2000AD Prog 1605 - 24 September 08

Cover by Pye

Richmond Clements: This is a strange one. Initially, I wasn’t sure. The first thing I noticed was that the wire of the fence seems to pass through the fingers of one of the hands… But that doesn’t matter, it’s a striking cover and one that’s grown on me throughout the week.

Alex Frith: I really like this cover, and indeed this type of cover, which shows us a stark image and is full of foreboding, rather than simply showing a character or a scene from within. To be honest, it doesn't really reflect the nature of the strip Stalag 666 - being a damn sight more exciting(!) - but it does make me want to read the comic. Artist Pye has done well here, putting out of mind the rather awful Dredd he's done for this month's Megazine. 

Firestorm - Part 2 Script: Robbie Morrison Art: Sam Hart Colours: Len O'Grady Letters: Annie Parkhouse

We'll repeat that for those in the cheap seats...

Synopsis: The ship Dredd has hitched a ride on is attacked by Bloodstone's crew. After a firefight, Nova is injured and Bloodstone is freed. He vows revenge on Dredd...

RC: I quite enjoyed Morrison’s last Dredd, even with him beating a man to death (Dredd that is, not Morrison). This one I’m not enjoying at all though. This is not just the fault of the script though. The art by Sam Hart  is not doing it for me either. The reason for this, I think, is this- Dredd is not a superhero, hell he’s not even a hero. But this whole story feels like it was written and drawn for one.

The whole ‘Wicked Witch of the West’ look of the bad guy, and the bizarrely designed engine room on the ship (Health and Safety, anyone?) both leave me bemused too.

Still, it might all come together in the end. 

AF: Morrison is having a bit of fun pitting Dredd against a bunch of scurvy alien space pirates. It's uncomplicated, somewhat derivative, but for all that it's very accessible and easy to read. I'm not that taken with Sam Hart's Dredd, but his aliens are alright. I really hope that young Judge Nova isn't going to be another bit of cannon fodder. We've just had that exact same thing in the Morrison's last Dredd, and it was irritating then already. Dredd may be the best Judge, but the others are supposed to be pretty unstoppable too, aren't they?

All in all, something for the younger reader - and why not? 

Old Gods - Part 6 Script: Ian Edginton Art: Steve Yeowell Letters: Ellie De Ville

Charming...

Synopsis: Dancer and the others reach the gates of Asgard, and see huge statues - which turn out to be the rather rude gods themselves. As mankind forgot them, they turned to stone, and they themselves now have no love for mankind...

RC: Now let’s get this point out of the way to begin with. There’s been some debate on the board about whether or not Yeowell is a good artist. Anyone who says he isn’t is dead wrong. The man is a legend. And we shall now consider that particular debate closed.

On to the story then! I’m a big fan of the Red Seas, and I cannot seem to write a review of it without resorting to the word ‘romp’ when describing it. Come on! How could you not like this! It’s absolute lunacy! There’s pirates, and Vikings and Norse gods and a two headed talking dog with a robot body!

Edginton and Yeowell are obviously having a great old time with this strip. In fact, I reckon they’re having too much fun… they should be paying Tharg, not the other way round.

AF: Ah, the Red Seas is back into awe territory. As in, our heroes are made to look tiny and to gasp in awe at the strange sights that Edginton delights in digging out from mythologies past. Sometimes this relies too much on a artist who's really into the subject to make this work. I for one find that Steve Yeowell could do with filling in more detail in his work, but the double page scene of the giant, wooden Viking Gods is spectacular. I really don't like his mechanical dog, though.

So far this story is one of the better Red Seas, but it needs to start moving more quickly actionwise. 

Volgan War 3 - Part 5 Script: Pat Mills Art: Clint Langley Letters: Simon Bowland

Steelhorn now couldn't decide on the Doom Screwdriver or the Circular Saw of Death...

Synopsis: Steelhorn returns to base, with a view to joining Ro Busters. However, he'd double-crossed an thrown into the furnace - resurrected as The Mess (later reborn on Mars). Their war stories now told, the Warriors prepare to save Zippo...

RC: My my, Mr Steelhorn, what a big gun you have!

Langley likes his double page spreads, don’t he? I’ve not been the biggest fan of Langley’s art in the past. Yes, he does a brilliant individual frame, but sometimes the storytelling is less than it could be. I wonder if this could be a fault of his medium, because there is a preponderance for pages of long horizontal panels in his strips..?

Whatever the reason or not, the point I was going to make is that there has been a noticeable (to me anyway) improvement in the flow of panels in his work of late. Things still err on the murky side it’s true, but I suspect this is a printing issue rather than one with Langley’s art.

The undoubted highlight of this episode, and indeed the series so far, has been The Mess- it’s just a pity we only get the briefest of tantalizing glances of him.

Really though, this series is a comfortable pair of old slippers- albeit ones that come with rocket launcher attachments. You know exactly what you’re going to get from Uncle Pat when he writes about these robots, and he doesn’t disappoint. 

AF: Finally, finally, we get to the end of the flashback stories about the Mek-Nificent Seven, and there's the promise, in the final panel, of some new and potentially exciting action.

Sure, Clint Langley's art is astounding in places, and Pat Mills's original robot creations are wonderful, but this whole mess has felt a lot like Gus van Sant's remake of Psycho. It's still a great story, but apart from adding colour and maybe a few modernisms, what's the point? I guess I'm also a bit sad that although we get to see Steelhorn become the Mess, we don't get to see any molten Mess action.

I'd rather read about a revenge-crazed molten robot sludge than a boring old super-robot who cries about killing his friends. Oh, wait, I did read that story in the Mek-nificent Seven collection (buy it now kids!). 

Part 6 Script: Tony Lee Art: Jon Davis-Hunt Letters: Ellie De Ville

Another day, another evisceration...

Synopsis: The doctor tells Schaeffer and Holland that he has toxins ready, while Keester tells Holland that the Old Man was a general, and he has found something shocking in his journals. However, before he can do anything about this, the snakes find the tunnels and prepare to kill all the ringleaders...

RC: Where do I start..? I really want to love this… but. You wouldn’t have a secret meeting and flash your secret hypodermic needle weapon about in the middle of the compound, would you? If you wanted to keep these humans prisoner, they why even bother with the prison camp? Why didn’t they just dump them on an island in the middle of an ocean on some backwater planet and leave them to it?

There have been a few glaring plot holes in the series so far, but I am willing to believe that we are in fact building towards something here, and that a major unseen twist sometime in the future is going to make good everything that has went before. After all, this apparently runs for fifteen weeks, so we’re only halfway through. Benefit of the doubt goes to the script.

The art, on the other hand… I enjoyed Davis-Hunt’s work on Tempest, but have to say I’m not having the same experience with it here. Brown brown brown! I count only two panels in this weeks strip that aren’t drawn from a more or less eye level view, which makes for a static looking strip. There’s also his habit of having everyone standing in line, or side on, when talking to each other. Mix it up, is all I’m saying!

But the thing that I notice most about the art, and the thing that really pulls it down for me, is the figure drawing. Some of the arms are just downright strange. Weird wrists and odd looking foreshortening abound.

Not the best strip I’ve seen in a long time, by any stretch, but certainly not the worst either. I’m glad it’s in the prog and I will continue to read it - but I still need to be convinced by both the art and the script.

AF: I like the idea of Stalag 666, and I like the change of pace it brings to the Prog at the moment - something to do with Jon Davis-Hunt's colours, I think. But I'm not massively thrilled by the story so far.

That said, in this episode things are falling into place: the tunnel has been discovered, the major players are in serious trouble, and the alien guards are on the verge of clearing off anyway. Maybe here's where it all gets going! Certainly I can look forward to more panels of explosions and guts, which Davis-Hunt excels at, and fewer panels of stiffly drawn humans standing around like bad actors. And if I'm really lucky, Tony Lee will devote more time to exploring more about the motivation of the Mussolinis, and the concept of aliens embracing human religion, and slightly less time to ticking the boxes of POW movie conventions.

Fun as those are, I want to see something new, too. 

The Forget Me Knot - Part 5 Script: Simon Spurrier Art: Carl Critchlow Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Lobster leashed...

Synopsis: Veldt's men prepare to take Random to the God King, only for him to be saved by the Froggys. As he's dragged away by the Froggy's Veldt reveals that he's actually Rex Ferris resurrected...

RC: Okay, I have very little clue what’s going on here! Lob is back on the Vort and weird stuff is happening involving a group of humans who seem to have went native and one of them is that fella with the dinosaur on his head?

Actually… perhaps I do know what’s going on! Thing is, it’s all too, well, weird, for my old brain! And yes, my criticism of the colour scheme on Stalag 666 could equally apply here, but somehow Critchlow makes it work. 

The best I can describe this strip is that it’s kind of like watching an Anime movie. I seldom have much of a clue just what the hell is going on, but it looks spectacular and it’s a hell of a ride while it lasts. 

AF: Lobster Random is far and away the best thing in the Prog right now. The writing and art clearly aren't to everyone's tastes, but for my money they're both flawless. Carl Critchlow really knows how to press my 2000 AD junkie buttons, cramming each panel, indeed each character, with so much detail and individuality that it almost makes me cry with delight. And there's a healthy dose of plot intrigue, comedy moments and that far-famed 2000 AD brand of cynical heroism that Spurrier has nailed in the character of Lobster Random. 

RC: A fair to middling line up this week, with a weak Dredd and Stalag 666 not blowing my skirt up.

Best Story: Red Seas

AF: A solid but not spectacular run of thrills. The mix of story and art is great, though. Also interesting to hear Tharg's plea for UK TV to up its game in genre drama. 

Best Story: Lobster Random