Prog 62

Some cracking dialogue in Judg Dredd this week, and even though it wasn't the best story in my opinion, it was the one in which I enjoyed reading the words more than any other. Elsewhere, this is a solid issue throughout with not a single weak story. Death Planet is new, and although I wasn't instantly won over, it has a solid bone structure and I look forward to it being further fleshed out in the coming weeks. Plenty to enjoy here, and with a couple of tweaks the next few weeks might be even better.  

Prog 62

29th April 1978

'Death Planet' - now that sounds just like the type of story I'd like to read. With my expectations set sky-high, we begin with a simple layout of where we are.

It is the 23rd century, and the population of Earth is so great that authorities have actively encouraged mass colonisation of other worlds. With tickets sold years in advance, queues of people board the next flight into outer space on the ship 'Eternity.' 

Captain of the 'Eternity' is Commander Lorna Varn, who we meet over the page along with crewman Mike Herschal. As it is Herschal's first flight, Commander Varn takes time to show him around the ship. Reaching the cargo hold they see the thousands of colonists, all in suspended animation. Varn informs Herschal of the amount of food, water and air the passengers use, and that there is fifteen per cent wastage of the cargo - the passengers themselves. 

Herschal is shocked to hear this and is rapidly discovering that real-world space travel is different to the one he imagined while he was at cadet school. 

The story moves rapidly from here as the ship's navigation goes out of control and they find themselves in an unknown part of the universe. Not only that, but they are about to land on a planet they know nothing about, and risk a crash. 

Calling the head of the colonists, Richard Cory,  Varn updates him on what has transpired. Cory is not happy about this at all, nor is he happy with being constantly referred to as cargo. However, there's not much he can do about things, and he enlists the help of Hershal to unfreeze as many colonists as they can before the landing. 

As predicted, the 'Eternity' crash lands on the planet, smashing to pieces. The survivors emerge from the wreckage, with the three key members we have already met and a group of colonists. We learn that most of the colonists have been killed, and an angry Cory confronts Varn about this.

Varn is a no-nonsense type of gal and blasts Cory with a stun gun. This isn't enough to stop Cory, and back on his feet he lunges at Varn and snatches the gun off her. 

Before things can escalate though, a greater threat appears above them with some wild-looking alien creatures. 

We are off to a good start in this story. I love to see a strong woman kicking -ass, and Lorna Vern is definitely that. Despite that, I found I dislike her character. Yes, she is the villain of the piece so far, but even at a villainous level, I found myself disliking her. She has yet to become fully formed, although I expect that this will change in the coming weeks. The story is set in the future, yet I found it harkened back to older stories of shipwrecks and times of yore. Substitute Varn for a hardened sea captain sailing to new lands and the story would still read the same. I'm all for that, and I love seeing it on the page here. A couple of small gripes so far, but it's early days. The art looks great, Varn is kick-ass and in the next few weeks, this story should begin to take off. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "I'm afraid, Mister Cory, that space flight is rather more complicated than you seem to imagine. My ship is heading for this planet, which may or may not support life. I am powerless to do anything!" 

In the world of Inferno, Artie Gruber has been resurrected, and from the very first panel he is angry as hell. Smashing out of his containment unit he grabs Mr Chubb by the throat before the scientists take control with a swift blow to his head with an inferno bat. 

Now restrained, they bring Gruber around once more - this time feeding him images of how he got into the state he is now. As Gruber watches on screen, we see an aeroball match, with the Harlem Heroes playing against his team. He watches and we see the shot from Harlem heroes John Clay striking Gruber's jet back, and Gruber being consumed by flames. 

Strapped in his chair Gruber once again becomes incensed, calling for the death of John Clay and promising to get revenge upon him. With Gruber now a deadly weapon, Mr Chubb is preparing to unleash him on the Hellcats. 

The Hellcats themselves are watching the draw for who their opponent will be in the quarter-finals of the East Coast Cup. As the name Philadelphia Freaks is drawn, there is some discussion of who this team is. We learn that it is the team Gorgon's Gargoyles from their old aeroball days. With Aeroball now fading in popularity, they too have turned to the game of Inferno. 

It is at this moment that the Gargoyles appear, swooping and diving on the Hellcats, already playing mind games in anticipation of the match-up. It seems harmless enough, but one of the Gargolyes appears suspiciously like Artie Gruber.

I didn't mind seeing Gruber coming back (although I did harbour reservations about returning villains) but seeing the entire Gargoyle team switching codes and playing against the Hellcats is a little too much for me. If we stay tightly focused on Gruber, I shall be happy enough, but to see the two teams competing much the same as we saw in Aeroball would be playing it safe and retreading ground that doesn't need treading. I can almost overlook all of this, based on the quality of the art. There are many outstanding panels in this story, and I went back a couple of times just to digest the full detail in some of the images. These last couple of issues have been building the story, but we are yet to see a decisive blow delivered. Next week I hope we see a knock-out issue as we reach the payoff.     

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "No cause for alarm, Mr. Chubb! We are scientifically and medically prepared to deal with emergencies such as this..."

With Judge Dredd about to embark on a rescue mission to Mega-City Two, across the cursed earth, there is a need for a specialised vehicle. The Killdozer is just what the doctor ordered, equipped with rockets, cannon, laser guns, quasar bikes, it is a veritable mobile fortress. Not only that, but it is also nuclear blast proof, not that that impresses Dredd, who only responds with an "It'll do"   

With a detachment of war droids and three top Judges,  Dredd sets just needs one more member before he sets off on his thousand-mile journey across the cursed earth - a bike man for the second quasar bike.  Dredd has the perfect man in mind - reformed criminal Spikes Harvey Rotten. 

I say reformed criminal, but over the page he is no longer reformed and as he speaks to school children about the errors of his way, he suddenly chokes out the warden and takes the children hostage. 

Dredd chooses the perfect moment to arrive, and confronting Spikes he discreetly presses the ancient history button on the hologram console. With an army of ancient warriors appearing, Dredd seizes the initiative and fights with Spike as he outlines what he would like him to do. Spike has little choice, and by the end of the struggle he has agreed to join Dredd on his quest to cross the cursed earth.

A few hours later with his new equipment and crew, Dredd leaves Maga-city and starts off into the unknown. 

A lot of fun was had as Dredd assembled his crew, and the opening exchange as he watched the Killdozer in action is a highlight of the story. I haven't gone into too much detail, but the dialogue is snappy and humourous and entirely what I have come to expect from a Judge Dredd story. The recruitment of Spike wasn't 100% my cup of tea, but nonetheless, it did give us some idea of the type of character we are dealing with. It didn't sparkle as much as the first page of the strip, but it did contain a healthy dose of humour and the dirty futuristic world Dredd lives in. Now the scene is set, next week's story is full of hope and promise. This was a good stepping stone, but the reward will be in the next few issues. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Calm down, McArthur. This is unseemly behaviour for a judge...and kindly remove your hand from my uniform"

Dan Dare is on a nightmarish planet where nothing is what it seems. Faced with approaching soldiers, Dare isn't sure if they're real or an illusion, but the opening salvo from the soldiers soon settles the matter for him.

Dare and his men open fire with their lasers in an attempt to get back to their ship, but their enemy merely springs back together after being blasted. The crew aren't sure what to do against this unkillable enemy, but Dare has a plan.

Setting their guns to stun only, Dare and his men are able to get back to their ship where they regroup and look out at the hordes massing outside. Once again it looks bad for the team, but the enemy suddenly vanishes as huge writing appears in the sky - "Death Awaits You Here."

While the crew are spooked by this, Dare remains calm and tells them they're staying and taking samples of everything to work out what makes this planet tick. It doesn't go as well as he hoped, the computer analysis of the samples remains inconclusive, and Dare decides that the next course of action will be to take a party out into the jungle. 

It's not what I would choose to do, and things get weird when they see a shrouded figure on a boat beckoning them. Fearlessly, Dare ventures onto the boat, followed by his men, and they set off down the river. Dare speaks the obvious when he points out the similarities to Greek mythology and the river of dead souls. Before he can go any further though, the boat vanishes and Dare is standing in the water.

An unusual story, and one I haven't quite got a handle on yet. We have seen Dare in weird spots before, but nothing like this and it's taking some getting used to. I liked the Greek mythology angle, and I sincerely hope we see more of this in the next issue. Unlikely, the story is moving too fast for that, and I'm sure next week we will see another facet of the story come to the fore. The only action of note in the story was the gun battle, and that failed to deliver the action or dramatic panels I wanted to see, but the final page of the story more than made up for it as we sunk deeper into the storyline. A solid issue, yet I feel the story is yet to emerge from all these scenes. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Stomm! It's like a nightmare! We blow them to bits- and the bits spring back together again!"

I had forgotten what happened in MACH 1, but I'm quickly brought up to speed on the first page as we see John Probe investigating a UFO sighting at an army camp. Finding an unconscious gunner, Probe attaches the gadget he has been given to shock the men out of their paralysed state. The gunner slowly comes around, murmuring about three flying objects and being commanded to open fire upon them. Probe then learns that they managed to shoot down one of them, but is interrupted by an unmanned machine gun firing at him. 

Seeking refuge in the armoury he finds he is out of the frying pan and into the fire as an axe flies at him, and the pins suddenly pop out of all the grenades. With only seconds to react, Probe throws himself at a weak part of the wall and crashes outside to safety just as an explosion rips through the armoury.   

Tired of being on the defensive, Probe takes to the rooftops as he prepares to go on the counterattack. It doesn't take long to see his enemy, and he jumps at him from behind, finding that his enemy is far from human. 

It's one of the aliens, and as Probe leans over him he begins to ask for water. Probe obliges and we soon learn that the alien's name is Frxxxszklds. Shaking hands, Probe and the alien are now friends and we progress to the next stage of the story. 

Probe reports back to Sharpe, and the alien is held at a secure facility. We learn that the alien is the only survivor from his ship after the ship's commander put his ship on self-destruct. His race has been studying Earth for many years, learning our language and ways with the long-term aim of establishing a friendly relationship. 

The story finishes as we once again see the alien, now laid out on a hospital bed. He is extremely unwell and in the final panel, Probe learns that he is dying of the common cold. 

I have mixed feelings about this one. A lot of key things were skipped over, namely, Probe becoming a trusted friend of the alien. I was also disappointed to see the alien was the stereotypical alien that we have seen ever since Roswell. I was hoping for something a little more creative, after all the rest of the comic is overflowing with creativity. We seemed to jump quickly from Probe meeting the alien to the alien dying of a common cold- again I would have liked to have seen this fleshed out further. Asides from all that, I greatly enjoyed the story. Probe's relationship with Sharpe is interwoven with the alien capture and there are still questions to be answered about what exactly Sharpe knows about this alien. This story raised more questions than it answered, but that's all for the good and a definite selling point for future issues.

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "I thought you were like the soldiers who destroyed my ship, that is why I attacked you. I apologise. My name is Frxxxszklds!" 

Prog 62 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: MACH 1

Best Line: "It's crazy...man with his hyper-technology can travel to the moon and beyond- yet he's made a real mess of his home planet"   

Best Panel: