2000AD Prog 1599 - 13 August 08

Cover by Dave Taylor

Daniel Payne: It is usually nice to see a menacing portrait of Dredd on the front cover, and this is a competent example. The pose is classic: a battered Dredd gazes out of the page in a threatening fashion, hopefully luring new readers in the process. The draughtsmanship, on the other hand, is not so good; perhaps this is Dave Taylor’s style, but the image is blurry, lacks definition, and looks as though it has been rushed. There is also not much contrast in the colours, so the gigantic masthead serves a purpose for a change, standing out in red, white and black; the resulting composition is not bad. 

Blindside - Part 4 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Richard Elson Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dredd takes one for the team...

Synopsis: Dredd crumples under a rain of blows as Trask and his remaining men continue the savage beating that Kerrigan (disguised as Lola) initiated. Bowed, but not broken, Dredd still agonisingly struggles to his feet when the perps withdraw to prepare to board their escape craft - at which point Kerrigan secretly slips him a boot knife.

Trask returns to gloat over the presumably-incapacitated Dredd and administer the coup de grace, at which point Dredd lashes out with the knife, slashing Trask and killing one of his men, while Kerrigan guns down the last remaining soldier and also destroys the escape craft in a hail of explosive shells.

All avenues are closed to Trask, and the game is finally over. He's a sore loser, though, and is determined to exact revenge by shooting Dredd - being blind, he cannot react, but Kerrigan shoves him aside and takes the blast on herself.

Trask storms in to hammer Dredd in close quarters - but Dredd evens the odds by cuffing their wrists together, so the lawman doesn't need eyes to know where Trask is... the red mist comes down, and devoured by rage at Trask having taken another judge's life on his watch, Dredd literally beats his foe to death. Cradling the dying Kerrigan in her last moments provides some small comfort as the trainee pleads to know if she made full judge as she passes away...

After some time convalescing from the installation of upgraded bionic eyes and the healing of his hand (broken when pummeling Trask to a bloody mess), Dredd reviews the case. The information with which Trask was intending to blackmail the Phoenix Corporation proves very useful to Justice Department, leading to hundreds of arrests both in the city and offworld - all attributed solely to Judge Kerrigan.

DP: Ideally John Wager’s life could extended indefinitely by the sort of technology that he affords to his Judges, and Dredd’s fate would remain permanently in his custody. Unfortunately, though, the looming prospect of mortality is likely one day to hand that duty to another generation. Robbie Morrison’s contributions to the saga so far have prompted a variety of responses from 2000AD readers, but stories like the this one indicate that he has the capacity to take the character on. 

Blindside’s brief run has been enjoyable; Morrison supplied an interesting scenario that has yielded plenty of action — although Dredd’s ability to get the better of his opponents even when blind has stretched plausibility slightly too far on a couple of occasions. This instalment brings the run to an end in a poignant way, which is not altogether out of place with Wagner’s treatment of Dredd in the last year or so. 

The most significant problem with the piece is that the artist is not well suited to the script. Richard Elson has a very slick, almost clinical, style – which may be popular with some readers, but does not do a good job of conveying the atmosphere and sentiment that the story calls for. The fight scenes tend to lack drama, and could have been lifted directly from pretty much any of Elson’s Dredds. Also, the final panels might have mirrored the mood of touching moments from the past, such as Dave Gibbon’s rendering of Nu Earth in prog 2000, but instead look a lot like any other day at the office. It is possible that the series would have been better received if a different artist had been responsible for it. 

Script & Art: Bob Byrne

Termite supper...

Synopsis: The termite queen has been abducted by a pack of lizards, who are carrying her away by swimming across a stream with the queen on their backs. Her termite subjects attempt to pursue on the backs of beetles, but the rescuers cannot swim themselves and drown in the stream. A termite leader watches sadly from a howdah on the back of a large beetle.

Returning defeated to the termite city, the termite leader enters a nesting area, where there are only a small number of larvae surrounded by mourning females. The larvae are all packed with hundreds of incubating termites... the leader turns away, dark resolve etched into his features.

When night falls on the far side of the stream, the distressed, captured queen is helplessly giving birth to dozens of larvae which the lizards are greedily devouring.

After day returns, the termites sacrifice their last few remaining larvae as bait to attract the attention of a large predator. As it is enjoying his meal, the predator is surprised when beetles burst up from burrows underneath it - the predator is subdued, and the termites take control of the beast by having the leader bite into its brain.

Later, the lizards are surprised to discover an enormous ball comprised of hundreds of pressed-together beetles bobbing across the stream towards them. Swimming lizards bite at and tear away many beetles, but the ball manages to reach the far bank before losing its integrity - at which point it unfolds, unleashing the predator at its core! Between the rampaging predator's and the swarming beetles, the lizards are rapidly overwhelmed and killed.

The termite leader detaches from the predator (evidently killing it), enters the lizards' former lair and bounds up the front of the astonished queen - to warmly and happily embrace a female termite that was hiding on the queen's back.

DP: It is interesting to see comic strips with no dialogue every so often. There have been numerous successful examples in the past, in 2000AD and elsewhere. Indeed, Bob Byrne has made some worthwhile contributions to the genre, but this week’s offering is not one of them. 

When there is no text to make clear what is happening, it is obviously very important that the artwork communicates the story comprehensibly. Unfortunately, this basic premise is where the piece fails; it is simply far too difficult to work out what is going on. All of the characters are peculiar fictitious bugs, and distinguishing one variety from another is in many instances a significant challenge. Additionally, it requires careful scrutiny to work out whereabouts in the landscape all of the action is supposed to be taking place. 

The consequence of this is that the reader has little idea of how one panel relates to another, and discerning the plot takes an absurd amount of effort. Such illegibility would be barely acceptable even if the story was excellent, but the tale here is quite prosaic and does not nearly justify the time and concentration that is needed to understand it. The only small saving grace is that the artwork, if not functional, has a fairly pleasing aesthetic. But, overall it would be difficult to find a more complete example of how not to execute sequential art. 

Futurity Script: Arthur Wyatt Art: Cliff Robinson Letters: Simon Bowland

Clarence has a bad feeling...

Synopsis: A goth (or "chaos magician"), Clarence, is being held by police on suspicion of murder, and relates his story to a detective. He and five other friends - Jake,Jamie, Andrea, Mark and the leader Zach - were participating in a New Age magic ritual when everyone abruptly blacks out and regains consciousness in an ambulance. Jake, has disappeared without trace while Zach dies from a fit on the ambulance trolley - after an autopsy, it is discovered that most of his brain has disappeared...

After the traumatic incident, the survivors of the group drift apart until Clarence is called back to Andrea's apartment, where the condition of Jamie (her boyfriend) has been steadily deteriorating. Clarence finds him brandishing a knife and foaming insanely about how the ritual actually worked, bringing them forwards to the very end of the universe where humanity's last mechanised remnants are eking out the last eternities of oblivion - and noticed them!

Clarence blacks out again, and recovers consciousness in Mark's apartment. He answers a ringing telephone to hear a voice which sounds like Jake's informing him that Andrea's body has been discovered, and the police are on their way to arrest him. A confused Clerence stumbles into the next room, where he discovers the disembowelled corpse of Mark, and then staggers blindly into the street when he is picked up by the police.

The detective is called away from the interview room, and as Clarence contemplates his fate he suddenly hears Jakes voice, telling Clarence that it's a certainty that he will be sent down for the deaths and that if he wants to escape he need to push out with his mind...

Clarence suddenly finds himself floating in a void with an apparition of Jake - missing eyes, brain, and most of his skull. Jake's shell is an avatar for the last remnants of the future, to which Clarence has been brought. It's deathly dull at the end of time, and the unearthly creatures want some playthings to relieve the boredom...

DP: It is not ideal to have more than one Future Shock type anecdote in the same prog, but maybe the logistics of running an anthology title occasionally make it hard to avoid. Unlike the other entry this week, Futurity is at least relatively easy to understand. But, regretfully, it is also not a particularly good story. The twist at the end of one-shot tales like this do not have to be completely groundbreaking to be successful; but there does need to be a degree of surprise, which is almost completely absent here. As such, without any unexpected turns to generate interest, this is essentially quite an uninteresting five page tale. The artwork is good, though, as you would expect from Cliff Robinson. It is refreshing to see his work in black and white for a change; his detailed inking comes across well when it is not obscured by a blanket of bright colours. 

The Importance of Fleecing Ernest - Part 4 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Anthony Williams Letters: Ellie De Ville

Dex tries to get on Chris's Invincible Super Blog...

Synopsis: At the Straddle Various club for gentlemen with discerning tastes, the patrons are enjoying the show, until it is brusquely interrupted when Dexter and the hitman Markez explode onto the stage, embroiled in a brutal brawl. The fight continues as girls and audience scatter - but while Dexter's weapon handling has withered, he can still direct his fists and feet well enough and defeats Markez.

Back in Macho Picchu's studio, Sinister is preparing to kill the Ernest doppelganger, against Trish's tearful protests. Sinister tries to explain that it's not the real Ernest, but Trish refuses to believe him and can't bear to see her husband of twenty years killed. Sinister complies, but tells Ernest that the gunsharks know what the Mover has been planning.

Macho Picchu, restored with a few stiff drinks, completes Trish's fake papers and the gunsharks see her off at the airport. As they are doing so, someone else arrives - Missy Solemnis, travelling from offworld at the invitation of Benny Bournemouth...

DP: The appearance of the female character in the last panel here may be of special interest to fans of the strip, but this is otherwise an entirely usual serving of Sinister Dexter. Judging by the persistent lack of depth or originality in this pair’s exploits, presumably the comic’s younger readers keep them coming back for more. It is without doubt a good idea to offer strips that youngsters will appreciate, but it is a pity when those offerings fail to live up to the British tradition of creativity and good storytelling.The artwork too is nothing special, and also appears to be aimed a children; but, given the triteness of script, Anthony Williams manages to produce reasonably stimulating material. 

Amerika - Part 11 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Simon Fraser & Gary Caldwell Letters: Ellie De Ville

Dante finally faces up to the job...

Synopsis: Manhattan is levelled and both the White Army and the Amerikan insurgents alike are all annihilated by the Russian fleet's onslaught - Dante himself only escapes back to the Winter Palace by a small margin.

A tearful Jena meets Dante in the docking bay and embraces him, pleading that she tried to stop the bombardment but that she was overruled by those who said that it had to be done in the name of peace - Dante brushes her aside and stalks off, muttering forebodingly that there's only one sure way to bring peace to the empire.

Dante finds the Tsar surrounded by his generals, all celebrating a complete and unqualified victory which has cemented the Tsar as the most powerful ruler in the world. The Tsar himself is well pleased with Dante's performance, heaping laurels upon him. An impassive Dante repeats a lesson the Tsar taught him when he first became the Sword - that in politics, you must take every opportunity available - and shows that he's a good study by transfixing the unsuspecting Tsar on his bioblades!

There's little time to savour this final culmination of rebellion, for Dante is immediately struck down by the Lord Protector. Jena tries to run to him, but when the Tsar - still imperious and commanding even as medics rush over him - bawls for Jena to return to her father's side, she slinks down in compliance.

The Lord Protector prepares to finish off the barbecued Dante, but is stopped by the Tsar, who has far worse fates than death in mind for the traitor. A cackling, sneering Arkady boots Dante to unconsciousness..

DP: While not the best moment from the Dante canon, Amerika had until this point been fairly engaging, and seemed to be leading to an interesting phase in the overall plot. The concluding episode in this week’s prog, however, is phenomenal. 

The script is incendiary, and brilliantly paced. When Nikolai reaches the palace, his response to Jena tells readers that something significant is underway. Morrison builds on the anticipation with the brief calm before the storm in which Nikolai and Vladimir exchange words. The expressions on their faces at the end of the conversation — superbly drawn by Fraser — suggest what is unfolding, and the following page makes good on the promise, with the startling image of Nikolai skewering the Tsar. Konstantin’s subsequent attack on Dante heightens the drama further, and the last page terminates the series perfectly with Vladimir sparing Dante’s life but promising him an even worse fate. 

This is probably the only story in 2000AD at the moment that could pull of a spectacular stunt like this — no other selection of characters has the same depth and rich history. Readers have an emotional connection these creations, which is what makes it astonishing to see Dante’s attack, and then to see him lying burned and helpless on the ground. The quality of the partnership between Morrison and Fraser that made this possible is very much in evidence in this episode. Not only is it the epitome of good storytelling, but the characters’ expressions allow such a clear appreciation of their feelings that you could almost regard them as real people. This instalment also exhibits another fine tradition of the franchise – which is that it leaves readers with little idea of what is going to happen next, but gasping to find out. 

DP: As is often the case with end-of-run progs, a lot of the material is no better than mediocre. The presence of a both Terror Tale and Twisted Tale is an obvious problem, particularly when neither of them is very good. Despite that, the end of Amerika is such a powerful episode that most readers will likely forget the lack of excitement elsewhere in the comic. Judge Dredd is also more or less watertight. 

Best Story: Nikolai Dante