Cover by Neil Roberts

Daniel Payne: Neil Roberts, whoever he is, produces some nice covers. Fine art it isn't, but the American-looking style is a welcome change from the usual. The figures are eye-catching, the colours jump, and this guy knows how to draw. As stock Dredd covers go, consider this a good one.

Kerrin Shaw: As far as CGI artwork goes this works better than most. The pink is a bit too LOUD but I like the silhouette of the bar patrons brawling in blue. From the rug on Dredd's chest it looks like they never quite got all of the werewolf out of him. On the rear cover we have Colin MacNeil's kick ass poster for this year's HI-EX!, awesome. If you're going, have fun.

Alan Holloway: The first thing that jumps out at you from Prog 1673 is another fine quality cover from Neil Roberts, displaying a particularly sneery sneer from Dredd as mutant heartbreaker Carmen Alvarez gets her paws on the law.

Synopsis: Dredd had gone after Alvarez after she killed all the men in a nearby town. He takes her into custody, getting her away from the locals and almost goes under her spell instead, until he covers her in manure - masking the pheromones. She's locked away in the town with no men.

Daniel Payne: Robbie Morrison's Dredd contributions usually draw a mixed reaction, but ignore the haters, because this is surely a winner. The Tour of Duty period has brought us an interesting new outlook on the Judges' world, but Morrison injects some comedy into the proceedings, and does it in a way which is entertaining and which doesn't detract from the overall plot. It's a bit like The Beatles sticking Yellow Submarine in the middle of Revolver – sure, it's a little bit trite, but you still love it.

Tharg picked the right artist for the task too. Jon Haward's playful style, as it is here, wouldn't be suited to Dredd's grittier moments, but it really brings this little adventure to life. Which makes it the second time so far in this prog that an atypical choice of artist has added some verve to the comic.

Kerrin Shaw: Another fun interlude to Tour of Duty comes to a climax, and while it's been enjoyable I'll be glad to get back to the main storyline. Jon Haward's art has got some lovely little details with great mutie designs and he draws a mean raptor. I particularly enjoyed the five eyed heifers on the "Numpty's bar and grill" sign - radland Ermintrude, sweet.

"RRR...RRR...RICOCHET!" is a quality line and had me chuckling like a goodun.  The young lady's pheremonal powers being countered by two tons of mutant ordure was an inspirational touch, but how very convenient that they happen to collect their own faecal matter in a giant elevated tank. Why do they need to create so much poo pressure? Just how far were they intending to spray the stuff? Important questions.

Alan Holloway: This weeks Dredd ties up the “Lust In The Dust” (great title) two parter, as Carmen Alvarez attempts to overload Dreddy with pheromones but is doomed to failure when he covers her in, well, shit. It’s been a good
little story, if a little functional, with Jon Haward providing some solid art that neither amazes of disappoints. Combined with Chris Blythe’s strong colouring it can seem a little too cartoony for my tastes, but with that said it does the job.

I’m happy with the Cursed Earth stories that are stretching out Dredd’s time there, but a big part of me (fnaaar) is
desperate to find out what’s going to happen in the main story arc.

Synopsis: We find out that Fiery Jack and Gay John have joined the Futurity Society and have killed all the others in Stickleback's crew - who had suspected something was off about them. He meets the countess who is planning to take over London and who tries to take off his "mask". However, Bob spits out a bomb, blowing a hole in the side of the airship...

Daniel Payne: Like Ian Edginton's other major ongoing series, Red Seas, Stickleback has won a place in the hearts of many readers with its zany characters and a story full of novel ideas. However, these same elements, along with the slightly heavy verbiage, can make the story seem a little bit of a quagmire to the uninitiated.

The artwork too more or less matches the above description. D'Israeli is a great talent, but the unusual style and heavy detail will appeal more to avid followers than to casual readers, in contrast to some of his past work like the excellent Scarlet Traces. In short, if you're a Stickleback fan then you'll probably enjoy this, but otherwise don't worry about it.

Kerrin Shaw: I've always been a big fan of this strip, so it will come as no surprise that I thought this weeks episode was a doozy. D'Israeli's artwork is an absolute treat and I'd be hard pushed to name another modern comic artist with as individual and accomplished a style. If you haven't checked out "D'blog of D'Israeli" yet then you really should, after a hiatus at the end of last year he's back on form and has been posting extensive references for the artwork on this strip.

Edginton's script also continues to delight with it's mix of Victorian exactitude and primness versus Stickleback's  direct coarseness. We get another hint that all is not as it seems with our master criminal as well. Hearsay has it that there is a connection to Sherlock Holmes with the bony one. Time will no doubt tell. No matter what though he's indubitably one of the best characters to emerge in the prog for many a year.

Alan Holloway: This is yet another piece of imaginative inspiration from the pen of Ian Edginton, surely one of our
brightest sparks when it comes to true creativity in the weekly. It’s hard to think of it working so well, however, without the back up of D’israeli’s unique art style. For Stickleback he makes it seem like reading a photographic negative, but needless to say it works very nicely.

The plot is still being edged along as Stickleback’s loyal mates finally try to stab him in the (stickle)back, allying themselves with Countess Bernoulli. The Countess herself provides the episode’s most tantalising plot device as she tries to see Stickleback’s “True face”, but a timely exploding bollock from Bob puts a stop to any real revelations. Hopefully we might learn a bit more before the story ends, but either way it’s an enjoyable romp.

Synopsis: Steelhorn recovers his hammer while the president, who has been taken over by an alien entity, receives word that the ABCs are being destroyed. At the same time, his hold in Juanita begins to slip...

Daniel Payne: We gather that Pat Mills didn't like it one bit when former editor Andy Diggle prescribed the format of the A.B.C. Warriors' Third Element story, although the end product turned out all right. In contrast, with Mills now endowed with the creative freedom he wanted, The Volgan War is more like a sequential-art equivalent to Lou Reed's ear-wrecking magnum opus Metal Machine Music. We've had four volumes (so far) of the warriors engaged in a battle royale with their demented opponent, but haven't seen any of the nuances that made the characters great in the first place, nor the powerful underlying themes like in Charley's War or Rogue Trooper's finer moments that reminded us why war is such a horror. What's more, we know who's going to win – thus leaving the question: what's the point?

Clint Langley's artwork doesn't help. His style certainly has some keen followers, but the de-humanised figures and the jarringly pasted-on faces tend to deprive the story still further of any sympathetic qualities.

Kerrin Shaw: I'm afraid that I've been having trouble following this for a long time now. That said this week's instalment had some nice moments such as a double head crunching and a young lady with too much mascara in her undies (not mascara in her undies, that would be ridiculous) so not a complete loss.

I'd love to see Clint Langley tackle a strip with pencil and pens again, this photoshoppery doesn't do his obviously talented artistry any favors and in my opinion leaves the whole thing lifeless.

Alan Holloway: Now we come to a strip that seems to divide readers like no other, as The ABC Warriors fight against the traitorous Blackblood and some other things happen as well. Well, I think they do, as Steelhorn has sauntered away from the battle to go and get his hammer. Never mind that Blackblood probably wouldn’t just sit back and let this happen, handily pausing in his ultimate victory whilst Steelhorn goes off.

When reading The ABC Warriors these days it’s best to sit back and go “oooh!” at the pretty artwork as Pat Mills slaps himself on the back about how bloody clever he is to ram his subtle as Steelhorn's bloody hammer modern day parallels down our bloody throats. You know what? I can live with it, in all honesty, but the strip wouldn’t be even half as much fun without Clint Langley’s ever awesome artwork. I don’t care how he does it, I just love how it ends
up.

Synopsis: A group of hackers take on an impregnable casino...

Daniel Payne: Nick Dyer's artwork here is great – it has some of the energy of Mike McMahon's work, and a quality of its own. If he gets the right material to work with, and isn't bludgeoned into submission by Chris Blythe's photoshop skills, this artist could really shine. It's also great to see the continued use of black and white in the prog; it may not be to everyone's taste, but letting the art stand alone without the aid of colour gives a clarity and dignity to it.

The story, on the other hand, kind of sucks. The bad guy getting foiled at the last minute by his double-crossing sidekicks has been played out more than once too often. Dreaming up new and original twists for one-shot stories like this is certainly a tall order, but Alec Worley falls a long way short this time around.

Kerrin Shaw: Liked it. Nick Dyer's artwork is great. I know that some people say that it's too heavily influenced by McMahon but so what, I see that as a massive plus. The story itself is a fun little jaunt and works well as a whole. There's an awful lot packed into five pages and I even liked the cod "Cherman" accents that the big cat casino workers had. Kind of reminded me of a Richard Morgan or Alastair Reynolds short story,  nice work from Alec.

Alan Holloway: “Fast Hearts” is the latest in the current series of Future Shocks, the short stories that more often than not cause a groan, but occasionally throw up a little gem.

This week, Alec Worley throws us a neat little five pager about an “unscammable” casino that contains a very neat, smart pay off that is the reason these things exist in the first place. Okay, so it was telegraphed a little at the beginning, but I didn’t catch on and enjoyed the tale.

Special mention goes to artist Nick Dyer, who continues to channel Mike McMahon with some top class black and white work. There are better artists out there, but not so many with this sort of style, and I can see him working his way up to “fan favourite” status if given the right ongoing strip.

Synopsis: While Hawksmoor orders her guards to kill Elena, Dante and Odessa, the battle for St Petersburg continues, with the rebels getting the upper hand. However, Konstantin, stripped of his Lord Protector garb, prepares to fight Jena and Lulu...

Daniel Payne: The high quality of John Burns' past work on Dante makes it all the more surprising each time he throws in a comically bad panel that looks as though it was painted in kindergarten. Cue page five, which makes the most terrifying mercenary in the empire look like a stupid toy robot. The Lord Protector's suit seems to embody the friction between the two Dante artists – Burns designed the baroque original, which Fraser drew badly for a few episodes before replacing it with a slicker version after Lulu smashed the first one. Burns returns the compliment here with an outrageously bad take on Fraser's design, and Robbie Morrison puts the sorry saga to an end by shedding the thing altogether on the final page. The rest of this week's artwork is good, although not classic, and includes some typically fine depictions of the strip's leading women.

Burns could have announced it better, and although it was inevitable, Konstantin's appearance stirs this strip up a bit – not only for his muscle, but because he's now ostensibly the only Romanov fighting on the Makarov side, and against his mother, the sole person for whom he has any warmth.

For the rebel army plot hasn't so far matched the heights of the last major conflict, Tsar Wars. The pace in particular has seemed rushed – the sudden turnaround from Vladimir's iron grip to the prospect of defeat made it seem almost as though we'd skipped a whole story somewhere. Although the big players on the rebel side make it plausible, it would have been nice to see some key turning points. All the same, Hero of the Revolution has been a good yarn, and Morrison's track record reminds us not to get too comfortable in our seats.

Kerrin Shaw: "Sproing!", still not a fan of the John Burns "Carry On" school of action pose. I guess I'm fighting with Fraser Block on this one.  As we continue with what seems to be a never ending crawl towards the denouement of Dante I must confess to becoming somewhat jaded and uninterested in the story. When this all started way back when you couldn't have found a bigger fan. Now however I'm finding myself caring less and less about the main proponents and I think it's because we've seen them in the same cliffhanging situations so many times now, with exactly the same result that it just doesn't really register.

The Uber-psycho Konstantin is back though so at least we should have some serious bloodshed next week.

Alan Holloway: The prog is rounded off by the latest instalment of Nikolai Dante: Hero Of The Revolution and I know full well that I’m in a minority when I say that I wish it would just hurry up and finish.

Dante often has some good stories and memorable characters, but it’s just been wibbling on for what seems like centuries. We’ve had thirteen years of the unkillable rogue, shagging and fighting like no character before him, but I’ve stopped looking forward to it a while back.

I’m always mesmerised by the superb detail and retro feel of John Burns’ art, and it’s partly thanks to him that Robbie Morrison’s characters can seem so real. His current run on the series has been without fault, and I have to say that he brings more to the strip than Simon Fraser ever did or could. I will keep reading it, and will keep getting a measure of enjoyment out of it, but the excitement, for me, is no more.

Daniel Payne: The array of artists distinguish this week's issue, with an uncommonly broad range. The prog generally is good but not outstanding, with an iffy Future Shock and the A.B.C. Warriors away in a world of their own. Dredd and Dante predictably win the day, with the latter being marginally the more interesting thanks to the return of Konstantin.

Best story: Nikolai Dante

Kerrin Shaw: A step up from last week which I thought was a low point for the year so far. Considering the high standards we've been enjoying for a long time now though, it's all relative. No other comic even comes close to being able to match 2000AD for quality and we're all very lucky squaxx indeed.

Best story: Stickleback

Alan Holloway: Overall, there’s little to fault in Prog 1673, which continues the run of quality that had blessed the weekly for some time now. It’s cruising along nicely, although there’s no real “WOW!” strip at the moment. With that
said, there’s no duffers either, and it continues to be the hive of creativity and talent that we’ve loved for over 30 years now.

Best story: Stickleback