2000AD 1558 -10 October 07

Cover by Frazer Irving

Charles Ellis: Intense and dynamic. Between this and the glorious cover to Prog 1556, I hope there’s more Button Man covers in the pipeline.

Mandroid - Instrument of War Part 3 Script: John Wagner Art: Carl Critchlow Colours: Peter Doherty Letters: Annie Parkhouse

CE: We’re still in the slow-burning set-up, and while it’s not yet at the same level as the original Mandroid it’s still one of the best Dredds of the year. Slaughterhouse’s frustration and grief come across well and follow logically from the first story – before he was after personal vengeance, here he’s just going through the motions. He doesn’t appear to care much about the people he’s going to kill nor the general’s agenda (the general’s flat and underdeveloped, which is an annoying flaw in this good a story). Critchlow’s art is gritty, all peeling paint and grungy, purely-functional machinery and ugly men. It fits the story well – this is the story of a man who’s dead behind the eyes and has lost all hope and is killing people for no reason beyond a stranger asking him to, it should not look pretty. 

The page with Slaughterhouse and his wife is quite simply a masterpiece. His attempts at coaxing a reaction, reminiscing about the past (and note that he remembers battles rather than anything domestic) while knowing she can’t answer. His face always in shadow while Kitty’s blank, emotionless stare is in full view; we draw closer into it as Slaughterhouse increasingly realises there’s no life behind her eyes… and his only outlet is to punch something. And we can see it brings him no relief.  

That page is the work of masters. 

The Harrowers - Part 9 Script: Ian Edginton Art: Simon Davis Letters: Ellie De Ville

CE: We do know they’re going to get out of this somehow, which robs the tension; the fact we don’t really know or care about the cast robs it of me. This is a pity – if we did like the cast, if this was Jack Dancer’s boys for example, this would be a great 5 pages. The cast are in danger, there’s a brief moment of hope, that moment is then dashed as it’s made clear everyone’s being left to die… and THAT is when one of our heroes emerges, still fighting and ready to join his comrades in a defiant last stand. It’s a good use of five pages and it is good storytelling; even thought little is “happening” (the characters run away and then stand still), quite a lot is happening in terms of emotional impact and getting a reaction out of the reader. 

Or at least, it would be if we cared about the cast. I like Harry and was glad to see him still alive, but as for the rest – they could all die with no reaction from me (except Harry). Also, “it’s snowing!” is a non-starter as a cliffhanger. The art, of course, is still great. 

The Volgan War - Vol 2, Ep 9 Script: Pat Mills Art: Clint Langley Letters: Simon Bowland

CE: We all knew the General was going to be put on trial and it’s pretty clear Pat knew we knew; rather than it being a Shocking Revelation, it’s presented matter-of-factly. It’s quite satisfying as a result – the bad guy inevitably gets his just desserts, justice is served. The attack on Jadrez is standard Mills, with enslaved robots forced to do things by amoral humans and the “Good Guys” as bad guys and so forth, but it’s still well done. The Reagan screaming in horror for forgiveness as he’s forced to kill people is quite nasty.  

I like Deadlock’s judgement on Volkhan, that he’d be far too dangerous dead, but the idea that he’s not really that evil grates. He bloody is evil, we’ve seen him doing evil acts! Same with the other Volgans, their whole regime is evil! Pat’s presented them too much as nasty bastards to backtrack now. That said, it is quite interesting seeing him take his former good-guy character Colonel Lash and amp up his amorality.  

Langley’s art continues to be great with robots, warzones and the Knight’s creepy base. Lovely stuff, especially that panel of Deadlock with a shattered face and glowing, piercing eyes as he asks “and we are sane?”. His humans, as has been pointed out, don’t work as well. 

Ashes - Part 8 Script: Gordon Rennie Art: Dom Reardon Letters: Annie Parkhouse

CE: Well THAT can’t be it. That’s nowhere near wrapping everything up, nor a satisfying end to Kostabi. I don’t quite believe this is the actual end though (for a start, it won’t make a third trade on its own!), and I note Jenny’s baby kicks at the precise moment Kostabi’s killed and when smoke is seen reaching from his corpse. We know he can body-jump, we saw him avoid harming Jenny’s baby (out of morality? Bollocks!), and we know he wanted Ravne to try and kill him for an unknown reason. It doesn’t appear to be finished… 

The actual battle itself is great though – our heroes take a horrific pasting, Kostabi is a truly nightmarish foe in his ability to shrug off everything with ease (especially with that graphic head wound Reardon gives him), and all countermeasures appear to fail. The angel’s arrival is satisfying, the enemy outmanoeuvred. The angel’s immediate victory is crap, but if you assume it’s not over that’s less of a problem. (So there better be another!) 

The Hitman's Daughter - Part 8 Script: John Wagner Art: Frazer Irving Colours: Fiona Staples Letters: Ellie De Ville

CE: I am not entirely sure how Adele gets out of there alive, which is a point against it. The rest of the art though, that’s great – nightmarish and intense. Wagner’s script is still strong, with the first page being wonderfully crafted and raising tension. It’s a bit hard to say things about it, really – we know it’s great. I do find the ending very interesting though: whereas you’d normally expect the protagonist to learn murdering for revenge is wrong, here we get the opposite. Here it’s presented that Adele was wrong to show mercy and she vows to kill next time. It’s the anti-superhero message in many ways. 

CE: Four strong strips make this a great time to be reading 2000AD.  

Best Story: Judge Dredd.