Prog 26

Spring has sprung. Outside a beautiful morning awaits me. But first, I think a nice cup of tea and half an hour with 2000AD is in order. I know for the next thirty minutes any thought of warm sunshine will be banished from my mind as I enter the dark world of 2000AD, starting with the always grim Invasion. Oh joy. 

Prog 26

20 August 1977

We are on the water for Invasion as Bill and Silk take on the Volgans in Lakeland. The story is cleverly set out in the first pages as we hear the Volgan propaganda radio and see their new vessels breaking speed records. Just like last week, Bill and Silk run into another Briton, former water speed king Commander Robb, and right here I can see where this story is going, we have met the sacrificial lamb who will power the second half of the story. I'm proved right, but I'm not happy about it, as Bill and Silk come unstuck in their attempt to sabotage the Volgans vessels, only for Commander Robb to save the day by ploughing his own boat into the Volgans. This sets up the final panels of the story, with a few witty puns from Bill and a finale at the radio station that had been broadcasting propaganda. I'm disappointed by this story.  It is similar to previous stories and I can't help but feel that I'm reading the same story over and over, with only the names changed.  Last week I wondered if MACH 1 had run out of stories to tell, and this week I am wondering the same about Invasion. Perhaps we will strike a new vein of inspiration in the next few weeks, I certainly hope so, but this week is barely average in my opinion. 

Rating: 4.5/10

Best Line:  "Run down the scum- turn them into a red stain on the water!"

Harlem Heroes restores equilibrium with a briskly told story and a suitable climax.  The Heroes begin their final match against the Teutonic Titans (hopefully I won't have to say that out loud), while Ulysses Cord waits for their jetpacks to fail. He will remain disappointed throughout the strip, as the Heroes battle on with no sign of their gear failing. The story offers several clues as to what is going on, and I have a good idea of what's coming next. At the halftime break Cord is wondering why the jetpacks haven't failed, and after seeing smoke from one of them begins to run scared, despite the calls of Giant. We are delicately poised for next week's issue, and this is a great way to finish this week's strip. I thought the aeroball game may have dominated the story, and to a certain extent it did, but the Ulysses Cord storyline is now firmly entwined so both plot threads move forward together. Much better than last week, and I think next week maybe even better again.

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "Gott in himmel! You will pay for making fools of us!"

Shako is extremely humourous this week, and there are plenty of laughs amongst the gore. Perhaps the most humorous panel is when Falmuth is visited in hospital by one of his CIA underlings, duly clutching a handful of pathetic-looking flowers. Falmuth is the source of much of the humour in the story, as his self-discharge from the hospital goes awry and he receives a well-deserved kicking from the head nurse. It's not all about Falmuth however, and Shako himself remains the centre of the story as he makes a friend (Unk) and takes refuge in a school, whereupon he eats a most deserving teacher in another hilarious part of the story (as hilarious as a giant bear eating someone's head can be). I shouldn't laugh, but I did - a lot. Assisted by Unk, it looks like Shako will be on the rampage for quite some time. With the humour cushioning the gore, this story is one I don't tire of and yet again I rate it highly. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best Line: "Wanna play rough, Fish-face? Okay - Jake's learned a few tricks in the C.I.A.!" 

I thought Tharg's Future Shocks was inventive last week, but I am disappointed to see this week is of a similar theme. In this case, humans fishing at sea are beamed up to an alien craft, which itself is fishing in the same manner as they are. Last week it was men serving as Ant's playthings, and this one is the same type of role reversal. The story is well told, and the art looks good, but I don't ever feel for it in the way that I did last week. The twist isn't as surprising as last week, and it is weakened by being of a similar theme to the last issue. On the plus side, the whole story is told in ten panels, which is quite an achievement, and why I feel there isn't a lot to it. Perhaps disappointed is the wrong word, let's just say I was underwhelmed.   

Rating: 5/10

Best line:  "I wonder if these are thinking beings..?"   

M.A.C.H. 1. gets a far more leisurely six pages to tell its story, and what a story it tells. A lot is thrown in here, villains from the past, the Inca civilization, alien spacecraft, and John Probe's cynical boss. The first panel looks like it could have been lifted straight from Harlem Heroes as John Probe fights a couple of armour-clad figures before we jump back in the story to tell how he got here. After being sent to find a missing archaeologist, Probe comes across an Inca temple, whereupon he finds Colonial Krall, formerly from Irania and a man he thought dead. The story gets crazy at this point, and I love it for it, as once he dispenses with Krall's men, Probe finds the temple taking off -  it is actually an alien spaceship. A fight ensues with a couple of aliens before he takes an eighty thousand feet freefall. This is a stretch, even for M.A.C.H 1, but he does survive before trekking through the jungle to safety and eventually his boss, who doesn't believe a word of it. It is an unbelievable story, I must admit, but I found it worked well, and it was great to see John Probe fighting a different type of villain. I had complained last week that I felt like all these stories were getting a bit the same, and now this one comes completely out of the box with a different flavour and twist to it. It may not be believable, but it more than made up for it by being enjoyable.      

Rating: 7/10

Best line:  "Well thanks computer-it's nice to know who your friends are when things get rough-"   

I have good feelings about Judge Dredd from beginning to end. It has an interesting premise, a glimpse of the future, and, of course, the villain of the piece gets his comeuppance in the best possible way. We open with the Dream Palace, a place where people can pay to dream. It sounds pretty good to me, but John Nobody is using it to dream of evil deeds which he later carries out. No one escapes the law, and Dredd is on the trail of the doer of these evil deeds when he is given a tipoff about John Nobody and his dreams. After confirming his next dream, Dredd puts a stop to him at the Justice parade, where the sword of justice comes down and brings righteous retribution upon John Nobody. This is a streamlined Dredd story, and the art is certainly a highlight throughout. The final panel is worthy of mention as are the panels showing the justice parade and, earlier in the story, the dream palace. A good solid episode and a little more of Dredd's world is filled in, making Megacity-1 a bigger and more vibrant place in my mind.   

Rating: 6/10

Best line:  "I'm still in time! No sign of John Nobody...oh Drokk! Here he comes!" 

Prog 26 final ratings:

Overall: 5.5/10

Best Story: Shako

Best Line: "That stinkin' brute bit my arm off Dobie, an' I ain't lettin' him get away!"

Best Panel: