Prog 86

Starlord has arrived, and with a host of new stories to refresh and revitalise the pages of 2000 A.D. I must admit, I wasn't sure what we were going to get with this issue, but each of the new stories has exceeded all expectations, and I feel like a kid again - I can't wait for the next comic to see what happens. I have a couple of new favourites and will be watching expectantly to see what evolves with each story. The future is bright and it's here now.  

Prog 86

14th October 1978

Before we get to the excitement of the new stories, we begin in familiar territory with Judge Dredd leading off this week's selection of finely curated tales. 

Dredd is back where he belongs, Mega-city, as is Brian Bollard who is taking on this week's art duties for Dredd.  The first image conjured up by Bollard is a striking one, Dredd is on trial for murder and the twisted face of a lawyer tells us now is the time to decide if Dredd is innocent or guilty. 

Obviously, a quick flashback is needed to explain how we got into this situation, and over the page we are obliged with a couple of pages of backstory. Dredd has returned from the Cursed Earth as a hero and is greeted with a parade worthy of such a feat. However, not everyone is happy to see him back, and Judge Cal, Deputy Chief Judge and head of the feared JSJ Squad, tells Dredd he wants to check over Dredd's expense claims as they are far too high. 

Luckily the Chief Judge intervenes, and Dredd is sent home to rest after his arduous journey. At home, he receives a warm welcome from Walter the robot, and his housekeeper Maria. Dredd is too tired to take time to enjoy their hospitality and slopes off to his room for a well-earned sleep.

That night in the offices of the Mega-Times, the city's leading daily video-journal, an angry Dredd appears at the door. Waving the latest edition in the shocked journalists' faces, Dredd berates them for putting a celebrity wedding in the headlines while relegating Dredd's heroic deeds to the bottom of the page. 

Excuses are made, but Dredd is in no mood to listen, and instead pulls his blaster, leaving two dead in the wake of this sudden violence. 

An hour later Dredd is pulled from his bed in his apartment, and put under arrest. This brings us back to where we started and with overwhelming evidence, including photographic evidence, the trial is quickly concluded with Dredd being found guilty and sentenced to twenty years on Titan. The story finishes this week with Dredd looking forlornly out of the window of the shuttle as it transports him from Earth out to the outer reaches of Jupiter. 

I enjoyed the Cursed Earth immensely and wondered if this new story would live up to it. It more than lived up to it, and I am already captivated by the new story rapidly unfolding before our eyes. Brian Bollard made every scene memorable with his bold art, and we had a range of characters and expressions giving backbone to a story well written. We also had some great decisions in how to draw each scene, and parts of this week's story were just as good as anything you might see at the cinema. A strong follow-up to the Cursed Earth, this story allayed any fears I may have had about a drop in quality. The Cursed Earth set the bar high, and so far Dredd has picked up the baton and run with it. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "It was Dredd all right. I'd recognise his voice anywhere. A hero he called himself. I'd call him a stinking murderer!"

Ro-busters joins us from Starlord and the opening salvo of the story is a flashback to fill us in. 

Ro-jaws, formerly programmed for cleaning sewers and unblocking drains, is the bad boy of the team, with bad language and behaviour to match. At the other end of the scale is Hammer-stein, a war droid with a storied career and medals to prove his worth. 

Both met at a second-hand Robo-mart, and were destined to be destroyed when fate intervened in the form of Howards Quartz, the human boss of Ro-busters. The two robots are quickly recruited to the international rescue team, and our story picks up from here are the two robots arrive at the scene of a train disaster.

Carrying oxygen for the carriages buried under rubble, it is Ro-jaws who proves his worth, digging into the pile of rocks. It is a short-lived rescue, another landslide buries the pair, and Ro-jaws starts over, eventually burrowing into the train below the rubble. 

A motley crew of humans await rescue, and the strip introduces each of them to us. The robots are carrying oxygen for nine, and there are ten people, meaning that one of them faces a certain death. A lively debate follows, and we get to know each human a little better, as the robots leave them to make their decision on who will miss out. 

While the humans debate among themselves, the two robots go to the luggage department, ostensibly to find Harold, the robot charged with serving one of the young humans, Master Tim. Harold is quite something to behold, dressed as a human with a suitably jolly bow tie and obsequious demeanour. 

Return to the main compartment with Harold in tow, the robots ask if the humans have made their decision. They haven't, although they have made one other very important decision. They have decided that the robots can decide who lives and who dies, and in particular, they want Ro-jaws to make the decision. 

Hammer-stein is horrified, and as we close out the strip he tells the humans they are making a terrible mistake, a comment that is borne out by Ro-jaws triumphant yell that Judge Ro-jaws rules. 

I was unfamiliar with Ro-busters, although was aware of its pedigree with Starlord and the high esteem it is held by 2000 A.D. readers. It's early days for me, yet I can already see that this is an entertaining strip. No surprise to see Pat Mills's name on the credits, along with Dave Gibbons, and the pair have given me a fine introduction to the world of Ro-busters. Funny and clever, it has the hallmarks of a Pat Mills story, and I particularly enjoyed the two contrasting characters we have here with Ro-jaws and Hammer-stein. The dialogue between the two is fantastic, and we learn a lot about the two characters just in the way they speak to each other with their casual banter. I still have a long way to go with this story and I can't wait to see what will develop between the characters, and of course which human will be selected to sacrifice themselves. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Be brave, Humans! This is your chance to die a hero's death! I want one volunteer.

It's a warm welcome back to Flesh, with a new thrill centred on fish farming. Travelling back in time, man is harvesting vast quantities of prehistoric fish through a massive fish-farming station named Atlantis. Hauling in a thousand tons of monstrous fish from the deep, the station quickly processes them into fish fingers of all things. These fish fingers are then beamed forward to the 23rd century to be consumed by modern man. 

It is a hardened bunch of men who work on this process, and life is cheap as we soon find out with a Tanystropheus appearing in the catch and quickly gobbling up one of the workers. The rest of the team reacts immediately swiping its head off with a nearby axe. Further carnage has been avoided, but J.M. Grose, boss of Atlantis station, is far from happy and orders all pay and privileges to be stopped until they can replace the dead man.

He promises that his ship will suffer no trouble, he will settle for no sloppiness at all. However, little does he know that trouble is indeed on the way, and a few days later we see a time shuttle appear in the sky above the Atlantis, although no one knows where it has come from or who is within. 

A nice little reboot of Flesh, and I like what we have seen so far. The prehistoric fish look fantastically grotesque, and they have already amply displayed that they are not to be messed with. I was pleased to see Balardinelli back with his artwork, he has been missed, and I felt his style suited the world that was created here, especially his rendering of the Atlantis station. Like Ro-busters, it is only early days, but already I am wrapped up in this new world and ready to see whatever comes next. It's made all the better by the fact that whatever comes is likely to be spin-chilling and deliciously scary. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Wish you'd worry 'bout grading the produce, Big Olaf - if any grisly ol' predictor slips through, the chief'll bite our heads off! 

We finish the comic with a story that will become famous on the pages of 2000 A.D. - Strontium Dog. 

Strontium Dog is another story imported from Starlord, and as such we have a brief page to introduce the characters and premise of the story. In the wake of the war of 2150 there is a side effect due to the Strontium 90 present in the fallout of the nuclear weapons. An entire class of people has been infected and warped, leading to them being shunned as mutants. 

Unable to join normal society, the only route for most of them is to become a bounty hunter. They soon prove to be the best type of bounty hunters, and the galaxy fugitives learn to fear the name Strontium Dogs. 

The hero of our story is Johnny Alpha. Paired with a normal partner named Wulf, they are to be feared. They also have a third member, a timid alien named Glonk who looks like his name sounds. 

Early in the story, we see what makes Johnny Alpha special, and pursuing some fugitives he emits alpha rays from his mutant eyes, easily sighting his prey through the walls. There are four men in the room, but Johnny only has eyes for one, and using a time bomb, he blasts the other three two hours into the future. Of course, the planet has moved on, and the three are left in a vacuum.

Taking Ratface as their prisoner, they point their astroliner towards Earth, a journey slated to take sixteen days.  Three days in and a shot across their bows jolts them out of their peaceful journey. A ship two miles long appears, telling them they will be taken on board or face annihilation. With little choice, Johnny Alpha and Wulf resign themselves to their fate. It is only once their ship has been taken in that Johnny Alpha realises that they have been captured by a Wolrog warship, the Wolrog being the galaxy killers.

There is so much that I like about this story already, and from this first appearance I can tell that will be great friends in future. I love the concept of the story and the characters, but especially I like the look and the feel of the story. The artwork, courtesy of Carlos Ezquerra,  has the feel of an independent comic, and the story feels old in my hands as if it existed long before I discovered it. I'm telling myself to relax, it is only the first issue I have read. This isn't the first time I have fallen in love at first sight, and I have to remind myself what happened all those other times I gave my heart so easily (spoiler: it didn't end well). Still, this is my favourite of these new stories to appear, and I am overjoyed with how the Starlord stories have lifted the flagging 2000 A.D. It has taken on a new lease of life, and I for one are completely sold in the direction we are heading. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Resist? It - it'd be like a pea-shooter against an H-bomb! 

Prog 86 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Belt up! I'm in charge now! Judge Ro-jaws rules oaky!"   

Best Panel: