Prog 39

Well, that was a pretty bad day at work. Thank god I'm home again -time to lock the door on the outside world and lose myself for an hour or two in these musty old pages.  No matter how grim things are in the real world, they're nowhere near as dark as daily life is in Mega-city 1.

Prog 39

19 November 1977

The first strip of the comic is Judge Dredd, and I can't think of a better way to start. Of course, Judge Dredd is one of the premier strips of 2000 AD, so this may well be as good as it gets this week. We shall see. Sometimes Dredd can be heavy and serious, and other times, well, other times you get a story like this. A story that is hilarious from start to finish, with a clever idea that is pushed to the limit. The premise for the story is simple, there is a gang war, led by a gang of Apes. Not your run-of-the-mill apes' mind, but a mafioso bunch of wise guys, complete with New York accents and Tommy guns. Even the idea of it makes me smile. And that's all there is to it. The apes start a gang war, so Dredd pays a visit to the Don's mother, then in a raid he captures the gangsters and the Don as he attempts to escape. Simple, capeesh? The icing on the cake comes in the final panels, as rather than being thrown in prison the apes are put in the local zoo.  Every panel draws from all the mafia tropes we are so familiar with, and I grin from ear to ear as I read it, I even try my best gangster accent out on my wife (fail). It is impossible to read without hearing the stereotypical gangster voice in my head, and it captures perfectly all the films and books we know so well. It is a brilliant idea well executed. Not the Dredd I expected, but it is the Dredd I needed.

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "I only got one ting ta say ta ya, Dredd - nuts!" 

We are in Dundee for the opening panel of Invasion, and I am filled with memories from a drunken weekend I once spent there (don't ask). And like me, Bill Savage is seeking accommodation for the night, taking a risk after seeing a sign for a B&B. I can well understand the risk, and even though he is told that the sign is out of date, the two old ladies in charge of the establishment take him in, especially after recognising that he has Prince John in his company. Yes, just like my dear old grandmother, these ladies know all about the Royals, and even have a secret stash of jubilee plates. The bonhomie doesn't last long, the Volgans are soon at the door seeking accommodations themselves.  Upon entering they initially don't recognise Bill Savage and Prince John, but after snatching a chair out from under Price John his identity is revealed as one of the old dears exclaims his name. Don't underestimate a pair of Royal doting old ladies is my advice as they spring into action, attacking the Volgans with furniture before Savage takes a hand and settles the matter. The old ladies are key to this story, and as Savage and the Prince escape, more Volgan troops arrive, looking for the old ladies that helped them escape. And that brings us to the final part of the story, as Savage, Silk, and Prince John disguise themselves in women's clothing and blast their way through a checkpoint - taking the heat off the old ladies as the Volgans assume Savage was disguised as a woman the whole time. It is not quite the end I expect, but I enjoyed all the pages leading up to this. The scenes at the B&B were the peak for me, Savage's interaction with the women was great, and the art was crisp and easy to read. The story was quickly told, and even though I was disappointed with the ending, the rest of it was so swift that it barely seemed to matter. A lightweight story this week, I'm sure Savage will be back into heavier action in the coming weeks. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Hit them hard, Jeannie!"

Dan Dare is still on the slave planet Minian and seeking the raw materials to fix his ship. Slipping in undetected among the slaves, Dan, Bear and Hitman witness a rock fall, with Bear leaping into action to save two of the slaves. Witnessing first-hand the power of the energy whip, Dan and company keep a low profile, waiting for their moment. As night comes they make their move, Hitman shooting out the lights while Dan enters the processing plant to find the materials he needs. A guard sees him and Dan is about to feel the lash of the energy whip himself but moves quickly by throwing some powdered titanium which shorts out the whip and defeats the guard. Leaving the slave compound, Bear stays behind to prepare the slaves for the moment when they can strike, but unbeknownst to all the Starslayer leader is aware of the potential rebellion and we finish with his chilling words "the Dark Lord is ready", which, to be honest, raised a giggle from me with the memories of playing our Led Zeppelin tapes backwards and hearing similar proclamations. I enjoy this lively tale, and it gained a jump start on the first pages appearing in colour. Dave Gibbons artwork continues to enthral me, and I spend just as long lingering on his art as I do reading the story. This Dan Dare story is on an upswing at the moment and it seems we will be on this planet for a while yet, which is just fine by me. This slave rebellion can play out over as many issues as they need, I'll be happy to read whatever is written, as long as Dave Gibbons is the artist. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Come, little men--Bear give back your lives!"

Ahh, yes, the hyperpower children of MACH 1, what horrible little nasties they are. Of course, no human being could harm a child, which leaves John Prove and Tanya in a quandary. Despite John Probe asking them politely not to attack him, they come at him anyway with their super strength. While Tanya is dragged off to be killed, John Probe faces the scientist Horowitz who is determined to find further secrets about Probe's abilities. But, using these very abilities, Probe throws off his captors and strikes out to find Tanya. Just like in the movies, he finds her in a nick of time, and together they face the group of children surrounding them. Using Tanya's chains as a weapon, Probes swipes the children aside while Tanya finds an immobile tank to use as a weapon. It's not immobile for long, and pushing her hyper strength to the limit she saves the day by crashing it into the control centre. The day may be saved, but Tanya is not, and we have a brief death scene before we jump back to London with John Probe threatening his boss Sharpe about the fact that he knew the code to the enemy's top secret vault. Something is rotten and John Probe is going to get the bottom of it. This is a great way to end the story, and I am hooked by these final two panels. The rest of the story was good, I enjoyed the fighting against the children (I never thought I would be typing that!) but I wasn't so excited about the death of Tanya. I would have liked to see her stick around a few more issues, the interaction between her and Probe as equals was bringing a new dynamic to the tale, although the two of them paired up would have been an unbeatable combination. Not quite the finale I expected, but I was happy with how the story panned out, and the final panels suggest there is plenty more ahead of us.

Rating 8/10

Best line: "She's dead...dead. All because of compu-puncture. Yeah, all its brought is death and destruction...Sharpe...he's the one responsible..."

There is no Future Shocks this week, so we close out the issue with Inferno. I'm not too disappointed the Future Shocks isn't there, the stories this week have all contained plenty of action, with one or two stories running slightly longer. The comic is still the same amount of pages, so I'm assuming the Future Shocks has been dropped due to lack of space. Inferno itself has a lot of action but the plot moves at a crawl. We don't get much more than last week, players are still dropping out of the match due to the poisoned chewing gum, but our three Heroes remain unaffected due to using their own supply of gum. With their team being well beaten on the field, it is only on the final page do they conclude that the gum has been poisoned, while at the same time, Charlie Vance is in the charging rooms, planting money in their pockets and sowing the seeds for whatever will happen next week. As much as I enjoyed the on-field action, and it does look great, the plot didn't keep pace, and by the end of the strip we have only slightly advanced from where we were last week. We almost break even between my two feelings, but not quite, and I finish the strip wishing that there had been more steel behind the flashy façade of action.

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "The salt gum! Jupiter's moons, why didn't I think of it before...?"    

 Prog 39 final ratings:

Overall: 8/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Yeah, da streets is gonna be runnin' red - an' it ain't gonna be wit' ketchup!" 

Best Panel:

Prog 38

I recently read the book by Stephen Morris of New Order (good, but not as good as Peter Hook's books), and several times he mentioned that during the recording of the earlier New Order albums there was often downtime in which Peter Hook would read through his pile of Progs. Looking at those timelines, he would have been reading Progs around 1981-1983, still four or five years from where I am now. So, I'm still some years from my New Order period, but there is plenty of entertainment and edification to be had before then, starting with November 1977 - Christmas and 1978 just six weeks away.

Prog 38

12 November 1977

I am not enthused by the first few pages of Inferno, and it is only as I reach the final page that the story finally grabs me with some brilliant-looking artwork and a storyline to match. We begin slowly this week, with Zack and Slim working on some manoeuvres and tactics in a practice session. While the image of one of the bikes dominates the page, the rest of the story swirls lightly in its shadow, and not a lot is driving the story forward. That changes as we turn the pages, and the broader story of corruption and bribery progresses. The Wolves manager, Charlie Vance, is taken by Mr Torso and Mr Chubb and threatened in classic Mafia style to go along with their nefarious scheme to have the Wolves throw their next match. Quite how he will do this is revealed as the game begins and he offers chewing gum to the team. However, the three former Harlem Heroes don't partake in this gum, instead choosing to have some of their own brand in recognition of their aeroball past. This proves to be a fortuitous decision for as the game evolves we have the best page of the whole strip as one of the bikers begins to hallucinate. We have both drama and eye-catching artwork combine to show what he is seeing before he eventually crashes in an inferno. With their best bikeman out of the game, it remains to be seen what will happen for the team in next week's issue. As I said earlier, the first few pages weren't all that I had hoped for, but this final page vanished any memories of the slow start, and I am delighted with how we finished. With the sporting action looking fantastic and the cogs and wheels of a larger story grinding away in the background, there is something for everyone, and this story is beginning to heat up. We are still far from boiling point, but the next few weeks should be a lot of fun as the story continues to unfold. 

Rating 6.5/10

Best line: "They haven't come to support us, they've come to watch us die!"

Judge Dredd gets a jump start this week, with an innocuous first panel giving way to a sudden appearance of Judge Dredd and immediate and surprising violence. Little Billy is being put to bed by his mother, who tells him to go straight to sleep or Judge Dredd will get him. In the very next panel, we see judge Dredd at his best, bursting into the room and demanding to know where Billy is. With the aid of Judge Giant, he snatches up Billy and between the two of them, they do their best to twist his head off. Billy's mum is horrified, and even more so once it is revealed that it is not her son she was putting to bed, but rather a robot impostor planted by an industrial spy trying to gain more knowledge of her husband's business. With Judge Dredd on the case, things escalate quickly and the story comes all at once. When the spy comes to check on why the robot is no longer sending back intelligence, Dredd is ready and waiting and we find that the backstory involves Hugh Howards, a trillionaire who is holding the children of all of Mega-city's top industrialists. We don't have long to dwell on this information as Judge Dredd and his cohorts storm Hugh Howard's penthouse and begin kicking ass and taking names. I didn't realise it at the time, but most of the story is behind us already, and all that remains is for the villain of the piece to fall to his death while Judge Giant catches Billy who was falling with him. We do have a tidy bookend at the end, as the news is broadcast on TV we see a family watching and the child being told that if he doesn't behave Judge Dredd will come and get him. This story moved very quickly, and I was impressed by the storytelling and the way we managed to get a complete story in just four pages. The villain was dispatched with rather easily, but that isn't a complaint and felt right for the story. I like a story with no fat on the bone, and that is certainly what we have here. There was not a lot of depth to it, but the panels flew by in such a rush that I didn't have time to consider the characters or the wider city. Fast and furious, this may not linger long in my mind, but it was an enjoyable ride while I was in it. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "We're trying to rip his head off, ma'ma"  

The following Invasion story is just as fast-moving, and at first, could well have come from the pages of Battle Action, the very comic that is advertised on the next page.  We start with a typical storyline, with Prince John now with the resistance the Volgans are preparing a manhunt using men suspended from helicopters. Although Bill Savage tries to keep Prince John's identity a secret from his own men, one notices the gold he is wearing, and smelling easy money investigates as Bill and Price John are sleeping. Although they awaken, he has already seen the royal crest on Prince John's ring, and with easy money in mind, he immediately runs to the Volgan garrison and sells out his friends for dirty money. The Volgans raise an assault, but they are fought off by Savage's hardened crew of toughs, the final Volgan helicopter crashes in flames and throws out a single survivor - Jake, the very traitor who had gone to the Volgans with the information about Prince John. As Prince John looks down at him, Jake begs for a royal pardon, only for Bill Savage to interrupt with a shotgun blast to his back. Prince John is stunned, but Bill shows him that Jake had a knife hidden in his hand and Volgan dollars in his pocket. Once again, this story is told quickly, with action taking precedence over intricate storylines. I've glossed over the action here, but the action sequences were the bulk of the pages, and we had some very good scenes of the resistance fighting off the Volgans. I consider myself a story man first, action man second, but even so both Invasion and Judge Dredd have been very enjoyable, and just what we needed to turbocharge the first half of this week's issue. Not normally what I would gravitate towards, but even so it gave me a warm feeling inside. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Gypsy Jake don't know who this kid is- but he can tell a bit 'o gold from a mile off -like that ring the kid's wearing!" 

A did a double take when I read the first page of Dan Dare, there seems to be an obvious reference to Star Wars, even though it was still six weeks before its release in the UK. With two star-slayer cruisers about to attack, Dan calls on Pilot Polanski to take evasive action, who responds with "Sure Dan, this is just like old times durin' the solar wars" Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but I can't help but think that this is a nod to the arrival of Star Wars in the UK the next month. Pilot Polanski lives up to his name, and some clever flying sees both the attacking ships destroyed before they make an emergency landing on the planet Minian to make urgent repairs. Minian is a slave planet for the Star Slayer empire and is heavily mined. After landing, and camouflaging their vessel, we finish with Dan taking Bear and Hitman to meet the slaves, in hopes of inciting a slave revolt. This gives us a lovely piece of art from Dave Gibbons as the three men stand together as a portrait, and my eyes feast upon it while my mind immediately wants to jump ahead to the next issue.  The flying scenes in this story were well told, but it was once on the planet that the artwork and story came to life. With the introduction to a new world and a new subplot, there was plenty to keep the reader engaged, and even devoid of action this was the most attention-grabbing part of the story. The scene is set for a thrilling next part to this adventure, I can only hope that we have more opportunities for Dave Gibbons to flex his artistic muscle. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: Sure Dan, this is just like old times durin' the solar wars"

When we last left MACH 1 John Probe and Tanya Maski had been recognised on a train and were considering leaping off the viaduct. We don't have to wait long to find out what they decide, the very first panel catches them in mid-air as they plunge towards the ground. Smashing through the roof of a house below, they take to their heels and disappear into the forest, and soon enough the night. Covering one hundred miles on foot, they reach the secret laboratory where Tanya gained her hyper-powers and using some of those hyper-powers they are soon inside the complex. There is more trouble inside in the form of a hyper-dog, but showing no mercy, this threat is dealt with before we have a confrontation with the scientist responsible for these hyper experiments, and his latest achievement, hyper-kiddies. Fighting hyper-dogs is one thing, but fighting hyper-kiddies is a whole new ball game and one that awaits us in the next issue. I have enjoyed this story as it builds week by week, and it reaches another new level this week. There are seeds sown in this story for future developments, in particular the panel where Tanya reveals that Probe's boss has given her a secret code, one that Probe is not privy to. The whys and hows are not known to us, so there is scope for the story to develop further in this direction at a later date. The panels with the action were all short and sprinkled throughout the strip, keeping it moving without dwelling too long at any single point of the story. Fast-moving, dynamic, and with a great story hook, this is the highlight of 2000AD this week.       

Rating 7.5/10

Best line: "It's a hyper-hound!"

Last week's Future Shocks was a two-part story, with the first part introducing us to  Zak and Daryl, two robot repairmen intent on destroying the world's first self-repairing robot. I enjoyed the first half of this story, but I am disappointed with the way in which it finishes this week. Zak and Daryl dispose of the self-repairing robot easily enough, despite it appearing unstoppable in the last issue, and then return to their  Robot Repair HQ. It is then that we find out that they are self-repairing robots themselves, and to the unknowing human race, they are justifying their own existence. The revel in itself was good, but then it drags on for the rest of the page as they elaborate and expand upon it, something I felt Future Shocks had previously avoided. It felt like padding, and this week's conclusion could have been half the length, although this would make for an awkward length overall across the two parts. It was interesting enough, but a little too uneven for my taste, and the final page felt like a letdown. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "This'll take care of our metal friend..." 

Prog 38 final ratings:

Overall: 6.5/10

Best Story: MACH 1

Best Line: "You unspeakable monster...you've transformed children!" 

Best Panel:

 

Prog 37

I saw some old Progs for sale online the other day, Prog 381-Prog 425, and I briefly thought about buying them. It was then that I realised that it will be another seven years before I reach these Progs for my blog. That thought was a timely reminder of what a huge task I have set for myself. Given my current age, I will be blogging well into retirement. That's a small blessing for my wife, I certainly won't be getting under her feet if I retire, but it all feels a long way off. Still, it was a wise man who said the journey of a thousand Progs begins not with the first Prog, but with the first story, so with that wisdom foremost in my mind, let's have a read of the first story in this week's Prog - Inferno. 

Prog 37

5 November 1977

I was a little harsh on Inferno last week and I find I enjoy it much more in its second outing. The game is getting easier to understand and there are some great images that tell the story just as well as the words on the page. The three Harlem Heroes were playing for Washington Wolves and struggling with the rules when we last saw them. This week they have a better handle on the rules, and the ball, and adapting to this new game they find themselves on the winning side. The entire strip is devoted to this game, except for the final two panels when a larger plot appears. Watched by a Mr. Torso and Mr. Chubb, it seems corruption is afoot, with Mr. Chubb suggesting that Mr. Torso should speak to the Washington Wolves manager about betraying the Harlem Heroes for a slice of the gambling profits that could potentially be made. I definitely did not compare this to FIFA and football, but there are those out there that certainly would. The story is warming up nicely, and this new angle is just the hook I need to keep reading. I can't say I'm a fan of the game yet, but I loved seeing the big bikes in action, and these panels grabbed my attention in the best possible way. Plenty still to play for, and I am hooked for the next few issues at least. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Mr very thoughts, Mr. Torso! But if they lose...the people who gamble dollars on their opponents, will show a very handsome return...!"

I had high hopes for Judge Dredd this week as we plunge below ground for the second part of the story featuring the Troggies. With the Troggies planting explosives underground to destroy Mega-City 1 and Dredd captured and taken as one of the slave labourers, we are all set for a thrilling climax. Unfortunately, I am slightly disappointed and there is a distinct lack of drama this week, although some cracking dialogue more than makes up for it. The plot becomes an afterthought for me as I focus on the words and the banter back and forth between Dredd and the Troggies, all of it highly explosive in itself. There are only ten minutes left to save the city, and Dredd needs a plan, quick. Getting into an argument with another prisoner, Dredd tricks him into throwing him towards the laser drills, which he promptly uses to escape and free the other prisoners. Communicating back to the other Judges, Dredd gets an old subway car powered up and heads off to confront Slick Willy, leader of the Troggies. Blinding them all with a bright light, Dredd seizes control of the detonator and the situation, leaving him to comment that there are still plenty more subcultures out there with an axe to grind. Although I felt the plot was slight, as I mentioned earlier I loved the dialogue, especially the language of Slick Willy which seemed to draw a lot of references from pop culture history. My favourite would be "Slay you later, Alligator," and "in ten seconds we'll be flying to that great Elvis concert in the sky, can you dig it?" With his own Elvis quiff, it is easy to see where Slick Willy is drawing his inspiration from. Even other characters are getting into it - I'm not sure if the line "There's a train coming" is intentional or not, but that too draws from rockabilly style. There is a lot of fun sprinkled through the story, and I'm very happy with it even if it fails to reach the heights of some of the other stories of the last couple of months.

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Slay you later, Alligator!" 

Reading Invasion in 2023 is a different experience from reading it in 1977. See Bill Savage and the crew of submarine raising a toast to King Charles doesn't seem as futuristic now as it did forty-five years ago (forty-five years ago, oh how it hurts me to type those words). The story really gets going on the second page as Prince John appears from the hold of the submarine, he has stowed away so he can see Britain again, after being exiled to Canada. Again, I can't help but see parallels to another modern Prince who has been exiled to the new world, but I put that thought aside as Volgan aircraft appear and the crew take evasive action. They spring into action, but the Volgans are faster, and the submarine is damaged and then destroyed, leaving Bill Savage, the young Prince John, and Silk wading ashore. Things get worse by the minute, as the Volgans recognise that Prince John is there and seeking to seize the heir, send all ground forces to the area to hunt him down. Phew, it's breathless action and things are delicately poised as we finish this week's episode. With action and plot well balanced, this is a highly readable strip from Gerry Finlay-Day and art robot Carlos Pino. Seeing the wider story brought back into focus by the appearance of Prince John is a timely reminder of the state of things in Britain and the wider world. There wasn't a lot of Bill Savage killing Volgans this week, but the scene is set for him to do killing-a-plenty next issue as the Volgan forces converge. Prince John feels like the weak link, both when it comes to fighting the Volgans, and as a character and I don't have a handle on what sort of person he is yet, so hopefully, he'll be developed further in the next few weeks. A great foundation has been laid, and I'm now looking forward to the payoff next issue and beyond. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Tonight's a special night - let's drink the health of his Majesty!" 

A lot happens in this week's Dan Dare, and every page and panel is crammed with action. It will be hard to distil down, but here we go. Faced with the giant gun-satellite, Dan Dare sends his ship away, but he and some of his men remain, their spacesuits camouflaged black, and they stealthily approach the gun-satillite. Entering through the gun turrets, they find themselves fighting the Starslayers immediately, and this hand-to-hand combat dominates the strip for the next two pages as Dan and his men hit them with everything they have. This is the most thrilling part of the strip, and there are many panels that capture the eye as the artwork of Gibbons captures perfectly the intensity of the close combat fighting. Dan Dare and his men capture the satellite, and as Dan reads through the papers he realises that there are dozens of slave worlds that make up the Starslayer empire. Wanting to help those worlds, Dan faces a potential mutiny from some of his crew, but this remains unresolved as two Starslayer cruisers commence an attack. So much to digest here, but I can sum up by simply saying I love it, all of it. Each panel looked fantastic, the story moved on a fair clip and the plot evolved to a point where I want to see more, as soon as possible. Dan Dare may be the hero of the story, but the hero of the strip was Gibbon's artwork, and it brought the characters to life in a way that I couldn't resist. I'm not sure what more I could ask for in a Dan Dare strip, and this was easily the best story in this week's comic.   

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "Okay--odds of two to one! This'll be the fight of our lives, men...whether we like it or not--we're at war with the Starslayer Empire!" 

MACH 1 opens with the memorable image of John Probe's hyper-enemy, who he refers to here as 'hyper-chick', leaping over the barriers of a London tube station and running to the platform, something I can well relate to. Of course, I never did it with such skill or finesse, nor did I have Lazano/Canos capture my action in such dramatic fashion as they do here. As far as grabbing my attention, an attractive assassin running a hyper-speed certainly does the trick here, and I am happy to say the six pages of MACH 1 live up to this opening panel. It's not all about John Probe chasing this woman though, as not only does he catch up with her but he also manages to derail a tube train and save a young boy's life. Not a bad five minutes work for John Probe. Catching up with her is only part of the story, he also wrestles with her before she gains the upper hand and has him facing down the barrel of a gun, only for her human emotions to override her computer and spare John Probe's life. It's all breathless action, but there is some respite here as her back story is filled out at this point, and she gains a name - Tanya Maski. Tayna wishes to defect to the west, but first, the higher powers send her and John back to the East to destroy the facility that created her. Travelling by train, their forged documents fail to pass the onboard inspectors, and the issue finishes with John and Tayna contemplating a 200-foot jump from the train to avoid capture. Like I said earlier, a lot is happening in these six pages, all of it very good, and all of it pointing to a longer form of the story of which I am so fond. I shouldn't like MACH 1 as much as I do, but I can't help myself, especially with these East vs West spy thriller-type storylines. Sure, you may think one would have seen all these old tropes trotted out plenty of times before, but I'm still a sucker for them after all these years. This story started hot, finished hot, and had a solid middle which kept me flicking over the page as fast as I could digest it. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: " Nooo! I can't do it...I'm a human not a machine! 

A two-part story for Future Shocks this week and it finishes the issue in style with a story that intrigues me enough that I am tempted to pick up the next Prog immediately. We meet Daryl and Zak, two robot repairmen who are doing a booming trade. The future doesn't look so bright for their business when they see on the TV a self-repairing robot has been designed by Dr. Small. Seeking to protect their business, they pay a visit to Dr. Small, and while Daryl puts paid to Dr. Small, Zak finds himself locked in battle with his robot. It is in the heat of this fight that we finish 2000AD, with a question mark hanging over the outcome of this struggle. The story, although brief, has a good hook to it, and the three pages it is spread across have more than enough to make me want to come back and see more. It's not as spectacular as some of the other stories in this issue, but it a solid finish and guarantees I'll be back again next week to blog about Prog 38.

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "This is lookin' bad...very, very bad"

Prog 37 final ratings:

Overall: 8/10

Best Story: Dan Dare

Best Line: "Run if you want, hyper-chick! Anything you can do - I can do better!" 

Best Panel: