I feel I have been too tough on 2000 A.D. so far. It is still finding its feet in the first few issues as I am finding my feet with this blog. I have some empathy with the comic creators, and I know its just a matter of patience. I think the next Progs will improve greatly, and I hope that this blog too will continue to improve as time goes on. Bear with me, we still have a long way to go.
Prog 4
19 March 1977
The cover certainly promises plenty and the opening pages don't disappoint with Invasion continuing apace. Opening with a plan of the resistance lair, it harks back to an earlier age when all good villains and heroes had a secret underground base. Judging from the schematic they seem well equipped and ready to take it to the enemy. Savage is introduced to his new colleges and immediately challenges them, and the authority of the Brigadier by demanding to see their hands. Like a good whodunnit reveal, Savage seizes upon the man with the smoothest hands as being an infiltrator, leading to some top elevator action as he hooks himself beneath the lift and deals with the traitor at surface level. This is the bulk of this week's story, the final panels seeing Savage and the resistance taking the fight to London. I enjoyed the story, it was faced paced and had some good action moments. Perhaps the only disappointment being Savage's dialogue wasn't as snappy as in the previous issues. There could have been more to the story, but a whole page dedicated to the map of the secret base did feel a bit much, almost drawn from a different type of comic altogether.
Rating: 6/10
Best Line: "When you gonna use your hardware up in the outside world and kill some dirty Volgans?"
I have two feelings about Flesh. Firstly, I think it is the most original story in these early Progs, a fantastic hybrid of ancient Dinosaurs and modern tech. My other feeling isn't quite so positive. The artwork is just too busy for my eyes. Maybe it is because I'm getting older, but as I read now, as much as I enjoy the power of the dialogue and story, the art seems to get in the way of the story. This week's issue has plenty of the key elements of the story world in action, a rampaging dinosaur, and a robot sheriff, along with a gentleman who has Dinosaur claws for hands. Now there's a lot to love right there, so let's see how it all fits together. We have the one-eyed Tyrannosaur on the first page still seeking out vengeance, before the following page introduces Reagan and the rangers approaching a domed city, ostensibly to protect them from the roaming dinosaurs. Seeking medical attention for Joe, Reagan enters Carver city, whereupon he meets a Robot Marshall who removes his guns - no guns allowed in Carver city. In the Saloon he finds a doctor to help, only to be told that the cure for Joe involves a gland from a living Tyrannosaur's throat. It is then that he encounters the town's mayor, a certain 'claw' Carver, who has a dinosaur claw where his hand should be. The ensuing fight sees the dome crack, and one angry Tyrannosaur enters, setting us up for next week's adventure. This story is hotting up, and I particularly liked the robot marshall and the fight between Reagan and Carver. And for my complaint about the artwork earlier, I really got a kick out of the final panels. It will be very tempting to skip straight to this story in the next issue.
Rating: 6.5/10
Best Line: "Here it is you metal freak. Now tell me where the Doc is"
The opening panel of Harlem Heroes is an immediate contender for my panel of the week, as Zak plunges towards a panicked crowd. They need not have panicked as Hairy and Giant swoop in to save the day. A severe telling-off leads to Zak rejoining the game later in the issue, a seemingly reformed player in light of this incident. The final page of the story sees a reveal that perhaps the accident that wiped out the heroes in the first issue may not have been the accident it first seemed. For all my mixed feelings about Harlem Heroes (the first issues were quite up and down) this one seems to get it right, and with a larger story arc appearing it has suddenly become a lot more interesting. I had high hopes for this story early on, and in this issue, it is beginning to fulfill those expectations. Hopefully, it will deliver as the story develops further.
Rating: 7/10
Best line: "A little gutter-hound like you will never make a Hero - not in a thousand years! So why don't you clean up and bug off - before I'm sick to my stomach."
Dan Dare does some good old-fashioned manual flying to land his spacecraft in the storm that begins this week's episode. After a daring landing on Jupiter, they find a power source that causes Logan's space suit to fail, Jupiter's gravity crashing him to a dot just as the cover of this week's comic promised. That's not the end of the action though, as Dan and Monday find themselves confronted by a giant, vile bug. meanwhile, back on the ship Dr. Ziggy faces a monster of her own that finishes the story. This week's story isn't 100% my cup of tea, but I do so enjoy the artwork within. Both the surface of Jupiter when they land and the bug they meet there are brilliantly rendered, and place this story literally out of this world. This is another story that had a slow start, but in this issue, I finally feel its pull drawing me in, and I know that with another issue as good as this one next week, I'll be fully hooked.
Rating: 7/10
Best line: "You crazy? This is the 22nd century- No-one uses manual controls anymore!"
The first few issues of M.A.C.H. 1 haven't grabbed me by the scruff of the neck in the same way as the other stories in 2000 AD, and unfortunately this issue also fails to hold my attention. Once again it feels like a one-shot, this time Simon Probe setting off to Irania to assassinate the president. His plan involves being captured by the secret police, and then once he is brought forth to the president he carries out the plan, but only after taking a bullet from a Rhino gun. It gets six pages to tell its story, and compared to the other stories in the issue it seems a drag. A tighter story would have served it well or as part of a larger story. But here it is neither. I still hold out hope that some wider arc will emerge from this story, there are hints but as yet nothing is emerging from the mists.
Rating: 3/10
Best line: "I've come to kill your president"
I am restored by the Judge Dredd story that follows. There is more world-building as we meet the Brotherhood of Darkness who are looting and spreading terror through Mega-City One. Disguising himself as one of the brotherhood, Judge Dredd travels with them back outside Mega-City One where he frees the mayors son, before driving back to safety on his bike. Not the most complex story, but the world that is being created issue by issue is fantastic, and I am already anticipating the next stories. As always, the art matches the story, and although this isn't the best story of the issue, it is right up there as one of my favorites in these pages.
Rating: 6/10
Best line: "This sure beats handing out speeding tickets"
Prog 4 final ratings:
Overall: 5/10
Best Story: Harlem Heroes
Best Line: Dan Dare - "If Neil Armstrong could bring down his Apollo capsule on the moon - I'm posi-sure I can land this beachball on Jupiter!"
Best Panel:
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