Prog 127

The Christmas rush has arrived. The last week at work has been insane, so much so that I completely forgot that this week sees the introduction of several new stories in 2000 A.D. With Tornado being merged into 2000 A.D. we now have three new stories to digest - Blackhawk, Woldie Smith, and Captain Klep. I won't be giving Captian Klep any time here, it is your standard light comedy fare on a single page, and based on the first instalment it doesn't feel a good fit for the comic. Blackhawk and Wofie Smith are far more intriguing, and although neither gets off to a fast start in this particular issue, I am curious to see how they will develop. A change is as good as a holiday, and with that in mind, I shall embrace the first issue with the joy of the first day of a vacation. The possibilities of many a good time lay ahead of us, all we have to do is get on board and see what happens.  

Prog 127

25th August 1979 

Judge Dredd remains the standard by which all other stories are judged, and this week doesn't disappoint with a heavy fog descending upon Mega-City One. 

Like the pea-souplers of old London, it blankets the city, bringing new dangers to the streets. We have a taste of what these dangers entail when a cloaked man emerges from the mist, killing a young woman with talk of putting her in a pie. 

Dredd is soon on the case, and using the infrared beam on his bike he finds the murderer. The following fight is shortlived, and Dredd has his man - a robot Sweeny Todd. The clue to where he has come from is found in his top hat- a label from the Chamber of Horrors. 

The Chamber of Horrors is in the middle of the fog district. Dredd arrives and finds robot clones of Burke and Hare, the bodysnatchers, at work. They lead him to their master, and Dredd overhears him complaining that they can't get anything right - he wants money, not more bodies. 

At this point, Dredd intercedes and finds himself fighting other figures from the past, including the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Another fight ensues and Dredd triumphs, defeating the robot and arresting the citizen behind the crimes. 

This was a very tight story, with plenty of glorious panels scattered throughout the tale. There wasn't too much to the plot, but that hardly mattered as the story gave us drama, action, and a suitable outcome, all across six pages. With little happening as far as exposition goes, there was a lot of space for the art of Bolland to breathe, and with large panels and clean lines, his work dominated the story. The first image set the scene, and I immediately thought of Victorian London, long before it was alluded to later in the story.  

With an interesting array of villains, all recognisable from history, the story didn't need to introduce us to each crook, and we already had a good sense of how each one operated. This sped up the story considerably, and the sight of the hunchback climbing the bell tower felt part of the story while giving us a nice shorthand of what was happening. 

I am rating this story highly as there was no fat on the story, it moved quickly, and it all looked superb on the page   

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "No! No! No! How many times do I have to tell you two? I sent you out to get money, not bodies!"

Blackhawk is a new story for me, and I like what I see so far.  

This is a Gladiator story writ large.  Blackhawk is a Nubian Centurian, fighting for the Roman Empire when he is beamed to a mysterious spaceship. 

There he is presented with a challenge, and after fighting off several drones, two aliens come forward to introduce themselves. They quickly lay out the story of how they gather warriors from across the universe, bringing them together to fight for the entertainment of the masses. 

Blackhawk refuses to become a part of this, he would rather die free than become a slave, and it looks as though he will fall on his own sword. However, as he is about to do so, the aliens bring forth what would have been his first opponent, and seeing what a challenge it presents, Blackhawk decides he will indeed fight against the monstrous challenger. 

This wasn't quite what I expected, and I do wonder if it was previously a story set in Roman times reengineered to give it a sci-fi angle. A better man would go and do some research. I'm not going to do that as I insist on reading these stories as I would have done in 1979 with no internet and no way of knowing what was going on outside of the very comic in my hand. 

I like the idea of alien gladiators and the different scenarios that may present. The ultimate would be to have an uprising and a variety of aliens fighting together. Whether it or not that happens remains to be seen, but there is that seed of an idea in my head. 

The artwork started strongly, and although it's only my first taste of the strip I already have a good sense of the characters and the feel of the story. I am excited to see that it is Belardinelli on art duties, and his unique style is immediately apparent. This bodes well for future issues and paired with an original storyline, there should be plenty of scope for him to let his imagination run wild. 

Early days, but we have a firm beginning, and with a solid concept and some thought-provoking characters, we may well be in for a thrilling ride.    

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "We seek men like you, Nubian...men to whom fighting is a way of life...men who are not afraid to die!"

It seems the war against the Vogans has been won, as on the first page of A.B.C. Warriors we see Steelhorn bringing vengeance upon Marshal Vogod. Steelhorn is the seventh and last A.B.C. Warrior and several days later Hammer-Stein attempts to have him join the team. 

Steelhorn refuses to join despite losing the fight against Hammer-Stein. He tells Hammer-Stein that he is sick of war and is now a pacifist. He backs this up by leaving the army and setting forth to become a fireman instead. 

In the demob camp he hands over his weapons and enters cubicle "A" where he is told he will find out about becoming a fireman. It is a trap and he is instead melted down in a fusion furnace. 

However, this is not the end of Steelhorn, or the story, as he survives as a hideous, bubbling, metallic mess. In the final panel of the story, we see this mess making its way upstairs and toward the manager's office. 

An unexpected pivot this week, and I was caught off guard as I saw the war against the Volgans was over. Just as it looked as though the A.B.C. Warriors had assembled a team worthy of the opponents, it all came to a sudden end. 

The new direction the story is taking is of some interest, although it does feel as if we are starting over. We saw none of the other warriors, bar Hammer-Stein, in this issue, and the focus was very much on Steelhorn. How this will play out in future issues is a mystery. There is some intrigue, but it is hardly on the same level as what has come before and it does feel like a different comic. 

It's hard to make any sort of judgment on what we have here. It's not like the A.B.C. warriors of old, yet it hasn't quite grown into the skin of what it could become. Everything is up in the air at the moment, and we don't know what we have on our hands here until next week, guaranteeing that I'll be back for more. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "I wanted to help humans...but now - now I curse you all!"

Another new story for me next as I clap my eyes on Wolfie Smith for the first time. 

Wolfie has a powerful brain that lets him move objects by thinking about them, pass examinations with ease, and predict the future. 

He is an outcast from a young age, all his childhood problems come to a head when he is sixteen years old and his parents insist he see a head doctor. It's all too much for him, and in a blast of frustrated mental energy he destroys half his street. 

Running away, he takes a job on a building site. He doesn't last long, and although he saves the life of a worker from a collapsing scaffold, he loses his job as the other workers find him too creepy. 

In Redford, a little town in East Anglia, he finds a situation vacant ad that looks promising. However, he is interrupted and a car crashes next to him. From the vehicle emerges a wild-eyed figure who is on the run from the police. Smith daren't get involved, but his ESP picks up another powerful brain which is giving the man instruction. While Smith watches on, the man begins to climb up the side of a building, with the voice telling the man that once he reaches the top he must jump off and destroy himself.

Another new story for me, and it doesn't move my needle one way or another. It was interesting enough to meet Wolfie Smith and see his powers at work, but I never felt invested in the character. One may have expected a character like this to provoke some sympathy from the reader, but he was neither here nor there as far as I was concerned, and I read the story with indifference. 

Once again it is early days, and I'm not writing the story off just because I didn't warm to it immediately. I need to spend some time with the story, and I would like to see Smith use more of his powers and get a feel for what he is going to do with his abilities. I like the thought that he is an outcast, and the story is leaning into a conflict with an equally powerful being who for now remains unknown. With questions hanging over the being, and what Smith might do next, there is plenty to keep the reader on the hook, and by the end of the issue, I should have a much firmer handle on who Wolfie Smith is and how I feel about him. 

Rating: 6/10

Best line: "With a brain like mine I reckon I could do almost anything! Maybe even a millionaire..!"

On the pages of Disaster 1990, Bill Savage still hasn't left London, despite threatening to do so for several issues now. 

This week it's a black marketeer who keeps him in town. Savage comes across this man when his vehicle breaks down while trapped in currents near a tube station, While Bill sits helpless, Slick Sam, a spiv if ever I saw one, appears with a boat advertising all sorts of wares a survivor might require. 

Slick Sam tells Savage that if he comes to the town hall that night, he can buy whatever he needs. Savage takes up this offer and arriving at the town hall he finds other survivors all paying what they can for the items Slick Sam has. 

Bill is unhappy with the situation, but hands over his gun in return for the parts he needs. After Sam departs, Savage gathers the other survivors and they decide they need to find Slick Sam's warehouse and put an end to this. 

Savage has one clue, a piece of turf found on the bottom of one of the items, and they realise that Sam's storehouse must be at Wembley Stadium. 

Savage goes there with the others in tow, and they find Sam's barge tied up at the edge of the terraces. Bill confronts him, and reclaiming his gun he and the others grab as much of the provisions as they can. 

While they do this, the Professor surveys the stadium. Running toward Savage, he warns that the Stadium is unstable, but it is already too late and in the final panel we see one of the walls collapsing and a whirlpool forming, trapping the survivors and threatening to drown them all. 

A solid issue, and despite some dramatic images on the final page, one that lacked much in the way of spectacular. It was all pretty standard fare, and from the first moment we saw Sam Slick we had a pretty good idea of what was about to unfold. 

Bill Savage did what he usually does, righting the wrongs with his trusty shotgun in hand, and although there was drama on the final page to carry us through to the next week, it didn't reach the thrill factor of some of the other stories. We have been strung along now for several weeks by the thought of Bill Savage leaving London and heading towards Oxford. In fact, he was quite explicit about it on the page three weeks ago, yet here we are still battling around famous London landmarks. It does feel like some good ideas came after the seed had already been planted, and the creative team has had to double back to cross off some of these ideas. I can't blame them for that, the last few weeks have been good, although hardly taxing, reading. There is a world of possibilities out there, yet Savage is still caught in the current of London-centric stories. Next week we should see him escape Wembley, but I am beginning to wonder, can he escape London?  

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Hold it lads - you've got what you need and it's enough punishment for him." 

Prog 127 final ratings:

Overall: 6.5/10

Best Story: Judge Dredd

Best Line: "Nothing survives the fusion furnace- hotter than a hundred suns! You ABC warriors won the war - but you've served your purpose...now die, Steelhorn!"

Best Panel: