Great news for all readers - next week Tornado will be joining the pages of 2000 A.D. I know very little of Tornado, but a sneaky look at next week's issue reveals some curious characters and wild adventures. To welcome in the new, we must first bid farewell to some old friends. This week sees Project Overkill come to an end, while Dan Dare is put on ice until a later date. Both these stories are at critical points as one wonders how they can both be wrapped up in a manner that is satisfying and fulfilling. In past issues, stories often have a rushed conclusion to make way for the next, and it remains to be seen if that will be the case in this particular issue.
Prog 126
18th August 1979
The opening lines of Judge Dredd tell us that he is about to embark on one of the strangest cases in his career, a hefty statement given the number of strange tales we have already encountered in the Dredd universe over the first one hundred and twenty-five Progs.
A talking cat approaches Dredd, asking him to save his friend Monty, a guinea pig, from certain death at Mega-labs. Although Dredd appreciates the awful situation the lab animals find themselves in, he tells the cat that he can do nothing as it is all within the law. The appearance of Doctor Galt seals the deal as he angrily puts the cat in a cage and tells Dredd that it's his lab and he decides when the lab animals die.
As he leaves, Dredd is left thinking that something doesn't quite sit right with Dr. Galt's attitude. Some quick googling research shows that Dr. Galt is a specialist on ancient diseases and also a novelist - with his novel being about a maniac blackmailing the city by recreating the common cold.
All the pieces fall into place, and Dredd races back to the lab. Here he confronts Galt, who is about to kill Monty the guinea pig. In Galt's hand is a vial of the common cold he has recreated. With the cold being gone for a hundred years, no one has immunity and Galt is planning on blackmailing the city for all he can.
Holding the vial and threatening to unleash the biological weapon, Galt has the upper hand as Dredd approaches. However, the cat still has a part to play and jumps at Galt's face. Galt drops the vial, while Dredd jumps clears and closes the door behind him. In the contaminated room, Galt dies from the common cold while Dredd watches through the window.
The final washout sees a new law passed - "The Dredd Act" which bans animal experimentation, and Monty the guinea pig given to Walter the Wobot for safekeeping.
I was delighted to see this story was drawn by John Cooper, and he delivered to his usual high standard. His depiction of the cat was particularly noteworthy and the panels of the cat talking to the Dredd were amongst my personal favourites. The story itself felt very much of its time, and reading it reminded me that we don't hear so much about animal rights anymore as other causes push to the front. In light of the previous stories it felt lighter, and Dr Galt was no match for some of the other extravagant criminals that Dredd has encountered. It didn't matter too much, as the story remained tight, and got us to a satisfying conclusion quickly while moving us through a range of emotions. It's not a great Dredd story, but certainly a good one, although the Cat stole every panel he was in, and Dredd played second fiddle in his own strip.
Rating: 7/10
Best line: "Big tough Judge Dredd! The toughest lawman in Mega-city One! What a phony! You ain't even got enough power to save a guinea pig!"
.png)
Last week it looked like we were leaving London in Disaster 1990, but this week's strip sees Bill Savage and Bamber have one final adventure before leaving the capital.
Savage and Bamber find themselves in a flooded zoo, where the alligators have devoured the other animals. Trapped on the roof of the reptile house, they hit upon the idea of using the zoo's power generator to electrify the water and electrocute the alligators.
Things don't go smoothly, and instead of the generator room, Savage inadvertently finds himself above a tropical aquarium full of piranha. He avoids a mishap, but the piranha escape and quickly solves the problem of the alligators- attacking them in numbers and devouring the large reptiles.
Savage and Bamber now have a piranha problem, and press on with their plan of electrifying the water. This time Savage is successful in reaching the generator, and the plan succeeds.
With the waters now cleared of alligators and piranha, Savage and Bamber press on toward Oxford.
This was a nice change of pace for Disaster 1990, and with no other human interaction, the focus remained tightly on Bill Savage and Professor Bamber. I was surprised at first, last week I thought the other survivors would be travelling with them, but the story was streamlined this week, and for my money, it worked much better. We had more quality time with Bill Savage, and some of his cutting dialogue began to emerge from the story. The action was cleaner, and in comparison to previous weeks, it was far more inventive and fun. This originality helped elevate the story, and although I was apprehensive about the thought of Savage leaving London, I can now see the possibilities it may present. We did see a similar thread in Invasion! when we first met Bill Savage. In that story, he initially fought the Volgans in London, before heading into the countryside, and once it got out of London the story lifted. I expect the same shall happen this time around, and I'm quietly confident for the next few issues. Like Dredd earlier, this was a solid story, but we can do better, and I expect the next few issues to be more to my taste.
Rating: 7/10
Best line: "Okay, Bamber- this stretch of water's safe now...and we've had our day out at the zoo!"
Programmed to enjoy combat, the A.B.C. Warriors are in their element, and by taking control of one of the "Daddy-Long-Legs" vehicles they win the battle. All they need to do now is shoot General Blackblood through the heart so he can be reprogrammed to join them.
General Blackblood has seized a child as a hostage, but even so, Joe Pineapples manages to get a shot off, taking down General Blackblood without killing the child.
Reporting back to their human officer they are told there is one more warrior to recruit, and this seventh one will be the hardest of them all.
There was a lot going on here, with plenty of dialogue and drama hung off the simple story premise. The presence of the teacher, Miss Sweet, added a different angle to the story and allowed us to see the warriors through fresh eyes. She didn't take any real part in the story, but she was on hand on every page to offer her view of events and to remind us that these are fighting robots programmed only to kill. Even the normally sympathetic character of Hammer-Stein looked different in this context and the dialogue between him and Miss Sweet was the best in the comic and gave the story a heart. I was a little disappointed that the Volgan soldiers and jungle fighting didn't feature as much as promised last week, and the first half of the story felt rushed as the A.B.C. Warriors quickly fought their way out of the ambush. However, this was balanced by the aforementioned role that Miss Sweet took, and over all the story felt far more balanced. It could have easily become a typical war comic plot, but instead, it was something more and the story felt fresh as we head into the next chapter. The squad still hasn't been assembled, and I'm wondering what next week holds, all good things as I keep turning the pages in search of the answers to the questions this story keeps raising.
Rating: 7.5/10
Best line: "You disgust me, Sergeant..! For a moment I thought you were different...now I see you're like all the others...a walking death machine!"
Kenny Harris finally finds himself face to face with Number One of Project Overkill. Number One is the supercomputer at the heart of it all, although he has the same human fault that many Bond villains have and outlines his plan to take over the world to Harris.
Number One has taken control of the computers of all the major Nuclear plants across the United States, and they will be detonated within an hour, wiping out all mankind.
Number One goes even further, telling Harris that the only way that Number One can be destroyed lies within, but to enter that room is certain death as it carries a radiation shield.
This doesn't deter Harris, and after a fight with several guards, in which he is shot many times, Harris manages to enter the room and destroy everything in sight. Ten minutes later he leaves and finds where the passengers and crew of his hijacked airliner are held, and together they fight off the guards surrounding his plane.
A hair-raising take-off sees them fly clear just as the mountain and all of Project Overkill are destroyed in a massive explosion. Half an hour later the co-pilot tries to rouse Harris from his sleep, but there is no response. Calling the doctor over, they find that Harris is dead, although, for the first time, they can see he is smiling. With that, the plane lands, and the story ends.
Even as it finished, Project Overkill still left me with plenty of questions. Harris suffered terrible wounds from the guards pistols, yet he was still able to enter the main computer room and then later find the passengers, and take off in the plane. In fact, later in the story, we see him easily and swiftly walk across the page. He also entered the highly radiated room, yet he didn't pass on this radiation to other passengers or those around him. Putting this aside, the story ended as we always knew it would, although it did begin to resemble a Bond film rather than an X-Files episode that it earlier appeared to be. Having the computer tell Harris the master plan was a little silly and did undo some of the menace of the earlier issues. It was necessary for the reader to understand the wider plot, although I wonder if it could have been done in a more nuanced way. This was not the best issue of Project Overkill, and although it had some good action and plot points, it did feel like a rushed finish. I have said that several times before about other stories, and I understand it is all part of the medium, but just a single extra issue in this case could have given us a far more satisfying ending and a finale worthy of such an intriguing story. This piqued my curiosity from the start and it's with regret that the story didn't finish as strongly as it started.
Rating: 7.5/10
Best line: "This man is dead. It's strange, but in all we've been through, this is the first time I've seen him smile."
On the satellite world of Topsoil, Dan Dare and Sondar found the Krulgan who framed them as traitors, only to see him killed by a strange woman named Morag.
Dan is angry that she has killed their chance of proving their innocence, and begins to question her. She seems to know a lot about Dare and tells him that she has been following him, hoping that he would lead her to the Krulgan.
There is little time for them to finish this conversation as the police arrive on the scene. Dare stuns Morag with a blast from his cosmic claw, and scooping her up, he and Sandor run from the police. Making their way to the spaceport, they make good on their escape and are soon safe in space. There Morag awakes, and she tells Dare her story of how she came to be entangled with the Krulgan. The Krulgan had been mining in the mountains near her village, and venturing down from the mountains the Krulgan had made trouble in the village. Morag's husband asked for them to behave themselves, and for his troubles he was murdered in cold blood and thus began Morag's long quest for vengeance.
The strip ends at this point, with the three outcasts flying deeper into space and Dare promising to find the Mekon who holds the key to his freedom.
Dan Dare takes a break next week, and I can't say I'll be too sorry about it. The plot is good, there are interesting characters and some fantastic artwork, but the story never quite comes together as it should. This week was a good example of that. The introduction of the new character of Morag was handled well, and already she catches the eye with her striking look and feisty style, yet the story failed her as she merely delivered dialogue while Dare ran from action to action. The final third of the story was weak, and one could see the story being rapidly taken to a point where it could safely be put on hold until it could return. The cosmic claw is still too powerful, and while it's in his hands Dare can easily blast his way out of any situation. I never feel he is in as much trouble as he makes out, and he always has this "get out of jail free card" near at hand. Hopefully, when Dare returns we will get plenty more of Morag, and with the promise of the Mekon in the future, the drama of the strip should rise considerably. Dan Dare is a legacy character and deserves better than what we see here, and although I'm feeling down about where we are right now, I still remain optimistic for the future and am quietly looking forward to meeting the new stories next week.
Rating: 6.5/10
Best line: "Flee, if you must...but my work is done! I am resigned to what'er fate awaits me!"
Prog 126 final ratings:
Overall: 7/10
Best Story: A.B.C. Warriors
Best Line: "Yeah...I'm a living weapon...when I pull my trigger- I kill! War robots don't do nothin' else!"
Best Panel:
No comments:
Post a Comment