Prog 79

Christmas is just around the corner, and for those of us here in New Zealand that means summer and a relentless treadmill of BBQs, beach, and beer gardens. Hardly the ideal time to be reading a comic with so many distractions and extracurricular activities. Still, a quiet hour with a comic is a nice escape from the family and I'm sure that if I disappeared for an hour they'd know where to find me - curled up in my favourite chair with a comic in one hand and a glass of port in the other.  

Prog 79

26th August 1978

A magnificent full-page illustration opens Robo-Hunter, giving us a sense of the scale of the problem facing Sam Slade. 

Trapped in a concentration camp for humans on a robot-controlled planet, Slade and his side-kick Kidd are transported to a mobile robot prison. After a battery of tests, the pair are scheduled to be 'recycled' - that is turned in fertilizer and placed in a more conventional prison to await their fate. 

While Slade and Kidd argue over the last cigar, Slade's robot assistant comes up with a scheme to escape. Slade's blaster didn't work against these robots as they are made of some new type of metal, but if they work out what kind of metal it is the blaster could be reconfigured. 

A good enough plan, but first they need to recover Slade's blaster. Here Kidd steps up. Now that he is the size of a small child, he slips through the bars of the cage and makes for the blaster sitting on the nearby table. He makes it, but the appearance of a couple of robots could spell disaster. 

A quick-thinking Kidd stuffs the blaster into his nappy, before playing the part of a child and biting the hand of the robot as it approaches. 

Thinking him nothing more than a child, the robots place him back in Slade's cell, whereupon Kidd pulls the blaster from his nappy and some metal shavings from the robot's hand that he has managed to scrap off when he bit the robot. 

Working fast, Slade upgrades his blaster, before putting it to good use and blasting his way free. With the robot guard dealt to, Sam Slade is back in the game.

Amazing art throughout this story, and it is bookended with two spectacular images. The opening image of the mobile prison is fantastic and is only matched by the intensity and grit of the final image of the freed Slade ready for action. The story that is spun across the pages is worthy of the art bestowed upon it, and once again we have pure comic magic. The tone of the comic is spot on, and the story is instantly re-readable. I can see myself returning to this story again and again, and for good reason. We have yet to have a weak episode, and with a delicate balance between intense drama and humour, this hits all my sweet spots. I'll stop gushing now, but this story is fantastic.   

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "You rat, Slade! I've got as much right to a last smoke as you have!"

A third of the comic is already over as we turn the page to Dan Dare. The Star Wars influence is strong from the first panel as Dare and his ship arrive at the home planet of some of the crew, only for the planet to explode as they arrive. 

There is no obvious cause and Dare begins an investigation. One of the crew members is distraught to see his home planet destroyed and is subsequently escorted to the sick bay by Bear. 

While watching over the kid, Bear is overcome with pain in his head and the thought that he must escape. While several crew members attempt to restrain him, he pulls open an escape hatch, condemning four crew members to a gruesome death as they are sucked out into the vacuum of space. 

The hatch is closed, and Dare finds that Bear has stopped breathing. With the help of Hitman they work on getting his heart beating again and manage to get him breathing just as further trouble arrives. 

A large ship has been sighted on the scanners, and it dwarfs the spacefort. Before they have time to consider their next move, Dare's spacefort is hit by something and all the power cuts out. With no energy the life support systems will shut down, and to add to their problems the spacefort is caught in a tractor beam by the huge ship and slowly drawn inside.

We are back on track after the Mutiny storyline, and once again I am being pulled back into the world of Dan Dare. With a new artist team on-board it isn't as clean looking as some of the previous issues, although this is compensated by a tightly focused story. Things bode well for future issues as Dare and the reader face the unknown. I enjoy these stories most when I don't know what is coming next, and in that respect, this week's issue has delivered. It is hard to judge from the first issue of a new story, and although I'm unsure about the artwork, I still have positive feelings as the story moves forward.

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "He's been out too long...stopped breathing...I must beat his heart to start it again! C'mon Bear, you can't give up on us now! We've been together too long!"

Continuing a satirical look at American culture, this week Judge Dredd arrives in Las Vegas. Pleasingly, Las Vegas of the future is just as bloated with money and corruption as it is today, and there is plenty of material for the writer to work with.

Approaching the city, Dredd and his battle-wagon are attacked by tanks. They fight off the attack and arrive at the city to find that this battle has been heavily gambled on, with several players making good money from Dredd's victory.

Dredd is disgusted, and even more so when he finds the Vegas Hall of Justice is a mega casino with the Judges in on the take. Inside the so-called God-Judge is sentencing those who oppose gambling, with the twist of the sentence being decided on the turn of a card. The God-Judge even has a stereotypical mafia accent to go with his racket, something that makes me both smile and cringe.

When Dredd speaks up in opposition to what the God-Judge is doing he finds himself up against a towering thug named Judge Fingers. It's no contest, and Dredd is knocked out with a single blow. 

He awakes in another part of the building where he finds he is about to take a one-way step off losers' leap, a platform that sits high above the city. A plunge to his death is imminent with little hope of escape.

I am sure this is the seventh or eighth issue in a row where I have written that the cursed earth is brilliant. It has been from the start and continues to be so here. I love the constant mocking of American culture, and the grim-faced character of Dredd is the perfect vehicle for this satire. Las Vegas is amplified in Dredd's world, yet it all screams true and feels like a logical extension of what is there now. The mafia influence in Las Vegas does feel like a 1970s trope rather than the big corporations that run it now, but the outcomes are still the same. Despite having a series of writers and artists, Dredd feels remarkably consistent in its themes and focus and that is one of the great strengths of it thus far. Each week builds upon the previous, with the character and world evolving in scope yet remaining true to themselves and what has come before. This gives the comic a timeless feel, and although there are moments that remind me that this was written in the 1970s, I mostly find this to be eminently re-readable. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "God-Judge! You're nothing but a mafia hoodlum!" 

Rio has fallen to the Ants in Ant Wars, and it's now up to Captain Villa and Anteater to kill the Queen and ensure she lays no more eggs that produce these monsters. 

Armed with some poison from a looted chemist, Villa and Anteater make their way to the Royal Hotel where the Queen is holed up. After killing the ant guard with a poisoned blow dart, they enter the lobby where they see the large shape of the Queen lounging. 

Another flurry of blow darts at the Queen seems to have turned the tide, but after using all their weapons we find that the Queen is actually a group of Ants huddled together as a decoy. 

Now facing a horde of angry ants, our two heroes make a quick escape up the cables of the lift shaft. They are now on the roof, but still facing the same problem as the ants break down the door, leaving no escape route. 

Just at that moment, several ships of the Brazilian Navy appear in the harbour. Seeing them, Captain Villa tears off his shirt and sets it alight to signal them. The Captain of the ship sees that the hotel is swarming with ants and orders the heavy guns of his ships to open fire. 

The effect is devastating on the ant army, and they are decimated on the street and at the hotel. As the navy personnel enter Rio they are shocked at the carnage and the sight of the dead giant ants. 

Villla and Anteater are found alive in the wreckage of the hotel and are soon convalescing at the hospital. It is here that they are told that the war has been won and the ant army destroyed. However, unknown to all, several nurse ants have escaped Rio, carrying with them the precious load of eggs laid by the Queen just before her death. Now it's just a matter of waiting for these eggs to hatch so they start over. 

I was worried that this might be the end of Ant Wars, and the final panel was just the reassurance I needed. Victory over the ants felt too easy and the was a sense of deus ex machine as the Navy ships suddenly appeared and opened up on the Ants. I would have been disappointed if this was how it all ended, so you can imagine how delighted I was when we saw the nurse ants carrying the eggs. This strip still has a chance to go out in style, when it does eventually end. I only hope that it won't limp along from here on in and that there is still a worthy story left to tell. We shall see. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "We can talk things over when you feel stronger - but don't worry. The ant wars are over!"

Prog 79 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Robo-hunter

Best Line: "Uh uh! Smoking is bad for little babies. Give the stogie to Uncle Sammy or Uncle Sammy will have to belt you!"   

Best Panel: