Prog 81

This week's 2000 AD feels weaker than normal. Maybe I've eaten too much chocolate and I'm crashing, but this week didn't fizzle and sparkle in the way I've come to expect. There were bright spots, not enough to elevate any one story, but they were there. I found the artwork comforting and interesting and it was the storylines were the biggest problem as they failed to fire my imagination. Perhaps the best course of action would be to immediately read Prog 82 and see if the future is any brighter. Before then, here are my thoughts on Prog 81. 

Prog 81

9th September 1978

Sam Slade and Kidd had walked into a strange apartment full of nothing but robots in the last issue of Robo-Hunter. This week picks up this thread as the robot clock and chair debate what they should do with Slade and Kidd.

The debate centres around whether or not Slade is a real human or a sim. A sim is a simulated human sent to trick the robots and right now they're not sure exactly what Slade is. 

A simple test is performed, with Boots the robot stamping on Slade's foot. Slade shows pain, and the robots explain this means he must be a sim, for everyone knows that humans are superior to robots and would never feel pain. 

Slade tries to convince them otherwise, but the robots argue long into the night while Slade and Kidd decide to sleep until they reach their decision. It is an equally long night for Slade, whose dreams are turned into nightmares with robots running the world. 

In the morning the robots are still spilt in their thinking about Slade. The voting has proved inconclusive, and it is decided that only SJI, the first robot sent to the planet, can decide if Slade is a real human.

The strip ends with Slade following Robo-boots to find SJI, while Kidd remains behind as a hostage. 

I enjoyed this week's episode well enough, although the middle of the story felt heavily padded. Almost two pages were dedicated to Slade's dream sequence, and this was too long compared to everything else that happened in the story. On a positive note, I did enjoy seeing the robots discussing amongst themselves, and the way they ignored Slade while they were talking. This week wasn't as funny as previous weeks and lacked the sharpness we saw earlier on, yet it still hinted at such moments and there was an underlying sense of irrelevance. The concept remains as strong as ever, and next week's issue should once again widen the world after all the action this week took place in a single room. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "No use us trying to escape this madhouse, Kidd. I've got a feeling every place on this planet is just the same."

At first, I thought I had missed an issue as I read Ant Wars this week. When we last saw Captain Villa and Anteater, they had just been taken prisoner by Argentinian gauchos and accused of stealing cattle. There is none of that as we begin the strip this week. The strip opens with the ants attacking the gauchos and Villa and Anteater once again fighting for their lives.

The ants make short work of the gauchos, although Villa and Anteater manage to escape by running with the cattle. They make their way back to their car and are soon speeding across the desert towards a garage whereupon they find a payphone and call for help. 

They are still making the call when an ant scout appears on the hilltop not far away, and within minutes the ants have stampeded a herd of cattle towards them. Villa and Anteater shelter in the garage inspection pit, and when they later emerge they find that the garage has been completely wiped out, as has the payphone and their car. 

Facing a long walk to safety, things don't get any better when some rebel guerrillas emerge from the hills and take them prisoner. 

We finish this strip in the same position as last week, with Villa and Anteater taken prisoner by a local group. It does feel as if we are going in circles, and I do wonder what the point was of the gauchos when we find ourselves in the same place one issue on. Villa is talking about getting the rebels on his side, but given the way the strip is going it is just as likely that they will all be wiped out by giant ants next week and this Groundhog Day will start again. I wanted to like Ant Wars more than I do. It's currently too repetitive, and we are seeing the same situation play out week after week as Villa and Anteater find help, only for the ants to attack and leave the two of them the only survivors. Giant Ants is an interesting idea, but the story just isn't working for me at the moment. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "Giant ants! Grab your guns, gauchos!" 

Chapter 21 of the Cursed Earth in Judge Dredd, and it opens with plague-torn Mega-City Two where para-medic stormtroopers are fighting back waves of plague-infested victims. 

It's a misleading beginning as the story switches back to Dredd and Spikes, along with Tweak, who are still heading towards Mega-City Two with the much-needed vaccine. 

There are repairs to be made, and Dredd and company have time to kill. As they wait, Tweak begins to talk with Spikes and Spikes expresses surprise at how much of the language Tweak has learned. 

He is even more surprised when Tweak demonstrates his grasp of advanced math, and the rest of the strip has Tweak explaining his backstory and why he is good at such things. 

Tweak has been playing dumb on Earth. He hails from an alien planet, where he was the equivalent of President. A spaceship from Earth arrived one day, and probing the human's brains Tweak and his kind discovered the greed, hatred and war-like thoughts that men carry. Tweak and his council decided it would be best to have no contact with these men, rather than risk what they have foreseen. 

However, this is undone by some of the younger ones who venture out despite the decree. They are captured by the astronauts and taken for examination. So too is their mother who is out looking for them, and at this point of the story, Tweak reveals that it was his children and mate that were taken. 

Sacrificing himself, he plays dumb and is taken by the astronauts, whereupon he is reunited with his wife and children. They are taken back to Earth, and at this point, we snap back to the present as Tweak offers Dredd a delicious rock. 

The strip ends this week with Dredd wondering why Tweak has chosen this moment to tell his story, and can only conclude that it is because he thinks they will never get a chance to tell anyone else. 

I too was wondering about the timing of this story, and why it's now we get all this backstory about Tweak. When I saw the opening splash page I thought this may have been the climax of the Cursed Earth storyline, so I was most surprised to be confronted with Tweak's backstory on the following pages. It was interesting enough, but didn't feel essential in the face of what has come before, and the deceiving first image. Next week should place this issue in a wider context and more sense can be made of it, but for now, I'm scratching my head and wondering what it is all about. 

Rating: 5/10

Best line: "You've been holding out on us, Tweak. I figure you owe us an explanation." 

A wonderful start to Dan Dare this week, with some splendid art reminding us what peril Dare was in after his ship was pulled into a mysterious alien vessel. Now huddled in a smaller craft with another prisoner, Jebby, Dare can only listen as the primitives outside the vessel attempt to break in. 

He doesn't have long to wait, and soon the primitives have broken through the doors and taken Dare, Hitman, and Jebby prisoner. Dare has been knocked out, and as he comes to he is surprised to see another earthman is with them.

This character is shrouded in mystery. The primitives leave him alone, and he is not much help to Dare as he speaks in riddles, and is confused and befuddled most of the time.

Some light is shed on the situation when they see three bodies frozen in ice that the primitives worship. It seems this other man takes care of these iced figures, and in return, the primitives leave him alone to his own devices. 

Dare, Hitman and Jeeby are afforded no such leniency, and the strip finishes with the three of them on a conveyor belt heading into the unknown with a dark foreboding shape approaching from the inky blackness. 

I have mixed feelings about this episode. The art was excellent, and I find that the work of Goring/Leach matches my aesthetic. However the story didn't appeal to me, and although we met new characters, they weren't clearly defined. Being mysterious doesn't mean being interesting, and I couldn't find it in my heart to care where they came from or what would happen to them. The next issue may lift this fog, with this issue may be a necessary step, but until I have this wider context I'm left feeling untouched by all that unfolded. 

Rating: 5/10

Best Line: "Those cannibals are moving in for the kill!"  

This week's issue rounds out with a Future Shocks that concerns the Tunguska explosion of 1908.  

The story picks up in the year 2000 as scientists have finally built a time machine. One of the first things they wish to go back to is the explosion over Tunguska in 1908  and ascertain if it was caused by a ball of anti-matter or an alien spacecraft.

Two men enter the time machine, and after dialling in the year and time they are duly sent back to the past. The trip takes a mere two seconds, but it is not a successful mission for as they arrive there is a problem with their machine. The machine and men convert to anti-matter and explode over Tunguska, thus becoming the cause of the explosion they wanted to investigate. 

Halfway through the story, I realised what the outcome was going to be. That added to my enjoyment rather than detracting from it. I have long been fascinated by the Tunguska explosion and this strip ticked many boxes for me. Time travel stories offer up all sorts of variations and possibilities and we rarely get a poor Future Shocks Time travel story. Coming at the end of this week's 2000 AD, this was a sweet dessert after some of the heavier material earlier, and we are finishing on a high after the less-than-stellar Dan Dare. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "It works! They're on their way back in time!"

Prog 81 final ratings:

Overall: 5.5/10

Best Story: Future Shocks

Best Line: "No, not me, you stupid alien! I'm trying to teach you! Now you have a go!"   

Best Panel: