It feels like a long week, and picking up this Prog feels like a relief. It has only been seven days since I read the last one, but I'm struggling to recall what happened. No doubt it will come back to me in a flash once I start reading, but for now, I'm starting from zero.
Prog 44
24 December 1977
This week's Judge Dredd is very much a story of two halves. The drama lies in the first half, and the second is merely a humour-heavy Christmas message.
There is humour in the first half to be sure, the opening panel we see Walter still on the moon and shopping for presents as the artificial snow falls. With a song on his lips (and lisp), and gifts in his arms, we are instantly dropped into the Christmas mood.
But this isn't the season to be jolly, as Walter finds out soon enough as he is kidnapped by Geek Gorgon. With Walter his captive, Geek Gorgon is seeking vengeance upon Dredd.
Dredd is a man of action, and although Geek Gorgon is armed with his favourite weapon, a chopper that looks like an oversized meat cleaver, Dredd is determined to get Walter back.
We don't have long to wait, as just over the page Dredd smashes through the side entrance of Gorgon's hideout. Gorgon retains the upper hand, with Walter being wired with explosives, but as he attempts to chop Dredd's head he finds Dredd has taken precautions, a length of flexisteel wrapped around his neck for protection. From here, victory belongs to Dredd.
The story then runs for two extra pages, as Walter gives his gifts to Dredd. There is laughs a plenty with some of the items he has given as gifts, and this part of the story is much lighter than the first half. Walter is disappointed to find that Dredd hasn't got him a gift, but Dredd is playing it cool, and as the story ends he delivers his gift to Walter, a tap dispenser - just what any self-respecting robot needs.
This feels like a Christmas story shoe-horned in, yet I can't help but enjoy the humour in it. The opening scene played well to my sense of humour, and the series of gifts that Walter gives at the end is the visual equivalent of a Dad joke. I could ask for a more dangerous villain, or perhaps more action, but this is a Christmas story in the Christmas issue, and as such, it did it's job. Not an ordinary story, but then again Christmas isn't an ordinary day.
Rating: 6/10
Best line: "A new dwink dispenser tao! You were just teasing Walter. Walter is so happy! He will scwew it in now"
We are still travelling with the circus for Invasion, although it looks like our days are numbered at this location.
The story starts sedately as we are once again introduced to Bill Savage and his band of men, but things warm up as the circus owner turns collaborator and reveals Savage's location to the Volgans.
With the circus stormed by Volgan, Savage is split from his men and finds his way to the big top. This leads to the set-piece action scene as Savage fights the Volgans from the trapeze. He puts up a good fight, but the circus owner proves adept with a whip, and captures Savage with a lash around the neck.
A truck exploding through the side of the tent is the most eye-catching panel of the comic and drives us to the conclusion of the story as it is driven by Savage's colleagues. Rescued, they drive the truck hard away from the circus, smashing through the supports of the big top as they plough their way out leaving the Volgans fumbling in their wake.
We have seen several stories of collaborators and traitors in the first 40 Progs, so the idea isn't new in this issue of Invasion. However, the setting provided a point of difference, with both Savage and the villain using the surroundings and providing an entertaining take. The best panel of the strip though was undoubtedly when big Nessie ploughed her truck into the tent. Explosive and dramatic, it is hard for me to move past this image, and after I finished the story, it was this part of the tale that stayed with me.
Rating: 6.5/10
Best line: "Ain't *gasp* that nice - ye're bringin' a lump to me throat"
Dan Dare is still alone on the planet Grawl, while his space fortress hides in another part of the Starslayer empire. With the Grawl slaves taking up arms against their overlords, it seems Dare has swung the advantage in his favour with a new army at his command.
However, the Dark Lord of the Starslayers still has a few tricks up his sleeve and sends his secret weapon towards the planet. As it shimmers in the sky, weakening all those that look at it, Dare and the Grawls don protective helmets with face visors, protecting themselves from this strange light.
Dare's space fortress contacts him, and he asks that they remain far away. With the Starslayers jamming the transmission, this message is lost, and copying Dare's voice pattern, they transmit their own version of the message, telling the pilot that the ship is required as soon as possible and to use a hyper-space jump to approach Grawl.
Still plenty to play for, as they say, and the story could go anywhere from here. The first page was a highlight, with Dare fighting should to should with the Grawl slaves, all in glorious colour, while the real wrinkle in the story came in the later pages as the plot deepened. I was a fan of both parts of the story, and I can see the story continuing to unfold panel after panel. With the story still expanding, I am well and truly along for the ride, and even if this wasn't the best Dan Dare story I have read, it had enough steel to it to make me wish there was more.
Rating: 7/10
Best line: "I have pulled it off pilot..we've got a bunch o'guys on our side that make Bear look like a nine-stone tweaking!"
Last week's MACH-1 story put me in mind of Frankenstein, and that thought is reinforced this week as we move further down that path. With Mach Zero on the loose, he only has two things on his mind, kill Sharpe, and find his son.
It's not his son he finds though, but rather just a nearby boy who is in need of help. Saving him from some local bullies, he returns the boy to his mother, but the mother assumes that Mach Zero has done some harm, and he is cast out.
The rest of the story is dedicated to the rage of Mach Zero as he fights off the military in their attempt to recapture him.
There is no Mach 1 in this episode, marking it out of the ordinary. The Mach Zero story is strong thus far, and one senses that it will be even stronger once the two face each other. This story did a good job of building the humanity of Mach Zero, something we weren't privy to in the last episode. At first, I found it jarring to have the information that he has a son dropped on us in the first panel, but the rest of the story builds nicely upon this, and by the end, it felt as if the balance had been restored. I could quibble that the story is a little derivative, drawing from both Frankenstein and the Incredible Hulk, but it is a universal story, and one that works well in this context and is well told.
Rating: 7.5/10
Best line: "Boy being hurt, mother - Zero save him!"
The overarching plot appears in the final panels as they speak of clearing themselves from the match-fixing scandal. Junk hands Giant a clue he found in Vance's office before that fateful last game, a gambling chip from The Crystal maze, and as they look upon it we close out this week's issue.
Not a lot to say about this week's issue. It focussed solely on the game, and the game itself was all about team unity being built as the game went along. I was pleased to see the return to the larger story appear in the final panels, although it has been several weeks now and I had almost forgotten about it. An entertaining story in terms of visuals and the game, but apart from that not a lot here for the lovers of a good story.
Rating: 5.5/10
Best line: "No way, Cash! I never took orders from punky kids when I was a lawman, and I ain't startin' now!"
Prog 44 final ratings:
Overall: 6.5/10
Best Story: Mach-1
Best Line: "Take the strength of fifty men- mix it with enough hate for a hundred-that'll give you the man called - Mach Zero!"
Best Panel:
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