Prog 47

Easter, what a drag. I don't feel like staying at home, and I don't feel like going out. I don't even feel like reading comics if I'm honest. Still, I have a reputation to uphold, so here I am dutifully at my computer, comics by my side, and ready to dive into Prog 47. 

Prog 47

14th January 1978

Dan Dare looks like he will be the cover star for the foreseeable future, and we begin this week's episode with a quick recap provided by Dare with his monologue and captions. 

Inside the issue, things begin to move quickly as Dare finds the execution stakes in the inner storage hold. Turning the hold pressure up beyond its limits, it becomes a bomb, just waiting for the right moment to explode. That right moment comes soon enough, with the star stakes exploding outwards like a swarm of deadly missiles, spiking the Dark Lord's own men. 

The story continues to move at this fast pace, as Dare seizes the Dark Lord prisoner and the rest of the ship. The escorting ships have no idea what is happening, and they quickly fall to the guns of the now Dare-controlled ship. 

It seems Dare is in control, but the Dark Lord remains confident as we see him still plotting to defeat Dare in the final panel. 

I enjoyed this story well enough, although I have mixed feelings about the pacing. I appreciated the fast-moving story but felt that it was a little too easy for Dare and his men in this episode. Every obstacle was easily overcome, and every foe dispatched swiftly. There was no tension, asides from the final panel, and it was a gentle cruise through the story. I would have liked a little more resistance, just to give the story some grit, yet despite this, I found it highly readable and fun. 

Rating: 6/10

Best Line: "I'm moving spacers--the Dark Lord himself is on the ship and he's my target!"

A new story this week, The Visible Man, courtesy of comic books legend Pat Mills. I am very aware of Pat Mills and his canon, although I have never come across this particular story before. 

Ex-soldier Frank Hart is a man of action and danger. Speeding in this Porsche, he is caught in a terrible accident with a lorry carrying nuclear waste. Taken to a hospital, he is literally kept in the dark about his condition. 

Like many a comic before it, the nuclear waste has changed Frank Hart, in this case making his skin and muscular tissue transparent. Now, just like the visible man toy, we can see all his organs and he has become a living visible man. 

The previous Mach-1 story that this replaces dealt with a similar man of unique abilities, and like that previous story, the government has plans for Frank, whether he likes it or not. 

Our first view of the visible man was sensational and immediately set my expectations for this story sky-high. With Pat Mills at the helm, I have every confidence that this story will quickly become a favourite. We have seen men changed by radioactive materials before, and I expect Pat will take this story in an unexpected direction as we rumble through the next few weeks. We are off to a great start, the character is intriguing and with a story to be wrapped around him next week I think the story can only get better and better.

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "No-one's putting a looney-coat on me!"

A Future Shorts drawn by John Cooper keeps me on a high, as we run through a quick story of alien infiltration. 

The governments of the world are concerned about spies and infiltration, each suspicious of the other. In London, an infiltrator is about to be questioned when an unknown figure remotely presses a button and the suspect is melted. 

Questions are raised at the highest levels but overruled but the respective presidents and prime ministers. Mike Walsh is determined to know more and follows the trail to Australia. 

It is there that he stumbles across an alien plot to take over the world. He reacts quickly, pressing the button to destroy the various operatives around the world, which we see in the final panels are all the heads of state of the UK, US, and Russia. 

A tidy tale, it was John Cooper's artwork that appealed to me most. I have always been a fan of his clean style and read many a war comic drawn by him when I was younger. He seemed to specialise in square-jawed heroes, and we certainly had one of those here in the story in the form of Mike Walsh. The story itself was told as well as it could be in the space provided, and although this isn't a favourite story of the week, it was a pleasurable read. A bit of John Cooper magic mid-comic is just what I needed now. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Great scott...they're all doubles of the man who turned to jelly!"

John Cooper's art was great, but Brian Bolland tops him in the following Judge Dredd. Each panel looks sensational, and by the time I read this week's tale I already have four or five favourites for the panel of the week. 

The story begins with a nice nod to Werner Von Braun, as Dredd opens a new territory on the moon for colonisation - The Von Braun territory. It's an open land grab, with Dredd and Judges watching on to make sure all laws are obeyed.

Several arrests are made throughout the day, but our story really begins with the appearance of Rowena, a waitress robot. She has a tale of woe to tell, and Dredd listens attentively to her report.

Her mistress is Window Spock, who has claimed a good street site to build a flapjack parlour. The problem is she is being strong-armed into signing over her rights to this property by Interseller Psionocs Corporations. I immediately chuckled at this name, especially when they referred to it continually as IPC, the same name as the publisher of this comic, a joke I would like to think I would have understood as a kid, but I'm not betting on it. 

The following day and IPC are back at Window Spocks, this time with a PSI-chair that will send electrodes to her brain and force her to sign. 

It doesn't go to plan, her will is too strong, and Dredd emerges from the shadows where he had been waiting the whole time and makes the necessary arrests. 

The final page of the story takes a turn as Rowna pays another visit to Dredd, ostensibly to give Dredd some cookies made by her mistress. However, Dredd detects that the cookies are robot made, and questioning her motives he looks out the window to see her and Walter spending some quality robot time together. We have given robots human-like personalities, and now the day is here when they can fall in love. 

This story has a lot to recommend it, and I found something I liked in almost every panel. A great story, and with the wild west feeling pervading throughout, and some subtle and not-so-subtle nods to our world, there was some work for the old grey matter to do as I was reading it. The artwork was gentle on the eye, and giving Walter a moment at the end was a nice bonus, especially as they have given him a girlfriend with a name beginning with 'R'. Hilarious.  Not quite the ass-kicking Dredd of yore, but just as enjoyable as any other story this week. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "You are so brave, Walter. I hope you'll always be Rowena's....friend" 

Savage has made it to Liverpool, and this week in Invasion we meet Liverpool's favourite sons. 

Seeking to find a vessel at Liverpool docks to get Prince John back to Canada, Savage and Silk meet the local resistant group in the Cavern, the famous cellars of the sixties where the beat groups first emerged from. 

It is here that we meet some very familiar faces, although I do find it a little jarring to see John Lennon's face looking out of the page. It is a reminder of the time in which this was written, still two years before Lennon's assassination, and at the time he was still a current cultural figure.

Given a special guitar, Savage and Silk explore the docks, before slipping into a bar to find some sailors willing to smuggle them. It is unfortunate that they are recognised, and soon after they enter the bar a Volgan patrol storms in looking for them. It is now that we find out what is special about the guitar. Silk makes to play it and sing but soon swings it towards the Volgans where we discover it is actually a hidden gun. 

Most of the Volgans are dealt with, but the remaining two get the drop on Savage and SIlk, that is until a big seaman takes a hand and cracks some skulls. Introducing himself and Georgia, he promises to help Savage and Silk smuggle someone to Canada.

All is not what it seems, and in the final panels we see that 'Georgia' is actually 'Georgi' and he working with Colonel Rosa Volgaska, hoping to crush Savage with his bare hands. 

I could have done without the Beatles appearing at the Cavern, although I do make an allowance as this was only ten years after the Beatles were at their height. The rest of the story ratcheted up the tension and wasn't as cartoony as some of the previous issues. There is a real danger on the page and one senses that it is only going to get darker in the coming weeks. The story is building again, and next week we should see things come to a head with Savage and Colonel Volgaska, the most dangerous villain he has come across on the pages of Invasion so far. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Yeah, we lived well- till the invasion, Then the Volgs took away our record royalties-we're back where we started!" 

Over in Inferno, the Harlem Hellcats are facing a menacing bunch of heat-seeking droids intent on doing them permanent damage. I thought these droids might prove to be a tough proposition for the Hellcats, but the Hellcats manage to arm themselves with Inferno bats and balls, both of which prove to be excellent weapons against homicidal droids. 

The droids dispensed with, the next obstacle that Cullen throws at the team are gun-toting novelty cowboy droids. These too are dealt with surprisingly easily, in this case, a stray power cable thrown at them is enough to short them out and leave the Hellcats free to pursue Cullen.

However, the power cable more than destroyed the droids, it also sent an electrical charge back to the control room, causing a fire. The Hellcats can only watch on helplessly as their only link to the syndicate, Cullen, is engulfed in flame on the TV before their very eyes. 

There is nothing left to do but escape the building, which burns to the ground while they watch on, their chances of finding the syndicate that framed them now in ashes. 

All is not quite lost though, and although they may not be able to find the syndicate, the syndicate is about to find them as we see in a sinister final panel. 

This is the best Inferno story in some time, and I enjoyed every aspect of it. The action scenes were great, there was some good use of their sporting skills, and the wider plot evolved.  The team may not be any further ahead, but the storyline is, and there is an extra wrinkle in the plot each week. I'm surprised by how much I like this story when it's away from the sport of Inferno, and it is the wider storyline that has me captivated. Good stuff, long may it continue.

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Go chase ya head, handsome!" 

Prog 47 final ratings:

Overall: 8/10

Best Story: The Visible Man 

Best Line: "You're lying to me! Something's gone wrong, I can tell! W-what is it? Tell me!"

Best Panel: