Prog 98

It's so cold in the spare room today, that I can barely cajole my fingers to type. Good for brevity, I will be rushing to get this done as soon as possible so I can get back to my warm lounge and a nice cup of tea. Exciting issue this week, I will hopefully elaborate more next time around once this cold snap is over.     

Prog 98

3rd February 1979

Judge Dredd is in trouble deep as a Klegghound has grabbed his arm. It looks like Judge Cal may have won this battle but for one small mistake made by the beast - it has grabbed Dredd's gunhand.

One blood-splattered explosion later and Dredd is free. A single panel deals with the rest of the Klegghounds, and all attention is turned to the advancing Kleggs. 

After a page of batting the Kleggs, and a moment of martyrdom, Dredd and the men retreat to the sub garage where their means of escape awaits them. Climbing onboard a sleek road liner, they hit the highway, much to the disgust of Judge Cal who is overseeing the operation.  

Taking to a hover ship, Judge Cal is soon in pursuit of Dredd. Firing from above, Cal destroys the road ahead of Dredd and we finish with the cliffhanger of the road liner plunging 8000 feet to the streets below. 

Brian Bollard's artwork snatches all the headlines of this issue. For all the snappy lines and fast-moving plot, it is page after page of excellent artwork that holds me enthralled. Every panel is a mini-masterpiece, and when put together in a cohesive narrative it becomes even greater. I could pull out any panel for special mention, but the real power of the work comes from the consistency page after page. I don't even have to read the story, I would be quite happy just looking at Dredd and his variety of poses and expressions panel after panel and watching the story flow from there. 

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Die well, Judge Fernandez, you will be remembered!"

Part man, part machine, Harry Angel was last seen plunging from a transport aircraft with his parachute sabotaged and a slim chance of surviving the fall. 

However, there is a Hawk chase plane monitoring events, and seeing Harry in trouble the pilot does some unbelievable flying to save the day. Going into a steep dive, the pilot manoeuvres close enough for Harry to grab onto the plane and catch a ride to the ground. 

Harry is quickly on the trail of the saboteur and confronts the man responsible for the parachute. The man is tight-lipped, but after some non-too-subtle threats from Harry, he tells him that a man with a gammy leg is responsible. 

Storming outside, Angel has Blutcher arrested, one of the men responsible for Angel's training, before returning to the training program. 

The next week is full of tests before Angel is deemed ready to fly the Space Fighter. As he prepares for launch the Squadron Leader approaches and offers him a family good luck charm, an old watch carried by his father in the First World War, and then him in the Second. 

Harry gratefully accepts it, although he regrets it shortly after takeoff as he realises that the watch is a concealed bomb, and the Squadron Leader is the saboteur. 

A steady enough issue of this story, and I am feeling more positive about it than in the previous few weeks. I am slowly warming to the characters, and the storyline is beginning to firm up without the constant interference of Angel's computer. We had very little mention of it this week, and now we are deeper into the story there is no longer the need to keep reinforcing his origin story. This makes for a far smoother read, and the story is now distilled down to its essence with Angel hunting a saboteur. A few more issues in this vein would help vanish some of my earlier criticisms. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "And you're going to tell me if anyone from my project's been snooping around here- or I cream your face all over my fist!" 

Future Shocks begins with a group of alien students landing on a desolate Earth, preparing for an archaeological exam. 

The students are told that the dominant life form was Man, but they have no record of what the species looks like, Their task is to collect all the clues they can, and then provide a model of a typical man. 

The students gather quite a lot of parts and then work together to build a model of what they thought Man may have looked like. We finish with the sight of a T.V. sitting in the middle so the students, while the tutor muses that it's no wonder the species died out, it doesn't look very mobile or adaptable. 

I could easily see the T.V. of this story substituted for a smartphone for modern times. The final line of "DId television sets ever dominate life on your planet" is just as applicable to smartphones, and perhaps even more so. The point of the story was sharpened by the length of the story. This one really did live up to the title of a Future Short, clocking at barely one page and one panel. With no excess flab, the story stayed true to its concept and delivered a tight strip. I envy it for its brevity and conciseness, and I can only wish that one day I will aspire to the same level. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Finished, Sir! What do you think? Gruesome, isn't it?"

It looks like Peters time in Flesh is coming to an end as the evil Carver pushes him down a gangplank towards a watery grave.

He gets an unexpected reprieve as a flight of Pterosaurs descend from the sky and attack the ship. Carver and the crew repel the attack, but by the time the sky has cleared, they find that Peters has gone, as has Big Hungry. 

Little do they realise that Peters is still aboard, and is currently fighting his way deeper into the base. Neither do they know that Big Hungry is also lurking under the base, although they find out soon enough as Big Hungry attacks their Cybosaurs, and, along with the other Nothosaurs, begins to wreak havoc on their defences. 

Carver orders his men to take a killer sub out and deal with the Nothosaurs. Old Ben the gunner is the first to volunteer, and we soon discover why. He too has a score to settle, and instead of firing at the dinosaurs, he begins to fire at the girders holding the base up. The inevitable happens as the base collapses into the sea, and we finish with the image of the Nothosaurs coming in for revenge. 

I'm not sure if next week will be the final, but it is sure looking that way. I don't see how Carver can wheedle his way out of this one, and all his enemies now hold the upper hand in one way or another. Although I wasn't enamoured by all the action we saw here, I still loved the fast way that story moved forward. Of course, any story that shows the dinosaurs in their prime is worth the time, and we have several panels showing just that in this issue. I should give some praise to Pino here for his artwork. I am familiar with his style, almost to the point where I take him for granted. I shouldn't, he is great throughout, and here his art is just as good as any plot or dialogue on the page. A strong issue and one that signals the end may be near, although, in the world of 2000 A.D., anything could happen. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Gunner Ben!! Hmm...you might be an old loony- but you're also the best gunner I got!"

We round out this week's issue with a new story beginning for Ro-Busters. We are introduced to Charlie, a huge robot that brings ships safely into the harbour, in the opening panels, and this gives us a good idea of his size and exactly what he does as he pulls a ship to safety amid a storm.   

He has been the ship's pilot for Northpool for fifteen years and is well-loved by the community and the ships he serves. However, we learn that this is the last ship he will be saving. The era of big ships is over, and with mammoth jets now doing the bulk of the work the port of Northpool is dying. Most of Northpool is to be demolished and a vast new spaceport is to be built on the ruins. 

A group of robots known as the Terra-meks are about to be brought in to take on the destruction of Northpool. The people of Northpool are unhappy about their homes being destroyed, although Ron Murdoch, leader of the Northpool council, insists that it is for the best and those that have their homes condemned will be rehoused - underground. 

Seeing the citizens protesting, Father Flannigan hurries down to the docks to enlist the help of Charlie. Father Flannigan explains the situation to Charlie and tells him that he is the only one that can stop the Terra-meks. Charlie tells Father Flannigan that he will think about it.

The next day Father Flannigan is standing at the hastily erected barricades put up by the local citizens. There is no sign of Charlie, and the strip closes with the Terra-meks about to arrive in numbers. 

This is why Pat Mills is the greatest. Across these few pages, he presents us with an entirely believable world that draws heavily from the familiar and places it in an updated context. It was easy to draw parallels between Northpool and many English cities in the late 1970s, while the presence of giant robots created a visually arresting image and a glimpse into a foreign future. Like the previous Ro-Buster stories, Pat Mills again turns his attention to the ills of modern society, and as much as I love stories about big robots, I also love the grittiness with which Mills infuses the stories. As an introduction to a new adventure, it is sublime, with questions already reaching through my mind and the overall impulse to see what happens next. We are in safe hands, and I will be here again next week to cheer on the heroes of the story and whatever circumstances Mister Mills puts them in. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Why...why these robots want to do this bad thing? Charlie not understand..make Charlie feel...funny...feel...sad...deep inside..."

Prog 98 final ratings:

Overall: 8/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Excellent! You, gunner - out! And brush the seat before you go! I don't want to catch any of your germs!"   

Best Panel: