Prog 101

Prog 100 came and went so fast, that I felt I barely had time to give it its due. It was a great issue, and it has propelled us forward into a brighter era of 2000 A.D. At least that's how it seems one issue later. Dredd is still firing on all cylinders, Ro-Busters is pulling at my heartstrings, and the return of Robo-Hunter and Dan Dare has given both stories an extra fizz that was missing at the end of their previous runs. I have been sick most of this week (don't get old, kids) but after a quiet Sunday morning sipping tea and reading comics I am feeling restored and once again ready to face the world. 2000 A.D. has proved to be just the tonic I needed.   

Prog 101

24th February 1979

A beautiful image opens Ro-Busters, with the giant robot Charlie standing tall over the wreckage of a vanquished opponent. 

Things are looking positive for the huge robot but over the page he receives a fake distress call from the navy that lures him out to sea.

Charlie's moral compass sends him wading out into the ocean to help those in need, only to find a navy destroyer waiting for him. Their intentions are made clear when they open fire upon him with their guns. Charlie cannot understand why they would do this, and as he stands in shock they fire a second salvo that sends him sinking to the sea-bed. 

The people of Northpool mourn the passing of Charle, and those who planned Charlie's death find themselves ruined as public opinion turns against them. The terra-meks, who had previously destroyed a large section of public housing, are now held as public villains and hunted down and destroyed over the next couple of days. 

As grim as this all seems, there is one ray of light. Beneath the sea, Carlie begins to stir, and as the people of Northpool watch on, he staggers towards the shore. This brings us to the finale of the strip, and as Charlie wades towards the cheering crowds they greet him with a rousing rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone"

It was an obvious play for the heartstrings, but I couldn't help but go along with it and enjoy every moment. A part of me wanted to sigh and roll my eyes as Charlie arrived back to Liverpool Northpool with the crowds singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" yet I found myself smiling and saying "Yes, this is correct." It was an emotional way to end the story, and in a lot of ways the only way this story ever could have ended. Charlie's humanity shone out throughout the run of this story, and although it was about big robots, the human aspect of the story remained at the core right up until the final moments. The story of a robot with a human heart could only end with the humans responding in kind, and a stirring finish such as this, as Hollywood as it may seem, was the right decision. This was only our fourth edition with Charlie, and yet I felt we knew him so well from the start. As I have written in an earlier blog post, Pat Mills did a fantastic job of setting up all the characters in this story and giving them all a distinct personality that quickly let us know who was who and where the heart of the story lay. There's that word again. Heart. This story had a very real one, and as much as the final scene could have been cringeworthy, its heart was in the right place and I walked away from the story with nothing but pleasant memories and a lot of love. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "If ships turn against Charlie, then...Charlie not want to...live no more..."

The evil Judge Cal is holding auditions to find someone to play Judge Dredd in a TV spectacular he has planned. It is a motley bunch who are auditioning, and once they depart, Judge Cal calls in a handsome but retired, show biz actor. This actor has no interest in playing the part, but after some less-than-subtle threats from Judge Cal, he changes his mind. 

Meanwhile, far beneath Mega-city One, Judge Dredd is fighting a frightening denizen of the the underworld simply known as Fergee. While Dredd is unarmed, Fergee carries a baseball bat, and from the very first panel, we see him putting it to good use against Dredd. 

The first blow is a fearsome one, but Dredd regains his feet and responds with a powerful punch that sends Fergee crashing back into the stinking underground river. 

This amuses Fergee, and the toughness of Dredd wins him over. Fergee offers his hand in friendship, and the two form an unnatural bond. 

Taking a body count, Dredd has five men, and Judge Schmaltz, who is lying mortally wondered in their midst. As the men gather around, Judge Schmaltz offers one final speech before expiring. The judges turn back to the matter at hand, only for another sentence to pass from Schmaltz's lips, and as Judge Kelos remarks, he always did like to have the last word. 

After an appropriate Viking funeral, the rest of the men decide to find a secure base and start making plans to strike back. Fergee leads the way, telling them he knows a place, and although the Judges have reservations, they still follow him. 

And once again I find myself typing "Judge Dredd is hilarious" I'm not alone in laughing at these stories, and this one was a fine example with plenty of unusual circumstances and dialogue to make me laugh on every page. This humour is emphasised by the work of Brian Bollard. Each panel is infused with a confident sense of purpose, and the humour is pushed way in front of any darker storylines. The storylines themselves are strong enough for the humour to add to their flavour, and rather than wilting in the face of the humourous aspects, the stories become even darker and deeper. The first pages with Judge Cal were superb, and I didn't think it would get any better, or indeed any funnier, as we entered the Dredd part of the story. I was wrong, and the Dredd and Fergee interplay again had me grinning from ear to ear. Witty dialogue and the death of the aptly named Judge Schmultz were highlights, and my strongest takeaway from this week's story. A sensation run from Dredd of late, I can only reiterate that I never want this Judge Cal story to end. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "It has been a rare and...and wonderful honour to...to serve with you, Judge Dredd! My...my sun is sinking behind the...hills of life, but...but I am...at peace with my...my destiny..."

On the pages of Robo-Hunter, Sam Slade encounters troubles in the sewers of Verdus and he travels to meet the head robot to prove that he really is a human. A mischief of robot rats has caught him, and thinking him to be an impurity are now trying to eat them. 

Thinking quickly, Sam jumps deeper into the water, and the crisis is averted as the rats refuse to go into the water. However, it is a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire as Captain Kidd's sensors detect the presence of a big robot nearby, the biggest he has yet detected. 

This robot reveals itself over the page, and it is a sight to behold. It is a giant Sewergator, a mobile purification robot, just like the robo-rats, only bigger. Looking like a massive alligator, it swallows Sam Slade and Captain Kidd whole before they can do anything.

Within the bowels of the sewergator, Slade is pulled from the water by yet another robot, this one named B.O. and charged with removing impurities.

Having been alone in the depths of the larger robot for fifty years, B.O. has a split personality, and the next few pages are driven by the dialogue he is having with himself. 

Sam attempts to negotiate his escape, although B.O. is reluctant. B.O. is happy to finally have some company and is torn between keeping Slade as a prisoner or dispensing him to be purified. Slade negotiates a third option, and based on the outcome of a game of Robopoly he will either be held with B.O. for the rest of time, or free to escape.  

A better issue than last week and I feel we are edging closer to where the story was in the first run. The dialogue of Sam Slade is more authentic in this issue, and he sounds more like the character I remember from his first run. We also have higher stakes and a better quantity of robot opponents for Slade to face. Gone are the smaller household robots, and in their place the large-scale sewergator. The sewergator is undoubtedly the highlight as far as the artwork is concerned, and we were provided with several pages showing him both internally and externally. It was all great mind candy and captured the imagination of the reader. The interior character of B.O. was a nice addition and added some extra levity to the situation. His way of talking to himself helped fill in his back story and gave us an upswing in the humour as we approached the final panels which were perhaps the funniest of the lot. Stronger than last week, I hope this issue is a signpost of what is to come. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "For cryin' out loud! You're not going along with that, Slade!"

Dan Dare has lost his memory and is being restored back to health by the Mekon, who has plans of his own to use Dare for his own purposes. 

Dare is told that his real name is Marshal Varyan by the Mekon, and as Dare takes in his surroundings he can't help but think that the Mekon looks familiar.

They are interrupted by an attack by a Thraxian Scout ship. With the help of a prisoner onboard the Mekon's ship, a troop of Thraxians are beamed aboard and although they are outnumbered they threaten to kill and destroy as much as they can before they are killed themselves. 

Dare watches as the battle rages about them, and then at a crucial moment when Dare himself looks to be threatened, he acts on instinct, killing three of the Thraxian himself barehanded. 

The Mekon tells Dare that Dare is one of the Galatic Police Network and that he had been sent to help the Mekon fight the Thraxian and reclaim the Life-crystal. Dare has no reason to doubt this and the strip ends with the pair of them looking upon the planet Lystria where the crystal is and the Mekon pondering the fact that he is about to make Dare the most hated man in the universe. 

Another superb episode of Dan Dare that gives us a balance of intrigue and action. Once again it was the art that held my interest the most, and in particular, any panel showing a close-up of the Mekon. These helped give his character further depth of emotion and paired with his thought bubbles, I felt we got a good handle on what sort of character he is and what his motivations are. The same could be said of Dan Dare. He is learning about himself live on the page, giving us an insight into how he thinks he should act. Dan Dare is my lowest-rated strip this week through no fault of its own. The other strips are all running at a high level at the moment, and perhaps my view of Dare only suffered through reading fatigue by the time I reached his story. There has been a lot of talk on the page thus far, and next week that should turn into action as this Dan Dare story is worked into something substantial that I can really grab onto. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "You mean...I'm some kind of...law enforcement officer?" 

Prog 101 final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story: Ro-Busters

Best Line: "You'll never walk alone!"    

Best Panel: