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

Synopses and reviews contain spoilers for this issue

GH: A surprise double cover issue from Henry Flint, with some very subtle differences between them. The "2100" version is a tribute to the Cursed Earth and features an excellent McMahon tribute. The second "2126" version illustrates how subtle changes have happened to the characters costume over the years - or perhaps the different interpretation that artists can bring to the character. Both work extremely well (and the second one suggests will be seeing a re-appearance of the robot guards in future episodes) although I have to say I prefer the 2100 version for nostalgic reasons (mainly for the return of the cool "toy" truck.

LS: Both covers are great, though perhaps it would have been nicer (and more noticeable) if Dredd had been facing in different directions on the covers and they'd actually joined to make a larger image. That might have prompted me to buy another copy just to view the full effect, despite having a subscribers double cover version! An older Dredd (rather than a photostatted Dredd) showing the 26 years difference in time might have been nice as well, but these are all small complaints about a really effective piece of art from Henry Flint.

Damned Ranger - Part 1

The rangers are wiped out...

Synopsis: A group of Cursed Earth Auxiliary Rangers are on patrol when their leader senses an ambush. But it's too late as most of the rangers are wiped out by the New Mutant Army. Only their leader, Dounrey, manages to survive, left for dead under a pile of rocks. Back at MC1 a tribunal is investigating the incident. Dredd informs them of his involvement. He was returning to MC1 with a fellow judge and her rookie when they heard the gunfire, but arrived on the scene too late. Chasing off the remainder of the army, they found Rangers dead and mutilated, but also find Dounrey alive under the rocks. Dredd says Dounrey wasn't to blame, and others back him up. The tribunal finds him exempt, and he's ordered to take time off.

But Dounrey still feels guilt for the deaths of his men. He has trouble sleeping and gets blind drunk in a bar, collapsing in the street. Some rangers find him and take him safely back to the barracks. Later the next day, the fellow rangers have covered up for him, and he's called into see the CO. Dredd's launching a punitive expedition against the NMA and has requested that Dounrey join him. There will be 50 men going along - though Dounrey suggests they just send him, but this is over-ruled. Dredd asks Dounrey if he wants more time - but Dounrey says he can handle it...

GH: I'm not sure about this one yet. It's a fairly slow start (despite the massacre at the beginning) and the character of Dounrey doesn't appear particularly sympathetic. Indeed, the idea of the Cursed Earth Rangers is new to me (maybe they've been featured before - I'm not sure) and a better introduction to them before their demise might have been a more appropriate start to the story. It reads slightly better on a second pass - but so far I have yet to be convinced. The play off between Dounrey and Dredd next episode may illicit a change of opinion though.

As for Ridgeway's art - I'm also in two minds about it. I've been a fan of Ridgeway since his earlier 2000AD and Hellblazer work - and his character work is still as good as it's ever been. It's just that the computer effects seem to be a little over the top. While he's managed to create some very impressive desolate scenes with clever use of rock formation photographs - they look somewhat out of place beside the normal line art. So while the overall work is impressive, it breaks the fourth wall a little too much for my liking.

LS: Now here's a tale that mixes old style "Riders on the Range" western antics with some occasionally awkwardly fitting mutilation imagery. The art also has its awkward moments, what with Dounrey's lippie, and some backgrounds being a little too obviously computer generated and distinct from the foreground images. Again, these points are mainly nit picking over what promises to be an enjoyable tale. The ideas of the Rangers is an interesting one, and added to the introduction of Koburn last year, suggests that the powers that be in the Mega City are taking a more pro-active role in the Cursed Earth that could open up some interesting story avenues (and some equally interesting modern day parallels, given the number of Mutant Terrorists to launch attacks on Mega City over the years).

GH: Something of an initial disappointment for this one. I was expecting a more linear overall storyline for Young Middenface - and was surprised that this seems to have skipped ahead somewhat. The last episode back in Megazine 207 left us with the promise of bad things to come - but this interlude doesn't appear to be delivering that. On it's own, it's entertaining enough, and a typical 2000AD style pastiche on Brigadoon, but it's not what I want to see from this series. Some fine art from Patrick Goddard accompanies the story but it's still not enough when I'd rather be hearing more about the bigger picture.

LS: It's a welcome return for this strip, though I must confess that I wasn't expecting such an openly comedic story after the previous McNulty tales (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing). The main thing to lift this up from what could be a rather obvious Brigadoon mickey take is the quality of the dialogue, with some nice lines from the main characters. The art is also well crafted and while it's odd to see Strontium Dog universe given such a glossy sheen, is well suited to the character and the story.

Hopefully, this will prove to be a nice little diversion from the slightly more serious tone of the previous tales, though I hope Alan Grant will keep the serious stuff in the mix in future tales.

Angel Heart - Part 1

Experimental surgery

Synopsis: Mean Machine is being seen by prison visiter Porsha Wuss, safely through plexi glass. She sees something in Mean that is tragic and wants to bring out the "goodness" in him. Mean is a hard case, but she gradually breaks him down and he starts to fall for her. Porsha tells him that the only chance for them to be together is for him to be fitted with a device called a "Warden" that will stop him going into his rages. After some discussion Mean realises it's the only way he'll get to properly meet Porsha and undergoes the operation. Afterwards, they meet in person for the first time - but after he is ordered not to touch her, he gets an excruciating pain in his head - the work of the "warden" in his brain.

As the days pass, Mean becomes more restrained and he starts to fall in love with Porsha. One of the medics is concerned at Porsha's involvement with Mean - she's had a history of getting involved too deeply before. Later on she sends in a request to marry Mean, at which the real Warden threatens to take her off his case. But the head doctor says this is just what they need. If they can prove the new electronic warden works with Mean then potential billions will be saved. As Mean and Porsha get married, one of the med judges still thinks it's a bad idea...

GH: Now, this is has gone down as a bit of a failure with me, so far. While I'm reasonably happy to see another Mean Machine story, there's a strong feeling of Déja vu with this one. Hasn't Mean already married or gone out with someone who proved to be bad for him? I can't remember without doing more research - but there's a nagging feeling that we've been through something very similar before. And more surgery to keep Mean in place? Haven't we been here before too? All far too familiar for my liking.

Mean Machine has unfortunately gone down the same route as Judge Death. He used to be a particularly dangerous character - albeit infused with a high level of black comedy. But these days, the buffoon has taken over too much so that he really doesn't seem enough of a threat and more like a past-it supporting character.

Unfortunately the art doesn't sit too well with me either. It seems a little too Bisley old-school for my liking, with an odd mix of charicatures. Millgate's Mean works well enough, but some of the other characters seem a little too flat to me. Perhaps if the story didn't seem so familiar, I would have been more forgiving, but overall this is below par work from both creators.

LS: It's not often that the art is so distracting that it makes it hard for me to judge the story, but that's the case here. The art here is from the Bisley "Heavy Metal mayhem" school, but doesn't have the shine of Bisley's fully painted art (or Millgate's own painted stuff for that matter). Crucially, there's really not enough strength in the underlying drawing and it's horribly exposed on this outing. For much of the 90s, 2000AD got away with a lot of sub standard art hidden under a ton of paint and by grubby printing (off the top of my head I'm thinking of Millgate's previous art, Nick Percival, Brashill and Greg Staples, who at least had the decency to improve dramatically from his earliest work). Here the art doesn't have either fig leaf to cover up what to my eye is just too unconvincing to sell the story on any level. It's not that it's too "cartoony" (look at Langridge's or Disraeli's work last month for examples of quality draughtsmanship coupled with a cartoony style), it's just that it looks like the artist is struggling to draw what's being required of him (awkward hands, a multitude of face-on images of Porsha, no real sense of space, no feeling that any design work has been done before pen has hit paper). There's nothing that really convinces me in the art, no sense of a consistent, thought-through style to sell the story to me.

This is a shame, as I've never had any trouble accepting Mean as a near full on comedy creation. The "implausible rehabilitation attempt number 546" plotline is always good for a few laughs from Mean, and there's nothing to suggest that this won't deliver again.

GH: Rennie handles another "what happened to..?" that suffers a little too much from the reader wondering "who the hell is..?" These stories would benefit no end from having a quick half page synopsis of their old tales in the Thrill Power Overload style before actually getting into he story proper. That way, at least you'd have a better idea of who you're dealing with. This is the first character that I really can't remember who they were in the first place - and the strip itself doesn't really help clear things up. In addition, the "turn-around" of Franco from supportive journalist to muck-raking hack is also confusingly handled, so much so that you can't really what's so terrible about what she's about to write. It seems to me that Rennie is treating these pieces as "writing by numbers" as we know he's capable of better work than this. Spurrier's effort last month was far superior, so if this strip is to carry on, perhaps he should be given a few more?

As for the art? Carlos Trigo has apparently been featured in in 2000AD a very long time ago according to his bio. However, while there are elements of ingenuity to parts of his work, and a clear manga influence, it just doesn't work for me, being a little too fluid in the linework.

LS: The answer here being, "not a lot". We get a rather clichéd image of a "handsome film star gone to seed", a couple of heavy handed "handsome film stars are most likely gay" comments and that's about it. The problem perhaps is that with Conrad Conn being pretty much a completely blank canvas in terms of his previous appearances, there wasn't that much to actually hang a story on. As it is, the tale of Conrad Conn here could be the tale of just about any washed up star, past, present or future, so there's little of interest in terms of new ideas or seeing how the character's life turned out. The art doesn't really help matters, being rather confusing and a little too over stylised for my tastes.

Kali Yuga - Part 1

Rak & Rita's odd way of entertaining...

Synopsis: (following on from the 1st series which started in Megazine 202) Rohan picks up a helmet for his new costume, adapted from a motorbike helmet made by his friend Jake - although he doesn't tell him what it's for. Elsewhere, Rak and Rita are entertaining a friend and show him how Rita is able to withstand the pain of a taser. After the "show", they set one of their demons on their guest.

Meanwhile, Rohan is visiting Mirabai, who tells him that the last time they made love he seemed like a woman. Rohan realises he was being possessed by Lakshmi. After once again disappointing Mirabai's father, Rohan leaves and Lakshmi appears to him. She says she was helping him with all her secrets of the Kama Sutra, but Rohan demands his privacy.

Later, Rohan decides to try some crime fighting before taking on Rak. He sees a man trashing a Jag with a wrench after the driver refuses to pay him £10. Rohan lands, dressed as Black Siddha, and rips the wrench out of his hand using his Serpent Sword. But the man grabs the woman from the car, and holds a syringe to her neck - telling him that it's HIV positive - and he wants all the money now.

GH: Ah, Pat Mills. Love him or loathe him, there's something about his work that generates more than enough interest to warrant keeping him on at 2000AD. Mill's latest attempt at a new 2000AD character has been something of a hit and miss affair for me. While he's remembered to keep a sense of humour, there's still some visible signs of his less palatable trademarks - one being the tendency to preach. Indeed, the line "Yes. It's a shame when out culture is so rich" in response to Mirabai's father's concerns about people's viewing habits stands out particularly in this respect, being about as wooden as it's possible to get. It's saved somewhat by Rohan's somewhat misguided defence of his comic book - something which will ring a bell in any readers. Other elements like Lakshmi's tantric sex knowledge veer between funny, and bizarrely out of place in the storyline.

Clearly it's Simon Davis that is the start in this strip though, as he approaches the character with gusto. As with his last go on the character, Davis brings strong elements of originality to the character that help lift it up beyond another Mills preachfest. His photo realistic and expressive characters allow them to pull off some of Mill's potentially cheesy jokes, and his rendition of Rohan as the Siddha looks far better than his last outing. It's the art that will keep me reading this, but as long as Mills avoids his trademark pitfalls, the story may have a chance too.

LS: After the low point of last months Satanus story, Pat Mills redeems himself a little here. From looking at the comments elsewhere, it seems this strip has been in for a fair share of criticism as well, but to me it's harmless enough - that in itself is unusual for a Mills strip. No bile, little preaching; a complete (and welcome) change of pace. OK, so there's little that's exceptionally original here (basically a reluctant superhero trying out his powers), but its good naturedness win it points with me, as well as Davis's art, which suits the talking heads but also rises to the occasion for the Rakshasa.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Dredd Files
• Simon Davis Interview
• Helltrekkers
• Charley's War
• Metro Dredd
  

GH: Charley's war continues to get better and better as the characters gradually become more fleshed out - with a particularly nasty (although somewhat predictable) turn from Snell this month. As the story continues, I'm beginning to see just what everyone likes about the tale, and it more than justifies its appearance.

As for Helltrekkers? It's a great idea, and one that's worth of inclusion here given it's relatively rare appearance out of the vaults, but it seems to have dated far more than other 2000AD strips from the same era. There are some fine moments, such as the acid rain eating away at the least protected wagon, and there is some excellent old school art from Lalia and Ortiz. But then there's also the "crab baby". Rennie says in his article this month that a 2000AD writer admitted to writing some classics while "stoned out of his box". The crab baby certainly makes you wonder what Grant and Wagner were smoking at the time...

Great to see Metro Dredd appearing - but can we get more than one page next month?