2000AD 1566 - 5 December 07

Cover by Frazer Irving

Alex Frith: A fitting cover to see out one of the best series of the year. There's a lovely touch with the missing finger-tip. Shame about the tagline... 

Adam Crabtree: Cor... this scented streetwalker of a cover will have gross old rich men massaging their knees for weeks with its smokey, stylish brutality. A simple image, given great panache by the redoubtable Irving.

Mandroid - Instrument of War Part 12 Script: John Wagner Art: Carl Critchlow Colours: Peter Doherty Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Slaughterhouse checks out...

Synopsis: Using Kitty to contact Slaughterhouse, Dredd tells him the truth about the General. Slaughterhouse kills the General and the judges surround him. He then blows himself up, taking Kitty with him. Wittle is left with clean-up and blames the whole mess on Dredd - saying he should have killed Slaughterhouse when he had the chance. "The old man's going soft".

AF: Unlike the first Mandroid, there were times in this sequel when Wagner was laying on the black comedy a bit thick. But now that we've reached the end, the comedy has been toned down, appropriately, I think, and we're treated to another stark and poignant look into the mind of poor old Nate Slaughterhouse.

Critchlow as ever is the master of the craggy face, giving suitable gravitas to the proceedings, helped by Doherty's expert colouring. I'm not sure what to make of the final panel, though, where Dredd's handling of the case is questioned. It's either a cheaply tacked on coda, or else a cheaply inserted prelude to events to come. Still, for all that it has me eagerly awaiting the next John Wagner Dredd story. 

AC: It's the man-tear phenomenon. If two Real Men™ are going to have a heart to heart, particularly if it's going to be on the streets of the dirtiest sci-fi city around, you can betcher ass that one of 'em's gonna be speaking remotely through a braindead woman, and the other's gonna have some serious armaments attached to his full body chassis. HEY! They've EARNED the right to cry...

Enthusiasm has not been as strong for Mandroid II as for its seminal predecessor, and I've gotta be honest, that's annoying! Pearls among swine, I cry! But still, I can't deny that John Wagner has saved the highest percentage of quality for the last quarter. Grim, but only as grim as the otherwise colourful, frenetic story allows, Instrument of War is another fine addition to the canon of strong-yet-sensitive Wagnerian epics (and Carl Critchlow's vibrant and immersive visuals are glorious).

Salute, Slaughterhouse.

Back to the Fuhrer Script: Michael Carroll Art: Gary Erskine Letters: Ellie De Ville

Adolf prepares to change history...

Synopsis: At the end of World War 2, Hitler and his scientists have perfected a time travel machine. However, rushing to escape from the Americans, Adolf and Eva return to the beginning of time - and find themselves as the creators of humanity...

AC: "Adolf, this is madness! The machine has not even been tested!"

This opening line tells you all you need to know about this likeable piece of Nazisploitation. As an unusually buff Fuhrer (artist Gary Erskine has a thing, pass it on ;-) ) tells Eva Braun quite straight-facedly that "This is no time for womanly hysterics!", three lone GIs kick ass and take names through the streets of Berlin.

The tale proceeds towards its inevitable "shock" (I've got a little Adolf inside me, pass it on) with a little too much mechanism; seriously, when there's this much filler in a five page story (the GI's might as well not be in it), stock must be taken. Still, the denouement does give rise to an impressive and audacious bit of visual magic, with Erskine's gee-ARR-geous colours lighting the reader up like a Season Tree!

Writer Michael Carroll needs to work on hitting that balance between a creator's imaginative drive and a storyteller's focus, but I have a deal of faith in him off the back of this effort.

And oh wow! I just looked up Michael Carroll and it's our own Sprout! Nice one.

Script/Art: Bob Byrne

Things are not what they seem...

Synopsis: A twisted tale of a hunter who finds a benevolent alien with a "resurrection gun" trapped in one of his animal traps. The hunter appears to care for him, but then decides to sell him to the highest bidder. The alien responds by bringing back the hunter's spoils, including a huge grizzly bear, who kills the hunter, allowing the alien to escape...

AF: I think the Tine Twister suffered in my mind in comparison with Bob Byrne. His tale of alien misadventure isn't as clever as the Hitler idea, but the whole thing oozes charm, right down to the monumental effort of  cramming in 16 panels per page. However, with the talking animal heads and constant double crossing, Byrne has to watch that he doesn't start to become quirky for the sake of it. Still, brilliant, brilliant stuff. 

AC: I love Bob Byrne's work, there's no getting 'round it. He just breezed (broze?) into most our lives with his Megazine appearance and those who like their graphic narratives literary, wise, yet as informal and anarchic as the best of 2000AD can find infinite rewards in his work.

And for those few voices that wonder aloud what a small press artist like Byrne is doing in the Galaxy's Greatest? I'm sorry, but don't be such a snob. He's earned every cent of the paycheque Matt Smith sends his way.

That's all I gotta say about that.

The Hitman's Daughter - Part 16 Script: John Wagner Art: Frazer Irving Colours: Fiona Staples Letters: Ellie De Ville

Harry keeps the judge on his toes...

Synopsis: Adele and Harry escape from the voices and Harry warns Adele to not let her quest for revenge consume her. They part ways, with Adele returning to Uncle Max, telling him that she won't kill him and instead wants to go into hiding. Later, Harry calls judge Horus, warning him that one day he'll return to kill him. Harry heads off to Ireland. Meanwhile, the voices are unhappy with Max, and two goons are sent to kill him - throwing him down his own stairs.

AF: I've loved this series, but I've got to be honest and say that this Prog's ending was disappointing. Irving gives us a lovely sequence at the end with Uncle Maxie getting pushed down the stairs, but I wanted some kind of emotional pay-off that I just didn't get. On the other hand, the reason why I've rated this series was because compared to the high action of previous Button Man outings, this one had a really gritty feel to it about just how sordid the game is, and how horrible the people are who get involved in it, including Harry and Adele. And horrible, gritty people don't let you have emotional pay-offs.

I think in years to come, this story will grow in stature. It is of course very sad that Arthur Ranson was too ill to draw it himself, but I think he can rest easy that he left the tale in good hands. 

AC: "How much revenge do you want, Adele? Think about it. Keep it up and it'll take everything good in you and squeeze the life out of it too. I know. I'm living proof."

A couple of weeks from now, this bit of dialogue will probably stop running around in my mind, right alongside the breathtaking "strangled your wife" riff. At that point, I'll probably just read it again. Button Man, the strip with nothing to prove. Cheers John Wagner, cheers Frazer Irving (a kingly substitution for the much-missed Arthur Ranson) and cheers to you too, Harry.

War Stories - Part 5 Script: Ian Edginton Art: Steve Yeowell Letters: Simon Bowland

Toten loses his head...

Synopsis: Jim fights Toten's Colossus, while John searches through the chest, looking for a means to destroy the contents. Instead, he finds a staff to which the attacking Nazi Mannequins have a weakness. He uses the same staff to destroy Toten's body - although Jim warns that Toten is already dead and is only stopped temporarily . Jim says that the staff once held a sword belonging to a legendary king - an iron anvil melted down. Jim wants to know what happened to Dancer - so Jim replies - "why don't you come and ask him?"

AF: A fun end to a fun yarn. I'm a little bit confused about why Toten had the upper hand and then lost it and got himself stabbed so quickly, but I guess it's forgivable. I've always preferred Edginton for his ideas and world-building than for his action scenes, and Red Seas continues to be one of his best-constructed and most intriguing worlds. Yeowell's art is as dependable as it has been since Prog 535, or whenever he began. 

AC: Bit of a by-numbers scrap to cap off a wonderfully innovative story:

"You'll never win!"

"Run! I'll hold them off!"

"I figured he was the one controlling them all and that by doing him in we could finish the story!"

Yeah. But still, it's ungracious to nitpick, when we've been so thoroughly gifted by the Dynamic Duo of Edginton and Yeowell. Nobody asked them to, but they went and served up a startling, vital reinvigoration of a strip that wasn't even breathing hard to begin with! And yet fare like Sinister Dexter still trudges on joylessly, nose to the grindstone and inspiration be damned; gentlemen, your example.

AF: As people have been saying for the last few weeks, Tharg's been good to us with no end-of-year filler material. And with the quality of the two one-offs this prog, I hope he'll treat us to more of those in 2008! 

Best Story: Bob Byrne's Twisted Tales

AC: Prog 1566 serves up the first Christmas crackers of the season (OH!).

Best Story: The Red Seas