2000AD Prog 1644 - 15 July 2009

Cover by Steve Yeowell & Chris Blythe

Alex Frith: What a beautifully designed cover. I'm blown away, truth be told. Even the pixelation of the clockface in the background can't keep me from loving this spooky yet welcoming image. Top marks to Steve Yeowell. Now, this cover may mark the return of the Red Seas, but we all know that the grim reaper is really signalling 'time' to the series Cradlegrave, and to all the residents of the Ravenglade estate... 

Charles Ellis: It’s a strong, eye-catching image, selling that Something Bad Is Going To Happen. Good stuff! 

Rehab - Part 1 Script: Al Ewing Art: Karl Richardson Letters: Annie Parkhouse

Dredd takes one on the chin...

Synopsis: Dredd is taking down the leader of a block war "Rage Hard", a doctor who was creating a street drug from the Block Mania virus and selling it on the street before overdosing on it himself. Dredd, after a heated fight, takes down the pumped up Rage Hard, and sends him to the cubes. However, he later discovers that Rage Hard and 15 other perps have vanished form their cubes...

AF: Hooray! It's an Al Ewing comedy Dredd. Nice prologue about life in an iso-cube, then it's swiftly onto Dredd fighting a massive nutter. Like Cliff Robinson, Karl Richardson is an excellent artist who's perhaps more naturally suited to covers than to strip work, but he makes a decent go of it here, and delivers a gloriously steroidal villain with Rage.

Credit to Ewing, too, of course. I love the way this chump is made a figure of self-important idiocy. It's very 2000AD, and diametrically opposed to certain superhero comics, who take these kind of muscled philosophers seriously (Anyone remember Batman villain Bane? Or indeed, all comics of the 1990s?).

CE: Okay, yeah, to be honest this last run of strips has felt like trying to pad out the gap between Francisco’s Chief Judge win and a –50 start for the mega-epic. Aside from a minor reference last prog, the new boss is totally absent, that’s a problem. 

That aside, this story works great on its own terms. The first page on its own shows Ewing’s skill: sets up the iso-cubes, has the character trying (increasingly badly) to say how he’s not done anything really, fills out what the guy’s like, gives us some pathos, and then has a mystery. All on one page! The rest is good too, with Rage Hard’s over-the-top eeeeevil being punctured by the vapid news report, Dredd being a hard case, and the return of Bennett from Ewing’s Megazine strips.  

Richardson’s fight never quite sells the idea of motion and that undermines the fight a bit, but he draws a great Rage Hard and fiery chaotic backgrounds.  

The Chimes of Midnight - Part 1 Script: Ian Edginton Art: Steve Yeowell Letters: Simon Bowland

Ooh, what's behind that..?

Synopsis: The Chapter of the 12, including Orlando Doyle, Isaac Newton and others discuss how Lucifer has sent the Cradle of Filth after Jack Dancer. Newton says that they should join Dancer and fight Lucifer, but the other refuse, so he resigns from the group...

AF: See, now I have to make another superhero reference. Edginton presents us with an interdimensional Illuminati, who meet together behind the doors of the 13 worlds and record the goings on of mankind. As far as Red Seas goes, this is another scene-setting, talking-rather-than-doing episode. But, as always, it's expertly crafted and holds the interest well. Yeowell intrigues with his character designs for Sir Isaac Newton's fellow Illuminati (or whatever this group is really to be called), and leaves me hoping we'll find out more about them all in due course. 

CE: We had a recap in the last Seas!

Still, annoying while that is for me, it’s probably a boon for new and forgetful readers. It’s also notable that he doesn’t just use this for exposition, but further fleshes out the world of the Red Seas (and related strips – it’s Doyle from Stickleback, yay!), brings Newton into the fray, and builds up some tension (I bet the Thirteenth Door will get opened later…).  

Yeowell does a good job of keeping a bunch of people talking from getting dull, though I keep getting the unfortunate feeling that I should recognise some of the Chapter but don’t because they’re being drawn different to normal. (I like the female Toten though!)  

A good start. 

Part 12 Script: John Smith Art: Edmund Bagwell Letters: Ellie De Ville

Mary's final moments...

Synopsis: Death and violence rules on the Ravenglade Estate. Shane has had enough, and firebombs Ted and Mary's. Mary bursts out into the street where the residents turn on the monster and kill it, blaming it for the troubles. However, elsewhere Mary's converts are using her offspring to devour Skully. Shane finally decides it's time to leave home and heads out into the world...

AF: The end. Now, I had to read this episode twice to work out exactly what was going on. I'm not sure I've got everything sewn up, but to some extent I don't want to on the grounds that it might make me puke. If there's one thing Cradlegrave has done consistently, it's get under my skin with dirty fingernails, and overwork my lymphatic system as it tries to flush out the resulting infection. 

I assure you, this is meant as praise! 

The slow burn of this series has all been about the youth of the estate suckling the black milk from mutated Mary, and slowly changing as a result - possibly into cannibals. But it's also been about an incorrigibly hot Summer, about depravation, and about the underclass of Britain being ignored. Even as the climax shows the residents burning Mary in disgust at what she is, it also shows the new breed of Marys taking over from resident drug peddler Skully. This bit of plot resolution is neat - although to be honest I would have liked a bit more spelled out for me - but the triumph is the story of protagonist Shane, whose only course of action is to set fire to his past and run away.

The last page has a note of hope to it - that's Edmund Bagwell really spanking it on the art as usual - but frankly this series is bleak as all hell. You can run, Shane, but you'll never escape Cradlegrave... 

CE: Jesus CHRIST. We knew this strip would get horrible but I don’t think any of us realised how sickening this was going to get, both in the writing and the art – when everything Bagwell draws looks so true to life and normal, hideous unnatural THINGS and vicious death get far nastier. Shane’s escape does carry a note of victory, but it’s undermined when you realise there’s still horrors going on behind him and it won’t end. That’s probably the point (it’s a metaphor, innit?).  

As a horror story, Cradlegrave is a masterpiece. 

(And I wonder if Smith knew all along Donna would become a Donna kebab, or if he came up with that after the name?) 

Wish You Were Here - Part 3 Script: Dan Abnett Art: Anthony Williams Letters: Ellie De Ville

Dexter tries to fix his mistake...

Synopsis: Sinister and Dexter take the (just) alive Kutter away for some help. Rocky tells them to go to Cyberia, where they meet Bonehinge, a cyborg doctor...

AF: Reading SinDex these days feels like catching up with old friends. It's becoming almost soap opera what with the leads bickering and the anxiety over the fate of Kal Cutter. But then we get a full-on 2000AD moment with the reveal of the clockwork insectoids on the final page.

Anthony Williams is definitely getting more of a feel for the series as he continues. His Sinister is finally living up to the name. But really, this is just a tiny part of a much bigger whole - if you already like this series, then great, otherwise there's not much for newcomers. 

CE: The annoying thing here is… well, two things. The first is that Sinister Dexter just keeps feeling like it’s marking time until the big event, and has been ever since Dexter regained his legs. The second is that poor Bonehinge is unable to be creepy cos we just read Cradlegrave. The strip, despite flawless art by Williams – if we care about the gunshark’s plight, it’s because of how he draws Dexter’s helplessness and Finny’s rage – just doesn’t work. And that’s a pity when it worked very well in the last two progs and, on paper, Dexter losing his ability to shoot is a good twist.  

Maybe next prog will sort this, or maybe it just needs to feel like the War of the Moses has started. (It technically has, after all, but we never believe it) 

Queen Of the Zombies - Part 5 Script: Pat Mills Art: Leigh Gallagher Letters: Annie Parkhouse

The Defoemobile deals out some vengeance...

Synopsis: Zombie Queen possessed clockpunks Mr Chud, Mr Bedlam, Mr Frogger and and Mr Gubu kill the guards at the Southwark gatehouse and take over. Defoe and Servitor break through in the "Defoemobile". They reach Nonsuch House, headquarters of the Royal Resurrection Company. Defoe is expecting trouble...

AF: There's something about Defoe that really works as a series. A lot of it is to do with Leigh Gallagher's designs and the grottiness he brings to each panel. But, all the same, episode by episode Defoe is a little frustrating. It seems to jump from scene to scene too quickly for my tastes. 2000AD has come a long way since 1977, and Mills I think struggles to keep up with the tight plotting of new boys like Edginton and Morrison.

Of course, he makes up for it with his idea per page hit rate. In this episode we get Mr Chud in action, the Verbiest chariot, and even Defoe's own Spider-sense. So I'm happy, but I wish would give us more breathing space. 

CE: The clockpunks are brilliant designs, but die too quickly and easily for me to understand why they turned up here. They just seem to waste a few pages. 

Outside of them, Damned gets increasingly Bond-like, Mills gets his righteous lefty on, we get some extra world-building and pre-steampunk gear, and something ominous is coming. (Imagine what it could’ve done with a full six pages!) I love the Damned and Defoe pairing, the total lack of similarities (besides killing things) while still managing to work together holds my interest. 

And look at that art! Grim, grimy, dark, ugly monsters and people, and still able to genuinely impress with the Chariot of Fire’s aesthetics. Give this man a raise! 

AF: Very good. I'm a bit wary of Defoe and Red Seas sharing Prog time, especially with a new Stickleback just on the horizon, but we'll see. 

Best Story: Cradlegrave

CE: It’s a great prog, but you know who the winner is… 

Best Story: Cradlegrave