Stickleback

RC: (Don’t forget Droid Life – You see, he’s a FAN and he thinks he’s COOL. Well, it made me laugh.)

Despite some whinges, there’s nothing bad as such with 2000 AD at the moment. Tharg’s been delivering the goods for a few months now. Although Kingdom and Stickleback don’t end with their strongest episodes; all this week’s strips have left me eager for more. You could keep people reading your comic for weeks and weeks like that.

Best Story: Stickleback