Synopsis by Gavin Hanly
1st opinion by Leigh Shepherd
2nd opinion by Paul I
Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Floods 13

Dredd vs the accountant...

Synopsis: Jonny Flood is finally released from the cubes after 21 years after being caught for a series of robberies. But he hasn't learned from his incarceration and plans another big heist. He gathers his team together. Hocus and his brother Newt are employed as are Mo White and the Borg Brothers as strongarms, Harvey Sox and Sonja Twyce as Teks, Vin Doble and Foo Young on electronics, Pop Weasly as a front guy, Billy Lips as the driver and Shorty Palmer as the coach. With all 13 in place, they congregate at a disused House of Hotties and get ready to take the Mirage. It's a ship that picks up taxes and tributes from the colonies once a year and is surrounded by judges when it lands. Flood says they'll go in disguised as the ten Judge Accountants who go in to audit the haul. Pop is to be face-changed to look like the leader, Judge Millet. The team asks how they'll get stuff out - and Flood unveils his stolen experimental teleporter.

Dredd is in charge of guarding the Mirage, against his wishes. He asks Millet if he can speed it up, telling him he'll give him 48 hours this year - but Millet isn't having any of it and he hangs up on Dredd.

Meanwhile, Pop is face-changed and perfects his acting, while they unsuccessfully test the transporter. 3 days before the transport arrives Hocus and Mo prepare a disruptor on a tunnel camera on the accountants' route - they set it off just before the accountants appear and the Mirage arrives. After some detours, they finally get the accountants out and tie them up in the tunnel while they take their place. They get to the spaceport where Dredd berates "Millet" for being late. He replies that he intends to do the audit in 48 hours - but before Dredd can get suspicious 50 odd skybikers launch an all-out attack.

Dredd and the judges fight them back as he orders the accountants aboard the freighter. The team can't believe their luck as they've got in far earlier than they expected. Outside, the skybikers are beaten back and some of the judges were impressed with the accountants' fighting skills too - once again raising Dredd's suspicions. He asks to come aboard, but Millet refuses. Dredd decides to go over his head and calls the Chief Judge.

Dredd does a Batman...

Back at the ship, the team starts sending the haul through, while Hershey tells Dredd that the scans of those going into the Mirage don't match those who left Justice HQ. She gives the order for the judges to go in and they start burning through the hatch. The heist team starts sending more of their haul through, but back at base, the Moronians burst in and kill everyone there (despite the fact they were supposed to take hostages). They see the haul coming through and think it's a gift from Grud.

Back at the ship, the judges have broken in and start taking out the crooks, while the Moronians teleport in. A firefight breaks out between the Moronians and the gang and the judges join in. Flood tells them they have to get out now as Dredd tries to disable the teleporter. The machine catches fire just as they teleport and they appear briefly back in the House of Hotties, all distorted and finally explode. There's one survivor back at the ship, Lips. Dredd says he'll turn a blind eye if they tell him where they sent the goods. Lips tells them and Dredd stands by his word - of course he didn't say anything about the other judges...

They find the last member of the Moronians covered in the ashes of Floods 13. "They nearly pulled it off, too. But like a lot of big ideas, it all turned to dust".

LS: If there’s anyone that can be relied on to consistently produce the goods it’s Flint and Wagner and this tale is no exception. That said, while it’s a good tale, it’s not necessarily the classic you might be expecting, given the subconscious hype factor that greets both anniversaries and longer tales. It’s really nothing more than a solid Dredd that if it had appeared in the weekly, would have entertained for 6 weeks without standing out from the usual standard set by Wagner. Even under the spotlight of expectation, it still fairs OK, though there are a couple of minor gripes that bring out the nitpicker in me!

On the positive side, Flint’s art is more than adequate – If Flint was on a tight deadline to produce this, it hardly shows. I am currently attempting to imagine the “In the Year 2120” tale with Flint artwork – another long “event” tale from many moons back, ruined by the shoddy art. I suspect he could turn out the 24 pages of art for that in a week or two!

There are some great characterisations here, with the personality clash between Millet and Dredd particularly well portrayed. It’s a shame that we don’t get to see more from Flood’s gang in terms of character, though with 13 of them, I suppose something had to give. If there’s one area that seemed a little weak for me, it was Flood’s plan, which didn’t seem all that clever; Hi-Tech, certainly, but not particularly ingenious. It would have been nice to see him relying on some kind of clever double-cross or scam to get past Dredd, rather than face change machines and a bit of blind luck - for example, if Flood had somehow been responsible for the Biker attack that helped them avoid too detailed a check on their arrival. The downfall of their plan with the arrival of the Branch Moronian is similarly reliant on coincidence, so perhaps that was poetic justice for not thinking things through properly!

PI: I liked this Dredd story, to be honest. Maybe it wasn't all we were expecting, and didn't live up to the hype for some people but, for me, I found it an enjoyable reading experience. However, I do believe that this could have been far more enjoyable if it had been spread out over two or three issues, as I just don't think it works as well one stand alone story. It's not strong enough in itself to carry the whole Meg and Devlin Waugh and Simping Detective don't provide much support either.

One of this story's main strengths, I feel, is that it has well over twenty characters and yet you have no problems remembering who's who. This is because you don't have too! It doesn't matter if you can't remember the little midget's name, because it's not important. The story doesn't get bogged down by the sheer amount of characters, the characters themselves flow with it. As long as you know who Flood is, who the chief accountant is and who Dredd is, it really doesn't matter.

And not only do we have the story of Flood himself, but there's also the Branch Moronian sub-plot. Now, I've never seen the Moronians before, being relatively new to the comic, but I did enjoy them immensely. I was actually rooting for them by the end of it, and thought it was a shame that they all (bar one) met a sticky end at the hands of Flood's gang and the Judges. Special mention also goes to the Hell's Ramones, for an exciting diversion if nothing else!

Needless to say, Flint's art is nothing if not spectacular. Not only in general, but the little things like the 'Total War TV' poster and various other minor details really make it shine. The page where Flood and his gang meet an untimely demise is a definite highlight, although I'd rather have liked to have seen Flood back again in the future.

All Hell - Part 6

Devlin back in action...

Synopsis: Harry Kiri says he helped Kolkiss and the Catachist only to achieve immortality, as the Catachist takes Beerbohm's germ warfare coat from him. Eddie, being incorporeal can't do anything. Tsung believes Devlin and Beerbohm were lured to the underworld to fertilise his mother's demon eggs. But the Catechist stabs him instead, as they also needed his death to start the process - as he was just an astral "spunk bomb" according to Eddie. Beerbohm's disease magic can accellerate the swarming of the Quppoth and the Catachist starts to torture him to make him use his magic.

But Devlin isn't quite out for the count and he attacks and kills Harry Kiri - the blood of a Bloodsire and Karnstein has made him too powerful to be brought down by a mere slit throat. Eddie fastbreeds his disease and explodes - causing a chain reaction that starts to destroy the swarm. Eddie retrieves the Eye of Sekmet and opens a door, while they leave Kolkiss and the Catechist in Hell. Waugh appears back in the Radlands of Ji - and decides to recommend Ralph Beerbohm for a sainthood.

LS: This story has had shades of the previous Smith/McNeil Waugh epic "Red Tide", with the characters wandering along without that much memorable happening to them – another sightseeing trip with mild peril. This time it's Waugh doing the chasing, but otherwise, it’s much the same feel. There’s also a bit of an overload of John Smith tried and tested ‘moments’, such as a dying character deciding to poetically describe his demise in a florid stream of pretty imagery. On top of that, there’s a barrage of exposition, as if to make up for a general feeling of plotlessness that has pervaded the previous episodes. Some of the exposition seems entirely unnecessary – Do we care if Master Tsung has been used?

Even with all the explanating going on in this episode, I’m still a little non-plussed as to why Devlin and his mate were needed by the baddies. The exposition from Tsung states that the hosts needs Devlin’s blood, but there are beasties seemingly hatching out without it (admittedly The Catechist tells Tsung that he’s not actually equipped with the full facts). It’s even explicitly stated that Beerbohm's presence is not actually necessary. So why invite along the only two people who could stop your plan just on the off chance you can persuade them to speed things up a bit? The Catechist appears to be doubly dense, as he then fails to consider that Devlin might be a bit more robust than the average human, what with him being a vampire – surely he was aware that Devlin’s taken worse than that in the past?

Having said all that, Devlin’s outings usually have enough charm to blag their way past many of these criticisms. I just hope that the next time we see him, we get something a little different.

PI: It's interesting, soon after reading this instalment I came across an interview with John Smith. In it he decried characters and stories for outstaying their welcome, and claimed that Devlin would never do this and when the old fellow was ready to be put out to pasture, he would be.

Now, I'm not tightening the hangman's noose around Devlin's neck just yet, I still think there is a lot of entertainment value in the strip and a lot left to explore. In fact, it still remains one of my highlights of the Meg. But this final episode of his escapades in hell fell firmly into the 'Oh Dear' category.

First of all, we're hit by stunning revelation after stunning revelation. Some of them I'm quite happy with, such as the explanation as to what is actually going on and what all this trekking through hell has been in aid of. Although, I do think it suffers as being wedged in a two parter. Had it been in a separate instalment, we would have had more time to think it over and all the other developments following it wouldn't have seemed to sudden. I can even cope with Harry suddenly turning his coat back to it's original colour (although the reactions and dialogue explaining this was rather rigid, some of it seeming forced) but Master Tsung not being human? No, that one was definitely uncalled for. Although, I would argue Colin McNeil's lovely panel of him exploding into oblivion made up for it.

After all the clunky exposition and general blabbering, things start to pick up pace. Devlin smacking Harry with the brilliantly executed one-liner 'Perhaps you'd settle for a knuckle-duster sandwich instead?' before tearing out his throat, Ralph's biological time bomb and the Catechist being swept away were some of the most exciting parts of the story. Although, there is an underlying feeling that it would have been much more satisfying if Devlin had been killed off, and the world was doomed as a result of it.

Of course, all this, the good and the bad, is topped off by Colin McNeil's gorgeous artwork. Even looking at the pages now, I can't help but be impressed. The aforementioned exploding Tsung and Ralph, the maggot-like beasties slow transformation, even down to the flower petals against a background of never ending green. At times, it's nothing less than breathtaking.

Fifteen

Dredd as you've never seen him...

Synopsis: The Boss of Angeltown is holding a Hate Party, where everyone dresses up as someone who went against the firm in some manner - with a lot of Dredd's nemeses in the mix. Point is checking it out, as he has word that someone is going after the Boss, when Miss Anne Thrope appears. She shows him that DeMarco is the potential murderer as she discovered the Boss was responsible for the hit on her father.

Point steals a ticket and goes in as himself. He looks around for DeMarco but only manages to find someone dressed as her and another as her gorilla bodyguard. Later he goes to the restrooms and sees the gorilla taking a piss too. He then sees a drunken Dredd impersonator stumble in, and feels that only the boss would come as Dredd.

The gorilla leaves and suddenly Point realises he wasn't wearing a suit. Outside, Demarco, disguised as herself, slits the Judge Dredd impersonator's throat. Point distracts the partygoers and they all manage to escape.

Outside, one of the guards calls him "Jack" and he realises that he's been made all along, as one of the guards is actually the Boss. He had set up one of his people "Gordo" as bait for DeMarco as he was the one who told Demarco about the Boss in the first place. He lets Point go, but suggests he learns something from the experience.

LS: There’s a lot to like about Simping Detective, yet there’s also so much that irritates me about the strip that it’s hard to know whether I like it or not! This month certainly sums up perfectly how this strip can fall between genius and frustration for me.

It’s the only Anniversary themed story in this issue, so it seems a bit cruel to pick on the cameos as a bit of a far fetched and convoluted ploy to celebrate the Meg's history. There’s an attempt to justify how Devlin and Missionary Man have somehow hampered the Bosses plans in the past, but it's hard to see how characters like Red Razors (from 50 years in the future) could have. It’s all a bit too self referential for my tastes, and undermines the ‘reality’ of the strip.

Now if it was only the anniversary story where this unlikely representation of Dredd's World was going on, it could easily be seen as a bit of fun that shouldn’t be over analysed. However, the strip has a history of delivering unusual characterisations of established characters. DeMarco appears as revenge crazed, though that’s perhaps more forgivable given post-Wagner treatment by other writers.

Hopefully, at some point Wagner will pick DeMarco out of the strange continuity that subsequent writers have put her in. DeMarco PI, as previewed in Doomsday, could have been the next Anderson PSI, such was the potential shown in just those few episodes. Even beyond that, there was still mileage in her relationship with Dredd. Given how she has been 'developed' since, there doesn't seem much hope of either angle getting the treatment it deserves.

Less easy to reconcile is the version of Dredd that turns up regularly in the Simping Detective, only to be portrayed as a near imbecilic patsy for Point. Raptaurs roam the city as pets, and the general populace are seemingly unperturbed by this (if the Boss, or any other enemy wanted to get rid of Point, surely a call to the Justice Departments Alien Hazards Unit would soon see him on Titan). Because the strip is littered with these odd takes on familiar Mega City icons, it’s all too much for my continuity buffers to take seriously. Add in a corrupt but untouchable Sector Chief out for Point’s blood (presumably, he doesn’t know about the Raptaur) and it pushes the story out of mainstream Dredd continuity, and into a kind of strange Earth 2 parody version of Mega City.

Now I freely admit that this probably says at least as much about me as it does about the merits of the strip. However, it does make it hard for me to be that involved in the fate of characters who inhabit a weird alternate Dredd world rather than something resembling the mainstream one we see from Wagner. Of course, this is nothing new - 99% of so called Dredd World stories fail to fit into Wagner’s vision of things, and 99.99% of non Wagner Dredds don’t ring true! So why pick on Simping Detective?

The reason is two fold. Firstly, the strip seems to take a certain glee in playing odd games with the toys in the Dredd sandbox. Secondly, the central premise of the strip is great and Point is an inspired character. The dialogue is sometimes a bit overdone, but always interesting and usually falls the right side of smart over smarmy.

If you can take the strip on its own terms, rather than those imposed on it by the “shadow of Wagner” ™, it becomes a lot more enjoyable - A bit of a romp, having fun with the Dredd world by poking at it with a tickling stick. However, I can't help but think that a straighter take, that didn't resort to raiding the Dredd back catalogue for many of it's protagonists (and then giving us skewed versions of them), would have been a far more involving way to develop such a cool idea.

PI: Usually, I love the Simping Detective. It's another one of my megazine highlights, and gets bonus points for being in the first issue I've ever read. But something about 15 feels wrong. The usual Jack Point Magic seems to have got lost somewhere, and even when read complete with the two missing pages, there's still this nagging feeling of dissatisfaction.

At first, I pondered whether it was because it was just one, stand-alone episode. Having enjoyed the slow, often very cleverly plotted, story arcs we're accustomed too, I thought maybe I was simply missing that build up but then, Mega-City Noir worked, so that's no excuse.

I think, perhaps, the problem lies in that it's too self-referential. We see almost every character and his/her sidekick from Jack's past, which might have been the whole point of the strip. Don't get me wrong, the revelation of the Boss posing as a bouncer was a nice, intelligent twist, but the journey getting there just felt... flawed. And I can't exactly explain why.

Still, at least Frazer is still on top form. And I still have high hopes for the story next month!

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• 15 Years, Creep!
  

LS: I love these behind the scenes articles, and while I can see the issue people might have with David Bishop writing these in terms of bias, I don’t see it as a particular problem. I find it’s best to view them as part history, part memoir and draw my own conclusions. My only real problem I have with these features and interviews being written by Bishop is my desire to see John Wagner and Pat Mills give interviews of the same depth as the recent Robbie Morrison one. Given his non co-operation on Bishop’s Battle articles, I suspect it would be hard to persuade Pat Mills to contribute?

PI: I don't really have much to say on this. It's an interesting read in places, gives us some nice insights into not only the editorial staffs thoughts, but also the creators themselves. However, the constant typo of 'were' instead of 'was' was quite irritating, although I'm not sure if David was just trying to preserve said artist's accent on paper. Ho-hum.

Also, I felt that the individual story information boxes could have been used for so much more than just summarising the story so far. Little snippets of information behind the creative process, behind the scenes problems (such as the recent delay of the final part of 'All Hell' for example) or just little pieces of trivia on them, little 'did you know?' type things perhaps. Anything to make them more interesting!