Prog 69

 A beautiful sunny day outside, and her I am inside reading comics. Hey, this pale complexion doesn't come naturally you know!  A habit of a lifetime, its much too late for me to change my ways now. With a crop of stories as good as we have this week, its an easy decision to stay here on the couch. Apart from one disappointment, this is a great issue and we seem to be going through a purple patch with some of my favourite stories peaking right now.        

Prog 69

17th June 1978

A tense scene with Judge Dredd catches the eye on the front cover, but the first story within the comic is the dynamic Inferno. 

With Gruber about to set a dazed and helpless Giant alight, there is little time to ease ourselves into the story. Things rapidly develop across the first page as Louis sends a signal to a discipline cell planted in Gruber's head, rendering him helpless just as he's about to go through with his plan.

It doesn't stop him for long, and Gruber snatches a power bat and makes straight for the source of his problems, the very men controlling him. Smashing into Mr. Chubb's office, he makes short work of the man pulling the strings behind the scenes, in an event too horrific to make it onto the page. 

In one final twist, the security guard shoots at Gruber just as he is taking off, only to set his jetpack on fire. A howling Gruber disappears out the window before plunging into the water below. Despite an extensive search he is never found, and although one of the Hellcats comments that all their troubles are over, Giant has a crazy feeling that they'll be seeing him again.

Me too, especially after seeing the strapline below saying "Next Prog, the return of Gruber?" I feel a little cheated by it all, and although I enjoyed every aspect of this strip, I didn't like the final feeling that it was all for nothing. Once again we are kicking the can down the road, and Gruber may well be a threat again next week. I hope not, and that this is merely a red herring. The story once again excelled in its artwork, and reflecting back on what I have just read, the negative feelings of the final line are washed away by the visual excellence of the story. After a sip of my tea and a quiet nod, whatever comes next week will be fine with me as long as it looks this good.

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Now ya...gonna burn, Clay...but not too...much, huh? Just enough ta...grill ya into a monster, like...meeeeeeee!"

On the pages of Mach Zero, the tramp Gimpy, a loyal friend of Mach Zero, is facing down a bunch of Cousin George's thugs. It looks like a one-sided fight, but an army of tramps and vagrants appear out of the mist and fight off the villains.

Back with Mach Zero, Cousin George is again manipulating him on stage to make himself look good. Things get out of hand and it appears that Zero is about to go on a rampage, but he once again comes to heel in the face of George's threats against his son. 

Backstage, George is warned that Gimpy the tramp escaped with the help of a network of outcasts, and ponders that Zero has some friends that may cause him trouble. He is right, for at that very moment Gimpy is speaking to the brotherhood of three, and urging them to declare war against the evil Cousin George.

This story moved at its own pace, and although it ran for six pages, there were really only four scenes. I appreciated this slower pace, it gave my eye more time to meander across the dimly lit artwork. I could practically smell the smoke on the page and feel the London fog envelop me with its gloomy hands. This was the heart of the story, and much like last week it was the atmosphere that made the story what it is. The set pieces with Mach Zero were OK, but any panel with the tramps and the brotherhood was worthy of far more time and attention. It looks like Cousin George has made some powerful enemies, and we shall have to wait and see what develops next.

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "There's danger, there's excitement, when Cousin George is around! I'm sure that you'll agree folks, that all the terror and scares just added to your evening's entertainment!"

Day twelve of Judge Dredd's journey through the Cursed Earth and they are crossing the Mississippi River, a torrent of fire since the Great Atomic War. 

It's here we meet the Ferry-master, a cold-hearted man who is using alien slaves to crew his vessel. Dredd doesn't approve of this at all, despite what Ferry-master tells him about the intelligence of the aliens. Getting close, Dredd detects that the aliens are more intelligent than Ferry-master gives them credit for. 

Later that night, one of the alien slaves escapes. A posse of riders is chasing him down, including one silhouette figure who looks suspicious like a clansman. They speak like clansmen too, and the following talk is off plantations and their intentions of making an example of the escaped slave.

Judge Dredd will have none of it, and steps in to protect the escaped slave. The final page sees Dredd's Land-raider firing upon the slave-catchers, while Dredd himself faces their wrath and an array of napalm throwers.

The parallels to mankind's own past with slavery are obvious, and there is nothing I can say here to add to that. Take away the alien aspect of this story and it becomes an all too familiar tale. I admire Pat Mills once again taking on such topics head-on, and for the second Dredd story in a row we find ourselves confronting some ugly truths. The artwork is a notch better than last week, and paired with this excellent concept the story becomes one of the best this week. The Cursed Earth is giving us a run of great stories, and although this is only the first week., it seems that this will be another one.

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Kill them both! No one defies the alien catcher General!"

Sadly our time with Death Planet is almost over. A note earlier in the comic tells us that Death Planet will terminate the next issue, with the Ant Wars to begin in Prog 71. As intrigued as I am about the Ant Wars, I'm not ready to say goodbye to Death Planet, so I will be reading the next two issues a little slower and with a heavy heart.

Lorna Varn and Mike Herschal are approaching a ship on the planet they previously thought was inhabited. The small creatures at their feet suddenly scurry away, and we can see why as men on hoverbikes appear. 

They are in no mood for talking, and a fight quickly develops. Varn looks to have lost, but the appearance of Walker, one of Varn's crew, stops the trouble. Things aren't what they seem on first appearance, Walker tells Varn that their ship didn't crash on this planet by accident and he has a further surprise for her inside this other ship. 

Inside we finally learn the name of the mysterious woman in black from the previous two issues. It's Zeena Dra Gornik, and Lorna Varn recognises her instantly. Furthermore, Lorna tells us that Zeena had been thrown out of the guild of starship commanders. 

Zeena is now a pirate and has intentions of putting Lorna's crew to work as her slaves. She is further excited by the appearance of the large crystal Lorna has found and decides that the first thing the slaves will do will be to mine these crystals.

Elsewhere, Richard Corey receives messages from Lorna via the small creatures telling of her predicament. Moving quickly, he finds the craft in which they are being held and fight their way inside. Confronting Zeena they find there is little they can do, for Lorna Varn is held hostage and has had a neuronic bracelet put on her whereby Zeena can inflict intense pain at will. 

This all felt very rushed, and I had hoped that the reveal of Zeena Dra Gornik could have spread across a few more issues. Everything happened quickly and there was little time to digest what was going on. After a wonderful buildup, this was a shallow issue, and nowhere near as good as the previous weeks. I am intensely disappointed, this has been a favourite story of mine since the start, and it feels like it has been quickly pushed aside for a new story. I am still intrigued by Ant Wars, but this story had so much to give and now it is being abandoned. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "The level of agony can be raised until death is the body's only release! Your colonists will have to help me, Corey, and become slaves to the crystal!" 

17th-century Puritans kidnapped by UFOs, such is the mad world of Dan Dare. Digging into the story, one of Dan Dare's men has been reduced to a drooling mess by unknow means. His mind is completely gone, leaving him gibbering about flowers, and Dan Dare is determined to find out how this happened. 

Outside there is no sign of anyone, but there are some suspicious-looking flowers. Dare dismisses his men's comment about them, but later that night as he sleeps he is plagued by dreams of the flowers. Waking suddenly, he finds a giant flower leaning over his bed. Thinking fast, he blasts it to pieces before finding that one of his crew members hasn't been so lucky, and a flower is now clamped to his head and sucking his mind out.

They blast this flower to pieces, before confronting Obediah Crowe and demanding to know what is going on. Before he can answer, the Vrakk attack and one of the buildings is set aflame. One of his crew members points out that it looks like an anthill, but there is little time to dwell on this as Vrakk soldiers prepare to storm the town. 

I have no idea what is going on, but I love all of it. Everything is totally mad, and my mind doesn't get a moment's rest as I read any of it. A range of creative thoughts and ideas thrown together, and so far it seems to be working. I was horrified by the thought of brain-sucking flowers, and that is only the start of the problems facing Dan Dare. There are clues to what is coming next, but I don't want to devote too much time to thinking ahead. I just want to sit back and enjoy this wild ride for as long as I can. This is one fever dream that I never want to wake up from. 

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "Dirty stinkin' mind-sucker!"

Prog 69 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Dan Dare

Best Line: "You forget, Spikes...when someone calls on the law for help...be he Mutie...Alien...Cyborg...or Human... the law cannot turn a blind eye! And I am the law!"   

Best Panel: