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

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

GH: A much better cover than Teague's recent weekly effort, with an imposing Dredd head drawing the eye to some very detailed character work in the background. Even if Dredd's daystick might make us think we 're reading the French "Megazin" (sorry - I know this is a pet hate - even the other reviewers seem to mention my distaste for this sort of thing...). Great colouring by O Grady too.

LS: A solid if slightly generic cover is lifted by the quality of the art, and the detail put into the background. I still miss the days when the comic would pluck some wild idea or scene from one of stories in order to draw your attention - what's more intriguing - Dredd standing there or Dredd talking to a disembodied mouth? It makes you wonder if the stories actually have those standout moments that make a good cover, and if they haven't then you have to ask yourself why. If they are still there, then why aren't they on the cover, enticing the unwary? Still, most of the prog and Meg covers have come a long way from the white background/single figure bore-fest of a while back, so mustn't grumble.

How to Succeed in Bizness (without getting caught)

Dredd gets fried...

Synopsis: A Mega City tour passes the “enclave for the super rich” where the tourists are forbidden to get off. As the tour moves on, one of them Citizen Nempyre, appears to be missing. Inside the enclave, there is a virtual reality arena, Fantasy Land, where the citizens live out their fantasies in virtual reality. There Hugh J LeRichie is playing out a superhero fantasy when a monster appears, ripping him in two. The real Le Richie dies immediately from shock. Dredd is called to the scene and although it appears to be a heart attack, he was clutching a card saying “Murder”. Dredd later realises that the perp used a light bending suit and reprogrammed Le Richie’s VR station.

Elsewhere, another old rich citizen, Mr Lardwod gets a call from someone telling them that he’s just murdered Le Richie. He asks Lardwod fro a million creds – who refuses – at which time “Nempyre” turns off his suit and reveals himself to be sitting opposite Lardwod. He calls a guard who runs into some invisible mono wide, and is cut into ribbons. Nempyre then tells Lardwod that he spiked his meal with a Rapid Reaction Enzyme – who then explodes.

Dredd appears and narrowly misses the mono wire after seeing the body on the floor. He realises the perp is on the scene and sets off the sprinkler system, which reveals him despite his suit. But Nempyre jumps off the building, landing in a lower story– setting off an explosion in an ammo store to block Dredd’s pursuit. Dredd crashes into he sewers where the explosion sets off a building tidal wave, which pours down the sewer’s helping Nempyre’s getaway.

Back home safely, Nempyre, going by the name of The Entrepeneur has made a huge fortune by playing the stock market – knowing he was going to kill the two men. He puts it all down to the Streetcred Bizness Skool’s how to succeed in Bizness course – and plans earn more…

GH: Grant's recent Dredd work has been streets ahead of his 2000AD weekly writing and this is no exception. When given a little more room to breathe, he's back on top form with an intriguing PJ Maybe-esque villain - and certainly one I'd like to see again. Sure, the comparisons with Maybe are obvious, but not a drawback, as this allows Grant to tell a typical Mega City One tale in which Dredd is more of a spectator than a key figure. It's good to see that Grant hasn't lost his touch with the lawman.

But the kudos for this week's episode surely go to Dave Taylor. I loved Taylor's work in Batman many years ago and felt he deserved a far far longer run, being better than many of those artists that followed him. I haven't seen his art recently but was looking forward to this ever since I heard of his return and he doesn't disappoint. Taylor manages to create a totally unique vision of Mega City One, highlighting in particular the strange fashions, something I've only seen D'israeli pull off as well recently. Every page of this week's Dredd tale is a joy to look at and following Chris Weston last month and Burns next month, we're really being spoiled. Taylor also manages to deliver the best possible Dredd - i.e. lean without being overly muscley - a unique look amongst the overly muscled American heroes. And with some repulsive effects like the mono wire and the "rapid reaction enzyme" this just gets better, page after page. Get him back working for 2000AD soon!

LS: Alan Grant Dredds have become something I've grown rather wary of over the years. For every "John Cassavetes is Dead" there's been more than a handful of "Eldster Vigilante Mud-Wrestling Ninjas". For someone with a long history of writing the character during the classic years, I'm always surprised when Dredd does something ridiculously harsh in a Grant story, such as arresting people for kissing, stupidity and in this tale, for picking up a piece of card. The story sticks to a tried and tested Grant formula of showing us life through a Citizen's eyes and ends with the tried and tested Grant formula of the criminal escaping to fight another day. The whole "How to succeed in Bizness" angle might have worked better if I could understand how he intended to make any money from the scheme - I could see him killing the boss of one company while investing in the competitor, but investing in both and killing both? Anyone with a better head for Business than me, please explain!

The art is such a flagrant rip off of Brendan McCarthy that I really should be tutting and talking about blood sucking leeches... but I really can't bring myself to because for one, McCarthy is one of my top three Dredd artists, and for two, it's all very well done, with Taylor's take on Dredd improving with every panel, and a level of detail that wouldnt have gone amiss on a few recent tales (I'm looking at you, Meatmonger!).

GH: Cursed Earth Koburn comes to an end with a feeling of "great idea, missed opportunity". It's being a pleasant ride, don't get me wrong, but I feel the character needs a tighter storyline to play off of. This tale of "round up the bad guys" hasn't seemed inspiring from the start, and possible the most interesting sub plot - the captives turning to cannibalism - seems wasted in a single panel. In addition Bonaventura is also totally wasted. Hopefully, next time around (and there's bound to be a next time) we'll see a little more individuality from her, and Rennie will give her enough spark to clash with Koburn more than she has in this week's episode. She's far too meek and accepting everything he says and when Koburn's laid back anyway, that doesn't make for a fascinating read.

But it's throwaway fun, with brilliant Ezquerra art, so I can't stay too down on it. I just know Rennie can do better...

There's one real redeeming feature to this strip that raises it above the ho-hum - the scene where Koburn is smoking his cigar while the mutie dangles was such a refreshing bit of characterisation - if this had been the 90s, we would have seen the mutie fall to his death, in order to establish how cool and anti-heroic our lead was. For all Koburn's front, the fact he still does the "judicial" thing makes him a far more likeable figure - Of course, it also helps when you have Ezquerra drawing that scene to perfection.

WMD - Part 3

Behr plies her trade...

Synopsis: The riders surround the group and attack – stunning them all. But Behr uses her powers to totally vaporise them. She chastises the witch for once again failing to protect them, while they note that it seems to be getting darker. They realise that the virus is spreading and Wain decides to try and contact Anderson – while Gistane draws some figures in the sand. It’s a ritual that allows him to contact his boss in the real world – who understands the message and warns him not to arouse the other’s suspicions. Meanwhile Wain reports that Anderson told him that one of them is already infected with Half Life. The mistrust grows, but they head on, coming across what appears to be a movie set. There they see Orlok, Corey and finally meet Sandra – Anderson’s alter ego. Sandra fills them in on the last series, when the devil (from the series “Satan”) appears. He walks up to Behr and says “I want you”. She fights back in a battle of willpower, but she’s no match for him – until finally her eyes explode…

GH: In my mind, despite the high levels set by the Dredd tale, this is still the story I am really looking forward to reading every week. I've always enjoyed Anderson tales, but never as much as this latest trilogy, begun by Half Life. There seems to be far more characterisation, artwork from Ranson that just gets better every issue and a real sense of not knowing where the story is going. While we can assume that Anderson will be OK by the end of all of this, the same can not be said for pretty much any of the motley crew that has been sent in after her. Personally I don't trust Wain, and think that Gistane's going to do something bad, but it'll be for the greater good.

And I just realised - Anderson doesn't actually know that Orlok's dead does she? It will be interesting to see if Grant follows that up later on...

Crystal Blue - Part 3

Point gets a little out of his depth...

GH: The Simping Detective has proved to be a wonderful addition to the Megazine, with Spurrier and Irving working extremely well together. It's good to see some of the seedier elements of the judges brought to the foreground - after all, why have the SJS at all if all the judges are terribly law abiding. This darker side of those in charge will hopefully be something that is kept up in further episodes. While it's still a little unlikely that Point would have got anywhere near that guitar if the Raptaurs were really out to get him, it proves to be a suitable comedic end for the bad guys, and one that befits the Point's character. Both Spurrier and Irving seem to enjoy this strip and that really shows.

And one last thing - I don't normally say this - but the lettering by Frame in this tale is excellent...

LS: Frazer Irving provides a lot of beautifully rendered carnage, and the story ticks over nicely, though there's more of a John Rambo than a Sam Spade feel to this final installment.

The story is really only marred for me by a couple of things I don't really "buy". Firstly, while Point destroying the Raptaur with a guitar is a dumb but cool image (in a Bill 'n' Ted/Waynes World kinda way), it seems vaguely unlikely. I also wonder how Point is going to feed and look after his baby Raptor without more disappearing vagrants... And finally, if I was Point's boss, I'd make a point of not asking Point what his point was - if you get my point.

All those niggles beside though, this was entertaining enough - I just hope that the follow up stories try and mix it up a bit, as well as fully exploring the PI angle rather than the sci-fi/ sift through established Dredd continuity angle.

Kali Yuga - Part 6

Rak comes to a sticky end...

Synopsis: Rak opens fire, but Rohan disappears. He tries to reason with Rohan to draw him out, but Rohan surprises and disarms him. Rak begins to realise that he is in trouble with Rohan at full strength, but still tries to convince Rohan that he could make money instead of serving the Lords of Karma. Rohan uses the serpent sword on Rak, who finally turns tail and flees. Lakshmi stops him from going after Rak, saying that Rohan has proved his loyalty to the Lords, and Rak will meet his end another way.

Rak returns to Rita who gives him a drink, and they begin to have sex. However, Rita reminds him that she’d make him pay for hitting her, and essentially screws him to death. Meanwhile Lakshmi and Rohan say goodbye to Sati, but don’t hold out much hope for her survival. Rohan returns to Mirabai, and tries to tell her how much he loves her, but is interrupted by a call from his brother. Kanak, the man who murdered his father has escaped and may be heading for London…

GH: Mills is lucky he's got Davis as his artist on this series. He manages to bring along a style that reminds the reader that we're not supposed to take all this terribly serious. It's episodes like this that make me wonder if I would have actually enjoyed Mills' Finn if he was paired with an artist more capable at comedy for that series. Whatever, it's mainly Davis that makes Black Siddha worth reading every week, while Mills writing veers from funny via "what the hell is he going on about" to moments of pure cheese (witness this episode's ending). As such, I still can't decide whether I actually enjoy Black Siddha - but I know I've read far far worse.

LS: Well, that ended quickly - it was almost as if Pat came up with a great idea for a story with Rohan's dads killer returning, so wrapped the current tale up with room to spare in order to set it up. It's a shame as there were some nice ideas in this tale, but they all felt a little under explored. The alien junkies turned out to be nothing more than sword fodder, and I'm not sure what the point of the centre was or why the Doctors were regressing the patients beyond some kind of experiment. And what did Black Siddha achieve by gatecrashing the centre, other than carving up the Doctors victims? Overall, I've enjoyed this but more, in this case, would have been more as when you read back over the synopses, there really wasn't as much to this one as there might have been.

Artwise, SB Davis has continued to deliver a perfectly complimentary style, with a script that suits his talking heads approach, but more than able to up a gear for the weird bits.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Editorial
• Dreddlines
• The Dredd Files
• Metro Dredd
• Charley's War
• Hell Trekkers
  

GH: Reading last month's and this month's Helltrekkers back-to-back, I was surprised at both how entertaining it was and also how long it ended up as: 21 parts! Wouldn't it be great to see an extended series like that where the characters were given time to breathe? With Helltrekkers this space has worked wonders, with even the loss of Crustacia at the end actually being particularly affecting. Overall a great choice of reprint, and much better than I remember it being.

Charley's War also continues to impress, with the writing and art improving week on week, easily showing why this has become a classic.

LS: At the risk of repeating myself, Charley's War continues to get better, and HellTrekkers ends with a flourish - it was worth the wait, honest! The Dredd files is readable, but it really needs to prune the trivia, give us the bare bones, the odd opinions and cover more ground.