Judge Dredd Mega-Special #1

1988. Cover price 75p.
48 pages. Colour & B&W.
Fleetway Publications.

Edited by Richard Burton.

Cover by Brian Bolland.

Contents:

 2 Contents; illustrated by Glenn Fabry.

 3 Judge Dredd The Blob w: Alan Grant; a: John Higgins, lettering by Tom Frame.

11 Judge Dredd The Blockers w: John Wagner; a: Jose Casanovas, lettering by Jack Potter.

16 Odyssey 7 (quarter page) advertisement. / Dredd Siting in Leicester (eighth of page) advertisement for Another World. / Please Mention Judge Dredd Holiday Special When Replying to Advertisements (eighth of page). / Having Trouble Getting Your Comics? Try a Virgin Comic Shop (half page) advertisement; illustrated by Kev Hopgood.

17 Dredd by Day text introduction (uncredited).

18 Judge Dredd Weirdies! [130-154] w: John Wagner & Alan Grant; a: Ian Gibson.

r: The Daily Star (Northern & Shell Media) #???? (07 Jul 1986) - #???? (07 Aug 1986).

23 Dredd's World illustrated feature; a: Brendan McCarthy.

24 Dredd's World poster; a: Brendan McCarthy.

26 Say Gidday to the Good Life mock advertisement for Oz Judges; a: UNKNOWN.

27 Judge Dredd Weirdies! [155-194] w: John Wagner & Alan Grant; a: Ian Gibson.

r: The Daily Star (Northern & Shell Media) #???? (08 Aug 1986) - #???? (03 Oct 1986).

35 New in the Cubes creator fact files (uncredited).

36 Chopper's Odyssey illustrated feature by Mike Butcher; illustrated by .

r: panels from Oz in 2000 A.D. (Fleetway Publications) #545 (24 Oct 1987) - #570 (16 Apr 1988).

39 Judge Dredd The Fall Guy w: Alan Grant; a: Will Simpson, lettering by Tom Frame.

47 Catch Judge Dredd... in-house advertisement for 2000 A.D., Best of 2000 A.D., 2000 A.D. Sci-Fi Special, Judge Dredd Annual and 2000 A.D. Annual; illustrated by Steve Dillon.

48 Judge Dredd and 2000 A.D. Merchandise advertisement for Forbidden Planet.

The first Mega-Special is much like Dredd's appearances in 2000 A.D., but with greater room to maneuver. Under an impressive cover by Brian Bolland (who hasn't drawn a bad Dredd yet), there is a superb Fabry illustration. The contents pages allow artists to show off a little, and this is no exception - Dredd's Lawmaster really looks like a real piece of technology, though colouring is perhaps a touch too bright for Mega-City One.

The Blob begins on Pier 17 at Mega-City One's docks, where a jelly-like tentacle grabs the leg of Eric, a crane operator who is in the process of unloading cargo. The crate breaks open while dangling above his co-workers, showering them with its' contents - knives imported from New Sheffield. Dredd is dispatched to investigate, and discovers Eric's body, along with several others, in the lumber stacks. The blob-creature has made its escape, however, making its way to safety.

Forensics examine the crime scene while Dredd trails it, and they come to the conclusion that it is mutated slime-mould, most likely a Black Atlantic mutation which grabbed a lift from a passing ship in order to get into Mega-City One. The forensics team warn Dredd that it is extremely carnivorous, dosing its victims with acid, before absorbing the resulting sludge through its pores. Dredd confronts the blob, despite obvious dangers, but discovers his bullets have no effect. Worse, it begins eating through his uniform.

Firing an incendiary at the blob, Dredd orders fire teams and a med-squad to Steve McQueen Block, before seeking medical attention for his wounds. From the briefest touch, it managed to eat through Dredd's leg nearly to the bone. You can tell that everyone is having a lot of fun with the story, and some of the dialogue is solid gold:

...and now, on the Early Late Horror Show, we have a real rave from the Grave. Sylvester Stallone is the Blob of Notre Dame in Alan Moore's Oscar-winning remake!

Alan Grant's script is, if you hadn't guessed, a joy to read, despite (or because of) being a retread of The Blob. John Higgins' artwork really shines in black and white, looking suitably grimy and tarnished. One has to wonder if this was among the material sent to Stallone in preparation for his role of Dredd.

Where The Blob excels at setting and tone through largely understated moments, The Blockers is less restrained. It is the kind of story which, if it appeared anywhere else, would be black comedy, but is - unfortunately for citizens of Mega-City One - more of a day-in-the-life strand. The focus of events is Adolf Hitler Block - 400 floors, containing 18,000 housing units, schools, shopping centres, and a hospital. 64,301 citizens crammed in like sardines, slowly going mad...

Frank Dolby, of apartment 39F, prepares for a Citi-Def combat exercise, while his wife knits a book. As Citi-Def organiser for the floor, Frank makes his way to 39G, where Carlton Einstein (a television addict) has barely left his chair for twelve years. Edith Einstein, his wife, and a compulsive shopper, is doing the family accounts as Willis, Edith and Frank's son, makes a prank call to Ed De Bono Citi-Def to warn them of Hitler Block's aggressive maneuvers against them.

Three floors above, in 42X, Rudyard Quincy decides to kill himself before he goes insane, hoping to take out the rest of the block in the process with a home-made nuclear weapon. The De Bono block cuts down Frank's unit with firearms, thanks to Willis' intervention, as the wayward youth watches on in amusement, hanging out his window. Rudyard's nuke fails, and he throws it away in disgust - landing on Willis' head as it falls.

Overjoyed at a nuke - almost literally - falling into her lap, Edith sees a way to make some money in order to feed her family. Frank returns from the unsuccessful raid, and asks if Edith knows where he can lay his hands on a nuke... Despite not getting a lot of background to the story of the block, we don't need extraneous detail. These are people instantly familiar from Mega-City One, the unfotunates who have been abandoned to their fate in a towering, impersonal, chaotic city.

While it is always nice to get newspaper strips reprinted on better paper, Weirdies! isn't a classic slice of Dredd history. A return for Citizen J. Snork, he of the rather large schnoz, in a celebration of the odd, the strange, and the downright weird. There's a nice conclusion, yet this story is lacking a certain urgency. Ian Gibson's great artwork is reproduced sharply and without feeling too crammed in. It shouldn't need to be pointed out (again) that Gibson's style is refreshingly light and breezy.

New in the Cubes covers Liam Sharp, Barry Kitson, John Higgins, and Will Simpson, though the half-page format of biographical information pieces doesn't allow for a great deal of personality to shine through - these small glimpses into the creators' lives are a long-running 2000 A.D. tradition, and is something which always appealed to me. Such features are much better use of pages than recaps of stories, such as... Well, Chopper's Odyssey.

The Pie-in-the-Sky mid-air restaurant makes a welcome return, where Don Pesci is celebrating his hundredth birthday in the Mississippi Mud Suite. Don Pesci's celebration is abruptly interrupted when a Judge emerges from his birthday cake, only to be immediately shot to death by Pesci. His men assure him that it was a singing telegram, and the body is removed by the easiest means available - being thrown out the building. Which is where things start to escalate...

An early evening Batglider, soaring in the thermal updrafts, is the first to be hit by the corpse. The Norrin Radd Block skysurf club, practising their close-formation pyramid move, are next to have a very close encounter, which leads to a very large mess for the real Judges to clean up. Discovering a business card for Party Poppers, Dredd talks to the owner of the company. and - finding that the dead man was paid to appear at Pie-in-the-Sky - arranges transport to the restaurant.

Pesci and his associates have long since departed, and (despite a sincere attempt at stalling from robot staff) Dredd finds that, as a birthday present the Don, his men have arranged a heist for his participation. With time running out, Dredd rushes to meet the location of the robbery. Stunning artwork, a great, twisty story (with all kinds of little nods and homages), and a ticking clock plot - this is prime Dredd material, served up expertly.

An extremely strong start for the series.

Star Lord #1

13 May 1978; Cover price 12p.
32 pages. Colour & B&W.
IPC Magazines Ltd.

Edited by Kelvin Gosnell.

Cover by Ramon Sola.

Free badge.

Contents:

.2 Planet of the Damned UNTITLED, part one, w: R.E. Wright (Pat Mills & Kelvin Gosnell); a: Horacio Lalia, lettering by Bill Nuttal.

.8 TimeQuake UNTITLED, part one, w: Jack Adrian (Chris Lowder); a: Ian Kennedy, lettering by Peter Knight.

14 Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind - Fighting for Star Lord Introduction by Kelvin Gosnell; illustrated by Ian Gibson.

15 Starlord Survival Blueprints! (half page) content information. / Starlord Star-Squad Equipment free gift information.

16 Strontium Dog UNTITLED, part one, w: T.B. Grover (John Wagner); a: Carlos Ezquerra, lettering by Jack Potter.

21 In Starlord Next Week

22 Ro-Busters Day of the Robot, part one, w: Pat Mills; Carlos Pino, lettering by Tom Frame.

Since 1945, more than 100 planes and ships and 1,000 men have mysteriously disappeared between Bermuda and Florida in an area of ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle.

Anita 20,000 ton freighter -crew of 32 -disappeared March 1973
M.S. Marine Sulphur Queen -crew of 39 -disappeared February 2, 1963
Flight 19 -five Grumman Avenger Bombers -disappeared December 5, 1945
PBM Martin Mariner Flying Boat -went to find Flight 19 -disappeared December 5, 1945

Examining these disappearances, scientists have suggested they somehow broke through the Earth's Time-Space Continuum - into another dimension - and are lost on another planet. A planet of no return - A...

Planet of the Damned

George X. Sand has a lot to answer for. There was a publishing boom during the late sixties and through the seventies expanding and expounding on the notion that a nebulous area of water (variously described, but corresponding to a roughly triangular shape) was responsible for mysterious disappearances. It was, of course, complete nonsense, but that didn't stop a lot of companies jumping on the bandwagon with their own takes on the concept.

Arriving on the heels of The Fantastic Journey, it isn't difficult to see Planet of the Damned's main inspirations, though at least there is a touch of originality in the handling. An AWT Tri-Star jet on a transatlantic flight is sucked into an abyss, whereupon they discover that they are above a landscape which they don't recognise. As the magnetic compass spins madly, the plane lands.

Lew Kerr, a business tycoon, and Stan Hackmann, a well-known science fiction writer disagree as to where they are. Their location is confirmed to be somewhere other than a remote island when a vaguely-humanoid creature with no eyes or mouth approaches. A rugged chap in a loin cloth leaps in and kills the creature, before introducing himself as Bosun Flint of the brig "Gallantine," and is shooed off as a barbaric murderer.

More of the creatures arrive, and silently lead the passengers to a lake of water. It turns out to be poison, and when one of the creatures is confronted it responds by spitting acid in the co-pilot's face. Flint returns and dispatches the creatures, before striking a dramatic pose and stating that "on the planet of the damned... the only way to survive is the barbarian way.

The Ab-Humans are unsettling, with folds of flesh in haphazard configurations, the passengers are... well, they are prospective food for whatever lives there. Flint, though taking inspiration from Tarzan and the like, is an intriguing enough character. The comment about being a bosun raises the hopes of some Robinson Crusoe style backstory. While the opening sequence feels rushed, there's plenty of detail in the telling to smooth over qualms about pacing issues.

newsflash 0714 gmt 1st May, 1978 Paris Agency I.P.

LONDON, NEW YORK AND MOSCOW HIT BY NUCLEAR STRIKES - STOP - FURTHER STRIKES EXPECTED WITHIN MINUTES - STOP - CATASTROPHE CAN BE TRACED BACK TO MAN BELIEVED CALLED KEMAL AZWAN - STOP

One could politely conjecture that TimeQuake is very, very loosely inspired by John Varley's Air Raid, but a background of the third world war raging significantly raises the stakes for the characters. James Blocker, skipper of the steamer Azwan, is in an empty carriage of a London underground carriage when a man appears from a shimmering light. Blocker is told that he has a mere twenty seconds, but doesn't want to hear more. Two more figures appear, and he is pushed through the warp with barely two seconds to spare.

When Blocker awakes, he finds himself 85 million years in the past. He attempts to leave, believing that he has been kidnapped by crazy people, but the sight of a dinosaur stops him in his tracks. Informed of the destruction of London, Blocker is told that he is the direct cause of the devastation. This is where things get more interesting - the Droon, a highly-developed but brutal race from the Rigel system are mentioned as an aggressive element in the far future.

"In 1997 a man called Lyon Sprague discovered a means of travelling faster than light. The Sprague Interstellar Drive carried man to the stars and beyond. By the 40th century man was the greatest power in the universe!"

The Droon, in some means we aren't privy to, managed to steal the secret of temporal warp-displacement. Or, for laymen, time travel.

The group which pulled Blocker from London are introduced as Harl Vinda (controller of the station, from the 38th century), Suzi Cho (princess of Haniken Empire, from the 32nd century), Quexalcholmec (pure-strain Aztec), and Marcus Geladius (a centurion attached to the 9th Legion), and they are all members of Time-Control. By changing the past, the Droon have managed to defeat humanity in the future.

At which point the Droon arrive to kill everyone.

Lowder has so many big ideas to play with that the story risks being overloaded, but there is a remarkably clear set of problems for the characters to solve. Reading the story now, there are hints of everything from TimeCop, through Time Trax, Seven Days, to the adaptation of Varley's story, Millennium. The timewar angle has since been beaten to death by Star Trek: Enterprise, though nowhere near as skillfully, yet none of the various properties riffing on the idea have so varied or interesting a cast.

The quality doesn't flag. Strontium Dog begins as it means to carry on, with an action-packed scene of Johnny and Wulf being fired upon. Their attackers are wearing chameleon cloaks, making it difficult to accurately defend against the attack, but the attackers aren't prepared for Johnny. Using his x-ray vision, he sights the position of the two men, and both Johhny and Wulf return fire.

Using advanced technology, Wulf returns one of the men to life so Johnny can interrogate him for the location of Max Quirxx, convicted of multiple murder on Bario-3. Learning what they need to know, they let the man die a second time. Setting off to take down their target, the anti-mutant prejudice is clear in the jeers and offhanded comments of the citizens they pass.

Carlos Ezquerra brings a comprehensively futuristic setting to life, with ridiculously detailed backgrounds and faces full of character. It isn't the kind of strip which can be called traditionally beautiful, yet is gorgeous to look at all the same.

The prologue for Ro-Busters contains an unnecessary jibe at Japanese imports (with stereotypical dialogue) which takes the sheen of the strip a little. Ro-Jaws, F.R.E.D. 2L (Federal Recycling and Environmental 'Droid) and Hammerstein (an army surplus war 'droid) are sent to Mek-Quake to be destroyed, but Howard Quartz, a billionaire who had his organs replaced to extend his life (thus the nickname Mr. Ten Per Cent), has done a deal to purchase them for his international rescue operation.

A colour two-page splash kicks off the story properly, and is an insanely detailed disaster. Pages which follow this are peppered with homages to sixties Thunderbirds comics, with jagged borders and angled views of the ships used in the rescue missions,clearly signaling that the story isn't to be taken too seriously. While the strip may be simple in comparison to the other contents, there is a real sense of love for the characters. Even the secondary robots (Angel and Chatterbox, in particular) get interesting scenes which play to their abilities.

This is a great start to the title, with the only downside being a vaguely-unlikable host in the form of Starlord himself. He looks far, far too smug. The overall package is a step up in quality from 2000 A.D. (better paper, more colour pages), and even the slight mis-steps can be overlooked as teething troubles.

On This Day: 05 Oct

The Best of Matt 2017 (Orion; 2017) ISBN-13: 978-1409164630

Births:

Isaac Cruikshank (1764); William Timyn (Tim; 1902); Harry Ross Thomson (roSS; 1938); Clive Barker (1952)

Deaths:

Frank Eric Smith (Trow; 1985); Jack Potter (2014)

Notable Events:

Newsfield Ltd. registered in 1983.
Hardware, regarded as the first film adaptation of a 2000 A.D. property, released in the UK in 1990.
Garth Ennis, Brett Ewins, Glenn Fabry, Myra Hancock, Graham Higgins, David Hine, Alan McKenzie, Mark Millar, Steve Pugh and Kevin Walker attended a joint signing for 2000 A.D. Prog 750, the 2000 A.D. Yearbook 1992 and Judge Dredd Yearbook 1992 in Forbidden Planet, 71 New Oxford Street, London, in 1991.
Alan Grant was among the guests at the Wasted comic launch at Forbidden Planet, Edinburgh, in 2008.
Alan Cowsill, Glenn Dakin and Andy Lanning were on the panel for Revolutionary War at the London Film and Comic Con at the Olympia in 2013. Among other news, Dark Angel, Death's Head, Knights of Pendragon, Motormouth, Super Soldiers and Warheads were to return to print for the first time since the closure of Marvel UK, albeit as US comics.