Prog 57

My hands are so cold I can barely type. I have been under my duvet all morning reading comics, and now I have emerged to find it just as cold as I imagined. No doubt some quick typing and a nice cup of tea will restore me, but this might be a short blog entry - I just want to get to somewhere warm. The last thing I want to think about is the cold of outer space where Dan Dare is, or the oncoming ice age of Colony Earth, or even the lunar temperatures of the moon where Dredd currently is. I gotta find a warmer comic to enjoy.  

Prog 57

25th March 1978

"On a planet totally covered by water, Dan Dare and the seven-man crew of an Eagle craft are spinning out of control into a deepsea trench! The Eagle's main reactors are useless...and the trench is twenty miles deep!" 

So reads the opening panel of this week's Dan Dare adventure, and things are getting worse by the moment as the Eagle craft is caught in a current and about to slam into a cliff. 

It takes a heavy hit and some damage, and Dare desperately tells Hitman they can't afford to take another hit like that. Plunging deeper into the trench it seems only a matter of time before they do take another hit and Dare's fears are well founded. 

Dare is always thinking, and as the next cliff face comes at them he takes decisive action. Commanding Hitman to fire the forward lasers, the Eagle is propelled backwards, giving Dare a chance to deliver a quick physics lesson to Hitman and the reader. Whether this physics holds up to scrutiny, I'm not so sure, but it is nice to see some sort of explanation on the page. 

Safely on the seabed, Dare commands his crew to get busy with the necessary repairs. This means leaving the vehicle and we do see some interesting panels as Dare and his crew use an underwater vehicle called the sea slug to traverse the ocean floor.  

Leaving the sea slug to take some soil samples, Dare encounters a sudden eruption with the ground opening up beneath his feet. He falls into the crevasse but finds himself carried back to the surface by alien life forms. Vaguely humanoid, they deliver a loud noise towards Dare, filling his head with a throbbing pulsating sound, rendering him unable to think. 

Meanwhile, the crew of the Eagle are facing their own problems, with only one viewer in action and right now that viewer is filled with a large alien face. 

Not as high octane as last week, nevertheless this issue carried my attention in a variety of ways. The use of the sea slugs on the ocean bed was interesting to me, and I did enjoy the first appearance of these new alien life forms. There were two hooks at the end to bring me back next time, Dare's predicament, and the problems facing the crew of the Eagle. The story was on a smaller scale than last week and it worked well, drawing us back to the characters in the story while laying the groundwork for the next few weeks. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Stomm! So there is other life on this world! But are they going o save me or try to eat me, like that giant worm we met?"

John Probe (M.A.C.H 1) almost has the Dolphin tapes in his hands but first, he has to fight Hacker and Scarlotti. It is Hacker who does the fighting on behalf of Scarlotti, and with a boat hook in hand he put up a strong fight against Probe. 

With Hacker serving his role, Scarlotti leaves the two of them to fight it out, but not before he takes the tapes for himself and fires his laser pistol into the ceiling, leaving the laboratory to flood from the swamp above. 

Left to their fate, Probe and Hacker fight on as the water rises around them while watching them from a nearby tank is the half-man/half-fish that was agent Robert Peel. 

Hacker has the upper hand, but just as it looks like all is lost for Probe, the ceiling gives way, flooding the room and freeing Robert Peel. Hacker is about to deliver the killer blow when Peel takes a hand in the matter, sacrificing himself as he kills Hacker. 

It's now up to Probe to catch Scarlotti, and this he does so relatively quickly as he runs across the Everglades. 

Scarlotti tries to outrun him but falls into some quicksand. In an act of desperation, he shoots at Probe - and misses. Probe does his best to pull Scarlotti from the quicksand, but there is little he can do and both Scarlotti and the dolphin tapes are lost. 

The mission has failed on every front, and we leave with Probe once again cursing his boss Mr Sharpe. 

I wanted this to run for a few more issues, but seeing Probe fail a mission was a great choice and I appreciated seeing that he is not infallible. Perhaps the seeds planted in this story will bear fruit later down the line, it certainly feels that way. The fight in the laboratory dominated the story, although it didn't live up to the number of pages it was given. Robert Peel played a part, as perhaps many of us might have foreseen, and it felt right for the story. Ho hum action, but a story that delivered plenty, this was an uneven but ultimately satisfying ending.

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "If he goes all the witnesses go - except me!"

The aliens have kicked started a new ice age on Earth in Colony Earth and Commander James Hunter intends to do something about it. 

With reports of Cronian Island, a mere five hundred miles away, being attacked by flying saucers,  Hunter and the professor, along with their captured robot weapon, take to the anti-gravity buggy in an attempt to fight back. 

As they arrive Hunter leaves the professor to find any survivors, while he takes to the sky with the robot to attack the flying saucers. The robot can't do anything but fire in a straight line, but Hunter puts him to good use and shoots down two of the saucers. One explodes in the sky, while the other one suffers lesser damage and manages to crash land on the island. 

Hunter lands to find that the professor has managed to find a lone survivor.  This survivor tells them that the saucers attacked them soon after they had spotted a new satellite pouring out immense amounts of radiation. It appears that this satellite is what the aliens are using to make the climate changes and in his final breath, he also manages to tell them its orbit bearing. 

As the chopper crews arrive, Hunter marches with his robot companion toward the crashed saucer, hoping that there will be something there to help them with their battle.

Once again the story is moving quickly, and although I remain displeased with the remote control robot, I enjoyed seeing Hunter put it to use in fighting against the saucers. It seems this robot's laser weapon is stronger than I supposed and it proved very effective against the much larger ships. The story still has some weak points, but things bode well for the coming weeks, and I do feel a sense of anticipation as Hunter strides towards the crashed saucer. A strong issue next week and shall fall in love with this story all over again. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "And here's number two. Hope those tin guts o' yours ain't squeamish, Charlie!" 

A very interesting Judge Dredd story this week. The story has me hooked from start to finish, but Dreedd only appears sparingly and has no influence on the outcome of the story at all. 

We begin with an intriguing splash page as Astro-tankers bring their precious cargo of oxygen to Luna-1. From here it is mixed with other gases and piped out to the homes and streets of the moon colony. 

We meet the villains of the piece on this very page as they burst into the mixing terminal, guns a blazing. Mixing tranq gas to the moon's oxygen supply, their scheme becomes obvious over the page. 

In millions of homes the tranq gas takes effect, the population falling where they stand. There is chaos on the streets as drivers fall asleep at the wheel, and bodies pile up on moving travelators. 

Free to take whatever they desire, the crooks quickly amass a fortune. They are forced to take evasive action once the Judges arrive, the Judges free from the effects of the tranq gas due to their own respirators on their helmets, but by playing possum they elude capture. 

The Judges do their best to reduce casualties, but with a monorail train crashing, and an office block on fire, there is little they can do except get as much robot support as they can to restore the situation. 

With the machines still operating, the Judges find an antidote to the tranq gas and get it up to the oxygen station. With the oxygen situation stabilized, life begins to return to normal. 

Late in the afternoon, we learn that fifty-three thousand people have died and half a million have serious injuries. Judge Dredd has not a single clue to follow, and it looks like the men responsible have got away scot-free.

However, fate takes a hand on the final page of the strip. Returning to their hideout, the crooks lock the door and pour out their ill-gotten gains. At this moment a face appears on the video screen, the payment control robot of the Oxygen Board. 

The crooks haven't kept up with their bill payments, and their oxygen bill is now two months overdue. In light of this, the payment control robot tells them that their supply of oxygen will now be terminated. 

With no oxygen, the villains make for the door, only to realise that it is locked. They scramble to find the key, but the key has been misplaced and is currently hidden in their loot. They trawl through the loot but is all in vain and they expire amongst their spoils. 

It is three days later that they are found, dead in their apartment surrounded by their stolen jewels and money. In an ironic twist, the oxygen board has executed them, an irony not lost on Tex and Dredd as they take in the scene before them. 

This didn't feel like a Dredd story, and with its final twist it comes across as a Future Shocks-type story. An extended Future Shocks for sure, but one with earns its page count. I actually found it refreshing to not have Dredd at the centre of the action and to have the crooks almost get away with their plan. The final twist was delicious, and I had a massive grin as I saw it unfold. A vast improvement over the car story of previous weeks, this is exactly what I want to see more of. Once again Luna-1 plays as a central character, the bad guys got what they deserved, and even though Dredd didn't crack the case, he still managed to look heroic throughout. Judge Dredd sets the standard, and in this case, that standard is high. 

Rating: 8/10

Bets line: "Not executed, Tex - cut off! It sure pays to keep your gas bills up to date."

Giant's jet-pack has exploded, and we left last week's Inferno waiting to see who survived the carnage. 

It is not as bad as the final panel had us believe, and although Giant was at the centre of the blast, he emerges unscathed, his body armour protecting him from the jet-pack on his back. Elsewhere, Venner has a broken arm, while the worst injury appears to be Zack who is unconscious and has a heavy concussion. 

The Hellcats count their numbers, and with only five members it looks as though they may have to forfeit the game. It is Louis Meyer that saves the day, appearing on a bike out of the tunnel, and despite complaints from the Sharks about him being a droid freak, he is allowed to take his place on the field. 

The rest of the game comes quickly, with the Sharks attacking the Hellcat's goal. Moody Bloo is their equal in defence and strikes a massive blow upon the ball, sending it pinballing around the arena. It is white hot and sends the players ducking and diving for cover. It comes to a stop with an unlucky Shark player taking the full impact on his bike, resulting in an inferno. 

The game is won, and in the aftermath we see Eegle trying to explain his actions earlier in the match, only for Giant to wave him off as they receive their prize - the luxurious superliner. 

We close with a reflective moment as Junk Jackson points out that they now have only half a team, and the syndicate is still out there. Giant ponders this in the final panel, wondering if the lead they're following is a zero and if so they are sunk. 

Inferno had a strong opening and finish, and apart from a weak page in the middle, it kept to its task of delivering plot and entertainment. There was some disappointment at seeing how little damage the exploding jet pack had done, the final panel of last week's issue promised far more death and mayhem than we actually got. The team still had its struggles, but it could have been much worse. The final panel caught my attention, it looks like we will be back on the trail of the syndicate next week, and as much fun as this week's game was, I look forward to returning to the bigger story. With good on-field action, some striking images, and a hook at the end, Inferno has given us a solid finish to this week's 2000AD.

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "I ain't just gonna block it, blubber-lips...I'm gonna moider it!" 

Prog 57 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "A smart man can beat the law - but, baby, only a fool bucks the oxygen board"   

Best Panel: