Cover by Richard Elson

JA: Not the best Dante cover - it’s a very standard shot of Dante using his bio-blades and isn’t drawn by one of the stalwart artists. Though it’s functional, it doesn’t really do much on the first viewing.

Shaggy's Big Shoot Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Mick McMahon Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dredd takes a breather...

Synopsis: Shaggy is a Mega City 1 paparazzo down on his luck. Owing his drug dealers money, he needs one big break and finally gets it when he takes a photo of Dredd taking his helmet off after a fight. He travels to his agent but is intercepted by his drug dealer Grekko who threatens to take the photo and make the money himself. But Dredd arrives on the scene and saves Shaggy, only to destroy the photo of himself and arrest Shaggy for invasion of privacy.

JA: Am I the only person who isn’t that enamoured by Mick McMahon’s art? Its ok, but nowhere are good as the classic Block Mania era art that I gazed at back in the 1980s. However, what does save this is the colour. It’s simply gorgeous and enlivens and actually makes this Dredd one-off quite good. The vibrancy brings it alive and really fills the page and after reading it I actually forgot the rather whimpering end of Origins Dredd could face a long stretch of filler stories.

Bad Blood Script: Arthur Wyatt Art: Lee Carter Letters: Ellie De Ville

Bad medicine ...

Synopsis: A man who has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour has found a way to keep the tumour at bay. After being attacked by a vampire, he drew her blood and after injecting it in himself, it seemed to heal him. He spends the next two years tracking down vampires and stealing their blood. It works until the vampires join together and hunt him down. He's been drawing their blood for so long that he's started to turn into one of them, so they leave him out in the sun until he turns to dust...

JA: As fillers go, and yep, this is filler it’s not half bad. The artwork is gloomy and atmospheric and has enough flair to enliven what is quite a predictable story. At least it has a little bit of emotion and though the twist isn’t as surprising as it could have been, the end panel actually has bit of heart and feeling.

For filler it was very satisfying indeed.

Part 5 Script: Ian Edginton Art: Steve Yeowell Art: Chris Blythe Letters: Ellie De Ville

Detonator X gets a knockout...

Synopsis: Dr Chung starts fighting the monster, using the severed Dominator arms and a form of Nguni Stick Fighting. Mackay warns him that the Detonator can't take the sudden fighting moves - so decides to finish the fight by crushing the monster's head between the two robot fists. The battle over, more monsters get ready to attack, but the blood from the dead one has masked the Detonator's scent so they think it's one of them. Chung thinks the monsters are part of a macrobe which will only attack if the primary organism, is threatened - they just need to know what that is. Meanwhile, a strange figure is watching the events from afar...

JA: I have a couple of gripes with this series. It's six episodes in and not once has this really grabbed me. It’s competently drawn, as always by Steve Yeowell, but the story is a little bit lumbering and lacks much drama. Also, the fight scenes lack any scale and just look like a robots battling some lizards like a 1950s “B” movie or kind of Godzilla trashes Tokyo film clip. It’s still taken six episodes to get anywhere and the Detonator X robot is pretty useless as well. Sorry I just don’t get it.

I reserve my judgement, as this is not necessarily bad; it’s just a little bland.

Normal Service Script: Dan Abnett Art: Anthony Williams Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Good as new...

Synopsis: Sinister sends Billy off on a one way ticket to the Baltic Zone - out of harm's way. He and Dex get their car and weapons out of storage and head back into the heart of Downlode...

JA: So, after what seems an eternity Sinister & Dexter are both fit and well, back with their favourite guns, driving their favourite car and heading back to Downlode to settle a few scores with Moses. This rebirth story arc has actually been quite entertaining, the art hasn’t been that important as SB Davis is the definitive artist for S&D (the series has often fallen down in the past is when the story has been weak).

That said, this has been rather entertaining and though it has offered little in the way of real shocks it has at least been gripping and has had a degree of excitement and style that have let the best qualities of this established series come through.

Thieves' World - Part 1 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Simon Fraser Colours: Gary Caldwell Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dante and Elena make new friends...

Synopsis: Dante kills all the attackers and gets Jena to safety, although she is badly wounded. Later, the Tsar tells Dante that the mafia clans are growing in power and the attackers are linked to the Yeltsin clan in particular. Dante was apparently a part of the "Thieves' World" when he was younger - an alliance of clans that controlled criminal activities across the empire. Dante is now sent in to break the clans and starts by visiting Egor Golodkin, a gangster who almost beat him to death when he was younger. Dante humiliates them by making them strip and says to spread the word that "there's a new godfather in town!"

JA: It's not an understatement to say that the since Dante stopped being involved in contrived and, lets admit it, dull story lines around the Pacific, that it has recaptured a lot of the magic of the Tsar Wars story arc. This current story line is showcasing the full range of qualities that make this saga as good as it is. We have a little bit of comedy, a dose of politics and intrigue and the relighting of his fragile and possibly doomed relationship with Jena.

What I really like about this story is the way Robbie Morrison is making Vlad even more evil and megalomaniac than he ever was. We have a truly great bad guy who is a bit more than a stereotype.

Can this get any better? I'll bet it does!

JA: Not a bad prog - Dante still stands head and shoulders above everything else, although there are filler stories that aren’t that bad. Only Detonator X lacks a bit of excitement. Roll on next week!

Best Story: Nikolai Dante