Prog 17

I am beginning to understand the cult of 2000AD. Each week it gets better and better, and every week I embrace the stories more and more. The best thing is that I know that best is still to come and I've barely scratched the surface with the reading so far. With so much to look forward to I find the weeks fly by as I have something to look forward to every Sunday afternoon - my half hour alone with the Prog. A small heaven, but I'll take it. 

Prog 17

18 June 1977

I hate dirty Volgs. Bill Savage hates dirty Volgs. Bill Savage loves killing dirty Volgs, and I love watching Bill Savage kill dirty Volgs. So, with great joy, every issue begins with Invasion and Bill's war against the Volgan invaders. The ever-familiar London is almost another character as the story begins with the Volgans running a slave market in Petticoat Lane. With Bill watching carefully we all know what's going to happen and enlisting the help of an Eastend pickpocket called 'Fingers' Frampton, Bill formulates a plan. The plan is simple enough, but it is well executed, and Frampton pickpockets one of the Volgs for the keys so Bill can get to work freeing the slaves. Although Fingers Frampton is shot dead on the spot, we learn in the final panel that he had radiation sickness and wouldn't have survived anyway. After the freeing of the slaves, the story is a string of actions and events, as Bill and the ex-slaves deal with the Volgs in a variety of ways, including crushing an armored car with a wrecking ball. It's grim, gritty, and a heck of a lot of fun, and even though there is a layer of London grime over the story, Bill's character shines through. His dialogue lifts the story and coupled with the splendid art for the action scenes this is another fine installment in Bill's seemingly never-ending fight. 

Rating: 7/10

Best Line:  "Don't worry, Mister Savage. I 'dipped' dozens of mugs here before the invasion!"

Flesh features on the cover this week with an image that intrigued me from the start. But first, I have to deal with the first panel of the story within the issue, and once again I am condemned to having nightmares for the next few evenings as we see an enormous spider advancing on the prone Reagan. This is exactly what I expect to see, and I'm not the least bit disappointed by this week's installment. Stakes are high as Reagan's first words tell us everything we need to know about the previous issue "The spider's poison is running in my veins..now he's waiting for me to die"  However, there is an old boy scout trick for every occasion, and I am delighted to see that Reagan remembered that he could the venom from his wound. Things look up from here, although I still have Reagan giving me the heebie-jeebies one last time as he says he can smell the spider's hot breath, that is until he plunges his knife through its head in a panel that would have had the twelve-year-old me yelling in delight. Still plenty more to come in the story, and I'm pleased to see Carver doesn't disappoint as a villain as Reagan confronts him as he loads stolen bullion into a time shuttle. The best part of the story is in these final pages, as the time shuttles are beamed into the future, along with the dinosaurs that are scrambling on the time shuttles. Finally, the creepy cover page is explained as we see the dinosaurs arrive in the future, with human heads as they got mixed up in the time machine. Horrific, yet strangely amusing. I don't know whether to be horrified or burst out laughing, but this seems to me to be what 2000AD does best, mix humour with the dark fantasy world they create. I'm still new to the comic, but I'm beginning to understand a little of the cult following it has, and I'm sure there'll be plenty more to come. 

 Rating: 7.5/10

Best Line: "Oh no! Johnson, Mills, and Shepard have got mixed up with a Tyrannosaur in the time machine!" 

I still haven't formed a strong opinion about Harlem Heroes. Week after week it makes promises that it never quite lives up to. I don't know how popular it is in the 2000AD universe, but I'm still trying to warm up to it. This week it opens with the first line of "Here come da Bogeymen!" which should get my blood flowing, and I'm briefly curious. The story this week focused on the game as we see the Gargoyle team of androids take on the Harlem heroes. With Gruber in with the Gargoyles, I expect to see plenty of life and death action, yet very little happens as the game unfolds much like any other game. It's only in the final panel that we see Gruber preparing to make his move. Another week where I feel we're building to something but we never quite get there. The final panel isn't quite the cliffhanger needed to get me rushing out to get the next issue to see what happens, and as much as I enjoy the artwork, this is another episode that I can't get a handle on.   

 Rating: 5/10

Best line: "He ain't..the only...one who's gonna...lose his head!" 

All week I have been thinking about Dan Dare and the flesh-eating maggots. This week delivers from the start with a two-page spread that highlights the peril Dan Dare is in, the evil mind of Mekon, and the stupendous art in general. Last week's story also had a fantastic spread, and each week the creators outdo themselves with the story. I want to find out how Dan gets out of this one, but I want to look at the art one last time before I turn the page... Phew, I sure am glad I turned the page because the action heats up and from here on in it's helter-skelter all the way. Rok frees Dan and gives the best line of the story (see below). It's all backed with dynamic artwork that captures every detail and conveys a sense of movement. As the fight spills across the next few pages, the Mekon is temporarily thrown to the ground, before Dan, O'Grady, and Rok find themselves almost free. This is not a comic for the faint-hearted, and O'Grady shows his weakness as he turns back to surrender, only to be served up some comic book justice as he's dispatched by a toppling statue. I am hanging on every word, every line, of the story, and as the final panel shows Dan Dare and Rok leaping into a pit I know next week will be just as thrilling. In a comic filled with thrills, this is the high point of the week for me and will be the first story I turn to next week.     

 Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "On my planet, we consider the margoz a delicacy. Try some..=chomp=.. they're delicious!"  

This week's M.A.C.H. 1 would make an excellent 80s movie, and to be honest I'm pretty sure I've seen it under a variety of guises. A downed plane, some nuclear weapons, an opposing force after the same goal, and snowy mountains, it reads like a treatment for a Sylvester Stallone film. It's not Stallone who's sent in to save the nuclear missiles though, it's our very own comic hero, John Probe. He's not alone though, this is a tough mission and he's accompanied by the SAS. The SAS were everywhere in the late 70s and 80s, every TV show, movie, or comic seemed to have the SAS in it, but seeing them in action here one wonders why as they come up against stiff opposition, and it's John Probe who saves the day again and again. He does have a worthy opponent, and the story hinges on his conflict with the leader of the eastern force.  It's all deeply familiar, but that works to the story's favor as the story is sketched out quickly across these tropes. I shouldn't like it, but I do, and it almost reads like a guilty pleasure. I'm not always a fan of M.A.C.H. 1 but this week was fast and fun, and before I know it I am spat out at the feet of the following Judge Dredd story. 

 Rating: 7/10

Best line:  "One man did that...? Half my unit is dead...? " 

Oh, that's right, Call-Me-Kenneth is still on the loose as Judge Dredd seeks to end the robot war. One wonders how much damage one stray robot could cause, but we learn soon enough as Call-Me-Kenneth battles his way to the oil depot. I have been reading this story for several weeks now, but the name Call-Me-Kenneth still makes me laugh. I love that such an innocuous name could be bestowed on an arch-villain who has brought war to Megacity-1. The first panel of the story is beautiful, a lovely fluid image of Call-Me-Kenneth fighting fleshy ones as he hunts for oil. This superb image is matched by an equally epic panel on the following page as Dredd astride his lawmaster surveys the oil depot. It gives a sense of scale, and yet again builds Megacity-1 in my mind to truly a megacity. The battle itself is over quicker than I expect, after exchanging shots, Dredd is caught in an oil gush that puts him on the back foot. Not everything is quite as it seems, and Dredd sets the oil on fire, condemning Call-Me-Kenneth to a fiery end. Not the climactic ending I expected, but I am pleased to see Call-Me-Kenneth get his just dessert, and I am kind of pleased I won't have to type Call-Me-Kenneth week after week anymore. With a couple of pages to spare, the rest of the story we see the good robots receive their rewards, including Walter the lisping orbit, who gets his freedom. However, it seems a life of freedom isn't for him, and by the end he is back at Dredds apartment, pledging to serve him, much to the chagrin of Dredds long-suffering cleaning lady, Maria. Indeed, the life of a judge is a tough one, and although the robot wars are over, it seems Dredd still has plenty more trials and tribulations ahead of him. I am pleased to see the story resolved, but I can't help but think that I will miss Call-Me-Kenneth over the coming weeks. For the first time since I started reading, he felt like a proper villain, with no sense of morality, an army at his command, and a leader who lead from the front. With hundreds of issues ahead of me, I'm sure there will be other characters and stores that will come forward, but for now, Robot wars is the benchmark by which I will judge all Dredd stories.    

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line:  "I wish I got a pleasure circuit!" 

Prog 17 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Dan Dare 

Best Line: "The spider's poison running through my veins...now it's waiting for me to die!"

Best Panel: