2000AD 1565 - 28 November 07

Cover by Steve Yeowell & Chris Blythe

Stephen Watson: Steve Yeowell isn’t generally renowned for his covers but this one is a cracker. According to the credit box Chris Blyth helped out but it’s Yeowell’s distinctive style that shines through. The vibrant colours, WW2 setting and a shiny faced man on the attack all blend to form a cracking image that must pique the interest of any casual browser. Toten without his hat looks a bit like Tony Blair and the cover is set outside whereas all the story pages are inside, but minor gripes apart this is everything a cover should be - one of the year’s best, for sure.

Pete McCosh: Alright. Yeowell’s art always cries out to be preserved in beautiful monochrome, but the addition of some WWII detail always livens up any sci-fi image.

Mandroid - Instrument of War Part 11 Script: John Wagner Art: Carl Critchlow Colours: Peter Doherty Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Uh oh...

Synopsis: Dredd bursts into the warehouse, but only finds General Vincent's bodyguard there. The General and the rest are en route to the Mekanoid storage area, and Kitty, controlled by the General's granddaughter Melody back at the warehouse, is going in with them. Dredd finds Melody and uses her surveillance equipment to discover that they're going after the mekanoids. But as they attack, Slaughterhouse has a change of heart and tries to take Kitty away. The General threatens to shoot him, and Dredd uses the opportunity to take over Melody's station and use Kitty to contact Slaughterhouse - telling him that she's really dead and that it's all a lie...

SW: This mini epic of a Dredd story has been a pale shadow of its predecessor up to now but it looks like things are taking a swing for the better late in the day. The story has been slow to gel and I for one was finding it hard to find empathy for Nate’s plight. The General is clearly a crackpot but Nate’s allegiance to him can be explained by his loyalty to his wife and his debt to the General who provided his new hardware.
The story has picked up pace in recent episodes with the tin pot revolution about to kick off. The obviously doomed plot is shown to be so small scale that the General’s mad ambitions are plain to see - except to his brainwashed troopers.

We do have to suspend disbelief that PSI Division and the PSU didn’t spot what was afoot but Wagner has made a good effort in making Dredd’s detective work seem credible. This weeks finale that saw Dredd speak through Nate’s wife was a masterstroke and I can wait for the inevitable blood stained finale.

There has been some criticism of Carl Critchlow’s art for this series but I think he’s done a great and consistent job. His colour palette is a bit dull but I’m sure that’s deliberate to reinforce the dark and grim reality of Nate’s existence. I prefer his work to that of Simon Coleby who drew some of the earlier episodes but the difference is negligible. Overall this has been an enjoyable run, but one that will be remembered as being far short of the original.

PMcC: The first Mandroid was something of a departure: a sparse story whose spaces allowed the characters to really develop and make the reader empathise with the tragic figure of Nate Slaughterhouse. This return feature has just seemed to drag. 

That’s not to say there haven’t been some good things about and, now we’re in the home straight, things have come good with the – not totally surprising – twist that, having failed to bring his man down with more traditional methods, Dredd is going to use Nate’s heart and his conscience to bring this case to a close. 

Good as all this character driven stuff is, I can’t help feeling that the General and his abortive coup could have made an interesting and more focused story in its own right, with the Slaughterhouses shoehorned in with an eye on padding out the already-trailed TPB. Or maybe I should just stop being so cynical and enjoy the bleedin’ story. 

Carl Critchlow isn’t a particular favourite of mine, but Peter Doherty’s colouring has showcased it in as good a light as possible throughout this story, much as it did for Simon Coleby in the earlier episodes. 

Script/Art: Bob Byrne

Extreme measures...

Synopsis: A twisted tale of a man who, locked in a persistently flooding island prison, uses vicious sea creatures to carry him to safety...

SW: I read this scruffily drawn five pager twice and still couldn’t get a satisfactory handle on what happened. Fortunately someone gave me a heads up and I just wonder if that is the same as the synopsis above. I’m all for something different or challenging but I don’t appreciate a ‘spot the story’ piece taking up five pages of my comic

As I understand it the convict uses the creatures to bite through his wall. He then let’s them gorge themselves on his blood enabling him to use them as floats and allow his escape. Once he’s out he’s bashed up and emaciated and looks nothing like his wanted poster. Was it worth it for him? I don’t know but it certainly wasn’t for this reader!

The Mr Bean approach to dialogue is all well and good but if the gimmick of having no speech makes the product impenetrable to most is it really serving any purpose? A strip better suited to the Megazine or better still, web publishing.

PMcC: Most of these Twisted Tales have needed a second read for me to fully get what’s meant to be going on, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. As long as the story does hang together, it can just be a case of readjusting to someone else’s sensibility. While I think there are limitations of the form Mr Byrne is intent on pursuing, I think the real problem is Tharg’s insistence on the Future Shock type story being limited to five pages. I understand the basic idea of forcing writers to work within a certain framework as an experiment, but I’m sure 1,3 or even 4 page Shocks can work just as well now as they have in the past. 

Having said that, this is probably the weakest Twisted Tale to date, but it still displays an admirable level of invention and the scene-setting panels illustrating our man’s daily routine were well done.  Ultimately, there are ups and downs in everything and I’m happy to see a few more of these (although maybe not at the expense of too many Future Shocks) and, further along the road, I’d be fascinated to see a Twisted Dredd Tale or two.

Life is an Open Casket - Ep 5 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Anthony Williams Letters: Simon Bowland

The war begins...

Synopsis: Appellido sends in his genetically altered goons to take out the mover and his people. However, they are tricked into attacking a bunch of hard holograms. The Mover now realises that a truce will be impossible, and the War of the Moses is underway.

Meanwhile, it appears that Detective Honeycut is using Tracey Weld to regain the trust of Dexter, while secretly working for DCPD...

SW: As someone wittier than me said, this series jumped the gun shark sometime ago and I tend to agree. The series had a great downbeat conclusion with Ramone taking a bullet but since the resurrection there has been no life at all.

The cluttered back story would take a dedicated team of Egyptologists weeks to unravel, but in the complexity there is a simple consistency - it the same as it’s always been. This new ‘Moses war’ is an extension of all that’s gone before and it’s simply boring, unimaginative stuff. If the past, explained through ever more implausible clones and inter dimensional characters, is anything to go by we’re in for a few more weeks of shooting, weak puns and not much else.

I do like Anthony Williams bright art and he has a good eye for colour and shade but sadly this moribund series needs more than this to give it any sparkle at all.

PMcC: Abnett’s ability to set up multiple, interlocking plot strands from seemingly throwaway incidental details has been perfectly illustrated in this current bridging story. Sin/Dex will never be my favourite strip, but I do admire the way it’s constructed. This episode doesn’t feature our trigger-happy protagonists at all, focusing instead on the various other players in the forthcoming storyline as they move towards a face off. It wraps up with a nasty surprise which surely must have unpleasant consequences for our boys. Or, on previous evidence, maybe not. 

For me, Anthony Williams’ art on this series has been a revelation. Having only really seen his stripped-down, minimal background work on series like Robo Hunter and The VCs, I’ve been immensely impressed by what he can produce when afforded the time to concentrate on a story and I look forward to seeing more of this side of the artist.

War Stories - Part 4 Script: Ian Edginton Art: Steve Yeowell Letters: Simon Bowland

Jim lashes out...

Synopsis: Toten reveals that he has Hitler's mean looking for a way into the Hollow Land, while he takes Dancer's maps and diaries to access the land and access the temple of Mithras for himself. Jim fights with Toten's robotic Nazi troopers and it looks like he might be winning, until Toten reveals his newest creation - a giant robotic Nazi colossus...

SW: This mental and imaginative strip is the pick of the Prog for me by quite some distance. With the pirates kept in the background (possibly to avoid Jack Sparrow cash in claims!) the action has been moved to WW2 London with all the magical elements intact.

The majority of this episode is one big fight, but when it involves robot Nazis and a talking dog you can’t complain. Steve Yeowell’s art is always a joy with his beautifully realised machines and mental hammer swinging other worldly beings. It’s a series made for black and white printing and it’s hard to see how some of the supernatural elements would work in colour.

After the misfire of Detonator X it’s good to see Edginton keeping his strongest strip on the boil. With Jack’s goodies up for grabs and a 40 foot robot Nazi ripping up London it’ll be interesting to see how things wrap up in time for the year’s end. I hope Jack make’s a reappearance too, good as it is the strip still needs it’s central character to check in now and again.

PMcC: Steve Yeowell in timeless black and white at last; this is just what the people want to see. I love the way The Red Seas has branched off in so many unexpected directions from its initial premise and this latest story is the boldest departure yet. However, for it to really work there needs to be a follow up story or two showing up pretty quickly to fill in some of the blanks. Having to wait another year for the next instalment would undo all the good work that’s being done in setting up so many questions. 

Also, who can resist giant, blank-faced Nazi robots? Keep this stuff coming.

The Hitman's Daughter - Part 15 Script: John Wagner Art: Frazer Irving Colours: Fiona Staples Letters: Ellie De Ville

Harry finishes things off...

Synopsis: Adele and Harry shoot their way out of the Mall and manage to escape to Adele's car - hoping it hasn't been wired to explode...

SW: I had a letter printed recently in which I gave a thumbs down to this series. Tharg, of course, fought his corner stating that we Earthlings oppose change at every turn. I’d dispute that and I’m not down on the strip. It’s pretty good - it’s just not a good Button Man strip, given what we have been treated to before. With the series running for 16 episodes, that seems at least 6 too many for the slim storyline on offer. The twists have been telegraphed from the start and there seemed little doubt that Harry wasn’t involved in Adele’s Dad’s death and that Harry and Adele would eventually team up.

With only one episode to go I can’t see it all being wrapped up and wonder if we’re in for a final outing where the voices themselves get hunted down by our now teamed up hit people. This episode was a weak retread of series 1’s Monkey House showdown , with the button men notably less colourful than their predecessors. Wagner’s dialogue is as sharp as ever but the familiar settings and predictable storyline make this seem more rehash than smash.

Frazer Irving does a decent job on art chores but his Harry is more Harry Secombe than Harry Exton and the grey and yellow colour scheme is bland.

An above average strip, but the runt of the Button Man litter.

PMcC: The penultimate episode and I don’t really have much to say about this. We’re left with a decent cliffhanger for the next week, but I really can’t see how Harry’s going to sort all this out in six pages. More on the way, maybe? 

I really liked Irving’s art on the first few episodes of this. Lately, however, I’ve begun to have reservations about some of the faces: the colours are still gorgeous, but Harry looks worryingly like Mr Potato Head at times. Handy if he runs out of ammo for his spud gun, I suppose.

Decent stuff, but could be one to enjoy more in one go, with a small sherry and a mince pie, I think

SW: This is a hard week to give any definite judgement on as all the stories are on their penultimate episode ahead of the fireworks to come. With four established strips and one one-off it’s a comfortable read rather than a challenging one, but all in all a decent prog.

Best Story: The Red Seas

PMcC: At the time of year when everybody accuses Tharg of offloading the leftovers from his Thrill cupboard it’s nice to see things are still going strong. Two decent cliffhangers for next week, an intriguing setup for next year, a to-be-expected one-off filler to round out the numbers and the return to bonkers fun form of Mr Edginton after Stone Island and Detonator X. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, for sure.

Best Story: The Red Seas