Judge Dredd Megazine 214
18 November 2003
Cover by Greg Staples/Ark VFX

Synopsis and 1st review by Gavin Hanly
2nd opinion by Leigh Shepherd

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

GH: An OK cover by Greg Staples. In many respects, it gets the job done by featuring all the main characters (even if Judge Anderson looks a little odd) but there's something that's a little too generic about the poses. However, the overall package of this month's Megazine is quite impressive, with the jiffy bag adequately describing what's on offer this month (especially important as you can't browse though) making it clearly a "special issue". Overall, a much more enticing package than Prog 2004.

LS: On the surface, there's nothing inherently wrong with this month's cover. For a start it's by the ever reliable Greg Staples, and it's showcasing his pretty spiffing black and white line work. However, there's something about the whole composition that doesn't work for me. It looks like random images bunged together, than a whole. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just a less than the sum of its parts.

Turkey Shoot

Dredd gets ready for dinner

Synopsis: Daddy Realfarm has created a farm in the Cursed Earth full of turkeys that are genetically modified - able to talk, pluck and baste themselves, and actively look forward to Christmas! But some, like Dennis the turkey and the leader, Ms Wattle are smarter than the rest. Outside, the trucks getting ready to take the turkeys to Mega City 1 have arrived a day early, full of perps who tie up Daddy Realfarm and his workers. The turkeys are then all ordered into the truck, unaware that they are being stolen, but Dennis has his fears.

The turkeys start plucking while Dennis says he just can't get into Christmas. He grabs a feather, sticks it in some oil and scrawls a makeshift message that they are being kidnapped. The trucks make it into MC 1 but shortly after, Dennis' message flies into the helmet of a judge. Dredd is called and orders them to pull over. The perps realise they've been made, and fire - but Dredd shoots the driver, and the first truck crashes. Another speeds away, with Dredd in pursuit, who shoots a tire before anyone gets hurt. The truck turns over and the turkeys burst loose. Dennis leads two of them to safety while a mob descends on the others. They are confronted by a gang, but again Dennis leads them to safety, and they hijack a pram.

Dennis, Cranberry and Ms Wattle hide out in an alley. They overhear a judge saying they'll be brought to the slaughterhouse - something which Ms Wattle hadn't really thought about before. They spy an empty car and get in. They driver sees them, but not before Dennis accidentally uses the voice command, and the car speeds off. The car comes to a halt at customs, but the turkeys manage to evade capture - and Dredd doesn't see the point in chasing after them. Dennis says they can't go back to the farm or they'll be slaughtered, and that he and Cranberry have to make their own way now. Reluctantly Ms Wattle chases off after them...

GH: Wagner has really been saving up his best, and most bizarre, Dredd stories for the Megazine. This harkens back to the good old Dredd tales where Wagner comes up with a completely bizarre notion, and makes it work within Dredd's world. And yes, surprisingly, talking turkeys do not seem out of place in Mega City One.

As for Flint/Kennedy's art - it seems that Flint won the fight on this one. This is never more obvious than when you compare the Kennedy pencils that form the background of the credits page. That's very much Kennedy's style - but the same image, inked by Flint looks much more like a Henry Flint piece - especially with regards to the helmet. Was he told to make it look more consistent through the piece? - seems a shame if he was. That said, the whole story does hang very well together and there isn't a jarring change of styles when you get to the work that's all Flint. Here, he handles himself wonderfully giving the Turkeys personality and drawing a Dredd tale like they used to make them.

All in all a great Christmas treat for Megazine readers.

LS: Of the seasonal stories on offer this month, The Megazine gets the best. For a start, the Cam Kennedy and Henry Flint team up (if a little short lived) produces some stunning results, and Henry is able to finish off the tale with his usual panache. It perfectly complements Wagner's tale of talking turkeys, whose classic 2000AD ingredients are off-the-wall ideas, some straight faced action and some great lines. Last month, I was bemoaning the fact that this years Dredds have seemed a little reminiscent of previous tales, and there's no change here - Wagner's written this story before with Dinosaurs, and certainly that ending before (with the Dinosaurs and an alien dragon and more than likely other critters that have escaped my memory).

That said, there's something about the sheer quality of both the art and the dialogue in this story that more than make up for any sense of deja-vu. Two great lines that spring to mind: Dennis' instruction to the turkeys to "act natural", and Dredds response to Judge Gomer's turkey hunting zeal make this a story top of anyone's Christmas list.

The Wilderness Days - Part 6

Death nears his goal

Synopsis: Hocus Ritter (last seen in Meg 211) arrives at a settlement which Death has clearly passed through, as there are bodies everywhere. They give him a car, and he follows Death's trail of destruction. Elsewhere Death and his "dog" arrive at SURF - the US Govt Secure Underground Research Facility. They break in and are immediately met by tanks and armed robots. They decide to take them to the General - while Death warns the dog to keep quiet. They reach the General, deep at the heart of an underground base. The General is a senile old man, the last human in the facility. Death uses his essence to take control of the man. The robots start firing, but as soon as he has control, he gets them to stop. As the General, he tells the robots to obey all of Death's orders, and to leave them alone. Once they are gone, he releases the General, and kills him - his "reward". The dog tries to leave, but Death says he needs his "reward" later too, and carries him to the bunker - full of 24 working nuclear missiles....

GH: While this still remains a high point in the megazine, I didn't find the sight of Ritter carrying his horse very welcome. So far Wagner has managed to balance the horror of Death's actions with the black humour of his quest for mass destruction. However, with this episode he steps over the mark with a fairly jarring humourous opener. Something of a surprise when we all thought we were getting back to Death's horror roots.

That aside, the rest of the strip is still up to the high quality we've come to expect from the two creators. Irving has fun with the US base and the senile general, and Wagner also seems to be enjoying himself - the quick dispatch of the general being as funny as it is sinister. The story may contain more humour that we were originally led to expect - but it's a better balance than many that have gone before it (Death in a dress anyone?).

LS: Death is on the verge of unleashing a Nuclear holocaust, and there are still two parts to go. It's certainly got me wondering where this is going. Of course, Death's dabbled with WMD in the Three Amigos story, and you kind of get the sense that Wagner might have written himself into something of a corner - will Death really get to kill millions at a stroke? It seems unlikely, which means that the cliffhanger is potentially a bit limp. That said, whenever I find myself a little unimpressed by the way things seem to be playing out in perhaps too predictable a fashion, Wagner often throws a curveball in there that reminds you just why he's arguably the best writer 2000AD has ever had. Hopefully that's what we'll see in next month's installment. Frazer Irving's art remains, as ever, top-notch.

Heidi unwittingly reveals her true plans

Back on Earth, Heidi visits Dredd asking for dispensation to the spiritual development of Tweak's planet. But Dredd arrests her instead, and says she is to be held incommunicado so that she doesn't tell people what she learned. Her crime is attempted Xenocide - murder of an elder culture.

GH: Something of an odd story, this one. The answer to the title's question seems to be "not much really" and this seems little more than an excuse for a Pat Mills polemic - this time against "new agers" (hmmm - pot, kettle, black?). It's fairly amusing (although the "will you stop looking at my jugs" line was jarringly juvenile) but I would rather have seen a little more development for Tweak to make the story worthwhile. Hopefully the remaining "what happened to" installments are more productive.

This marks the return of Chris Weston to the Megazine in quite some time, however, and that is certainly to be celebrated. He puts in some great work here, even though he doesn't have much exciting content to work with. Not positive who Ungara is, but last month's "coming soon" said Garry Leach was inking him - so I guess it's a pseudonym.

LS: Now here's a story that is really just Pat Mills taking the mick out of New-Agers. Nothing new there, and potentially this could fall as flat as all his other "rants about people I don't like in place of a story" strips. So why does this work so well? For a start, there's Chris Weston's fantastic art, backed up by Garry Leach's inks. They put in a great job, and really capture the spirit of the story, be it the Cursed Earth flashback, Tweak's homeworld or Mega-City itself. Secondly, apart from some jarring swearing from Tweak and his mate, the tale does nothing to diminish Tweak as a character, and the new age bashing fits pretty seamlessly into another tale of Tweaks aversion to humans and their destructive ways.

Blood of Satanus II - Dark Matters part 1

Dredd reveals Justice Department's latest weapon

Synopsis: A man calls a cat over and brutally kills it - but attracts the attention of Judge Dredd. He arrests him for sociopathic tendencies, but is called away as hear here's a sonic boom "it's Hotfoot again". He orders the man, Caleb Johns to Sector House 7 for psychiatric evaluation, and runs after Hotfoot - a perp who wears a zoom suit, which breaks the sound barrier. People are killed and injured in his speed wake, as he taunts Dredd into catching him. Hotfoot speeds past Dredd and unscrews his lawmaster in seconds forcing Dredd to roll to safety. But Dredd is prepared, with a speed seeking bullet, which finally brings Hotfoot down.

Meanwhile Johns has returned home to Jasmine Salem, the convicted slabwalker he lives with. He tells her what happened, but she's brought him a cat from the pet store. His hands grow scaly and he shoves the cat into his distended mouth, growing ever more reptilian as he becomes half man/half dinosaur. She tells him that i;s time to pray, as he sits on an altar, as she kneels before him, worshipping him as a direct descendent of Satanus, and they prepare for the second coming.

GH: While Mills' work on the above Tweak story didn't work for me, this is far more successful. Starting off with a bizarre cat slaughter (which should shock some, knowing how oddly protective people are of their cats) and moving into an impressive chase scene, this begins very well indeed. Hotfoot may seem like an American style super-villain, but it's such a well paced action scene that it's hard to care. It all works so well, in fact, that when Mills gets down to the mysticism part at the end, it fits in perfectly, making for a very well rounded tale. Easily the best single episode Mills has done for quite some time, and one which has left me with high hopes for the series. And it's just as good to see Duke (accident Man) Mighten teaming back up with Mills.His art has dramatically improved since the last time I saw him and hopefully he'll stick around and do some more work for 2000AD after this.

Mind you, that title's a bit bloody long...

LS: More reasons to fear a Pat Mills strip - this time featuring an anti-authoritarion Cult. We've been here before with Mills' previous output, yet again he manages to avoid the pitfalls of his past diatribes (so far at least). I suppose if in the scene where they're watching King Kong you substitute "Christian" and "Pagan" for "Ape" and "T-Rex" you might say this is Pat still on rant mode, but I'm much more interested in hearing about Mills love of Dinosaurs than his other pet obsessions. What really impressed me in this strip was how well Pat's future criminal "Hotfoot" harked back to the glory days of bizarre crime, and the speed seeking bullet was the perfect Dredd solution to the situation.

The only other note that doesn't seem quite right is Dredds sentence - Lobotomy is usually the order of the day for people who know too much - perhaps Dredd wasn't up for taking chances!

Duke Mighten's art certainly has moved on since I last saw his work in Toxic, and other than a slightly stubbly and weak chinned Dredd, his art was a perfect match for the story. Great stuff, and I hope to see more of him in the future.

Part 6

Rex and Father face off

Synopsis: Instead of fighting, the dinosaurs begin copulating, with only Raptor fighting and killing his other self (although they don't know which one won). The combined forces march towards Father's fortress, and are met by a third group of dinos. "One orgy later" they are a united group, and arrive at the fortress. They enter, but Rex orders the plant form "Forest" to remain outside. They confront Father who tells them he's made billions of clones of himself which will be able to survive after he brings down an asteroid, ending life on the planet apart from his. But Rex decides to stop him, and Father sees that he's evolved another brain. Before he can do anything - Father launches the missile, but the three Aviatrix block the silo and the missile destroys the fortress. The clones of Father, along with Rex's second brain are blown outside. One of the Forests picks put the brain, puts it with his own, and they lead the surviving children away...

GH: So Xtnct comes to a "sort of" conclusion. It's been a bizarre ride the whole way through, and I'm not sure Cornell has been successful in getting his point across (something about the cyclical nature of life? I don't know). This episode has been slightly less enjoyable than the rest due to the highly confusing confrontation and ending, but that shouldn't detract from what has been a generally very enjoyable series, with enough original flights of fancy to make it well worth reading. Certainly I'd like to see Cornell used more in either the Megazine or in 2000AD as he's brought a fresh sense of storytelling to the comic that deserves a wider audience.

As for D'israeli, what can we say. He's proved himself this year to be one of 2000AD's, and Britain's best artist, and one that is as responsible for the uniqueness of this strip as Cornell. And with a Judge Dredd story to come soon, we'll hopefully see more of him in 2004.

LS: A comic strip of two halves really - the first part, where last months cliffhanger is resolved in an extremely funny, original yet perfectly obvious way, to an ending that fell a bit flat for a number of reasons. Certainly, there was no shortage of ideas floating around this strip, and some great storytelling techniques show just how much Paul Cornell comic writing skills have improved since his last outings for the Megazine (the juggling Raptor images on the third page being a prime example).

The whole confrontation with Father was something of a letdown for me though, with his bog standard Bond Villain plans to repopulate the world all being resolved in the space of three pages. I'm not too sure I follow his logic in trying to bring an asteroid down onto the Earth - haven't Rex and his chums wrought enough damage? There's a nice idea about someone trying to live on after accepting his inevitable fate somewhere in there if you look for it, I suppose - but three pages? On top of this, there's also the revelation (or at least implication) that the Dinosaur Messiah was more than just a figment of Rex's imagination. Again, three pages just wasn't enough to do justice to the story. A bit of mystery doesn't do a story any harm, but there was enough of an overdose of mystery (or at the very least unexplained loose ends) to end what has been one of my favourite stories of 2003 on a slightly puzzling note. Hopefully, we'll see more of Cornell's stuff in future Megazine.

Half Life

De'ath shows his true colours

Synopsis: The teenage Sandra dreams of being treated with a variety of bizarre treatments until she wakes up screaming. Her mother warns her to forget her dreams - but she can't. She leaves to go to her new school, to be followed by her dental appointment, and sees a boy being picked on by three bullys who she chases away. The odd boy doesn't seem to mind - "it makes me more determined". She eventually goes to the mobile dentist and sees the boy she met earlier, Sydney De'ath (the young human incarnation of Judge Death from an alternate dimension - see Boyhood of a Superfiend). His father lets Sydney have a go at treating Sandra, but he lets her off with a "quick polish". She goes home and dreams again that night - running through a graveyard into a tombstone marked "death".

Later - she goes to the latest gig of "Skool of Hate" and sees Sydney there. She
sees the three bullys too, and as the band plays watches Sydney wire up their seats. As the final lights show starts, the bullys are electrocuted. A shadow - looking a little like a portcullis falls over Sidney's face - Sandra feels she should remember something about him, but can't.

The years go by, and Sydney disappears to become a judge. The nightmares continue and grow less frequent but more intense. Now attending university, she's about to leave for a lecture when she sees Sydney, now a judge, on a TV talk show, Insulted by the host, Sydney executes him. Sandra sees the badge "De'ath" and is shocked back to reality. She realises that she's Judge Cassandra Anderson, trapped in the mind of a 19 year old girl...

GH: It's been some time since Anderson's last tale (being left in a coma after the first Judge Death series didn't do her any favours). Bringing back what is arguably the classic Anderson team of Grant and Ranson certainly gave us high hopes for this series (although I only really found out about it last month - shouldn't this have been shouted around a bit before now?) and the team certainly lives up to the expectations. Getting Anderson out of the hole that Wagner helpfully left her in was always going to be tricky, but rather than rush to a conclusion, Grant has jumped at the opportunity to play around inside her head again.

Admittedly, from the opening scenes (presumably the Mega City Psi Judges trying all manner of ways of getting her back) anyone who didn't know what happened to Anderson would have been lost (a quick one page summary would have been very welcome). But that said, Grant's having a wonderful time playing around with the character of De'ath and he does a great job of building up an air of dread. Much like Wagner on Death, he's adept at mixing humour with shocking violence, with the execution of the Graham Norton-like chat show host particularly shocking. So far, it's been some of Grant's best work for a while.

And Ranson's photo referenced art is, as always, a perfect match for him. He easily creates a sympathetic heroine in "Sandra", and works with the template set up in Boyhood of a Superfiend by Peter Doherty to great effect. The aforementioned execution is a particularly well handled moment, matched only by the sinister shadow falling on Sydney's head.

A very good story indeed. I just hope it's not over too soon, as with most of Grant's stories these days.

LS: Hopefully no-one working for Trades Description will read this installment of Anderson, as it reads more as a missing episode of "Young Death" than an outing for Cassie. However, that's one of this episodes strengths. Both script and art capture Wagner's previous tale (only the rather obvious 'Graham Norton a-like' jars), and the set up is intriguing enough to get you wanting to know more about what's going on.

Arthur Ranson's art works surprisingly well, and he draws Sidney, his father and the Dead world Judges in a way that turns Pete Doherty's caricatures into quite realistic looking people without losing their likeness at all. Not much more to add really - Anderson as a character seems to have been drifting for far too long, but might this be the story to turn that around? Time will tell.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Henry Flint Interview
• Dredd Files
• Apocalypse Soon
• Bloodline of Satanus
• Judge Dredd Text story
• Gordon Rennie
• Charlie's War
  

GH: Just a quick round-up here. The Dredd Files looks like it could be an entertaining look back at Dredd's entire history. With over 1400 issues to get through it should keep Bishop employed for about 7-8 years at my reckoning - clever man! Much more entertaining than the ultimately disappointing Blazing Battle Action, it's perfect for the Megazine. Apocalypse Soon finally makes sense, but still feels a bit pointless. Bloodline of Satanus looks interesting, but I must admit I haven't read it yet, and the same goes for Charley's War and the text tale (but regular readers know my feelings on those). Rennie's piece is clearly filer, but reveals the interesting tidbit that he's finishing off Rogue Trooper this year. Oh - and the Strontium Dog reprint was a good choice for the supplement.

One other point to make - the editor's letter reveals some great new information about strips to come in a 10th of the space used for Tharg's nonsense in the weekly. Still, they could improve the point size of the writing...