Cover by Simon Fraser

GH: This cover has been kicking around online for a while now, having been previewed with Fraser's recent interview at Newsarama. Despite this early look at the picture, it's still an absolutely fantastic piece of work with Lulu Romanov never looking more sexy and never more dangerous. As with his work on the strip itself, Fraser seems to have raised his game since he's returned from his Dante sabbatical and has turned in not only an early contender for cover of the year, but cover of the last few years too...

Judgement - Part 5 Script: Gordon Rennie Art: Ian Gibson Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Judgement exacts revenge...

Synopsis: Flashing back to 7 months ago, we witness the execution of Psi judge Edek at the hands of Raveen and his psychics - who helped to lure Edek to a deserted place without her talents revealing the danger. Shot multiple times, she was put into stasis. However, a part of her mind remained active, desperate for revenge, and she found the spirit of someone else who needed revenge just as much in Judge Kenner.

While Anderson visits the vaults in search of Edek's body, Judgement is executing the Psychics and finally gets to Raveen flooding his mind with the pain and suffering he has caused - driving him insane. Dredd appears on the scene and tries to talk Kenner down while Edek's mind tries to keep him on her side. Judgement attacks the judges while Anderson runs into psychic manifestations in the vault...

GH: As a replacement for the much-missed Origins, Rennie and Gibson have had some mightily big shoes to fill, but have performed admirably with this highly enjoyable Dredd romp. Rennie has added to the canon by filling in more of Rico's past, another indication that he's allowed a lot more rope with his Dredd tales than any other writer. Bringing Anderson back to the main Dredd tale was long overdue, and a great timing as a taster for her own series in the Megazine next month. The story may not shake the foundations of the character but Rennie, as ever, manages to tell a decent Dredd story with apparently effortless ease. Recent tales by Morrison and others have been passable, but only Rennie seems to be able to understand exactly what makes Dredd and his supporting cast tick. Add to that some work from Gibson which shows just what he can pull off when given a decent script and this will do nicely while we wait for the Origins denouement.

Double Yellow - Part 2 Script: Pat Mills Art: Charlie Adlard Letters: Ellie De Ville

Savage gets some therapy ...

Synopsis: Bill Savage visits a book shop in Aldgate. The proprietor initially appears to view him as a normal punter but when he shuts up the shop, it's clear he's a contact of Savage called Mr Granville. Savage says he wants to know who killed Tom and says it looked like an MI5 killing. Granville refuses to help him and asks him to leave and never return.

Later, on the roof of his flat, Savage realises that it's time to move on and his, Noddy and Cassie's new identities have been prepared by Mike. But it's too late, as three gunship helicopters close in on them and start landing soldiers. Savage and Mike run down to try and escape with Noddy and Cassie, but they are cut off by approaching armoured cars...

GH: As mentioned by some of our reviewers, the Pat Mills who writes Savage seems to be one totally removed from the Pat Mills responsible for the ABC Warriors and Slaine. The former Pat Mills seems focused on the story he has to tell, using the characters and their actions as a means to further the plot. In Savage, he's taken the starting point of a 30 year old story and developed it far beyond its initial beginnings. The Pat Mills responsible for Slaine, and some of the latter Warriors tale in the latest Volgan War epic, seems to do the opposite. That is, keeping the status quo of the main characters in place, undergoing constant revisionism of old tales without taking them significantly away from their origins and moulding the story to fit the characters - not the other way around.

Luckily we have a good few weeks of Pat's better half in the form of the excellent Savage, a tale which sees Pat move away from catchphrases and signature "moves". If he could inject some of this forward thinking into his other work, he'd be an unstoppable force. As it is, Mills remains likely to divide the critics as he seems to be divided himself.

Casino Royal Script: Alan Grant Art: Ian Gibson Letters: Simon Bowland

Samantha gets lucky...

Synopsis: Samantha Slade visits the Palace of Fun casino trailing a philandering celebrity, Mr Pecks. To her surprise, her name is on the guest list and she is given credits to spend at the tables. She plays poker on the same table as Pecks, filming him and proving to his wife that he's not cheating. Hoagie and Stogie relate the info to Pecks' wife and it becomes clear that she didn't hire them at all. Stogie fears a trap and they go to rescue her.

Meanwhile one of Sam's robo-cards appears to be cheating for her and she wins enough money to get a seat at the table of the Texas Hold-em Global Championship - with 100million credits at stake...

GH: The revival of Robo Hunter has been, so far, the one revival that's faltered hasn't quite lived up to expectation. It took a long while for Samantha to find her feet and the stories still don't seem to have the old spark that the original Wagner/Grant tales used to have. While this is passable fun, it doesn't look like it will do much to turn the tide in favour of the beleaguered Robo Hunter. The satire of Bond and movie stars seems forced (Tom Cruise is Tom Thum because he's small - geddit!) and only the robotic cards show a flash of the old Robo Hunter genius. Despite that, and probably more out of a sense of nostalgia, I'm still willing to give this a couple more episodes grace before damning it.

Gibson's art is, at least, on top form, but even that seems slightly muted when coupled with a script that can't match the quality of Rennie on Dredd.

Natural Order Script: Arthur Wyatt Art: Edmund Bagwell Letters: Ellie De Ville

Clamping down on the kids...

Synopsis: A teenager becomes addicted to radio noise purported to be from a long dead civilisation. An underground scene is built up around the signals where he and his friends take a drug called Buzz to help them be more at one with the signal. Gradually, the older generation starts to disapprove of the new scene and laws are put down to curb the drug and the parties. The teenager's girlfriend, who he met at one of the parties, takes him back to a hiding place after he kills a man by instinct. However, she then paralyses him with a neurotoxin form a spike hidden in her arm. She tells him that the signal was used to change the DNA of those who listened to it and something inside of them is about to hatch...

GH: Firstly, the art. The excellent Edmund Bagwell turns in another stellar job that makes him one of the best finds in 2000AD in recent history. Get this man on a big series now, as even with two Future Shocks it's 1clear that he's on track for the big leagues.

As for the story - I'm just not convinced. Unfortunately, it all seemed terribly familiar. The music related aspect of it bears a resemblance to Bagwell's other Future Shock with Al Ewing and the idea of people having their DNA resequenced is alas also not new. I can't put my finger on where I've read that before - but I'm sure warren Ellis has done something on the subject in Global Frequency. So, in all, this just didn't work for me. Wyatt has potential, that's for sure, but just needs to try for something more original.

Hellfire - Part 2 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Simon Fraser Letters: Annie Parkhouse Colours: Gary Caldwell

Lulu's plan is hatched...

Synopsis: Lulu runs her war of terror on the Empire from the Hellfire club, surrounded by her minions. She has infected the crew and passengers of the cruise ship Ambravovich with her demons, who tear through the ship, killing everything. The ship is on a collision course for the city and Dante is sent to investigate with Elena. Upon a closer investigation, he sees Lulu's demons swarming the ship. He is about to jump on board to try and rescue the survivors but the Tsar says the only option is to destroy it, or Lulu's demons will escape. Dante is unwilling, but even he realises that this is the only course of action. The ship is destroyed, bringing Lulu's death toll to 3000 that year, and she celebrates her latest victory.

GH: After the somewhat lighthearted and quite inconsequential Amazon outing for Dante - it's great to see the promise of last year's "Sword of the Tsar" continued in this latest tale.

As mentioned in past reviews, Morrison writes Dante much better when he mixes humour with tragedy and this episode is a perfect example, with Dante moving from bravado to anguish in only a few panels. Lulu is also immediately set up to be a far greater threat than we'd previously though her to be, and with the spectre of the Lord Protector in the background - Morrison is starting to really work the plot in Dante in a way he hasn't in years. Whereas the pirate episodes seemed to be stuck in a rut, the series now has a palpable sense of direction. The increased frequency of episodes is also helping to rejuvenate the character - meaning that humorous interludes seem less of a waste of valuable time - and Fraser's artwork is already topping his previous work on the series.

A masterful return to form that we could only have dared hope for a year ago...

GH: After a somewhat subdued anniversary issue, where the text features seemed better than many of the strips, this is an immediate return to form for the comic, with Savage and Dante alone being well worth the price of entry.

Best Story: Nikolai Dante