Prog 42

Christmas is coming! Prog 42 is dated 10th December 1977, just two weeks before the first Christmas I can remember. I was only four at the time, so there would be no 2000AD stocking fillers, but rest assured Santa took care of me. Let's roll back the clock and see what else I missed in the build-up to Christmas 1977.  

Prog 42

10 December 1977

 Judge Dredd leaves Meagacity-1 this week as a new story arc begins in new surroundings. Sent to the moon for six months of Luna duty, he is angry to find that Walter the robot has stowed away in his luggage. Walter just couldn't bear the thought of being away from Dredd for so long. 

The shuttle trip to the moon is eventful, with a Killjoy Destructor Missle (great name) fired at the shuttle as it approaches the surface. Taking charge of the situation, Dredd takes the missile head on, before jettisoning the cargo container which the missile destroys instead. 

This isn't the only attempt on Dredd's life, and after arriving on Luna-1 and making his way to his accommodation, the ever-faithful Walter discovers a small robot in the closest. The robot explains that he has been provided to be Dredd's robot servant, but he quickly reveals his true intention and attacks Dredd with an axe. Dredd avoids the axe, and as he questions the robot it goes into self-destruct mode and we finish the strip with Dredd tossing the exploding robot out the window before pondering who he is behind this. 

All the pieces are in place for another great story here. The new setting is good, but it's the plot and the humour that holds all the thrills for me. Luna-1 is well described, we get a couple of panels of backstory about it, our first view of it, and the people Dredd will be working with, add to this feeling of a colony in the wild west. The humour mostly comes from Walter, but it drips from every page, even when Walter isn't present.  Walter is always going to be funny, but there is much more to the story than just him. Judge Dredd looks great, reads well, and is the perfect start to this week's issue. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Well, get rid of him. It's bad enough with one of you" 

Future Shocks works as a palate cleanser after Dredd, and at a page and a half is just the punchy break we need before diving into Invasion. 

Dan Aulnick has built himself a mail-order time machine, and plugging it into a wall socket gives it a quick run before tea. Arriving back in  10,000 BC he is confronted by some unfriendly locals, but as he tries to leave he realises there is no power point to plug into and he is standard. 

Short, sweet, and with a nice little twist, this is all I could ask. Not enough time to be perfect, but it's well-worked and fits perfectly after Dredd. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Well, that's it. My first time machine finished and ready to go. If I hurry, I've just enough time for a quick visit to the stone age, before the wife wants me back for tea." 

I've never been one for circuses, so it is with some trepidation that I read this week's Invasion storyline. The circus is crucial to the story, as Bill and his team arrive in the city at the same time as the circus. 

They find that their safe house isn't so safe, and seek refuge in the circus, first losing themselves in the circus crowd, before settling in to watch the show under the big top. As the show starts, they are spotted by a Volgan officer and they quickly make their way out back. 

It is here that we get the biggest twist in the story. As the Volgans confront them, the bearded lady suddenly appears behind them and takes a hand in the situation. Cracking a couple of heads, Savage and his men are saved, but there is something all too familiar about the bearded lady. It is someone we have met before, and removing the beard we see that it is Big Nessie, a woman we previously met in the guise of a professional wrestler back in Prog 33. Here she takes a shine to the young Prince, much to the delight of Bill Savage who finds humour in the situation. 

I may not like circuses, but I liked this story. There was a lot packed into the pages, the escape for the safe house itself was a page of action, and it was a close-run thing before Savage escaped into the crowd. Every panel looked good, but none caught my attention like the very first panel when we see Bill Savage staring off the page at us, it's certainly one for the album. Like Dredd, there was plenty of humour mixed in with the action, and the story left me feeling good. The last two issues of Invasion have a different feel from the rest of Invasion. I liked this one much more than last week, and I'm curious to see where they will take us next.  

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Okay, Bill - you an' skinny Silk into me stall fast! I'll carry the little love!"

I was looking forward to seeing Dan Dare lead the insectoid slaves into battle against the Starslayers, but it is the Starslayers who seize the initiative, their tanks ambushing Dare and his men in the first panels of the story.  

The attacking tanks seem to burst from the page, leaving Dare and Hitman scrambling to fight back. Both acquit themselves well, Hitman destroying a tank using his shooting skills before they both team up to destroy the other two tanks.

Tanks dispensed with, the battle is won, but the surviving Starslayer sends a message back to their leader telling him that they have been defeated on the planet drone. 

With Dare's location revealed to the Starslayer leader, the secret weapon once again comes into play, a bright light appearing in the sky and all the insectoids falling under its spell. Hitman too is succumbing, but before he does he knocks Dare to the ground and places a Starslayer helmet on him, thus saving Dare from a similar fate.

We finish the story with Dare waking to find that Hitman is in a trance after sacrificing himself to save Dare. With two men now lost in a trance, Bear and Hitman, Dare reiterates that he won't stop until the Starslayer Empire is wiped out. 

My feelings about this story are mixed. It didn't have any real depth to it, and the major battle felt slight, despite Dare and Hoitman fighting the awesome power of the tanks, it felt like they defeated them all too easily. The insectoids were underutilised, they looked the most interesting on the page, yet we hardly saw them in battle. Despite all that, I enjoyed the story, with Dan Dare looking heroic in every panel. The tank's first appearance was eye-catching and kick-started the story, and this was the high point for me, along with the final panel of Dan Dare. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Look--the bugs...they've stopped moving...staring at the sky! What's happenin'?"

The first page of part 3 of the MACH 1 Death Ray story is entirely taken up with the launching of the cruise missile that will feature throughout this week's strip. It may not show John Probe, but it reminds us of where we are with the story.

We see John Probe on the following page, his Voshkod pod dangling beneath a parachute as they land near the target area for the cruise missile. Once again, I am frustrated that Voskhod is spelt wrong, "Voshkod" instead of the correct "Voskhod," this has been an ongoing issue throughout this story and my eyes always catch on the word when I see it. 

We see Probe in action immediately, as he seizes control of the situation, and the Russian cosmonauts, before springing from the capsule and taking to his heels.  Running too fast for the Russian scanners to track, he is soon one-hundred miles away and contemplating his next move.

His next move is decided for him as he sees a Russian cruise missile flying over some nearby hills. He doesn't get long to admire its flight, as a shot from a ground-based death ray shoots it out of the sky.

Peering over the hilltop, Probe sees that he has stumbled upon a secret base and the earth-based death ray. This leads us to the second part of the story, after destroying the death ray in space, now Probe must destroy the deathray on earth. 

The action comes thick and fast from here on in. Slipping into the base, Probe takes out the scientists behind the ray, and then takes control of the death ray itself to destroy most of the facility.  With the death ray itself about to detonate all that is left is for Probe to escape. 

This is the part of the story that I am not happy about. Seeing the cruise missile that was fired from the US sub, John Probe leaps on top of it and pulling off an access panel, rewires the missile - sending it a thousand miles out to sea with Probe as a passenger. Landing in the sea, near a US vessel, soon enough Probe is back home. 

Sharpe isn't pleased with John Probe working for the US, and in a terse exchange hands him a thank you note from the USAF before kicking him out of his office.  

An uneven story, and although it had its moments, my overall feeling is one of disappointment. I suspend reality when reading these stories, and happily accept all of John Probe's abilities, but seeing him riding the cruise missile after all that has come before was a bridge too far. Maybe I'm having a bad day, but I just didn't like what I was reading on the page. The first two parts of this story were solid, and I was hoping for a spectacular finish, but this was a tepid ending to what could have been a great story. Still enjoyable enough, and I have to accept that my high expectations were unrealistic in the face of what was delivered.

Rating 6/10

Best line: "Your Ruskie friends know something went wrong with the mission but they won't know how wrong till they peel this can open - so you just keep quiet - savvy?"

There was a mysterious figure descending upon the Harlem Heroes when we last saw them in Inferno, but he doesn't stay mysterious long. It is their old team-mate, Louis Meyer, now merely a brain living in an android's body.

With Louis onboard, they continue to put together their new team. Two more arrivals are their former teammates from the Washington Wolves. They then venture into the bad part of town to recruit another former teammate, and with a full complement of players that submit their teamsheet to the league, under the new name of "Harlem Hellcats"      

Starting from the fourth division they work their way up, and the first opponents they face are the Sickles, who from the outset look like a pretty rough lot. Just how rough, we'll find out now, but if there play like they look then the Harlem Hellcats are in for a heck of a fight. 

Now that the team has been rebuilt I expect this story to quickly move forward. Even though this week was all about the new team being put together, there was still plenty to enjoy. All the new characters look great, and they have some fearsome members on their team now. Likewise, the opposition looks suitably mean and gnarly, and one can feel that next week will be full of bone-crunching action. A good base to start from, next week should be great. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line:  "Here it is, boys! Our acceptance into the inferno league...under the name of 'Harlem Hellcats'!" 

Prog 42 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Invasion

Best Line: "You saved me from bein' burnt back there and now I'm repayin' you...besides, the men...need you...someone to...lead 'em...go beat those Starslayers for me, Dare!" 

Best Panel:   

Prog 41

 Laptops can be so frustrating. One minute they're working, the next minute you come back with a cup of tea to find the screen blank and nothing you can do will encourage it back to life. A lesser man might have thrown it out the window, instead, with head down, I traipsed back to the store where I brought it, with their promise to repair it under warranty within five days. Five whole days, what is a poor boy to do? Resourcefully, I have pulled out my old computer, which my wife has been encouraging me to throw away for the last five years, and managed to resurrect it into a workable condition. Painfully slow, at least I can work to my self-imposed deadline of one blog post every week, before 5pm Sunday.  This isn't supposed to be a job, but sometimes it feels like it. 

Prog 41

3 December  1977

I didn't enjoy Judge Dredd last week, but this week's issue is far more agreeable to me. It may be because I'm reading it on a larger screen. Or maybe because I am drinking a gin instead of my obligatory cup of tea. Whatever it is, this is a storming episode, and I fall straight into the story. As you might recall, Dredd and the other Judges are endeavouring to stop the opposing gangs of Muties and Spacers from racing their 5000-mile bike race. It looks fantastic on my bigger screen, and I take my time as I cast my eye over their beautiful machines. A large part of this can be attributed to the artwork of Brian Bollard, and his hard and solid artwork is a contrast to the shakey lines of some of the earlier Dredd stories. Hard and solid is also a very good description of Judge Dredd, and he proves to be both as he confronts the leader of the Muties as he strives to reach the beacon, which serves as the finish line, first. Five pages and we always knew that it would come to this, and so it comes to pass as Dredd takes his opponent head-on and emerges victorious as the leader of the Muties dies just inches from his goal. Judge Dredd sees this as a deterrent to all future races and says as much to Judge Giant who joins him at the finish.

This is not a heavy Judge Dredd story, nor is it infused with humour that drips from every panel. Rather, it is a simple tale of right verse wrong. A simple tale it may be, but the artwork elevates it to another level entirely, and I don't think I have ever been enraptured by such artwork before in a Dredd story. Brian Bolland is a revelation to me here, and I will be seeking out anything he draws in future years. But here in the present, I lean back in my chair. The sun is going down, and so's my drink, and all is right in Megacity-1. Thank you, Judge Dredd. Thank you, Brian Bolland.   

Rating 8/10

Best line: "Muties rule, OK!"

Those dirty Volgs, not only are they hunting down Prince John and Bill Savage, but they are also hunting anything that moves on Prince John's family estate - Balmoral. In this week's edition of Invasion, Bill Savage and his men find themselves seeking shelter on the estate grounds, and after wiping out a mob of Volgans, Prince John leads them to a spot he considers safe, a secret cave behind a waterfall where he and other children of the Royal family used to play. Ammunition is low, and although the secret cave contains shotgun shells, they are all blanks. That's not enough to deter Savage, and when the Volgans throw a deer's skull through the falls, he loads it into his shotgun and using the blank cartridges blasts it into the Volgans as he storms out. Caught off guard, the Volgans find Savage and Silk snatching up their weapons, and the fight is over before it has begun, with Savage emerging victorious. 

I read this story twice. The first time I thought it was good, the second time I thought it was better. The idea of blasting deer antlers into the Volgans seems preposterous, but it is all part of the story and the second time I read it I get over myself and enjoy it for what it is. This story is all about a resourceful Bill Savage adapting to his environment and using whatever is at hand to defeat the Volgans. In this case, it is the deer antlers, and I must admit that on the page it looks great. Overall, the story was self-contained, with a solid beginning, middle and end all executed over five pages. It may not be as incendiary as some of the other Invasion stories, but it burns brightly in its own way and seeing the Volgans suffer at the hands of Savage always fills me with a warm feeling. Maybe I'm not right in the head, but I like it. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "s' right! And this devil brought his horns!" 

This week's Future Shocks is interesting in that there is no dialogue- the whole story is told through captions. And the story that the captions tell is as follows: A starfreighter on a four-year flight accidentally brings back to earth a mouse-like creature called a runt. They eat all the grain on the ship, and when they arrive on earth go on a rampage, eating everything in sight. Nothing can stop them, but just as it looks like humanity is doomed, and mankind is next on the menu, the runts keel over and die. It seems they have eaten too much and ate until they burst. We are left with a moral to the story, "You can't eat people if your eyes are bigger than your belly"

As much as I like Future Shocks, I can't claim to be a fan of every story. The good thing is they are so short, and there's always another one coming along to my taste. This one was definitely to my taste, and I appreciated the story it was telling. I found the fact that it didn't have any dialogue appealing and we never took the view of a single character. An interesting idea, and well executed, this worked well for the format and overall left me feeling positive about the experience. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "You can't eat people if your eyes are bigger than your belly" 

Dan Dare is still evading the forces of Stayslayer, and we begin this week's strip with his ship hidden behind an asteroid as an opposing vehicle glides by. Bear is still in a trance, and attempts to alert the enemy vessel, but is restrained by Dare's men. 

Approaching another slave planet, this time Drone, Dan Dare and his crew meet with an insectoid race and asks them to join the fight against Starslayer. There is hostility to begin with, but once Dare outlines who he and his men are, they agree to join the fight. The deal is done, but in the final panel, we see Darklord of the Starslayers promising to set traps for Dan Dare on all the slave panels. 

This episode did not advance the story along very much, but it sure was pretty to look at. Yes, Dan Dare has encountered another slave planet and potential allies, but their conflict remains in the future for now, and in this episode, we merely got our first look at them. Likewise, there is talk about the traps that Dark Lord threatens to set, but we won't see them until next week. So, the future looks like where it is at, until we arrive there I'm going to rate this average.

Rating: 6/10

Best line: " ...and is it not better to die with honour than die in shame? We shall contact the other hives!"

Mach 1 was the story I was looking forward to most this week after last week's space adventure had let us delicately poised. There is not long to wait to see which way the wind blows, Probe's ship is destroyed in the very first panel. Left floating in space, he fights off one of the Russians from the Voshkod pod, then using his hyper-strength forces his way into the capsule. From here it is a simple matter of toppling the death ray weapon out of orbit, before considering how he's going to get the Voshkod capsule down. He quickly learns that the vessel is controlled from the ground, and he is programmed to come down in the central USSR.  To make matters worse, one of the US submarines that were on high alert is out of range to be recalled by the US government and is at the moment firing a cruise missile at the very area that Probe is about to land in. 

I didn't enjoy this week's story as much as last week, I'll be honest. The action looked great, I especially enjoyed the panel where Probe smashes one of the cosmonaut's helmets, but the rest of the story left me cold. I wanted to like it much more than I eventually did. Despite Probe's best intents, it felt like the story unfolded around him, and even though he put up a good fight, he was just along for the ride. There is still the third and final part to come, so the story may redeem itself in my eyes, but for now it seems this middle section has sagged. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "Eat glass, Ruskie!"

Giant, Slim and Zack were accused of accepting bribes in the final panel of last week's issue of Inferno, and we join them this week as the verdict is handed down from the Inferno Assoction inquiry.  The Heroes are found not guilty, on account of not enough evidence to convict them. They are free, but a lot of people aren't happy about it, and it appears they have been blacklisted from every other team.

The second half of the strip picks up considerably, as the outcasts decide the only solution is to form their own team. They immediately find a suitable team member as they stumble across some condemned sky-flats and a bike-scramble race through them. Leading this scramble is the yellow-helmeted Rip Venner, who is both ruthless and fast, two key attributes for this sometimes deadly sport. 

He also has a back story, having been thrown out of the Justice Judges, for being too hard and mean. A proposal is put to him to join the newly formed team, but he gives a non-commital response leaving the three heroes to wonder what they can do from here. 

What they do next is find a stadium to compete in, and they have one ready-made that springs to mind - their old aeroball stadium.  They have two panels to reminisce before a figure with a jetpack drops upon them, identity unknown - I'll have to wait seven days to find out who it is. 

Not a lot happened in this week's strip, yet a lot of groundwork was laid, and there were some plot hooks which quietly drew me in. The scramble race looked great, and it was the perfect introduction to Rip Venner, I hope we get to see him much more in the coming weeks. Elsewhere, I enjoyed the final page in colour, and I hop that this will be a feature further utilized in the coming weeks. This week's comic has been strong throughout, and Inferno was s solid ending. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "That guy's a mad hat on two wheels, and whats the point of raising our own team? We ain't even got a stadium!" 

 

Prog 41 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Ya gonna hafta ram dat heapa junk ya ridin' ringth inta me!" 

Best Panel:

Prog 40

I have now read 40 issues of 2000AD. That's a milestone that I should be celebrating. But I have the lingering thought that perhaps I should tap into the vast pool of patience, which I don't have, and wait until Prog 52 before I get too carried away with myself. It seems the right thing to do, so maybe I am actually getting older and wiser. So, the celebration is on hold, let's cruise our way through Prog 40.

Prog 40

26 November 1977

Judge Dredd feels different this week. I can't quite pinpoint why, perhaps because it had reached such heights recently, while this week is grounded in a more recognisable world which doesn't quite give the story the same edge. With the gangs of Megacity embarking on a 5000-mile motorbike race, it's up to the thin blue line to maintain justice in the face of the harder criminal element. The Judges begin their crackdown well, but a rookie error by a young Judge gives the bikers the break they need and using a riot shield as a ramp they jump over the police line and onwards towards freedom. How the judges will respond we'll have to wait until next week to find out. 

This week's story is laying the groundwork, but as menacing as the biker gangs look, I just didn't feel the sense of danger radiating from them. Already this feels like a foe that Judge Dredd will easily dispatch with and as such I'm not fully invested in the story. Great setting and premise, but just not the hook I need to keep me turning the pages.

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "When was the last time you saw a dentist, creep?"

After a break last week, Future Shocks returns with a two-page story. There's not a lot to tell here. Two space prospectors are probing asteroids with a laser probe in search of gold, lead or chromium. While the older prospector tells the younger of how wild things used to be in the old days, they soon find themselves facing the unusual as their probe spits open an asteroid.  This is no normal asteroid, but rather a giant space egg, and what emerges is a fearsome-looking space dinosaur who immediately squawks "mother." What happens next is purely in the imagination of the reader, as this is where the story ends for us. 

An interesting little story, but it was slight, and the final reveal did not wow me in the way that some of the previous shocks have. I enjoyed the artwork, and the brevity of the story definitely worked to its advantage. This story is exactly what we expect from these stories, and delivered no more or no less than what we expected. Average, but in the very best way.

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "And even asteroids with heads and claws! When you've been out here as long as I have, you'll know they exist!"

Prince John remains the main driver of the story for this week's Invasion. With the exiled British government in Canada keen to get him off the British Isles and back to safety, a plan is hatched, with the Royal Navy feinting on two fronts while a lone destroyer approaches the coast where Savage with be waiting with the Prince. It is a fine plan, but unfortunately, the lone destroyer is rumbled after being spotted by a high-flying Volgan Spy plan. The enemy aircraft acts quickly, launching a missile that takes out the destroyer. 

But, as luck would have it, the destroyer manages to get its own missile off before it is hit, and this missile shoots the aircraft out of the sky. A passive observer until now, Savage finally has a part to play, in this case shooting at the Volgan aircrew as they come down with their parachutes. It is a close thing, but Savage manages to shoot all eleven of them, despite them returning fire with their own pistols. We finish with Savage sending his own message back to Canada, next time there's a rescue attempt he wants it on his own terms. 

An unlying theme throughout this story was the constant jargon used by the military and Savage's own message is delivered in a similar fashion - "W.T.S.S' - Wait Till Savage Sezs. 

The Prince John storyline still has some legs left in it, and while he didn't have a large part in the action, he was certainly the key figure behind what is happening. The story didn't grab me by the scruff of the neck, but it did gently draw me in, and I steadily worked my way through the strip, rather than eagerly flip through the pages. It was Bill Savage's expression that I enjoyed most, and the artist Mike Dorey did a great job with his maniacal facial expression. Bill Savage is a dangerous character, and this is reflected well on the page. Invasion isn't at its best here, but it is not far off it, and with a couple of tweaks I would have rated this story much higher. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "More fancy lingo but 'ol Bill smells Volgs- though I can't see none" 

Dan Dare is still on the planet Minian, but it is Bear who carries the story for the first two pages. Bear is working with the Minian slaves and preparing them to rise up against their oppressors. However, Dark Lord, the Star Slayer leader, activates the shining star. As it appears above, the slaves all fall to their knees. Not so Bear, and he is soon singled out by the Star Slayers. 

Back at the ship, Dan Dare is making emergency repairs when battalons of Star Slayer troops appear, led by a zombie-like Bear. It becomes a battle of survival for Dare and his crew, and they make a good account of themselves, before the ship lifts off slightly, creating a cloud of dust and providing Dare with a chance to grab Bear from the chaos and get him onboard. 

With the ship repaired, they make their escape by the skin of their teeth, but the final panel reveals that Bear is still in shock from whatever happened. With Dan swearing to find out what's causing this, and smash it, we are well-primed for whatever will come next. 

The action in this week's issue wasn't as thrilling as the previous one, and the artwork felt smaller, there weren't so many large panels or faces dominating a single panel. The story is moving along well, which I appreciate, but overall it felt like we dropped a gear in this story. Dan Dare's colour pages always give it an extra push, and at the end of the day, those pages were my favourite in this story. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "And there's nothing handier than an astro-axe!"     

"Mach 1 - Death ray" - now that sounds like a story I would want to read! And so it proves, this story is right up my alley for a number of reasons. 

When an American spy satellite is destroyed by a laser weapon, John Probe is called upon by the American airforce to investigate. The CIA and Probe's own employer have launched their own secret investigations, so he is working against his own department. Of course, in the business of secrets, there are no secrets, so Sharpe is immediately aware of Probe's movements and intentions. 

On the aircraft with the American General Logan, Probe and Logan are knocked out by coffee spiked with barbituates. Waking up, they find themselves tied to their chairs and facing two of Sharpe's operatives. Thinking quickly, Probe breaks a window, and the guns are sucked out the window, giving him and the general the upper hand. 

Flying to Edwards airforce base, Probe is loaded on an X-15 research vehicle, and launched from under the wing of a B52 he climbs high to the edge of space where he comes upon the wrecked satellite. He also comes across a Russian-manned Voshkod capsule, and a death beam weapon aimed directly at him. 

One of my great passions in life is reading about the space race against the Russians, and the manned missions of the 60s and early 70s, so this story appeals to me greatly. I loved seeing the X-15 get some time in the story (long before he walked on the moon, Neil Armstrong used to pilot an X-15), and the space action was top-notch. The only part of the story I didn't like so much was when Probe and the General drank the spiked coffee - the woman serving the coffee looked just like Tanya from the previous story, and I did briefly wonder if Lozano/Canos could only draw one type of woman. It matters little, the rest of the story looked great, and I liked that we saw Probe use his powers only sparingly. 

I was caught up in this story from start to finish, and Probe's issues with Sharpe are coming to the fore in each advancing story, no doubt things will come to a head on that front in the future, but for now, I'm loving where we are and what Probe is doing in space.

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "All systems green, Probe. Rocket engines have ignited and you're on your way!"  

A lot happens in Inferno this week, which is a pleasant surprise as after seeing the first panel of an exploding bike I was beginning to wonder if Inferno was just going to be week after week of crashes and carnage as the story slowly and steadily crawls along. I needn't have worried, the story moves rapidly through this week's strip and after an initial panel showing a fiery crash, the game is abandoned and the remaining members point an accusing finger at Charlie Vance for tampering with the salt gum. 

A cornered Vance pulls his weapon in the face of such accusations and then makes a run for it. Escaping to the copter park, he climbs in a helicopter, but as he pushes the ignition switch it explodes in a ball of flame - it seems a saboteur has been at work and Vance will tell no tales. 

The final page is in colour, which is a nice way to finish, and as the investigation continues, the remaining three heroes are found to each have five thousand dollars in their bags (planted by Vance) and the accusing fingers now point at them for accepting bribes. 

A lot of information is packed in the panels throughout the story, and this is certainly ending the comic on a high note. With the background figures still unknown to the three Heroes and they themselves facing accusations, we still have some way to go with this story. The on-field action has always looked great, but the story was far more appealing to me in this strip, with intrigue and conflict taking place away from the field of play. Next week we should hopefully get more if the same, and if we do I will continue to rate it highly. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Seems it ain't only the salt-gum that gets sabotaged around here" 

Prog 40 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: Mach 1

Best Line: "Well, the CIA are after Logan, and I'm after you!" 

Best Panel: