Prog 3

 

Day 3, and think the scene has been set for most of these stories, now we'll be getting into the meat of them. Well, that's what I hope!

Prog 3
12 March 1977

With Flesh right on the cover, I can already see this is an issue I'm going to like - I love seeing Cowboys getting eaten by Dinosaurs just as much as the next guy. 

But before I get to indulge in that particular fetish there is the small matter of Invasion. It's very early days, but this is by far my favourite story at the moment. This week Bill Savage meets the resistance and by the end of the episode joins them. There are plenty of savage lines (sorry) and some exciting fighting scenes, but what I'm enjoying most is the art. I'll admit, I haven't gone back and done my research into who the artist is, but I intend to do so very soon. Look at the two panels here, we have a ferocity of the Volgans captured wonderfully on his face, while later in the episode we first meet Bill Savage here with the calmest expression, all cool and ready for battle. You can see by the hardened expression on his face that he means business.  As long as the art is this good, this will continue to be my favourite story.

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "It's extermination time - an I ain't talking about bed bugs!" 

It doesn't feel like much happens in Flesh this week, although several large pictures of Dinosaurs fill out the story pretty fast. The first panels showing the Ranger fighting with the dinosaur are impressive, and it's repeated again soon after as another Ranger comes up against the dinosaur. It looks as though the monster has been defeated, but we have a cliffhanger of old one eye getting back to its feet and staggering off for revenge. I did enjoy the large panels and fights, but it left me a little cold this week - although I do look forward to seeing old one eye seeking revenge. 

Rating: 4/10

Best line: "Ahhh! Ain't seen a Tyrannosaur that big before!" 

The rough and tumble world of Harlem Heroes isn't quite living up to my expectation. This week the cobbled together squad of rookies and veterans takes on Baltimore, and most of the action focuses on the rookie Zack. It does initially follow the same sporting-type story I have read elsewhere, and it's only in the final panels as Zack's jet pack is smashed and he heads earthward do I feel engaged. However, the story is elevated by the artwork, and even if the story doesn't always hold my attention there are still some great visuals. 

Rating: 4.5/10

Best line: "Boys in Blue? Holy Moses Giant..ya didn't tell me we'd be playing cops!" 

The opening panels of the Dan Dare story are the best part of it this issue. The Jupiter monster they are fighting looks great, but I am deflated when Dan Dare defeats it by grabbing its horns. It all feels a little weak to me.  The ending with the spaceship flying into a radio storm feels rushed, a cliffhanger that's only there to get us to the next part of a developing story. Par for the course, but I don't feel the story moved much this week. 

Rating: 4/10

Best line: "Not that strange, Commander! Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?" 

Thargs message has me jolly pleased that I don't work as a subeditor at 2000 A.D. but I do enjoy seeing the subeditor shot with a disintegrator. It's something that I have often fantasized about myself. 

OK, so this is only the third issue, but I'm going to say it -I'm not fussed on MACH 1. Today I realised what it is, MACH 1 is basically just a superhero under a different guise. No spandex, it's true, but with his strength, speed, and fighting ability, he is a less colorful Marvel/DC superhero knock-off. Substitute his computer acupuncture for radiation and he neatly fits a number of superheroes from the 1960s. This week a sunken NATO ship sees him battling Eastern forces for salvage. Several fights later, and some 2nd-degree burns, he emerges victorious. It is the final lines of the story that makes me think that this might be worth sticking with - "If ever MACH 1 turns against us, God help us." I wonder if there is a heel turn coming in the future for Mr John Probe.

Rating: 3.5/10

Best line: "I stamp on you like an insect, British Spy" 

I kept misreading Lawmaster in Judge Dredd as Lawnmaster, which sounds like some sort of expensive lawnmower. Hopefully, my mind will forget this soon, and I can go back to reading it normally. The story itself was straightforward but had several fun moments. The villain changed his face to avoid detection, but Judge Dredd recognizes his voice and delivers retribution. Plenty of great art from Carlos to appreciate here, and it's hard to choose my favorite panel. However, I think the one below will be the one that sticks in my mind until I read the next issue. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "The law can show mercy too! Speak?" 

Prog 3 final ratings:

Overall: 5/10

Best Story: Invasion

Best Line: "Annoyed!"

Best Panel:

 

Prog 2

 Day two of my Prog Slog. 

I would like to say that I couldn't sleep last night in anticipation, but to be honest, I slept like a baby. But I did wake up this morning with Prog 2 on my mind and the memories of the stories of Prog 1 lingering, before the realization that today's the day I first meet Judge Dredd!

Breakfast be damned, I'm reading Prog 2  now. 

Prog 2. 
5 March 1977

I'm skipping the Biotronic Man stickers as seen on the cover and jumping straight to the stories - you don't need cheap tat to lure me in, I'm here for the long haul. 

Yesterday, part one of the Invasion story had me hooked, and prog 2 sees plenty more of what I enjoyed most. The midlands an atomic wasteland, Politicians strung high in Parliament square, and my main man, Savage, bringing the battle to the Volgans in a South London pub, quite possibly a South London pub where I myself have had a few battles. Of course, where I only have my bare hands, Savage has his already dependable shotgun, a weapon I hope we'll be seeing a lot more of. Like all good action stories, he dispenses with the enemy while delivering one-liners, my favorite being "laugh the off twinkle toes." The final panels have him observed by a mysterious stranger, enough to entice the reader to pick up the next issue, but I'm already enticed, this story is a firm favorite already and I can't wait to read more. A simple South London man fighting a war with only his shotgun? Yes, please. 

Rating: 6/10

Best Line:  "laugh this off, Twinkletoes!"

I expected Flesh to be all about the Dinosaurs, so I was surprised at the start of today's edition to see some robot machines (fleshdozers) in action. The blend of high-tech and Dinosaurs works for me though, as the body count continues to mount with two deaths in the first pages as the humans are caught in the technology used to process the Dinosaurs. Death can come from anywhere. We see more of this high-tech in action as the food is teleported 65-million years into the future. A heady mix of sci-fi and large beasts, what's not to love? The final pages see a fight between a Pteranodon and a human, and even though I'm no expert I'd have to say the odds don't favor the human. This story is beginning to develop, it will be interesting to see if it can hold my attention, all I've seen so far are Dinosaurs and humans fighting. As much as I love dinosaurs, I can't see myself sticking with it if it just stays in this lane.  Hopefully there'll be a little more flesh on the bone as we go along. 

Rating: 5/10

Best Line:  "Man's always killed animals for meat, and there's a whole lotta meat on a ten-ton Styracosaur" 

It's a well-worn trope, but Mach 1 opens with an action panel before flashing back to explain how we got there. When we last saw John Probe, he was watching helplessly as the Vulcan aircraft took off with a deadly load of nerve gas bound for central London. It did seem helpless, but as luck would have it, our hero John Probe catches a ride on a Nimrod aircraft which manages to overall the Vulcan. The brain is a funny thing, I was able to suspend belief for Flesh as mankind travels back in time to take Dinosaurs for food, yet I scoff at John Probe leaping from one aircraft to another. Such is my mind. However, I am at peace for the rest of the story as John Probe, even as nerve gas leaks into the cockpit, takes control of the situation. Oh, and did I mention that he fits of terrorists at the same time? This story still hasn't grabbed me like I thought it might, I guess super soldiers just aren't my cup of tea. Rather pleasingly, the final panel provides some hope for the future. 

Rating: 5/10

Best Line:  "Get out of my brain, you fugitives from a nightmare! Gotta land this plane in one piece or London dies!"

The opening pages of Dan Dare are more of the same from last week, with Dan Dare fighting hand to hand as a stowaway on a spacecraft heading back to Jupiter. I'm not fussed at first, this hand-to-hand combat in spacesuits isn't anything I haven't already seen countless times. The story improves with the appearance of a fifth-generation martian, Mr. Monday. I perk up at this, the story is once again becoming more interesting, and the final panels with the being from Jupiter is enough to hook me in for the next episode. Job done, well done Dan Dare writer. 

Rating: 5.5/10

Best Line:  "What is that thing from the hell planet?"

I'm skipping Thargs message this week, there's not much happening there, but the following Harlem Heroes picks up with some aeroball action that has me pulling out the threads from last week's story. Three survivors? I could have sworn that last week they said four survivors, but I'm not going back to check, let's just roll with it. The introduction of a grizzly old veteran adds a new member to the team, but I'm still trying to get the names straight in my head. I love a good veteran joining a team story, and it's cool to see it play out in a future context. One thing I am enjoying greatly with this story is the world it's set in. As they drive out to Harlem, their Chevrolet looks super cool and fits with my image of how driving into Harlem might look in future times. A highly familiar scene of kids playing ball while being scouted is played out, with the added excitement of dodgy jetpacks. Gritty, and realistic, I could see a future just like this. Can't wait to see how their first game against Baltimore, with two rookies and a forty-year-old veteran, goes. Good luck!

Rating: 6/10

Best Line:  "If you hadn't been here, Giant, the kid would have been splattered into raw hamburger" 

 

Finally.

Judge Dredd. 

I've been waiting for this for a long, long time.

He is immediately familiar to me, I recognize Carlos Ezquerra's artwork straight away from my days reading Battle comic. The first story seems basic, everyone is getting a feeling for the character. The cityscape, the Judges on their bikes, there's a lot that grabs the eye right away. I don't know where to start, I slow myself down and take it in panel by panel. A revenge story, a Judge is killed, Judge Dredd extracts justice. I like it, without yet loving it. I can see the potential. There's a humor to it too, not immediately obvious, but it's there. But more than that, it's the look of the story as a whole. Carlos has a particular style, a particular style that appeals to me. Judge Dredd has so much written about it, you don't see it all here in the first story, but I know it's all still to come. I can't wait. I'll be back next week with my 8p for the next issue, you can count on that. 

Rating: 5/10

Best Line:  "Shut up, we'll deal with him. Judges can bleed too!"

Prog 1

I missed it. 

Prog 1 -  26th February 1977.  I was away lost in my sports comics (Tiger, Roy Of The Rovers) and war comics (Battle, Commando). At the time 2000 A.D. meant nothing to me. 

Don't let the fact that I was only four at the time fool you, I spent my first few years when I learnt to read catching up on the comics of my infancy, but still, I never picked up a Prog - not even when all the cool kids at school were waving one under my face. 

It has been a source of shame that has dogged me for forty years and for all the thousands of comics I have read since I have never read a single issue of one of the most influential and highly regarded comics of our times.  

So, here I am, forty-five years later righting this wrong. My first reading of 2000 A.D. My first prog slog. My first EVERYTHING. How rare it is to be able to approach something so iconic with the fresh eyes of a newbie. You only lose your virginity once, and here I am with the comic in hand about to take my first plunge. 

2000 A.D.  - a newbies prog slog. 

Let's go.  

Prog 1. 
26 February 1977

The cover doesn't give an indication of what awaits, but the first splash page does with its statement of intent - "Welcome to your future"  However I am saddened by the fact that the futuristic-sounding  2000 A.D. is now 20 years ago -I am taken aback by how quickly the years have rolled by leaving the year 2000 as a stranded island of time in the past.  

The opening splash page already has my mouth watering - I can see some tasty morsels which I can't wait to sink my teeth into. Harlem Heroes looks like something that might appeal to me, potentially it looks like a similar story to The Spinball Wars which I used to read in Battle. Elsewhere, Invasion is already giving off some intense vibes, and that's from seeing a single frame, and Dan Dare has piqued my interest - how did he end up here? A familiar face from the Eagle comics, I see the words 'suspended animination' and I look forward to seeing how he goes in this bold future. Next week's fantastic free gift is now forty-five years in the rearview mirror, but the child in me still longs for the Biotronic panels, who wouldn't want a chance to be a Boiotronic man?

Ok, suitably stimulated, I'm ready to turn the page.

Invasion was the one from the splash page that I was most interested in, and it has lived up to all expectations. With Great Britain invaded by the Volgans, Bill Savage loses everything, and with his shotgun in hand vows to bring the war to the Volgans. Interesting to see that the year 1999 wasn't completely different from what we got, with the news broadcast on BBC3 - a channel that came into being in 2003, so they were pretty close with that one. Other media hasn't changed too much in the last half-century either, the Daily Mirror proclaiming "War with the East" is a headline they might publish today -and I assume the Volgans come from a region near the Volga river, so again from my perspective in 2022, it reeks of authenticity. As for a King Charles, well we're all still waiting for that, and the newsreader's comment that its the first invasion of The British Islands in a thousand years isn't quite accurate, I seem to recall an invasion in 1066, which makes this the first invasion in 933 years - lucky I'm not a pedantic man.  All this is neither here nor there, the best thing in this story is any panel with Bill Savage - a man with the right name for a situation like this. He has some cracking dialogue, and I just cant wait to see where he goes from here. I want to jump to Prog 2 right away to see how he goes - this story is already off to a solid start. The artist seems very familiar to me, I could easily look up who it is, but you know what, I'm just going to live with these comics a while before I dig into the writers and artists.

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "With pleasure, sunshine - but I ain't hiding.. I'm reloading!"

I love the premise for Flesh. A glorious combination of time travel and Dinosaurs, this is ticking a lot of boxes already. With man traveling back in time to gather Dinosaurs for food, Earl Reagan predicts that in the future mankind or Dinosaurs will become extinct, and "Nobody makes Earl Reagan extinct"  The idea seems fresh to me, and I devour this story quickly. This first episode I feel is all set up, I think the story will take off in the next issues, once this groundwork is laid out. The first page is a great introduction, it leapt off the page at me. Again, the artist looks familiar to me, but I am content with my ignorance for now. It is every kid's dream to grow up drawing Dinosaurs, and I can feel that in the art here. As for many favorite panels? Well, that was the Dinosaur stampede, for sure. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "You overgrown Lizard, I'll ...A-A-AH!" 

I am initially a little disappointed with Dan Dare. He gets color pages, but the story isn't as colorful as the art and as much as I want to love it, I don't. Dan Dare is the only survivor of an accident over Jupiter and is held accountable for the loss. Facing court-martial he flees in a ship, setting up a potential fugitive story.  It feels done before, however, I do enjoy the final pages and I have high hopes that the next few issues will pull me into the story. The dialogue when he meets the Solar Fleet Commander is a lot of fun, as is the panel on the next page as he punches out a guard wearing a full helmet. That's a heck of a punch. 

Rating: 4/10

Best line: "What? He'll eat vacuum for this! Dare's a dead man!" 

Finally, I meet Tharg who I have heard so much about, and henceforth amend my email signature to "SPLUNDIG VUR THRIGG". 

Next week meet Judge Dredd?
Next week?
Another week before I meet the most famous face from the pages of 2000 AD? 

OK, I've waited this long, I can wait a few more days 

Mach 1 isn't so much a secret agent as a secret weapon. John Probe with his computerized form of acupuncture is a terrorist bashing, door kicking, hyper sprinting, and veritable one-man army bringing it to the terrorists.  Super soldiers aren't new, and this seems on the surface to be the least original story in the issue To its credit though, many of my friends speak highly of acupuncture, albeit not this computerized acupuncture, so it may be something I'll need to consider for myself in the future.  The final panel of a Vulcan aircraft in flight about to destroy London is enough of a cliffhanger for me to be flicking to this story in the next prog, despite my earlier reservations  

Rating: 3.5/10

Best line: "Let's see if the door's MACH-proof!" 

Finally, I get to the first story that grabbed my attention, Harlem Heroes and aeroball, the sport of tomorrow. The name Harlem doesn't quite have the same cachet of cool as it did in the late seventies, but the story still has a cool feel as we meet the team and the sport. I must admit, I am hooked by the twist soon after we are introduced to the team they are killed in an accident. One wonders where they can go from that, but the final page has me intrigued by the prospect of their brains surviving, and the last four-members carrying on the legacy. A good way to finish the episode as I immediately want to know where they will go from here.

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "We -er- brought you these flowers and chocs, Louis. But I guess you won't be needing 'em now""  

 

That's it!

My first prog is done and dusted. Finally, I have that monkey off my back, and I am eagerly anticipating my next one. The most famous stories lay ahead of me, some far ahead of me, but I am content for now with what I have read here. These stories are enough for now to keep me reading, but I particularly look forward to the next issue and the introduction of Judge Dredd. I wonder what he'll be like... 

Prog 1 final ratings:

Overall: 4/10

Best Story: Invasion

Best Line: "You're joking... I ain't running from dirty Volgans! "

Best Panel: