Prog 36

Credits! We now have credits appearing in 2000AD. At last, I know who to praise, and who to blame, in my favourite stories. This is a big step in my appreciation and learning about 2000AD, and a day I have been waiting fro since I started. All those creators who's names have often been spoken of by fans, now I can associate them with the strips I have been enjoying for the last nine months. And so, with that in mind, let me pick up this Prog 36 and see who has been doing what. 

Prog 36

29 October 1977 

It's welcome back to the Harlem Heroes this week in a new story called Inferno, but after wading through six pages introducing the reader and the Heroes to the new sport of Inferno, I can't help but agree with Giant - "I knew we need more time to master these blasted rules" Well familiar with the Harlem Heroes, the game of Inferno is anything but familiar, despite the number of pages showing the game and the rules. All I know is it's a lot more complicated than Aeroball, and a lot more savage. Times have changed for the surviving members of the Harlem Heroes, and now the most popular sport sweeping the land is Inferno, a brutal game that at first glance shares a lot of similarities to Aeroball, except it has a ground component to the game and well as the aerial. With powerful-looking motorbikes, there are plenty of striking images that get the heart racing, but the rules remain baffling. Watching on are Giant, Zack and Slim, with Giant unconvinced in the attraction of the game. However, they are approached by the manager of one of the teams and asked if they would like to guest in a match in a couple of days' time. Reluctantly agreeing, Giant finds himself struggling to keep up with both the rules and the action once the game starts, and the strip ends with him questioning his own decision. It is hard to like this opening episode, there is still much that we don't know, and the new game rules have not made a great first impression on me. That said, the game does look great on the page, even if I'm not sure what is happening. The story has a lot of potential at this stage, but it looks like it may take a few weeks to warm up. This week also sees the introduction of credits on each story, so finally, I know who the writers and artists are so I dish out praise where appropriate. That might just be the best thing I have seen in a long time. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "Hell, I clean forgot! I knew we need more time to master these blasted rules...!"

Seems everything I knew about the Channel Tunnel was wrong as the first page of Invasion tells me that the tunnel was completed in mere months by the Volgans. I'm fine with that, as long it is the Volgans that paid for it. However, one man is not fine with it, and that's Bill Savage who is been ferried from Scotland for a special operation. On board a small fishing boat, Bill is on his way to meet up with some French resistance fighters on the coast of Franch. En route, the boat comes under the scrutiny of a jump jet before a Volgan helicopter attack. Seeing off the attack, Bill arrives and France and sets about his plan to sabotage the tunnel. Disguised as Volgans, Bill enters the tunnel and things happen quickly as he boards a jump jet being transported through the tunnel, and aided by Silk uses the jet to blast a hole in the tunnel wall, before escaping using the ejector seats to reach the surface.  Mission accomplished, Britain is once again an island and Bill is heading back to Scotland. Bill Savage definitely voted for Brexit. Another fine story in the Invasion catalogue, and credit to the writer Chris Lowder for his work with this one. The story is largely cliché free, and Bill linking up with the French once again widens the world. Adding in aircraft is a new angle, especially the aircraft fighting in a tunnel, rather than in the sky as one would normally expect. A war story, yes, but one I find I look forward to every week as Bill and his band of heroes take on the Volgans in a variety of interesting ways week after week. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Heave-to, resistance scum -  or we send you to the bottom!"

Future Shocks is the next strip, and I'm finding this new order of stories slightly disorientating. I have become used to Invasion opening every issue, and Future Shocks closing each issue as an exclamation point. However, it does break up the story and gives us a breather before digging into the longer stories. This week is another where we find humanity is merely a small plaything in a wider universe. Uncovering a planet made of steel, humanity investigates what it could possibly mean before the final panel shows us it is a mere pool ball in a cosmic game of pool played out by beings larger than we can possibly imagine. This sort of story is the bread and butter of Future Shorts and many a story has been drawn from the same well as this one. That doesn't lessen the story, but anyone who has read a number of these may feel that we have already had our fill of such stories. I like it, but not enough to give it a high rating. Elsewhere it may be original, but in the pages of 2000AD this is firmly in the middle of the road. 

Rating 5/10

Best line: "Grey ball in the corner galaxy for 50 groats!"

Aboard the space fortress, Dan Dare surges through uncharted space. Coming across a curtain of asteroids and debris, the ship pauses as they sight a giant satellite near the centre of it. It is not just any satellite through, and as Dan approaches it in the Eagle he finds that it's a satellite gun. The other Eagle takes a hit, and as Polanski steers Dan's Eagle away it too is hit and loses all power. As Dan and his men evacuate and escape with their power packs, the gun doesn't let up and several of Dan's men are killed by laser fire. Eventually, the Space Fortress saves Dan and his men and back on board they receive a transmission from those responsible. The Starslayers empire does not welcome intruders, and Dan is warned off by their leader. However, Dan Dare is not easily dissuaded, and although his ship heads away from the Starslayer, Dan and some of his men remain, camouflaged in black spacesuits and looking for revenge. The story ends with a grim-faced Dan Dare telling his men they must wipe the Empire from the face of the galaxy or die in the attempt. It is an aggressive way to finish this week's strip, and I am surprised to see that Dan Dare has this inner steel. I feel like he is changing as a character, but I'm happy to go along for the ride. This is the strongest enemy he has faced so far since his return, and what happens next will influence how the comic will go from here. I am hoping that the Starslayers will be long-term villains, and someone to rival the Mekon. Fingers crossed for the next few weeks, and I will eagerly await the next issue.  

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Wrong! Nobody tells me to run--and nobody butchers ten of my crew-men and laughs in my face"

MACH 1 has been wild recently, but this week is a far more traditional east vs west storyline. We begin with a secret package being stolen from an English country house, a package containing the secret of the compu-puncture process - the same process that makes John Probe MACH 1.  Luckily John Probe is nearby and pursues the motorcyclist with the package, but after several pages of action, the thief makes good his escape on an Eastern nuclear submarine. This is merely the beginning of the story, and several weeks later as John walks down Oxford St an attempt is made on his life by some masonry being pushed off the top of a building towards him. That's not all though, John trails an Eastern embassy car, only to find himself being run down by a large lorry. Hyperpower is used throughout the story, especially here as he prevents the lorry from crushing him by using his power. At this point, he realises there is a woman that has been at both locations and that she too has hyper-power he gives chase. This is where we leave him for now, running after her at mach power through the streets of London. I always like to see the universe a story is taking place in expanded, and this week we get two notable additions with references to the East and the appearance of another with the same powers as John Probe. Having an equal force opposing John Probe means we should see him using his brain as well as his brawn to beat his opponent. There was also a nice twist in it being a woman, it would have been very easy for his opposite to be the same gender, and having a woman does bring some equality to the story, and comic, which is heavily masculine. After some of the crazy episodes we have seen from MACH 1 recently, this one feels far more grounded and has a real-world feel that I fully support. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Heck! Chunk of falling masonry-gotta smash it to dust!"

I am pleased to see the universe of Judge Dredd is also expanding as this week we meet another subculture of Mega-city 1, the Troggies. The Troggies appear in the first panel of the strip,  dragging citizens of Mega-city 1 off the streets and into the darkness. Judge Dredd is quickly on the scene and using the infrared light on his lawmaster he follows their trail to a disused subway station. This is where we meet the Troggies properly, they are weird types from the 20th Century who couldn't handle modern living and took refuge underground. Led by Slick Willy, the Troggies overpower Dredd and like any good James Bond villain, Slick Willy reveals their plan in detail. They are using slave labour to tunnel under Mega-city and intend on placing explosives in key positions to destroy the city. With Dredd put to work in a slave gang, we leave our hero with only a few more hours to come up with a plan to save Mega-city. Some great artwork in this strip, thanks to Ian Gibson, and I loved the unsettled feeling of his drawing, the characters in every panel felt slightly off-key and that added to the weirdness. I was pleased to see Dredd didn't crack this case immediately, and the panel of him being put to work added to the hopelessness of the situation. Not a lot of action on the page, but a lot of stimulation from the artwork and story, and my overall impression was that this was a very solid episode throughout.

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Stand to attention, Normal. You are in the presence of Slick Willy, prime cat of the Troggies."

Prog 36 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: MACH 1

Best Line: "Go find somewhere else t'dump your super-balls, Butterfly!"

Best Panel: