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: