Synopsis by Gavin Hanly
1st opinion by Adam Crabtree
2nd opinion by Robert Cornell

Summaries and reviews contain spoilers for this issue.

Warzone - Part 4

Dredd's shoot first policy in action...

Synopsis: Dredd inspects the bodies of his troops. He picks up a map and carries on towards Jimstown on foot. Families play in the town during the day, and Dredd hides in a tree, waiting for his opening. When night falls, the townsmen bring Pretorios, his henchman Messenger and their soldiers out. They move away on skimmers before Dredd can open fire. Dredd steals a skimmer and heads after them, but soon enough, his skimmer breaks down and he's stranded. Some of the townsmen come after him, he manages to take one of them down and steal his far faster bike. He heads after Pretorios again and finally gets in range of his Lawmaster's com signal. He orders it to halt the men coming its way.

Up ahead, the bike meets the riders, and starts firing, keeping them in place until Dredd arrives and starts joins in. Dredd and the bike take the riders down and Dredd takes the injured Pretorios back to HQ. Dredd tells the general how he forced one of the men to reveal that the general ratted them out. When the general denies this, Dredd catches him out in a lie. However, Dredd doesn't necessarily have full command on site, so he knocks out the general, telling his sergeant that they should bring him back to MC1 and full evaluation before he wakes up.

AC: Widely slated war epic Warzone wades through the waving waters of criticism as Dredd wages war on whacked out wa- guerrillas. There is of course something of a logical pitfall at the foundation of this, in how the Lawman could see the reason in going to occupied territories and tracking down individual terrorists. This is perpetuated by the fact that Dredd manages so very proficiently to survive in the jungle when he is the biggest city boy you could ever meet!

Of course, this being a comic, we're expected to lay off somewhat, and John Wagner has produced here a likeable future-war jaunt of corruption, pitched bloody battle and interesting political points. As ever, Dredd fights for the more prominent but more morally ambiguous side of the conflict, and we must simply observe how he works against the freedom fighters.

PJ Holden produces highly competent artwork; not everybody has approved but I think it really shines in the background department, with the intricate, dark greens and browns bringing down a heap of atmosphere, and the figures suit it very well.

RC: Wagner must have been having a bad hair day when he wrote this. The set-up was unconvincing from the start, with the oil and water genres of future cop and Platoon stubbornly failing to mix. The clunky dialogue saves the worst for last with “thanks for everything you’ve done, sir.” Getting a crack combat unit killed? Yeah thanks a million. (“Then defend yourselves,” also makes me cringe.)

Holden’s art has come in for some serious and heavy-handed criticism in the forum, especially over the “giant” bird on page 1. For my money, it’s adequate at worst, although way too bright for this kind of gritty storyline. And montage-heavy, presumably as scripted.

While a worthwhile experiment, “Dredd goes to Vietnam” has to rank as a rare failure for Wagner.

A Scottish Sojer - Part 4

Ally takes one for the team...

Synopsis: The helicopter crashes after being hit by the missile. Sir William orders his men to investigate the crash. Spiderdan has died in the crash, Big Ally is badly hurt, but Middenface is OK. Ally tells Middenface to bring him as much explosives as he can and then get out of there.

The Kreelers arrive later and take Ally to see Sir William, telling the hotel owner to get lost. Sir William tells Ally that he's going to cause him much pain, but then sees all the explosives that Ally's stuffed inside the open wound in his stomach. They explode, taking Sir William, Ally and the hotel with it (much to the joy of the hotel's owner and his insurance policy).

Elsewhere, Middenface and the others sing an ode to Ally, and Medusa tells him that he's a man now, and can't let Ally down...

AC: I'm not terribly familiar with the history of this strip, so it's quite possible that key characters have died, long running characters too, and the impact is not as great. No matter though, because a Scottish Sojer has been a good introduction, and Ally McGreal, Stinkin' Billy et al made a good enough impression for me to feel their loss by the end.

Alan Grant's script brings the tale to a poignant conclusion, juxtaposing moments of sadness and sympathy at the deaths of key characters with humour so jet in its blackness it has been targeted by radical groups, a Boys From the Blackstuff level of kitchen sink grittiness, and a Gilliamesque level of creation with set pieces like the burning man of a few megs previous.

RC: It’s hard to reconcile the miserable bastard seen here with the cheery stereotype in Strontium Dog, and I’ve found Middenface’s megazine adventures mostly forgettable. Unfortunately, this chapter features war film cliché #1 with the dying leader who urges his men to - choke – carry on without him and continue the fight and always remember… etc etc. OK,

I like the look of Thomas’ smudged pencil art but I don’t feel it helps tell the story. And why does he de-emphasise the mutations so much? In Strontium Dog, many mutants are hardly recognisable has humans. Here it’s difficult to distinguish who’s norm and who isnae. Middenface just looks ugly and pissed off.

Malachi - Part 3

Cursed Earth surgery...

Synopsis: Bonaventura removes all the pieces of shrapnel that were fired into Koburn. He passes out as she takes the last of the shrapnel from him.

She goes out to help the others set up the barricades, and knocks down one of the guards who suggests that they just leave the perps there and run.

Later that night, Malachi arrives at the barrier, easily breaking through the wire and unaffected by the mines or the guards. Bonaventura goes out looking for him and almost kills one of the juves, Lonegan, by accident before they hear a scream. They see that Malachi has broken into the girls' ward. He gets ready to kill Lonegan's pregnant girlfriend, but Bonaventura shoots his arm off. She empties her gun into him as the juves flee outside and Bonaventura is thrown through the window. Malachi comes outside, putting his arm back on, as Lonegan gets ready to shoot.

But Koburn, now revived again, holds him back and gets ready to take Malachi on himself...

AC: There's something about the artwork of Carlos Ezquerra that makes a 2000AD strip feel definitive. Gordon Rennie matches up to the master's artwork in this strip- more than any other. It has a remarkable feeling of being utterly natural in script and art, and it's one of the few bits of creative media that I wouldn't do anything to if I in control of it (it's on a short list).

The script is taut and tough with likeable characters that you genuinely feel a degree of empathy for, despite the fantastic nature of their situation; something that perhaps cannot be said for Rennie's rather prickly Dredd strips, and the excellent but often snottily disdainful Caballistics Inc. There's not so much obvious effort here as in those two, though Malachi's sudden shift from lofty portent to "two for one" puns is jarring.

We get some good moments from Bonaventura, who displays a certain unique brand of grace under pressure, Mart smart and his baby momma and Koburn himself (no medically accepted sedatives for this boy). Some have blasted "Malachi" for slowness, but it's a zombie genre piece! The idea is for the horror to increase by degrees, building to a final resistance counter strike. There is of course a level of empowerment here, compared to the typical teen horror flick, as the protagonists are gun wielding future cops, but that works for it!

RC: Koburn has been the best of a poor bunch for three months now. A snappy and humorous mix of SF, horror and western. This is a good example of the “calm before the storm,” kind of episode. Puts the hero in trouble, cranks up the tension and establishes a nice atmosphere of doom and gloom before a final panel which just says: “ok, let’s do it.” Next month. Can Rennie pull off something unexpected? I’m looking forward to finding out.

Ezquerra’s art is exemplary.

The Harder They Come - Part 6

Stan lee takes a beating...

Synopsis: Shimura and Stan Lee start fighting, while Dredd, Amber and Inaba finish off the rest of Lee's companions with great ease - Amber taking out her attacker with a Taoka virus.

The Shimura/Lee fight goes on, and just as Lee looks like he's winning, the tide turns, and Shimura beats him back. He raises his sword to the beaten Lee, although Dredd and Inaba warn him that he risks becoming a fugitive if he does.

Instead, Shimura cuts off Lee's hand - "Deathfist? better find yourself a new name".

AC: I really don't care about any of these characters. There is a lot of arrogance and vanity on show with little to actually back it up; we see some fighting, and of course they're all super powered, but it really matters little when four armed gunmen lose a gunfight because they go up against Dredd.

Stan lee is a particularly irritating character, who is on the defensive of his fighting prowess a lot for such a cool and confident assassin. In terms of dialogue, appearance and attitudes, Shimura isn't even that different from Lee, which is not assign of encouragement to invest in this emotionally.

Colin MacNeill is on top form though, showing off cool design after cool design with the Meknificent 707, the aforementioned four armed gunner, the snake woman and I really like his rendering of Dredd. However, this is still just a flashy, beat-you-down-with-action strip with a rather muted and unsatisfying ending.

RC: Appropriately tucked away in the underpants of the megazine, Shimura is just plain bad. This tedious slug-fest reaches a predictably anticlimactic finish. The baddies (a Dr Octopus wannabe, the Ray Harryhausen snake woman and a heap of junk) fall victim to a shot in the face, a stab in the guts and the standard deus ex machina computer-virus. (And don’t we just know the current ABC Warriors story will end in similar fashion?) The worst is saved for last, as the invincible killing machine Bruce Lee’s one weakness turns out to be… er, having his arse kicked.

In the final two panels, Dredd is standing around doing nothing. And he’s spent most of the last six months doing precisely that. Why is he even here? Forget the dodgy logic of his mission, how would the story have been different without him? It’s been a long six months.

The MacNeil artwork is simple, but effective. Not good enough to distract from the suckiness of the story, not bad enough to contribute to it.

Miscellaneous Material inc.

• Mark Harrison Interview
• Fu Man Chu article
• Charlie's War
• Heatseekers
• Metro Dredd
  

AC: Metro Dredd examines some nicely kooky ideas with the Olympics of the future; the Brit-Cit team lets us down in the Sex Tourneys. It is however overly simple, both in its rationale for why Dredd is entered and why he wins (and why the Hell he is competing with his helmet on in a staring match!) and a bit pointless.

The Fu Manchu article lets us know that fanboys have been around for longer than we know, which, say what you like, is a pretty comforting thought really. It also provides a fascinating insight into the attitudes and values of our society in times gone by. The Mark Harrison article is nice reading, particularly when it comes to reading about his past work (Glimmer Rats, Durham Red et al (that's twice I've used the term "et al" now)), though like I say I'm not much on art. The attention is fully deserved though, given his excellent recent work on Ten Seconders.

Sinister Dexter get another one pager. It's a nice, dark joke, but neutered by a whole lot of waffle; this would have been much better served by a one panel newspaper cartoon type deal. Imagine that! A giant panel taking up that page with a depiction of the mountain of bodies, the Edsel sweeping away with the speech bubble "We've gotta find a better place…" That'd have been quite fresh.

Charley's War is traditional fun with mostly uncomplicatedly good and evil characters (though weaselly Krotowski is a source of fun ambiguity). It seems to be good exercise in world building, what with the Croix medal and the Tolkienesque introduction of the fearsome Sengalese fighting force. It lends a mythic quality to the proceedings, which make it more entertaining but you wonder if it's the "right" treatment of the subject matter.

RC: Fu Manchu a British icon? I think not. Barnes’ enthusiasm is no doubt genuine but fails to convince me otherwise, even in seven pages, with really, really BIG pictures. When you reach the bottom of the barrel, don’t scrape, open a new one.

Mark Harrison’s interview is mildly interesting. Fell out with this editor, influenced by this artist, had problems with this script, likes/dislikes technology…These things are all pretty much the same.

Charley’s War (Charley himself not currently involved) was a vital, groundbreaking British comic strip but it lasted a long, long time. Personally, I could do with a break now.

I never read the reviews. There are plenty of other magazines for that kind of thing.