Prog 125

It's a hot summer day and the cricket is on. Makes it kinda hard to justify sitting inside with my old comics. Writing a blog seemed a great idea in the middle of winter with a heavy ale in hand, not so much in summer with a gin calling my name. Still, 2000 A.D. is a great comic, and Prog 125 bares that out with a stunning array of stories and characters, all of whom draw me into their world for the next half hour as I ignore the lure of the outside world.   

Prog 125

11th August 1979 

Judge Dredd may have seen the volcano threatening Maga-City One plugged, but he now faces a raft of new problems including the man-eating plants that have broken loose. The worst of these plants is the Bloodplant, calling victims to it with its hypnotic wail. 

Outside the botanical garden, Dredd is rounding up the invading Muties, including the Cosmic Punks who he clashed with several months ago. It looks as though Father Earth's invasion of the city has failed, but we see him calling for one last sign that he is on the right path. At that moment he hears the wail of the Bloodplant. Hearing it as the voice of God, he begins to lead the remaining followers toward the Botanical gardens. 

Entering the gardens, several of Father Earth's followers are devoured, but he continues towards the great plant. Dredd isn't too far behind, although he has taken the precaution of having music pumped into his helmet so he cannot hear the Bloodplant.

There is no surprise in the final quarter of the comic as Father Earth is devoured by the plant as he approaches. As Dredd drily comments, he is now at one with nature.

This was the perfect ending to what has been a wild ride of a story. In the early episodes we saw Father Earth, but it wasn't until this final chapter that he really came into his own, and he brought the best lines and scenes to this issue. The sight of him walking calmly toward the blood plant was a highlight, and the artwork captured the moment and the feeling wonderfully. Like Father Earth himself, I moved hypnotically through the story, and the ending had me caught in its tendrils every bit as much as Father Earth. The story has been strong throughout, and although there were a couple of wobbly moments, this ending erased those from my mind. There were a lot of details on these pages, all of which took time to properly read and devour, and this made the story feel more substantial than it otherwise deserved. It never reached the epic scale of some of the previous stories, but it did elevate itself above the recent one-offs and certainly sits a lot higher than some of the short stories that appeared earlier in the run a couple of years ago. A shame that we won't see Father Earth again, I quite liked him as a villain, but no doubt there is a vast rogue gallery ahead of us in the coming years, and I shall digest each one as it comes.  

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "A sick prophet gone to join his sick God. Who can say that isn't justice?"

We are off to a fast start in Disaster 1990 as Bill Savage and other survivors are on the run from convicts in fast motor boats. 

In an effort to outrun them, Savage ditches all the supplies they have with them - most of it luxury foods from Harrods. 

Seeing a sunken petrol station, Savage has an idea. He sends down two men into the water, one upper class and one working class, to turn on the fuel pumps as he waits for the convicts to catch up with them. 

The rest plays out as one may expect. The convicts arrive and find their boats surrounded by highly inflammable fuel. Savage ignites it and the convicts and their boats are destroyed, all except the leader. As the upper-class and working-class heroes congratulate each other, Savage pulls the last convict on board his vessel, only for the convict to pull a knife.

Savage reacts quickly, knocking the man out and the focus of the story changes as the professor salvages a car radio from the garage below. Using the radio, they pick up signals from Oxford and the strip ends with Savage pointing their boat in that direction, wondering if the countryside will be any better than the city.

As in previous weeks, this was a story with interesting characters, and a solid plot line, which never quite delivered in the way it should. Savage still isn't back to his snappy best, and although the crooks were dealt with innovatively, it still felt flat. On the plus side, we did have a nice tie-in between the two classes working together, and the line that they are like oil and water led us to the eventual outcome of the story. It was a clever idea, only let down by the lack of dynamics on the page. I liked the story, yet I walked away frustrated. I have read other comics covering similar ground as this, and they carried me along week after week with a single thread running through the story. This story doesn't have that. There is no overarching goal for Bill Savage and the survivors, they are just stumbling along week after week with a real plan of where they should be going and what they should be doing. That may change with the radio, and more people calling in Oxford, but without a spine running through the story, it all feels a bit limp and tepid. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Whew! Up yer come, toffee-nose! You didn't do too bad!"

We don't see the A.B.C. Warriors on the first page of their own strip, rather the strip begins showing us a missionary school being destroyed in what became known as the Bougainville Massacre. 

Walking death machines stride through the village, killing all ahead of them and ably backed by Volgan jungle robots known as Straw Dogs. All these forces of evil are led by General Blackblood who we meet over the page and looks as his name might suggest. 

Not far away, the A.B.C. Warriors are approaching one very simple mission - shoot General Blackblood with a sniper's rifle and bring him back so their scientists can delete the evil parts of his robot mind and utilise his guerilla warfare expertise.  

The A.B.C. Warriors come across the site of the massacre and find one survivor in the rubble, a woman teacher from the school. Taking her with them, they begin to move deeper into the Jungle. Hammer-Stein warns them to be careful as Blackblood is an expert in camouflage, but little do they know that even as he speaks they are walking into a trap. 

We learned a lot, although not a lot happened to the A.B.C. Warriors in this episode. The introduction to General Blackblood was thorough, and not only did we meet the General, but we also had some insight into his methods and the weapons being used in the jungle war. The Straw Dogs looked great, and added a new interest on the page, while the Volgan Daddy Long-legs were as deadly and sinister as one might expect. General Blackblood himself looked as every bit scary as you might expect, and the way he spoke helped emphasise this. We also had a woman enter the story, and this helped balance up a lot of the testosterone on the page. With that thought. I also note we had an air hostess appear in Project Overkill, and although neither woman had a leading role, both did help break up the non-stop boys own action. The artwork remained strong, and although a couple of panels early on weren't clear, the very best panels were crisp and clean, especially the one I have chosen for the best panel in the comic. The forthcoming jungle action promises much, and we are starting to see quite a diverse range of robots working together. Just like the best war movies, this will give us contrasting points of view, and action on the page, making for an interesting read no matter which way we go. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Rip my rivets, Sarge! You want that maniac Blackblood to join our squad?"

Kenny Harris, with the help of U.S.A.F. doctor Peter Schaefer, has stolen a military aircraft and located the secret location of Project Overkill. However, they are surrounded by four highly advanced aircraft and seemingly have little choice but to surrender. 

Harris has one card left to play, and suddenly cuts the engines and lowers the flaps of the aircraft. One of the following aircraft crashes into him and both aircraft plunge downwards.

Harris has no options and aims for Project Overkill, hoping to destroy it in a firey crash. It's then that Project Overkill reveals just how powerful it is, bringing his aircraft to a halt with a powerful beam and lowering it into the mountain. 

In the halls of Project Overkill, Harris and Doctor are led away. They come across one of Harris's former air hostesses, but she has been brainwashed and doesn't respond to Harris's questions. In a rage, he strikes out at a nearby guard and is shot with a stun gun. The guard tells the doctor that Harris will now be taken to meet Number One, head of Project Overkill. 

I could take or leave the opening page of action, and it was only once they were inside the mountain that I became serious about what was happening. Harris is getting close now, but still the comic won't reveal its secrets,. This is a well-paced story, and although we had recognisable characters in this issue, none of them helped Harris with his mission. In fact, the appearance of the air hostess raised more questions than it answered. The action-packed start didn't raise my pulse, but the sight of a sexy air hostess certainly did. It was nice to see a sexy girl in the comic, and after seeing a series of sexy aliens over the last few weeks it was a relief to finally be attracted to someone human. Next week we meet Number One, and I can only assume that the end of the story is near. I hope we can get a few more weeks out of it, but I'm satisfied with our journey to get here and it does feel as if the time is right. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "What had you done to her, you filth! She was part of my team, a good friend..." 

Dan Dare have found themselves in trouble at a dive bar after Sondar punched out a woman. With an angry mob approaching, Sondar explains that it was shapechanging Krulgan, a claim that is borne out as the woman transforms into a large hairy alien before their eyes.

A fight breaks out, with further Krulgans entering the bar. Dare and Sondar kill two of them, but the particular Kulgan they are seeking makes an escape.

In the alley out back, they confront this Krulgan, but he changes into a dog, preparing to escape through the back streets. At that moment a large pterodactyl descends from the sky and tears out the Krulgan's throat. A mysterious woman appears, calling the bird to her. She has had her vengeance, but now Dare's last chance of proving his innocence has gone. 

Another beautiful woman, and although this one is alien, she is the best of the ones we have seen in this comic. The rest of the strip was mundane in my eyes, and it was only the appearance of this woman and her pet in the final panels that saved the day, not only for Dan Dare but for my reading pleasure as well. As always, I love the look of Dan Dare, and although he isn't served with a great story, there is still enough for the artist to give us some beautiful panels. The Krulgans didn't look much on the page, and it was the other aliens that held my interest. Once again we had Dare fighting himself out of a situation only to find himself in another predicament, although this time it is less about fighting and more about what he will do next. For me, this worked much better, and I enjoyed the shocked look on Dare's face as he realised the situation he now finds himself in. The thought of what he might do next, and with a new character to learn about, there are plenty of reasons to come back next week, so I shall do exactly that.  

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "...'tis the abomination that betrayed us!"

Prog 125 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "You'll do nothin', mate - except burn in hell!"

Best Panel: