Prog 110

Dredd is back. After taking a sabbatical last week, he returns after the Judge Cal story with a one-shot story that kicks ass and reminds us exactly what Dredd is all about. It's a punchy start to a great issue and with all the other stories giving us an array of beautiful art, this is an issue that looks as good as it reads. I thought I may have been losing interest in this blog, but the last two months have been an eye-opener, and I am convinced I'll be doing this for several more years to come. 

Prog 110

28th April 1979 

Judge Cal is gone, but Judge Dredd still has challenges in Mega-City One. Previously under Judge Cal, law and order has broken down too far and there are parts of the city where even Judges fear to venture. 

The Cosmic Punks have taken over part of the city, and are now dispensing their own form of justice. Chief Judge Griffin decides that the real Judges need to deal with this quickly, and one of his advisors thinks that an assault squad of fifty men should be enough. Dredd disagrees and asks that he alone be sent to tackle the problem. 

Dredd approaches the Cosmic Punks barricades, riding the front of a garbage truck. He tells the punks manning the barricades that they are under arrest, and when they offer token resistance he quickly subdues them with some sharp shooting and cutting dialogue. 

The punk prisoners are chained up in the garbage truck and Dredd continues his advance into the sector.  Using his years of experience, training, and clever weaponry, Dredd makes good ground, and soon the truck is filled with chained-up prisoners. 

Soon enough Dredd's truck is smashing through the wall and into the room of Gestapo Bob, leader of the Comsic Punks. The confrontation is brief, and soon Bob has also surrendered, but not before Dredd makes him offer up a reluctant "I'm a cheap punk"

Thus, law and order are restored and the strip ends with Dredd banishing the Comic Punks from the city for a minimum of ten years. 

Although not on the same high level as the previous week's story, this still gave us a beefy one-shot story that delivered big on art and great lines from Dredd. I wasn't enamoured by the plot, although that was secondary to everything else that was going on. It was great to see Dredd back to delivering his dialogue with conviction, while his words were backed up by the fierce artwork. This issue looked better than anything we saw in the previous ten weeks and Bolland seems to have gone up a gear in his work, if that is even possible. The week's break from Dredd was worth it, and once again we dropped immediately back into his immersive universe. Everything seems alot more sure-footed than it did a year ago, and Dredd continues to go from strength to strength. After reading this, I am again ready to drop into a longer storyline and some more new characters, and I have a feeling that next week might just give me that.   

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "I'm a cheap punk!" 

Robo-Hunter Sam Slade has created a final solution for the robot wars on the planet Verdus, and as the Second Army surrounds them he unleashes his ultimate weapon. 

The oscillator weapon works and as its signals spread out across the battlefield, the robots are destroyed where they stand. 

Across several pages, we see all the different robots we have met over the the previous weeks die in various situations. 

Surveying the damage he has wrought, Slade offers that it is a shame that Boots and Smokin' Joe also had to perish in the carnage. 

At that moment they notice that Smokin' Joe is twitching, and investigating further they find that he has survived the blast and there is a chance that he could be saved. This is down to the fact that his circuitry is so old that it is able to withstand the weapon in Slade's hands. The strip ends with Slade asking for his tools, thinking that if he works fast he might be able to save him. 

This was slower-paced than normal, and the story got extra gravitas with the time we were able to spend with each character. The demise of each robot we had met was handled well, and it felt fitting that we were able to be there at the end for each one. Some I was pleased to say goodbye to, but overall there was sadness as each died in their own poignant moment. The plot may have come to an end, yet I read on with interest as Slade attempts to save Smokin' Joe. I'm not sure how much drama can be wrung out of a man operating on a robot, I guess we'll find out next as the story wraps up. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "I should waste my time on those shmucks! A thunder-bolt to strike them down, that's what we need. My life! We should be so lucky!" 

Strontium Dog has a blazing start, with the first page devoted to the River Inferno, and Johnny Alpha burning within it. There is no death in hell, only an eternity of pain, and so it is no surprise to see Johnny eventually pull his blazing body from the river of fire.

Getting to his feet, Johnny acts quickly, and soon he has pulled Wulf and Gronk from the river. Johnny is surprised when he sees the Preacher standing next to him, now that they have left the city of Lost Souls, all the the Preacher's green sores have healed. There is also a new character with them, trucker Don Dork, who had been stuck on the river for two years until Johnny pulled him out with Wulf and Gronk. 

The way out of this world lies at the Black Citedal. Johnny and his friends set off, with their prisoner Fly's Eyes safely cuffed up with them. However the Preacher wouldn't be coming with them, he wishes to stay to escort others across the River Inferno, and in their final act, Johnny and Wulf cast him back into the river. Turning away from the river, the Black Citadel lies on the horizon, and the odd assortment of characters begins their journey across the desert towards it.  

An interesting issue, and we had some great art paired with new characters and dialogue. Trucker Don Dork is unlike any other character in Strontium Dog. He looks different, he talks differently, and his normality of being a working-class trucker feels completely alien not just in this story, but in the comic as a whole. Pulling him from the river was a little too convenient, but I liked him immediately and liked that we got him straight into the main story with very little need for an explanation or back story. This motley band is now quite diverse, and I can see a lot of potential for different combinations and teamwork, along with possible conflicts. It makes the story open-ended, and if the plot continues to unfold as it has been, we should be in for a wild ride. The first colour page looked wonderful, and I was happy to see that later in the story the art remained consistently strong. It all feels much bigger recently (perhaps I have been wearing my glasses more) and with each issue I read I find myself falling deeper into the story being told. Strontium Dog got off to a slow start on these pages, but now we are deep into something special, and it is beginning to challenge Dredd as my favourite.   

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Fools! they will burn forever!"

Dan Dare is leading a band of Lystrian guerillas in an attempt to enter the city of Eternium and reclaim the legendary crystal of life. 

Their attack looks to be stalling as a force barrier blocks the gate but with the help of Sondar, Dare is able to scale the wall and disable the barrier with some well-placed hand-bombs. 

The gate is cleared, and victory belongs to the Lystrians. However, this is only the very start of their mission, and they pick their way slowly through parts of the ruined city. Looking at the Thaxian soldiers looking for them, the Lystrians can see they are out armed. The Lystrian Princess, Myriad, tells Dare they need a weapon, and she knows where they can get one.

She points out the dome of Eterium, high on a tower. Here, in a secret chamber, lies the device that could prove decisive. 

Dare ascends the tower in an elevator, accompanied by Sondar and Princess Myriad. At the top of the tower, they face trouble as a Thraxian approaches and calls the alarm. On a screen far away, the Mekon watches on, eager to see them destroy each other and leave the way clear for him to steal the crystal for himself. 

The story moved quickly this issue, with large panels filling each page making for a fast read. No complaints from me there, the art looked bold and strong, and I enjoyed reading something a little less dense than Dredd and some of the other stories. I am enjoying the story, although at times it does feel like things are falling into place too easily. The battle of the gate wasn't as intense as one might expect, and although I expected Dare to win, the manner in which he achieved it felt lowkey and almost like a cheat code. The rest of the story was similar, with them easily reaching the tower and the device that may win the day. Even the final encounter doesn't seem too serious, and I expect that Dare will easily dispatch his opponent in the next issue. These all sound like a lot of complaints. They're not, I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of Dan Dare at the moment, and just like last week it is Princess Myriad that puts an exclamation mark on it all. She highlights just how good the artwork is and adds a character to the page that stands head and shoulders above anything else. I don't know what I want from the plot, but I definitely want more artwork and characters like this. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Die you, pathetic Lystrian swamp-lice!" 

Ro-Busters have discovered the contact they need to escape to freedom at crossing twenty-seven. Here the traffic control robot, named Gottlieb, is the one they need to reach, and when they approach him they find he has been expecting them for some time. 

They arrange to rendezvous later at Greasy Gracies, and after parting company, the Ro-Busters continue to talk among themselves. Robot Casey isn't convinced that escaping is right for him. He is worried about being in the clutches of Doctor Feely Good again and thinks that he may continue to pass himself off as a human rather than escape to the robot planet. The rest of the chatter continues with little Mo telling his story and how he came to be with the Ro-Busters. It's a story of mistreatment and bullying that climaxes with the accidental death of a human. 

The gang reach Greasy Gracies and finds it's a happening club for robots. However, little do they know that they have been observed by the robot who fought with Ro-Jaws in the last issue, and this robot is currently selling the information to a team of soldiers. 

What a great character Gottlieb is. He talks like a Chicago version of Ro-Jaws and adds a lot of sass to the page. He oozed personality, and he more than made up for some of the other robots that I hadn't warmed up to. I appreciate Casey's role in the story, but he is one of the robots that I am alluding to, and as much as I feel sorry for him, I never latched on to anything likeable about him. Gottlieb is highly unpleasant, yet he is a joy to read, and every line he uttered had me smiling. The way he treated the traffic and drivers (and later we learnt that he's not even doing it officially) was a hoot, and as someone who has worked in customer service, I was a little envious that he had the courage to do that. With his appearance the story shifted, and it was hard to return to only the Ro-Busters later in the story. The story seemed too slow, and as much as I enjoyed Mo's back story, it felt out of place at this moment. I'm not sure where else it could have been shoehorned in, but it certainly didn't add anything to this issue. The final panels suggest that things will get spicy next week, and the final panel with the soldiers looking out at us and preparing to move was one of the best of the strip. I would have clipped here if only Gottlieb had not stolen my heart earlier, as indeed he stole the whole strip.    

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Up yer hooter, buddy! I'm having my oil break!"

Prog 110 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Harsh, but necessary. Let them serve as an example. Let every man know that citizenship is a privilege - not a right!"

Best Panel: