Prog 93

Work has been hell this week, so I am most pleased to see people suffering far worse on the pages of 2000 A.D. Thank goodness I don't live in Mega-City One, or in a world inhabited by giant scorpions such as we see on the pages of Flesh. I certainly don't have as many worries as Johnny Alpha does in Strontium Dog. All in all, life is pretty good, and after reading this week's comic I shall return to work tomorrow in a new frame of mind and with a far more positive attitude.

Prog 93

30th December 1978

After a small break due to industrial action (is there anything more 70's than industrial action?) 2000 A.D. returns the week with the opening Judge Dredd storyline reaching boiling point. 

Dredd and his handful of men are battling back against the evil Judge Cal, and have seized control of the broadcast studio. Beaming his message directly into the homes of millions across Mega-City One, Dredd calls for the people to arm themselves and join him on the streets. This message hits home, and we are treated to the sight of crowds of people appearing on the streets brandishing various weapons. 

Although in the bath, Judge Cal does not take this sitting down, literally, and standing in his bathtub he commands every Judge out into the street to destroy the rebels, while proclaiming that the whole city is condemned to death. 

The streets become a battlefield, and Dredd can see that without proper weapons too many good people are dying. Taking matters into his own hands, he crashes the armoury and begins to distribute weapons to the people, a timely place to wrap up this week's strip.

This feels a little disjointed coming after the break for industrial action. The first few panels are a recap, with some of the previous lines from the last issue reappearing as a reminder of where we were with the story. The story took a page or two to hit its stride, and once we were up to speed things greatly improved. We had some humour in Judge Cal and his bath, especially the sight of him standing (although there were tactically placed bubbles to preserve his modesty). There was also humour as Dredd called for the people to rise up, and the aptly named Judge Schmaltz crying as Dredd finished his speech was a nice touch that I enjoyed. We finished with battles raging in the street, and with weapons being handed to all I expect we will see much more in this vein next week, while Dredd edges closer to a final confrontation with Judge Cal. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Don't get up, citizens. I prefer you on your knees!"

This week in Ro-Busters we are treated to the first installment of Ro-Jaws memoirs.

Things start well enough and we meet the young Ro-Jaws when he was a new sewer robot. Tasked with eating all the muck, Ro-Jaws excels at his job, catching the attention of his human master and gaining an introduction to the Minister for the Environment, Sir Neville. A polite Ro-Jaws is thanked in person by Sir Neville, and Ro-Jaws takes pride in the meeting. 

However, Ro-Jaws begins to change after falling in with a homeless man named Scratchey. Scratchey saves Ro-Jaws when Ro-Jaws becomes stuck while unblocking a drain. From this point on the two become first friends, sharing food and conversation for the next few pages. 

One night Ro-Jaws finds Scratchey sleeping in the pouring rain after having been moved up from his usual spot under the arches. Seeking shelter for his friend, Ro-Jaws takes him into Sir Neville's house, telling Scratchey that Sir Neville is a good friend of his. 

After helping Scratchey change into some of Sir Neville's clothes, they indulge in a large meal before falling into bed together for a well-earned sleep. They are rudely awakened by Sir Neville and his wife returning from the opera. Sir Neville and his wife are horrified to find a sewer robot and a homeless man sharing their bed, and before we know it the odd couple are thrown out into the street, with Scratchey being loaded into a van to be sent to a home, and Ro-Jaws dispatched to the to Robot Interrogation Police (R.I.P) to be re-trained in obedience. 

We end with Ro-Jaws telling the reader that this was when he realised there were two types of humans, those that hurt others, and those that are easily hurt, and this was when he began to change. 

This is a typical Pat Mills story, loaded with social commentary and man's treatment of others. The brief moment of Scratchey telling Ro-Jaws that he had been moved on from his usual spot under the arches was telling, as was the treatment met out to the pair at the end of the story. It harkened back to the Mach Zero story we saw several months ago and touched on many of the same points. Aside from the deeper message in the story, the surface-level story of Ro-Jaws and his journey to the foul-mouthed cynical robot he is now was well told and still has a way to go. We should be seeing more of this transformation across the coming weeks, and if it is given as much time and care as the Hammer-Stein story we previously saw then it should make for a satisfying story arc. We are off to a strong start, with Pat Mills stamping his authority on the story and setting sail for another satisfying edition of Ro-Busters.

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Please Guv...can I have some more?"

Giant scorpions from the bottom of the sea provide the main thrust of this week's Flesh story, and the opening panel of them emerging from the sea is deliciously scary and instantly has me questioning if I want to turn the page.

It's well that I do, because things only become more intense from here on in, with thrills and skin-crawling action on every page. In the brig of the sub, Peters is still chained up (you might remember him from several issues ago and the way he stood up to Carver). Peters is about to taste the laser lash but decides that now is his chance to make a break for it. Fighting off his captors, Peters escapes to the deck only to find all hell breaking loose as the giant scorpions attack. 

Peters strikes one with the laser lash, biding time for an escape, only to find that one crew member is still on the shore. While Peters jumps overboard to grab this straggler, the rest of the crew desert him and the sub pulls out into the ocean. 

With an impressive panel showing the scorpions advancing on Peters and old Ben, it looks like all is lost, but a second later the scorpions stop advancing and instead turn their attention to the sub. 

The following panels are brutal and are not for the faint of heart as the scorpions attack the men on the surface and those trapped in the sub. 

Peters and Ben escape the base on a makeshift raft and make their way to Atlantis station. There they receive a shock when they find Carver already there and manipulating the master of the station. Peters finds himself helpless as old Ben has now lost his mind and can't support Peters' story, the final panel sees him wondering what else Carver could possibly unleash on them next. 

Great stuff through and through, mostly due to the fact the scorpions are a fantastic threat and looked wonderfully scary on the page. Nightmares are now guaranteed for me tonight. The story advanced at a quick pace, with the scorpions adding to the story rather than acting as a distraction. Normally I would complain that there wasn't enough attention on Carver, but he did appear at the key moments at the end and wasn't required to drive the story earlier in the strip. The art was tightly focused on the scorpions and felt a lot tighter with a singular purpose throughout the comic. There were several notable images, although my favourite was when the scorpion approached Peters on the beach. It gave us a good sense of the scale and heightened the peril he was in. This is a new high point for this iteration of Flesh, and the standard has now been set for all that follows. 

Rating: 9/10

Best line: "That scum Carver! He'll rot in hell for this!"

We haven't had a Future Shocks for a few weeks, so I was surprised to find one tucked in the pages of this week's comic. 

In the year 1984, a time capsule is buried for future generations. Time marches on the world is ravaged by war. However new civilizations arise from the ashes, and in a distant future the world has reached a time in which the horrors of war are no longer known. 

The time capsule is found, and although the professor and his friend are eager to open it, they are advised to leave it unopened. 

The professor disregards that advice and late at night opens the box and is pleased to find the papers within use the same language as he does. Unfortunately, the box also contains germs and bacteria for which they have no cure. The professor and his companion die where they stand, while the caption tells us that Professor Pandora would have been better to leave it as was.

Oh yes, Pandoras Box, very good, we get it. A nice idea, and with some fine art, this was almost too clever for its own good. It felt like a lot of work just for some clever wordplay. I liked it as it was, although it didn't feel essential and I mostly took pleasure from the artwork. A typical Future Shocks, enjoyable, but not substantial.

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "There- I knew that there was nothing to fear. Why those old fools have forbidden the study of the twentieth century. I'll never know!"

Strontium Dog Johnny Alpha has been rescued by a Sandorian attack cruiser and is now been told of the Sandorian plans to fight back against the Wolrogs. It seems the Wolrogs have all their supply dumps and arms factories in one place - the planet Rog. They have a stealth craft that can get in close to the planet, all they need is a pilot willing to take on the mission.

All eyes are on Johnny Alpha, and although Wulf is dead against it, Johnny decides that have little choice and they have to do it whether they like it or not. 

The stealth ship works as expected, and soon Johnny and Wulf plant a nuclear weapon inside a repair hatch on the planet. Things aren't quite as good as they seem, and we finish the strip with Johnny looking up to see four Wolrog soldiers watching him.  

This was a well-paced story and although my description was brief, the story flowed easily across the pages allocated to it. Nothing was hurried, and we were treated to panels of Johnny and his friends talking about the decision before they decided. The journey to the Wolrog planet was also unrushed, and again we had almost two pages of them flying to the planet and evading the Wolrog forces. This slower pace gave us much more time to digest the brilliant artwork of Carlos Ezquerra, always a joy and time well spent. Not as dynamic as some other stories in this comic, but a pleasant way to wrap up a great issue.

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Vot you say? US?"  

Prog 93 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Flesh

Best Line: "Blimey! This robot has been well programmed"   

Best Panel: