Prog 131

22nd September 1979, I turned six years old. If memory serves correctly, I got a shiny new bike in an unmissable orange colour. I remember the party well, and I still keep in touch with some of the attendees. From the same date, I have no memory of 2000 A.D. I doubt I could read yet, let alone be interested in a sci-fiction comic. The present was exciting enough without having to consider what might be hidden in the creases of the pages of history ahead.  I doubt I would have enjoyed the party half as much if I knew what the writers of 2000 A.D. thought the future may bring. It's grim, with Dredd and the A.B.C. Warriors leading the charge on a gritty and brutal future. Even in 1990, Bill Savage was struggling, although we have already passed that milestone with nothing worse than Milli Vanilli occurring. However dark the future may appear on the pages of 2000 A.D, there was still humour that carried the day, with a healthy dose of the human soul shining through. Hope is undeniable, and with good men like Judge Dredd and Bill Savage out there, six-year-old Hamish can party on, knowing that the future can always be rewritten.

Prog 131

22nd September 1979 

We learn more about Mega-City One in this week's Judge Dredd, and despite its towering cityblocks it is suffering a housing shortage. 

Eighteen million people live in mobile homes, conveniently called Mo-Pads, in varying degrees of luxury. 

It is a more luxurious one that contains a mystery for Judge Dredd. Dredd observes it driving out of control, and once he gains control of the vehicle, he enters for a look around. 

Inside he finds a dead body in a pool, shot in the head, and after checking the rest of the vehicle he learns the man's name is Randall Hodges and the Mo-Pad has been on autopilot for almost three years. Whoever committed the murder has long since moved on. 

The lone clue is a note, leading Dredd to a TV show called Sob Story. On this show, contestants pour out their hearts, and willing viewers donate money. With 800 million viewers, the money at stake is huge, and Dredd duly goes to the studio to investigate further.  

The host fobs Dredd off, but the law will not be denied, and Dredd gets to interview him. The host remembers the dead contestant well and explains to Dredd that the Randall Hodges address was known to all who watched the show. There are 800 million suspects, and Dredd's final thought is that there may be many more victims circuiting in Mo-Pads.

This was a solid start to Dredd's next adventure. It didn't grab me right from the beginning, but by the final page, I had been sold on the concept and was ready to buy into the adventure. 

The world-building in the opening pages was done swiftly, and although this was my least favourite part of this week's strip, it was absolutely necessary for what came next. The idea that Mega-City One had a housing crisis, just like the modern cities we live in now, rang true and once I got past the concept of the Mo-Pads I wholly embraced the story.

A dead body in a pool draws from film noir, and for once, we have Dredd cast in the role of a gumshoe pursuing a mysterious murderer. With a suspect list of 800 million, he has his work cut out for him, and it will take some detective work next week to narrow this down. Dredd is often a man of action, so seeing how he approaches this case will be interesting. I anticipate some clever futuristic devices will aid him in his search. 

The future is wide open from this point. We have a curious case ahead of us, with some well-considered plot points and characters already. The TV show was instantly believable, especially since we have now lived through the rise of reality-based TV shows, and the host was familiar and realistic. The Dredd writers correctly predicted the future of reality TV in this issue, and I look forward to seeing what else they foresee for both our future and Dredd's.  

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "You don't understand, ducky...the viewers have to know where to send their money. Every contestant's address is shown at the end of the programme!"

Blackhawk and his new friend, Ursa, are facing down Battak, who is about to punish them for their friendship. 

Blackhawk acts fast, breaking one of Battak's talons, and before Battak can strike back the pair are calmed by the appearance of their master. He commands that they fight in the arena where he can make a profit rather than here, and the scene is set for them to face each other at the stadium. 

Although armed with only a sword and shield, Blackhawk gives a good account of himself. He looks to have won the fight when Battak suddenly reveals he has wings, flying above the arena and preparing to dive upon Blackhawk. 

Blackhawk responds by throwing his shield, neatly shearing off Battak's wings. Battak crashes to the ground, and the victorious Blackhawk is commanded to kill him. 

Blackhawk is a man of honour and refuses to do so. As punishment, he is set to face a monster from the planet they are on. The monster must be quite a beast, as Blackhawk is told that it's absurd for him to fight it alone and Ursa will fight by his side. 

Like the previous weeks, the artwork and the fight scenes looked great. However, we are stuck in a loop, and the story isn't moving forward. We finish each week with something bigger coming and another challenge for Blackhawk, but it never moves the plot along and he is merely fighting a different monster each week. 

I still have hopes that this story will become something more than this. I have given it a strong rating based on the enjoyable aspects of the story, with the artwork being particularly noteworthy. However, this will not be enough to sustain my interest over time, and should the story fail to find a second gear my opinion of it will quickly drop. Once again I leave with the final thought that there is a great story to be told in this context and with these fine-looking characters, but it is all being wasted with mindless action week after week.  

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Ursa will help dusky human. We friends! We chop-chop well together!" 

The A.B.C. Warriors have tried to give weapons to the Cyboons so they can defend themselves against the cattlemen who are encroaching on their land. Although Rumpus, son of the leader Bedlam, has done his best to persuade the leader to use the weapons, Bedlam steadfastly refuses. Bedlam does not approve of his son's ways, and when Rumpus resorts to bad language he is shown the exit. 

Rumpus arrives at the cowboy's camp, telling them he wants to join them. For his troubles, he is lynched, and the A.B.C. Warriors watch on horrified. The Warriors realise they cannot defy Bedlam, nor can they fight his battles for him, but they do decide to take a hand in matters. 

The following day the cattlemen attack Bedlam and the Cyboons, intent on extermination. However, they find their weapons ineffective, as someone has switched all their ammunition to blanks overnight. 

Bedlam and the other Cyboons destroy the cowboys in battle, and the strip ends with the few survivors slinking off, with the comment that they are going to spread the word that the A.B.C. Warriors mean business. 

A.B.C. Warriors really delivered this issue and is the best story in this week's comic. Coming off the back of last week's strong setup it delivered an excellent story that built not just on what was told last week, but on the history of the American West. 

The story was engaging, and although we only knew the main characters briefly, we became invested in their story. Everyone roots for an underdog, and even more so when there is an injustice at play. No doubt the cinema would cheer at the sight of the Cyboons fighting the cowboys if this was a movie, and in comic form I found myself punching the air in triumph as the Cyboons attacked with tooth and claw. 

It was the realistic note to the story that gave it heft. The early sight of Rumpus being lynched was sobering and gave the story a weight that made the final panels all the more impactful. It was just after this lynching that I realised that the word 'Cyboon' (shortened to the word 'Boons' by the cowboys) is close to the racial slur 'Coon' and was a punch to the face that made the story jump off the page. 

This was the story I was hoping we would get from the assembled Warriors. We have waited weeks for the team to be assembled, and while that was enjoyable, it was nowhere near as good as what we currently have as the Warriors take on the Martian world. May this be the first of many such stories.   

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "With tooth and claw, my brothers..."

The Mind Of Wolfie Smith starts with a clean slate this week as the events of last week disappear in the rearview mirror. Wolfie is still hitchhiking and finds himself on the back of a motorbike driven by a young man in a hurry.

Wolfie's ESP gives him a premonition as a vision of the bike slamming into another car pops into his mind. Taking control of the situation, Wolfie grabs the bike's handlebars, just in time to avoid an accident with a car coming around the corner. 

Wolfie escapes unharmed, however, both the bike and its rider end up in a pond. The driver of the car, Tara Lawson, stops to chastise them, but Wolife disarms her with a smile, and soon he is seated beside her as she drives to  Druids Meet. She tells Wolfie that she has signed on as an extra for a new horror film being filmed there called "Night Of The Carnivore"

Wolfie decides to sign up because he needs money. However, as they approach Druids Meet, Wolfie picks up vibrations and voices from the stone henge on site and feels that the film unit couldn't have picked a worse place to make the film. 

I found this to be likeable, and a young lady by his side makes Wolfie Smith a much more relatable character. The story got off to a fast start with Wolfie and the speeding motorcycle, but it was Tara Lawson's arrival that really accelerated the story. Wolfie is no longer cast as a loner, despite words to that effect early in the strip, and with an accomplice by his side the scope of the story widens. It remains to be seen if Tara will be a victim or a companion, but the story is coloured by her arrival. 

Wolfie's ESP only made three appearances this week. Two were essential, and the third was a throw-away moment that gave us Tara's name without taking too much of the page to do so. It was first used to foresee the car coming around the corner. This not only saved Wolfie's life but gave us some early action and a reminder of his powers. The second time gave us Tara's name, and the third was in the final panels as he sensed the forces present at Druids Meet. After last week, where it was present in every panel, this was a well-timed change of pace and slowed the story so we could get a measure of Wolfie and his new adventure. This breathed new life into the story, and after the non-stop rush of last week was a timely breather. 

We still have a lot to learn about this place, the horror movie, and the henge itself, so next week promises to deliver a lot of information while giving both drama and mystery. If it all comes together as a fine blend the payoff should be an excellent adventure with a character I am finally warming to.   

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Any way will do me, darlin'...I only thumbed that nutcase 'cos he was the first thing that passed"

Bill Savage and the Oxford survivors of Disaster 1990 are attacked by a vicious flock of Waterfowl. Savage fights them off with his shotgun, proving his worth to the Oxford scholars, but questions remain about where these Waterfowl came from and why they became killers. 

One of the Dons has the answer to the questions. Pointing to a photo of a man surrounded by birds, he explains to Savage that a bird sanctuary is nearby - set up by the university and led by Doctor Pyke. Doctor Pyke has controversial ideas about bird communications, and it is presumed that the floods swept him away.  

Savage agrees to take a group of chemistry students with him to lay poison at the bird's nesting site. They arrive without fuss, and the students leave Savage while they go about their work. However, after several hours, they haven't returned, and Savage sets forth to see what has become of them. 

He is shocked when he finds their dead bodies, and realises that they have been pecked to death by the birds who were waiting in ambush. Savage stealthily makes his way back to his boat, but a second shock awaits him as he finds the birds have roosted on his boat and Doctor Pyke near at hand telling him that he was behind the previous day's bird attack and intends to complete his victory the next day. 

The birds are great in this story and just the sort of problem I want to see Savage overcome. My problem lies with Doctor Pyke, who seems a step too far as far as enemies are concerned. 

To see Savage come up against only the birds would have been enough for me. Doctor Pyke seems unnecessary and only lessens the threat of the birds in my eyes. We already have seen Savage come up against several wild men, and it was a refreshing change to see him fight a natural foe. The Waterfowl have already proven to be tough to beat, and I thought it fitted into the era in which the strip was written. Given that many horror films of the era cover similar ground of wild animals attacking humans (Jaws immediately springs to mind) this was fertile ground for the Disaster 1990 story. Unfortunately, we are now again seeing Savage fighting another human, something that I have already seen too often. 

The most memorable parts of the story were Savage directly confronting the Waterfowl, with the panel of him discovering the dead students the highlight. This was when the horror of what had happened struck home, and put the Waterfowl threat at a new level. It heightened the drama of the following panel as Savage saw the Waterfowl on his vehicle, and ratcheted up the tension. 

This was still a good story, and with a couple of tweaks, I would have liked it even more. Even so, my feeling is we are heading in the right direction and the story should continue to progress at a steady rate.   

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Heck! The whole lot of students - all pecked to death! The birds must have been waitin' in ambush!" 

Prog 131 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: A.B.C.Warriors 

Best Line: "Humans...stink!"

Best Panel:  

Prog 130

I had the thought today that we are rapidly approaching 1980 on the pages of 2000 A.D. Although the 1970s permeate every panel of what I have read so far, I have always thought of 2000 A.D. as a 1980s comic. This is because I was but a small child in the 1970s whereas by 1980/1981 I was fully formed and reading everything I could get my hands on. We are still a couple of months from that milestone, but it does give me something to look forward to. It's exactly what I need as I'm a little despondent today. Tomorrow it is back to work after my Christmas holidays, holidays that mostly consisted of forlornly looking out the window at the falling rain. The dystopian future sketched out in 2000 A.D. matches my current mood, so I shall wallow in the comic this evening, my melancholy made whole by a comic from forty-five years ago.  

Prog 130

15th September 1979 

It's been a while since we've had a mob story on the pages of Judge Dredd, but the drought is broken this week with a story that neatly captures most of the tropes of that genre. 

Dredd is bringing in an important witness, Joe 'Lips' Lazarus, to testify against the mob. 'Lips' Lazurus lives up to his name, with a series of impersonations of other gangsters with comedic humour that grates with Judge Dredd. He has also risen from the dead, surviving an assassination attempt by the mob. Only his head remains from the assault, and he now awaits a robotic body. 

The robotic body is being transported across the city when it is set upon by the mob, working under the orders of Elmo Hammer. The mob then use the van to gain access to the hospital where Dredd and Lips are awaiting the surgery. 

The mobsters make good progress, although they face stiff resistance from Dredd. It looks to be falling in their favour but Dredd comes up with a desperate scheme. 'Lips' gets on the hospital communications, and with an impersonation of Elmo Hammer, he tells the thugs to surrender. The crooks aren't convinced it's Hammer, but there is enough doubt in their minds that their self-destruct devices explode, killing every one of them. 

The death and mayhem are cushioned in the final panel as 'Lips' Lazarus gives us one final quip, and although it is not a very good one, it is a suitable ending for the story.

I love a good mobster story, and although I didn't love everything I saw here, it was still an enjoyable romp that appealed to me. 

The faces of the mobsters were an early highlight, and in particular, the face of Elmo Hammer was a wonderful caricature of what we have come to expect from such gangsters. His large square head, scar, and snarl were evocative and put me in just the right frame of mind for the story being told. It was a stereotype and in this case, a neat shorthand that got the reader into the story without the need for a lot of exposition. One sight of Elmo Hammer and we knew exactly what type of character he was and could easily guess his past. We have seen this many times on the pages of Dredd, with stereotypes and common tropes often employed. These never make the story derivative, and often enhance the storytelling rather than making for a lazy crutch.  

The dialogue also played well to the mobster story. Some people may consider the over-the-top accents too much, but one can't deny that they fit the story being told, and nicely offset the usual grim, yet witty, dialogue of Dredd. Dredd's black humour was made all the better by the lightness provided by 'Lips' Lazarus, despite my thoughts on Lazarus's final quip, and the balance kept the story moving even when there was no action on the page. Much like the artwork, they're is a shorthand at play here in the gangster language, the familiar doing a lot of background storytelling while we concentrate on the action at hand.

There was cleverness at play throughout the story and even the name of 'Lips' Lazarus told us a lot about the character, although some of this was enhanced in later panels. Dredd is full of such easter eggs, and part of the fun is pulling apart every word and every panel to see the treats scattered throughout. One can be comforted by the fact that if the art doesn't deliver a nugget, then the text certainly will. 

Dredd this week gave us strong storytelling propping up a lesser tale. I gave it a strong rating based not on the story being told, but rather on the manner in which it was told. I love the mobsters, but a story with a little more meat on the bones would have delivered given a knockout blow, rather than the solid body shot that we have here.    

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "You doity alien rats! You ate my brudder, see! Now you're going to pay, see!"  

We didn't have a Blackhawk strip last week, but he is back today and the story of the former Roman Centurion and now intergalactic gladiator continues.

As the mighty spacecraft touches down on a dusty planet, Blackhawk awakens from his blackout. He finds himself in the company of a nasty array of alien gladiators, none of whom are friendly toward him. The exception is Ursa, a large bear, but that has repercussions as the squad leader Battak arrives and reprimands Ursa.

As punishment for Ursa's friendliness, all the gladiators are forced to take on the assault course. The course finds Blackhawk fighting an array of fearsome plants before he sees Ursa fall into a pit where a particularly gruesome creature awaits.

Blackhawk can't leave his newfound friend to die, and jumps into the pit with him, Between the two of them they fight off this beast. Crawling out of the pit, they find Battak awaiting them, furious that Blackhawk has interfered. The rule of the course is if you fall you die, and now Battak promises them both death, by the claws of Battak himself. 

It's hard to go past the art of Belardinelli without passing a comment. Once again he has excelled in delivering an array of alien lifeforms, each looking deadlier than the last. The first alien gladiators we saw looked as scary as you might imagine, but all were surpassed by the hard bony look of Battak.  Already one can see that he is not to be trifled with, and he was bestowed with a look worthy of his demeanour. The aliens we saw on the assault course were equally scary, and when Ursa and Blackhawk fell into the pit there was real peril. All of this is to the credit of Balardinelli, and the strip is greatly enhanced by all he puts into it. 

The story itself remains on a steady course, although we still have no idea of what the final destination will be. For now, Blackhawk is caught up with internal dramas and fights and we have yet to see how this will play out in the wider world. I am enjoying what I am seeing but I do look forward to seeing the story develop further. 

A case of steady as she goes this week, and for all the delights of Belardinelli's art we have yet to see the story fully bloom. The fight against Battak is repeating some of the stories we saw earlier against other aliens, and my fear is that this is how the story will progress, with Blackhawk fighting a series of aliens before he even gets to the arena. The story could be so much more than that, and the next few weeks will be crucial to my further readings of Blackhawk.     

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "We will have no friends here. Friendly things do not kill well!"

The A.B.C. Warriors have arrived on Mars with a mission to bring peace to the competing factions and corporations. 

This week it is the Soya Bean Cowboys that have the attention of the Warriors as the Cowboys look to expand their operations into the territory of the Cyboons. 

The Cyboons are intelligent apes originally imported to help Earth colonise Mars. When the work was done they were given a reservation where they could live in peace, a reservation that the soya bean cowboys are now looking to expand into.

After an initial confrontation with the cowboys, the Warriors are introduced to Bedlam, the taciturn leader of the Cyboons. The Warriors give modern weapons to Bedlam's son, who tells them that they need the weapons to fight back, although his father is old-fashioned and doesn't approve of modern guns. 

This is reinforced when Bedlam finally speaks, telling the A.B.C. Warriors that the Cyboons will fight their own battles with tooth and claw. 

The robots think the Cyboons, won't have a chance, although Hammer-Stein wonders aloud that perhaps they shouldn't interfere with Bedlam and his tribe's right to fight their way. Meanwhile, a possie of cattlemen are rapidly approaching the reservation with extermination on their minds and on their lips. 

Another worthy entry into the canon of A.B.C. Warriors, with the map shown last week coming to fruition as we see them engage with the Soya Cowboys. Like Judge Dredd, this is drawing on familiar stories and tropes, something we have seen before in A.B.C. Warriors, and one could easily substitute Cyboons for Indians or any other minority of your choosing. It was dealt with efficiently and never became condescending despite my fears. Having Bedlam's son being the main contact for the Warriors was a good device, and it did have a touch of realism as he negotiated the generational gap as well as the cultural gap. 

The story did a fine job of weaving the familiar and the futuristic and although the cowboy story felt familiar, there were modern touches throughout the story. The first page showed the mechanical cows and the synthetic way soya beans are turned into steaks and was appealing to my modern eye. If this is to be the price of veganism, then I will stick to my still bloody steak thanks. It also was just the way to start the story, pushing us far into the future, before revealing itself to be a classic cowboy tale, complete with the A.B.C. Warriors representing the Magnificent Seven. This has a lot of potential, and I expect we shall see more Magnificent Seven references on the page over the coming weeks. Given the delicate way the Cowboy/Cyboon storyline has been handed so far, I expect these references will fit neatly into the story rather than derail it, and we could see something special develop as the A.B.C. Warriors are brought further into a story of which they have only had a periphery role so far. 

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "Dad believes 'progress' is a human disease...'progress' is just finding bigger and better ways of killing each other!" 

It's mind versus mind as The Mind Of Wolfie Smith faces the evil of Matthew Hobb. 

The fight sees Wolfie battling to control the sword in his hand as Hobb uses his psychokinetic powers. Eventually, the sword cuts down a chandelier that falls on Hobb, as well as setting fire to the house.

In the chaos, Hobb's slaves escape from the room they are locked in. Hobb rises from beneath the chandelier where he was crushed, and swelling with psychic energy he tells Wolfie that the flames are life and blood to one such as him. 

At that moment he is knocked off his feet by the escaping slaves, and Wolifie takes the opportunity to escape with them. Looking back at the house ablaze, Wolfie surmises that if Hobb was human then he must be dead. However, he still questions Hobb's final words and wonders who he is.

The story started and ended with a flourish, and with plenty of action in the middle, it was a breathless read from start to finish. We got a sense of the power that Matthew Hobb possesses, and in the final panel, we saw that he may well have survived the fire, despite what Wolfie might think. 

The powers that Hobb had, although shown to be mighty, weren't overplayed, and I was quietly pleased to see a falling chandelier was just as effective against a psychic warrior such as Hobb as it was against a normal human being. Of course, he did rise again, but not before the story had taken a large step and shown that there is plenty more to come. 

The Mind Of Wolfie Smith has been slow to reveal its potential and this week's issue was a turning point. The story has given us a powerful villain, shown us that Wofie has the weapons to fight back, and propelled us into something new for next week. The introduction phase of the story is now over, and having been given a strong foundation, it can only go from strength to strength from this point. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "But you have merely delayed the coming of my...hour of...ultimate... triumph!" 

Disaster 1990 continues this week with Bill Savage and Professor Bamber being ambushed by gas as they approach Oxford. 

Waking up in a strange room, Savage is quickly on his feet as three men approach the door. Bamber prevents Savage from doing something rash, recognising the three men as his old professors, and defusing the situation. 

Savage and Bamber haven't been abused, but rather they had sailed into the protective nerve gas that is released as anyone approaches Oxford. The professors show the pair around Oxford, pointing out how the brightest minds are preparing to survive - planting paddy fields and gathering like-minded people with the right skills to contribute to the community.

Bamber is immediately accepted into this community, but Savage's comments telling them that they will need his brawn as well as their brains don't sit well, and he faces a jury to decide if he can stay or if he must leave. 

With only his heavy vehicle licence and shotgun skills, it is decided that Savage doesn't fit with the ideals of the Oxford survivalists. However, the trail is interrupted by an attack of vicious waterfowl. They fly through the windows of the building, attacking all in sight. Snatching up his shotgun, Savage sees his opportunity, offering a chance for him to prove the worth of both him and his shotgun. 

This wasn't the Oxford storyline I expected, but it was the Oxford storyline that I needed. We started with a mystery and had some drama mid-story before we finished with action. It all built up nicely on what had come before and was a satisfying read. 

I liked the idea of the Oxford survivors being elitist, and it had an easy "Lord Of The  Flies" feel to it that worked well in this context. The contrast between Savage and the University generated some excellent drama, and Savage's name made just as much a statement as anything else in the strip. 

The trial of Savage delivered some sparkling dialogue, with Savage getting the best lines of course, and maintained the momentum of the story. Sometimes these stories sag in the middle, but that wasn't the case in this story, and it flowed nicely from start to finish.

I would have rated it higher, but it still hasn't peaked, and I feel even as good as it is,  it still could have given us more. After waiting weeks for something to happen, we are finally moving in the right direction. This is a good start, but I am confident the next few weeks will be even better. Please don't disappoint me 2000 A.D. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Pass! Now look, friends - I ain't got the sort of mind you got! All I know is how to maintain an' handle a heavy-goods lorry engine an' also a shotgun." 

Prog 130 final ratings:

Overall: 7/10

Best Story: A.B.C.Warriors 

Best Line: "I am Battak, Human! And if you don't understand why they fear me - I will soon teach you!"

Best Panel: