Cover by Simon Fraser

Sue Doyle: Meet the Crew, in the painted style I like so much.  Not quite packing a punch but interesting enough to pique your interest in the story.

John Amans: A rather by-the-numbers affair from Simon Davis. This cover showcases the cast of Damnation Station, which strangely I still haven’t got to grips with. My only gripe is this is the kind of cover we have seen a hundred times in relation to Sinister & Dexter. There is no doubting the ability of Mr Davis this just lacks some creativity.

Synopsis: Dredd is asked by Sinfield to investigate his attempted assassination - although he refuses to drop his complaint against the Chief Judge. He gets Beeny seconded to his investigation and visits Francisco. He tries to convince Francisco that he should consider retaking his former position, but while he's under the influence of SLD88 - that's impossible. Dredd orders Sinfield to be moved, but as he is, a hovership captured by a group of mutants crashes into the hospital...

Sue Doyle: Someone trying to kill you?  Who you going to call? Judge Dredd of course, doing what he does best.  Oh yes - I am enjoying this story, intrigue, plot twists, big bangs and JD taking them down a peg or two all crammed into six pages of excellent crisp artwork.  Excellent stuff.

John Amans: No matter what else happens you can always depend on Dredd.  The general Tour of Duty story arc has been good with the Cursed Earth stuff being really well done, but this part “the Talented Mayor Ambrose” just cranks up the quality even more.

We have further story development, intrigue, Judge Politics and a dash of violent terrorism to boot. At least John Wagner doesn’t treat the reader like an idiot and goes for the easy option. PJ Maybe could have bumped the crooked chief Judge off really easy, Dredd returns like some conquering hero, takes over sorts all of the mess out and everybody is happy! Not in this comic, nothing so cheap and tacky.

Colin MacNeil’s art is as excellent as ever and suits the story perfectly.  This series still has a lot to run and I’m sure it will continue to improve and impress in equal measure.

Synopsis: Grayle is saved by Reymont - but Reymont's gun jams and he is killed instead. June takes him back to "grand-daddy" who decides to blow up the camp - killing all the aliens. Back in orbit, Grayle is beginning to realise just what he's let himself in for...

Sue Doyle: I always enjoy Simon Davis’s artwork and although this prog's storyline is not original it does have some novel ideas: it introduces our new member to some genocide and the reasons behind the name Damnation, not something you expect to type in a sentence anywhere.

Clean dialogue, superb art I think that this is one which I’m growing to like more and more rather than an instant wow, but hey that’s no bad thing.

John Amans: One of the new stories of the prog and with that brings the all of the problems of new stories (originality, unknown characters and readers perception) with the added problem of being crammed in a prog with some real quality series. Added to this the basic problem is that Damnation station simply reminds us of other stories centred around Alien warfare .

Reading some of the past reviews it struck me that this week's episode encompasses all of the previously mentioned comments. Though the artwork is very colourful and atmospheric but I have no idea who  the characters are. One of those got wasted this week and I couldn’t remember who he was, what the story is really about and I don’t really get all of the sympathetic  “don’t kill the alien kids” stuff either.

I read last weeks to reacquaint myself a little with what was going in but still found it all too rushed and confusing. Despite all of this, I have seen a lot worse!

Synopsis: As Ichabod is about to be captured, he is rescued by General Beauregard. However, the demon Gleason eventually bests Ichabod and decides to possess a mortal and kill Ichabod's love. However, the Ferryman intervenes in the real world, distracting Gleason enough for Ichabod to get free...

Sue Doyle: I am in heaven while Mr Azrael is in purgatory.  Cowboys, angels, demons a mortal with a way of giving Demons pain, all wrapped up in some of Dom Reardon’s superb artwork.  He may not like drawing horses (see the final page of the prog) but he still pulls it off and the use of colour for the ‘real’ world is a great way of separating them.

Rob Williams is a master with this story, just the right amount of action with the intrigue to pull you back to the prog next week looking for more.

John Amans: The other newbie strip is a different kettle of ghosts altogether.  This has fewer characters to encumber it and it has very atmospheric artwork to complement the twisted story that really cleverly flips from colour to black-and-white.

Although the supernatural Western stuff has been done before this strip gives a slightly different slant to all of the demon soul collectors and “killer morally bankrupt cowboy” stuff. What you see is what you get and though this isn’t really deep and meaningful it still has a panache about it that sets it apart from other strips and keeps the readers attention.

I’m looking to see how this develops.

Synopsis: Duke is safe in the ships secure computer vault while Zombo's emergency damage mode kicks in. He steals Mr Wonderful's diamond eye and cuts a hole in the window - venting him and all the zombies into space. Elsewhere, we discover that Sugar has brought a "Hank Epsilon" back to life...

Sue Doyle: Weird cubed.  People queuing up to be eaten, Zombies wanting to share and Zombo being protected by a bloke with a heedful of circuitry.  It’s so oddball it shouldn’t really work, but with the superb dialogue, “no time for lollygagging”, eye ball earrings for the fashion conscious Zombie and a talking head it does. With a space walk and a ship full of death planet infected Zombies, it can only get better.

John Amans: I really enjoyed the first Zombo strip, it was fresh, it had a great sense of black humour, and great artwork with a tight script. This follow-on story does not quite come up to the breathtaking mark set by the debut. It’s not to say it is without its good bits, I just find the story, new characters and setting is a little messy and all over the place.

Ignoring that, it’s bloody funny as hell with some great little lines and general mayhem mixed in with the best gorefest/bar-room brawl in comic history.

.Synopsis: Despite Lulu warning Dante that he should just execute the Tsar, Dante starts his trial (while Lulu's nanobots are preventing Konstantin from ever recovering). At the trial, nobody can agree what to do with the Tsar until Arkady steps in - and reveals himself to be really Dmitri...

Sue Doyle: Dante has been my favourite strip for some time, but it had some really stiff competition this week.  However it still pulls off - how could it not with a revelation like that?

This episode is a corker.  Poor Dante - just when he thought it was all over. The last frame with the imprint of the weapon crest on Arkady/Dmitri's smiling face - wow!

Can’t wait for next week!

Sue Doyle: Oh my God! At last we finally get to confirm what I have, and I’m sure most other readers, has suspected that Dmitri Romanov has been lurking inside Arkady.

The episode I have waited for years did not disappoint. All of the hallmarks of this great story were in place this week, the dense intricately plotted script; superb artwork that now seems integral to the story, the ensemble cast and a twist in the tail that though we all knew was coming, but we are still glad to see. I’m sure that their will be more tragedy, tears and joy, drama and loss but  I have no doubt that Mr Morrison will not let us down and this will rank alongside some of the great moments of 2000AD’s illustrious history.

Faultless!

Sue Doyle: The last couple of weeks have shown a return to form. I’d had the progs stacking up still in their envelopes and if not for doing this review I wouldn’t have realised what I’d been missing.  Each story was either very good, excellent or out of this world.  I also liked the Droid Life strip and the ‘Behind the Thrills’ article at the back.

Looking forward to next week’s prog - I’ll be ripping it open instead of chucking it in the corner.  Well done Tharg!

Best story: I really through that Ichabod Azrael had the top slot this week, but I shouldn’t have underestimated Dante.  He wins yet again.

John Amans: A very strong prog with two absolute stonkers, 2 really good and one not quite there. I really can’t think of a low period this year and this current crop of stories is very impressive as we have a diverse and exciting set of strips that leave me wanting to read the next episode- now!

As long as 2000AD keeps pumping out this kind of fare then I will keep reading.

Best story: Nikolai Dante (just from Dredd)