Prog 84

"A picture is worth a thousand words" is a phrase I have come to live over the last two years. When I started this blog my intention was to briefly summarise each story in three or four lines, before offering my thoughts on what I had read. Now look at me, hundreds of words trying to capture each story, before meekly offering my tired take after wading through the description. This is something I intend to rectify in the coming weeks. I have aspirations of cutting the fat, and getting to what is important. It is a work in progress but bear with me, next week I will hopefully be far more succinct, and serve up a far more palatable reading experience. Until then, here's this week's excessively descriptive essay on Prog 84.    

Prog 84

30th September 1978

With a pair of friendly Roboboots, Sam Slade has managed to sneak into a factory to look for the first robot, SJI. He has found SJI, the trouble is he looks just as crazy as the rest of the robots on Verdus. Thus we have intrigue from the first panel of Robo-Hunter as Sam Slade prepares to introduce himself to SJI. 

SJI is now a doddering old robot, with a chimney and boiler, but as soon as he sees Sam he recognises him for what he is - a real human being. 

Joy abounds, and he hugs Sam while giving a blast on his boiler pressure release. This brings other robots running. These robots think Sam is a sim, and Sam resorts to some good old blasting action to keep them at bay until SJI can explain the situation. However, his Roboboots doesn't like the look of this trouble and takes to his heels. 

The robots tell SJI that he's too old and cannot tell the difference between a sim and a human. Sam is taken away under guard, awaiting destruction orders from Big Brain.

Cooling their heels in the cell, Sam and SJI lament their current position. However, help is at hand, and the reappearance of roboboots gives the story a second kick in the pants. Slipping a blaster to Sam, they are soon free with - two smoking guard robots in their wake. Some quick rewiring to one of them, and they have a new ally with them, one that will do whatever he is told, without question. 

What happens next we will have to wait and see as Tharg appears in the last panel with a curious message telling us that the second half of the story will return in the future. 

Curious indeed, and for now I am resisting the urge to look too far ahead in the comics next to me. Perhaps a break will be good for both readers and creators as this week's issue felt uneven and left me unsatisfied. The cliff-hanging end no doubt contributed greatly to the feeling, and it undid some of the drama that the panels otherwise held. The escape by Sam Slade was well made, but with nothing to follow it, it ran out of steam on the final page. The discovery of SJI didn't lead to any great leap forward in the story and was merely another breadcrumb in this long trail that has brought us here. Overall, I found it good, although there was no backbone to it and nothing that makes me want to flick forward and find out what happens next; a crime in the world of comics. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "My circuits! Magnificent, Master Sam! Yes, yes indeedly! Done like a true human!" 

Still trapped on a gigantic alien vessel, Dan Dare and his men continue to wander it's hold searching for clues. The kid with Dare holds the answers, as he continues to receive telepathic messages.  

Coming to a locked door that Hitman is unable to force open, the kid tells him he should just say the password, information he has gleaned from the alien writing above. 

Entering through the door, they find themselves in a passageway that stretches up further than the eye can perceive. Dare, Jebby and Hitman are awe-struck by what's ahead of them, although Hitman rightly points out that the kid seems to have gone into some sort of trance.

Travlling on they come to a giant door, and Hitman immediately blasts it with his gun. Dare is furious, and saves Hitman from the ricochet with a diving tackle. The danger is far from over and gas begins to rise around them. This is the moment where the kid comes into his own, speaking to the door with words put into his mouth by someone else, and the door begins to open. 

Within they find an abandoned banquet table, with ancient goblets decaying where they sit. As Jebby reaches for an old cloak, the kid once again behind to speak, telling a tale of times long ago and who the cloaks once belonged to. Telling them all to keep back the kid suddenly points to a large skeleton behind him, telling them that he is the one who runs the ship, the last of the crew, the last of the Golden Ones. 

The bulk of this story was interesting enough, but it was the final page that really piqued my interest and made me consider the in a new light. It was a great turn, and finally, all the talk about the kid came to fruition and made it all worthwhile. The mystical talk of the Golden Ones was backed up by their surroundings, and the skeleton the kid pointed to was the key moment that sold me on the story. We have been weaving through the darkness for some weeks now, and finally, it seems we have crossed the threshold to a new, all the more interesting, part of the story. Once again I am recharged and revitalised by what I have read, and Dand Dare didn't disappoint as we stretch further forward with the story. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "That cloak is a remnant from the days of the mists of time, when the fair born, powerful and strong, wore the golden robes!"

For four days and nights, Judge Dredd's group has been holding out against the Legion Of The Damned at a ruined fort outside of Mega-city Two. 

With the droids launching a massive attack it looks as if it's almost over. However, an anti-personal grabber attempts to grab Tweak, and as Dredds shoots its eyes out it goes on a smashing rampage, wiping out a large section of the droid army. 

This brings forth General Blood 'n' Nuts who offers a truce. He wants Dredd only, and in return, the others can go free including the precious vaccine. 

Spikes tells Dredd, no, they aren't leaving him. The five minutes they have to make their decision elapses without Dredd being surrendered, and the Mek-panzers advance, intent on blasting the fort to bits. 

Spikes is the first causality, a blast throwing him back at Dredd's side. It is serious, and Dredd doesn't hide it from Spikes, telling him so. Racked with pain, Spikes asks Tweak again to tell him of the riches of his planet, of which Spikes has signed on for half. Tweak obliges him, and Spikes staggers to his feet. In one final triumphant monologue, Spikes clambers over the battlements towards the advancing army, telling of his riches and what he's worth. He dies with the words on his lips that he's more than just a punk.

This is not Spikes final act of the comic, for Dredd has one final mission for him. Drsssing the dead Spikes in Dredd's uniform, they prop him up and Dredd's bike and send him towards the advancing robots. The robots triumphantly turn their weapons towards the bike, but seconds later the bike explodes in a blazing holocaust, taking out a large number of droids, but also leaving the rest celebrating the death of Dredd. Little do they know that at that moment, Dredd and Tweaks are silently slipping away through the smoke and confusion, their backpacks full of the vital vaccine. 

With sixty miles of Mojave desert between them and Mega-city Two, Dredd and Tweak still have an arduous journey ahead of them. How arduous quickly becomes apparent as a sandstorm swirls around them and Dredd and Tweak are quickly separated. The hagged face of Dredd stares out at us in the final panel, determined not to let the Cursed Earth beat him now.

Great stuff, from the first panel to the last. We have seen self-sacrifice before, and it doesn't always come off as well as it it did here. I often complain that it is telegraphed in advance and loses some of its power. In this case, we were told two issues ago that Spikes would die, yet it still felt shocking when it happened. Having travelled with Spikes for several months now, he has been built beyond the point of a disposable character, and his death felt like it meant something on the pages of Judge Dredd and the story that was being told. I was moved by his death and his final monologue, and I have to give both the writer and the artist full credit for bringing the curtain down on Spikes in a fitting fashion. Elsewhere, the Legion Of the Damned looked fantastic in every panel they appeared in and coupled with some striking images of Dredd in action, and the death of Spikes, this was a blockbuster issue in terms of quality art. An unforgettable issue, and one of my favourites so far.

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Listen, Judgey - I'm no hero. If I really thought that loony general down there could be trusted, I'd desert you like a shot! But I don't trust him...so I'm stayin'...savvy?"

On the foothills of the Andes, a hastily convened gathering of military advisers plan their next step in the campaign of the ongoing Ant Wars. 

The leading General is urging caution - all he has heard so far is rumour, and he wants to see one of these ants before he acts. 

He doesn't have long to wait for at just that moment an ant bursts through the wall behind him and snatches him up in its jaws. The surrounding military men are shocked, but Captain Villa and his companion Anteater are on hand, and quickly fighting back with swords taken from the helpless General. The ant is killed, but not before he has taken out the General, and the remaining leaders argue their next move. 

The decision is quickly made, and the US go with the nuclear option. Soon aircraft are flying over the location of the ants and the whole area is devastated by nuclear explosions. 

Later, army helicopters fly into the area, and wearing fall-out suits, Villa and Anteater are given a chance to see the devasting wrought up close. It appears quiet, but suddenly the ground opens up beneath them with giant ants appearing. The helicopter is destroyed, and its crew is dragged underground by the ants.  Villa decides to follow the tunnel down to the ant nest but injures his ankle upon entering the tunnel. Prone on the ground, it looks like it's all over as he looks on in terror at what is coming his way. 

Better than last week, but still, I have questions. While I could (just) believe the dropping of nuclear weapons on the ants, I found it somewhat of a stretch to accept Captain Villa being flown to the area a couple of hours later to have a look at the carnage. I also found it hard to swallow that highly trained military men are constantly beaten by the ants while Captain Villa and Anteater beat them off single-handedly again and again. I can accept giant ants, yet little things like this always bring me back to reality. The story continues to move forward and it feels as if the end may be finally in sight. The nuclear option always felt too easy for this story, and I'm hoping for one final twist to elevate the story and finish on an unexpected high. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "I want to see one for myself!"

Prog 84 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "I'm...a billionaire...own...half...pla...not...jus'...a punk!"   

Best Panel: