Prog 63

I finally watched the Dredd movie last night, ten years after everyone else. Still, that's par for the course for me. I don't know what the public consensus was at the time, but I liked it. It wasn't quite as gritty as the comic, nor was it as clever and funny, but it was stylistic and, in another insight into how low I've set the bar nowadays, it didn't outstay its welcome. I don't ask for much, and the movie gave me all I wanted. Today, we're back to the comics, and the Dredd I've come to know and love over the last sixty weeks. We still have a long way to go, I'm constantly reminded, and I hear that the comic will get better and better. As I'm already enjoying the comic immensely these are words of joy and I can't wait to see what happens in the next five to ten years. Even better, I'll be here to tell you all about it.   

Prog 63

6th May 1978

On the aptly named planet of nightmares, Dan Dare is facing a nightmare of his own as the boat he is travelling on across an underground river vanishes beneath his very feet. This isn't the biggest problem facing him, and the image of the ferryman, now engulfed in flames and towering above them, delivers a message of doom. 

Things are not what they seem, and Dare does his best to convince his men that it's all just an illusion. Telling them they are on solid ground briefly calms the crew and for a second the illusion fades. It is only for a second though, and the flaming figure is soon back in the picture, warning them that resistance is futile - creating fear and panic among the men. 

The scene jumps and the crew find themselves in a sandy desert, yet another illusion. It doesn't last long, Dare has now figured it out and throws a grenade towards a bright light that seems to be the cause of their troubles. 

With a flash he finds himself and the crew suspended in a void. With a voice in his mind, the situation is outlined and we have an understanding of what is happening. The planet is made of pure energy, created by superintelligent beings over millions of years. To frighten away intruders that have created nightmarish illusions, just like the giant space monsters Dare first encountered three issues ago.

Now that the aliens have explained themselves, they tell Dare he must forget all this and he is put into a deep sleep. 

With that, we jump back to Dare's ship, with Dare at the helm. Bear tells of giant monsters on his scanner, before deciding that he's mistaken and it must be because he has been staring at the screen all day (I'm much the same). Instead, it is merely an asteroid shower.  There is a planet, and Dare has half a memory of already landing on a planet, before dismissing it and telling the crew to fly on to other worlds. 

It's an ending, but not necessarily the ending I wanted or expected. The first page was the illusion I wanted the story to live up to, but once the truth was revealed the final three pages contained nothing but disappointment for me. It felt rushed and shallow and didn't contain the Dan Dare elements I have become used to. On a positive note, the artwork on the first page was as dramatic as anything we have seen before. Like the story, it was only an illusion, but one I could have looked at all day. Hopefully this artwork with be a forecast of what is to come. The next story is titled 'Ice Planet', so I will be wrapping up warm and counting on a hot storyline. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "What the hell is this place, Dare? Are we goin'...mad?" 

We saw the alien in MACH 1 stretched out on a bed and seemingly dying last week, yet this week he is sitting up in a chair and undergoing a brain exploration. However, John Probe has other ideas about this exploration, and after throwing aside one of the scientists and helping the alien he storms off to see Sharpe.

It seems the alien is still dying of the common cold. Sharpe informs Probe that the alien is being pumped full of antibiotics but it's not enough and he will still die. With this news, Probe insists the alien be set free, and Sharpe surprisingly agrees. Furthermore, he goes on to suggest that the alien contacts his own people and asks that they come back to collect him.

The alien does this and a landing zone is decided. John Probe is suspicious that things seem to be going his way, and he is right to be suspicious for as he returns to his hotel room he is gassed, carried unconscious to a van and driven to a house far out in the country. He is then placed in a vault with 60cm thick walls from which there can be no escape.

Except, they have forgotten that John Probe is more than just brawn, he is also brain. Using his intelligence he picks the lock from the inside, escaping and catching his captors off guard. Locking them in the vault, he makes haste on a motorbike back to base to discover exactly what it is that Sharpe has planned. 

What Sharpe has planned is a surprise welcome for the aliens consisting of a range of combat units, all intent on capturing some prized alien technology. With orders to shoot to kill, it looks like it will be a blood bath, but quite whose blood Probe isn't sure, ours or the aliens?

There is little time to ponder on this, as in the final panel of the story we see the control room where the radar has already picked up three unidentified objects.

I like the story on paper, but I felt something was missing as I read it. Perhaps it was because of how weedy the alien looked. Understandably, he is sick and getting sicker, I just wish he looked a little more threatening in some way, shape, or form. The soldiers waiting for the alien arrival look plenty threatening, and the potential for next week's showdown was the best part of the comic. My thoughts won't linger too long on this week's issue, but as I open next week's issue this will be one of the first stories I look for. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Aye, we'll shoot to kill, all right. We owe them aliens for what they did to our lads!"

We begin this week's Judge Dredd story not with Judge Dredd himself, but with an execution verdict about to be given in the town of Deliverance, a grim town that exists in the wasteland of the atomic wars. The sentence is given to a young couple by the lawgiver in the town, and that sentence is death by the devil's lapdogs.

Elsewhere, our better-known lawgiver, Dredd, is plunging across the cursed earth on his rescue mission to Mega-city Two. Cabin fever has set in, and a brief skirmish occurs between one of the judges and the criminal of the team - Spike Harvey Rotten.

Dredd defuses the situation, taking Spike out on the quasar bikes for a recce. Timing is everything, and Dredd and Spike come upon the town of Deliverance as the execution is about to be enacted. Befitting his personality, Dredd clearly lets it be known that he is the law and that the couple should be released. 

It doesn't go well, with Spike suddenly vanishing and Dredd surrounded and taken prisoner. While Dredd fumes in his cell, the town's lawgiver sketches out the plan, in true James Bond villain style, explaining that the devil's lapdogs are rats. Not just any rats, but rats that have learned how to glide on the currents. Travelling as a savage horde, they pray upon the town, seemingly a punishment on Deliverance. 

This speech is cut short by the warning that the horde is approaching, and soon the townspeople are in a pitched battle against the rats. Everything is thrown against the invaders, including an antiaircraft gun, but the numbers are just too great and the rats hurl themselves with a fury against the houses. 

We finish with a final view of the town square, where the couple we met on the first page are tied to stakes, awaiting their fate, while from the nearby jail, Dredd pleads with his captors to let him rescue them from the certain death. 

With Pat Mills scripting the story, it is everything you might expect. An intense pleasure, with some flourishes dispensed with to focus wholly on the most important elements of the story. There was a touch of horror to the story, and the looks on the faces of the townsfolks only heightens this in my opinion. Rats tap into a primaeval fear and were a great choice for this story set on the cursed earth. Spike has disappeared for now, I can only guess that he will return next week to save the day. With his name, Spike Harvey Rotten, and look, he is very much of the punk era and entirely representative of the climate in which these comics were written. A timely reminder of how things have changed (not for the better) and this is just as much a time capsule of 1978 as anything else of that year. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "We are all hungry in Deliverance. That can be no excuse. I hereby sentence you to death...to be eaten alive...by the devil's lapdogs! I, the lawgiver, have spoken!"

It is also man versus creature in the following Death Planet, where a crashed ship of colonists is fighting for survival against not just the elements but also a fearsome horned monster. 

It looks like some real drama may occur, but a single shot to the head of the monster by  Richard Cory, leader of the colonists, is enough to scare it off. Monster dealt with, they now face a search for the essentials of life - water, food and shelter. 

What follows is a death march across a desert. It is rugged and tough with colonists dropping from lack of water and heat, only to then be eaten by giant birds that are following their movements. The strong continue, but when Lorna Varn, captain of the crashed ship, collapses it is decided that they should shelter from the heat while Richard Cory and crewman Herschal seek out some water.

Following some small creatures, they come across a spring. However, when they drink the water they find it is poisonous. It seems the small creatures have led them here to die.

I love a good survival story, and that is exactly what we have here. All of it we have seen before, but it is well told and with just enough wrinkles in it to make it interesting. I like the dynamics between the various crew members, and the alien creatures on the planet are inventive and a strong part of the story. A lot to enjoy here, and although it feels like we are still in first gear, things bode well for a story that could potentially become a firm favourite. Not quite an A+, but looking likely. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "This lady's too tough to make a tasty snack!"

The name of the game is Inferno, but we begin this week's story with Giant having a nightmare about Aeroball. Fighting Gruber in his dream, he wakes up screaming, causing concern for his flatmate Zack. 

Zack reminds Giant that Gruber is dead, and his team, Gordons Gargoyles, are now an inferno team called the Philadelphia Freaks. This doesn't help Giant, who tells Zack he feels like everything has come full circle. 

Over the page we meet the Philadelphia Freaks. They certainly live up to their name, a motley crew of cyborgs in various stages of disrepair. The key member we are introduced to is Dimples Devine, who bares an uncanny resemblance to one Artie Gruber.

After some typical locker room banter, Dimples Devine decides to take a solar bath. Things go badly for him, for behind the scenes Mr Chubb and the syndicate have tampered with the solar bath and poor Dimple Devine is burnt to a crisp. The wider plan reveals itself at this stage, with Artie Gruber undertaking some cosmic surgery and easily slipping undetected in Devine's place. The Philadelphia Freaks don't suspect a thing, and as they prepare for their game against the Hellcats, Gruber sits comfortably in Devine's place, while in the background we learn that should Gruber become too unstable, Mr Chubb has plans to detonate him as a human bomb among the Hellcat's team.

The Gruber storyline has been brewing for several weeks now, and each time we get closer to a confrontation between him and the Hellcats. I thought that moment had come last week, as he suspiciously appeared in the final panel - but that was quickly wiped away this week with Giant's dream sequence. A little misleading, but with the extra information given this week, the story has more substance and now feels a much better time for Gruber to have his moment. All the key pieces are now in place, we know what is going to happen, now we just need to see it on the page. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "And exit Mr. Devine! Okay, Artie...here's where you take over"

Prog 63 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Look, lady, we've lost the ship; we've no food, water, or equipment, and we're stuck in a burning waste land that's populated by savage monsters ...'course we'll survive!"   

Best Panel: