Prog 49

Since the arrival of the Visible Man, 2000AD seems to have improved on every front. Inferno has recently taken an upturn, Invasion continues to be strong, and Dan Dare is firing on all cylinders. Meanwhile, Dredd's time on the moon has been an added bonus and continues to burnish the legend that is Dredd. I rated the last issue highly, and, spoilers, I also rate this one highly. I am rapidly beginning to see why they call it the world's greatest comic, and I'm not even up to issue fifty yet. 

Prog 49

28th January 1978

"Death to the intruders!" is a great way to start Dan Dare and a great way to start this week's comic.

With Dare's ship being boarded by Starslayer troops, the story has taken a turn for Dare and his men. Not only is he facing the incoming troops, but all the action is being shown on video screens across the slave planets in anticipation of Dare's annihilation. 

But Dan Dare will not go quietly into the night, oh no, he and his men put up a ferocious fight, repelling the invaders on every front. The final act of this first invasion comes as Bear clambers outside the ship and cuts a hole that sucks all the Starslayers out into the vacuum. 

Despite their efforts, the ship is gradually overrun and we end this week's strip with Dare and his men bracing themselves for the final onslaught. There is a hint of positivity on the final panel as the pilot points outside and exclaims that the Starslayers are in for a shock.

I think I know what this shock may be, but I will restrain myself from picking up the next issue and will instead wait until next week. This is a knock-out issue of Dan Dare. I'm not normally one for long battle scenes and page after page of fighting, but the story was gripping, and as I say every other week, Dave Gibbon's art was fantastic. The scenes of Bear cutting open the hull with his axe were superb and one of the highlights of the comic for me. Sometimes space action can get lost in the darkness, but Dave Gibbon's crisp clean lines highlighted what was important on the page and kept my eyes focused throughout. I thought I had tired of Dan Dare, but this once again made me a believer, and I found it deeply satisfying. 

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "Kick those worms back down their holes!" 

I'm not one hundred per cent focused on Future Shocks this week, as I'll explain soon. The story is simple enough and told quickly. 

Venus colony is the garden of the solar system and provides food for humans across the galaxy. They are invaded by aliens which are ugly-looking fly-type creatures.

One of the humans collaborates and shows them around the facility. The story ends as betrays them, delivering them to a secret room that has giant Venus fly traps which promptly eat the aliens. 

A good story, although the alien commander is named Nilvek and this threw me.  I couldn't help but notice that Nilvek backwards is Kelvin, and I spent a lot of the story wondering who Kelvin might be. There was no Kelvin in the credits, and by the time I reached the end of the story, I began to think that perhaps I had read too much into it. 

Kelvin aside, this was a great story. It was to the point, had the required twist, and was pretty to look at. Overall, very well done and I enjoyed what they did here. Now, if I could just find out who Kelvin was...

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Good lord! Did you ever seen anything so repulsive?!"

Visible Man reveals what it is at its heart today, a Frankenstein story. It proclaims it boldly, with Frank Hart himself uttering the words "I'm Frankenstein!"

The story wastes not a panel. We open with Frank Hart driving a jeep and processing what has happened to him before he abandons the jeep with the realisation of what he has become. 

Looking for practical solutions, he dresses in a scarecrow's clothes while he ponders his long-term future. He has several good ideas, firstly attempting to give himself a tan with a sunlamp in an attempt to hide his innards.

It's a dismal failure, as he burns his internal organs. Plan B is attempted, smothering himself in foundation cream to give himself a natural look. It briefly works, but while trying to withdraw his money from the bank he begins to sweat the cream off, leading to chaos in the bank. 

With no money and no chance of work, Frank takes the only course of action open to him in the final panel -panic!

Again, a highly imaginative story and I'm amazed I had never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed seeing Frank trying different options for hiding himself, all were creative and with equally creative results. The dialogue added different layers to the story but most revealing was Frank's internal dialogue which seemed to capture the true feeling of such a transformation. Dan Dare was great this week, but I think Visible Man just pips it this week for my favourite.

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "Ha, ha! Her face when she saw me!" 

Judge Dredd is down and out in the Oxygen desert, with a gloating Wild Bill Carmody leaving him to die where he lays.

So far so good, but the next turn of the story I'm not so thrilled with. Stretching for his law rod, Dredd gets off a shot that strikes the audio circuit of his bike, turning it on. It is then a simple matter of Dredd calling his bike to come to him. It's all a bit unbelievable to me, in the context of the wider story, and I'm pleased to turn the page onto, hopefully, better things.    

Over the page and I am again swept up by the storytelling and instantly reengage with the strip. It's a day later, and Dredd is presumed dead, that is until a bedraggled Dredd appears at the door. Downcast, he turns over his lawrod, helmet and badge. He feels he is no longer worthy of being a Judge and trudges out of the building, no longer Judge Dredd, but rather just plain Joe Dredd. 

Taking the lowly job of a street sweeper, he hits rock bottom as that job proves too much for him and he is fired by the robot squad he is working for. 

It is now that Butch Carmody emerges from the shadows. Unhappy that Dredd is alive, he intends to finish what he started in the desert. Dredd is quick though, and using his street sweeper he quickly disarms Butch before socking him in the jaw. Butch is dismayed to find that Dredd has been faking it for the last couple of pages, and it was all a trap to draw him out. Case closed, Dredd returns to his status as a Judge, a position he promises to hold until the day he dies. 

I hated the first page, but everything after that was brilliant, and I absorbed every panel. The most striking images were those of Dredd quitting, and I could choose any one of the ten panels as my favourite for the story. Dredd walking away from it captured my imagination, but I also enjoyed seeing him slumming it with the street sweepers as Joe Dredd. The look on his face captured his fall from grace perfectly, and once again I couldn't help but linger over every panel I read. Not quite a perfect story, it still managed to steal my heart for the brilliant artwork and final pages as the story shook out. 

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Sometimes it is necessary to take drastic measures to uphold the law"  

Stowed away on the ship bound for Canada, Savage smells a dirty rat in this week's issue of Invasion. 

He still doesn't know that it's Georgia who is the Volgan agent, but he comes close after finding the Volgan smashing the radio below decks. Georgia acts quickly before Savage can see who it is, throwing the radio at Savage and smashing Savage's riot gun in the process. 

Next we get a reflective moment that foreshadows what comes next. Silk examines Savage's broken gun while he sleeps, reflecting that it is Savage's best friend. Prince John corrects him, Silk is his best friend and the one he would lay down his life for. As I read these words I immediately began to fear for Silk's safety over the page. 

I was correct to worry, for Silk sees a lamp being tied to the mast. Going to investigate he finds another sailor who is also there wondering where it came from. It is a trap and Georgia grabs them both and throws them off the mast and down to the deck below. As Savage storms to the deck to see what the commotion is, he finds both Silk and the sailor dead, with Georgia nearby lying that he arrived just as the culprit made off. Savage is visibly shaken by the death of Silk and swears revenge as Silk is buried at sea. Georgia too is making his promises, tomorrow will be the day that the trap closes around Savage.

A lot to take in here, and all of it is good. The death of Silk was unexpected, although it was set up on the previous page, and adds another layer to Savage's character. In the same breath, it also strips a layer off the story, and the story will become one man's war against the Volgans. Perhaps Nessie will step into the gap left by SIlk's death. Seeing a softer side to Savage was a nice touch, and hopefully, this will continue to be developed in future issues. Behind all of this development is the evil Georgia who still remains undetected. With that confrontation still ahead of us, there is much to look forward to in the coming weeks, and the story is hitting its stride right now. 

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Silkie...me best mate. After all we been through"    

Hit by a mysterious beam of light, Giant was plummeting towards the ground in the final panel of last week's Inferno. Luckily he is saved in the first panels of this issue, Moody Bloo stepping forward and catching him. He is badly hurt and is taken off by the medics. 

Although the team is relieved, not everyone is happy with the outcome, in particular, Pearly the cheerleader that fired the beam. She's not alone though, and behind the scenes, Mr Chubb is equally unhappy. He asks that the determination levels and kill levels be increased in the programming of Pearly. 

On the field, the Hellcats are acquitting themselves well despite being a man short. Scoring a touchdown, things are looking good, but off the field the story is quickly evolving. 

As Giant lies on the medical table, Pearly approaches the doctor. Giant is OK but needs rest. Pearly offers to watch over Giant so the doctor can go see some of the game, to which he agrees. Alone with Giant, Pearly receives the instruction to once again use her energy beam, this time to kill Giant. She is just about to do so when Brain gets strong impulses and realises that Giant is in trouble, leading to the final image of him driving towards Giant as Pearly hovers over him.

A good mix of action in this issue, and the artwork in the first few pages looked outstanding, helped in no small part by the fact that it was given a lot of room to breathe across the first two pages. The story started strongly and had a solid middle section before the final dramas closed out the strip. Every part of it worked well together, and the story connected strongly to the artwork on the page. A juicy read, this story helps finish the issue on a very high note indeed. 

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Another 'cave-in', Giant. But this time... it's in your head!"   

Prog 49 final ratings:

Overall: 8.5/10

Best Story: Visible Man 

Best Line: "No, not Judge - just Dredd...plain Joe Dredd"

Best Panel: