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Trollheart's Futureshock: Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and the world of 2000 AD
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Disclaimer: Although it may seem like it, I am not copying Batty here, nor jumping on the comic book journal bandwagon, such as it is. I had this idea long before I took my sabbatical, and have been thinking about it for about six months. In fact, when I saw Batty’s journal I was annoyed, because I had intended to be the first to broach this subject in the section. Those of you who know me know I do not rob other people’s ideas; I’m all about being original and if possible first. In any case, as you will see from reading the introduction below, this is not intended to be anything like Batty’s journal. I know he’ll say I ripped him off, but I didn’t. Back when I were a kid, as I’ve gone on about at length several times, we had little in the way of the sort of amusements kids have these days. We had no mobile phones, no internet, no X-Boxes or Playstations. We had maybe three or four television channels, and quite often these could be unwatchable due to bad reception, a term the younger ones among you will greet with blank incomprehension, and not realise how lucky you are not to understand. For a fuller explanation, and an idea of how it was in my day, see my article about television in my main journal. If we wanted to entertain ourselves we either played outside (shock!) or read comics. Yeah, you knew I was coming to it, didn’t you? As a child you had not too many choices. You had the “funnies” --- The Beano, the Dandy, Whizzer and Chips, The Beezer, Topper etc, wherein unlikely characters like Billy Whizz, The Bash Street Kids and Desperate Dan would make us laugh in mostly pretty formulaic ways, and the stories never had much originality about them. There were the rivalries back then --- you were either a Dandy or a Beano reader (I was Dandy; more a Korky the Kat man than a Biffo the Bear) --- but generally speaking they all more or less worked to the one pattern. Then as you got a little older, as a boy you could have the football comics --- Shoot, Match, Striker and so on ---- or the war comics like Warlord, Battle Picture Weekly and War Picture Library. I was a Battle kid, and followed the adventures of D-Day Dawson, Major Eazy and the rest with rapt fascination, occasionally allowing Warlord a look in, as I checked out the exploits of their eponymous character, as well as Killer Kane and Union Jack Jackson (seriously!), wishing they were in my comic, because again you could be one or the other, but not both. A silly, childish rivalry that carried on into our teens. But although I enjoyed the war comics, I was at heart a geek, and science fiction and fantasy were my weapon of choice. However, in the late seventies and early eighties there were no comics based specifically, or even partially, on those topics. The closest you could get was Eagle, which was laughably “stiff-upper-lip” with lantern-jawed Dan Dare taking on the Mekon and his alien horde in the name of England and the Queen. Yuck. http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...79_(1-118).png Then one day I noticed an ad on the TV for a new comic. It looked exciting, it looked thrilling, and it was (apparently) run by an alien! Wow! I rushed out the next day to buy it, and a love affair began which endures to this day. 2000 AD—still so named, even though we are now almost fifteen years into the twenty-first century—became my perfect avenue for escape from the humdrum drudgery of a life in Dublin, with little prospects of adventure, going to a school I hated and living with an abusive father. Rather ironically, it was created by two of the men whom publisher IPC had turned to in an attempt to rival Warlord, and who then produced Battle Picture Weekly. I would shut myself up in my room, having come home with “The Prog”, as it became known, and lose myself in the adventures of the heroes and villians depicted within those pages. 2000 AD was the first comic to take children, or even young adults, seriously. The war comics had, to a degree, but they spoke to us, if at all, through the likes of the letters pages, as soldiers, as if we all wanted to march off to war. To be honest, sometimes I did of course dream of emulating the deeds of my heroes in that comic. but what was I to do? World War II was over, long over, and despite the mostly positive spin put on the characters, war is hell and I knew that. So I didn’t really want to fight in one, no more than I wanted to be a footballer. And I didn’t, unlike a lot of impressionable kids, want to be an astronaut or space ranger, but I loved reading about them and it helped fuel my (completely unfulfilled) writing ambitions. Another thing 2000 AD brought to the genre, which had been sadly lacking, was a wicked sense of humour. Sure, Warlord and Battle had their moments, when the men --- exclusively, men; women did not fight in war --- took a break from the killing fields and sat back with a cigarette or played the opposing team at soccer. But generally the stories were hard, brutal, uncompromising, though nothing compared to another title which had briefly arisen and assured itself of its place in history a year earlier, the infamous Action. But I digress. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__iTLzOYPZz...redd+Badge.jpg 2000 AD was the first comic to bring dark, acerbic humour to its pages Even on the mean streets of Mega-City One, the mostly hopeless and despondent population could crack a joke, and even the dour, grim-faced Judge Dredd occasionally allowed a tiny smile --- inside, never ever outside! --- to break through. Like the time he faces a man four or five times his size, one of the denizens of Mega-City One who were rather unkindly if accurately called Fatties, Two-Ton Tony Tubbs, who sulks “I have no friends” to which Dredd replies, deadpan, “You’re telling me! Looks like you ate your friends!” Or the other, unnamed judge who advises a citizen “You’re under arrest!” When asked what for, the judge replies “What do you mean, what for? For turning into a giant spider!” The luckless man, who situation we will not go into here, asks rather reasonably, “Is that a crime?” to which the obviously confused judge shrugs “You know, you’ve got me there!” Although the world of 2000 AD was not to be made fun of --- there was some very dark material being used --- humour was, and probably still is, a constant thread that runs through it, like a silver lining in a particularly heavy cloud. It showed us that not everything has to be taken seriously all the time, and probably pointed the way for many of the later one-liners and catchphrases, from Arnie to Willis and from Vin Diesel to Van Damme. But although the aforementioned Judge Dredd was and remains its most famous son, about whom two movies have now been made, with varying success, the comic also had some other huge heroes. Johnny Alpha, the mutant bounty hunter from Strontium Dog. Slaine, Irish warrior from mythology. Rogue Trooper. Ace Garp. Halo Jones. http://www.2000ad.org/images/page/stront.jpg And overseeing all of this, like some benevolent alien grandfather, loomed The Mighty Tharg, a green extraterrestrial who was said to come from a planet orbiting Betelgeuse, the red giant star. He would introduce each issue, which as I mentioned became known as “Progs” (short of course for programme) and give us an idea what we could look forward to this week (something no other comic had done; almost like a table of contents or an announcer on TV reeling off the list of shows to be broadcast that night), as well as perhaps dropping in a few interesting tidbits about himself. He liked to eat plastic cups, we were told. His power came from the odd, vaguely Indian-like emblem on his forehead, which he called his Rosette of Sirius. And he called us “earthlets”, to distinguish us from our parents or the older boys and girls. We were charged, too, with the task of spreading the word about the comic, and he would always sign off with the words "Splundig vur Thrigg" and open with the phrase "Borag Thungg", obviously hello. http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/23...4f0121648c.jpg In this new journal I’ll be looking at comics deeply --- or more accurately, one comic --- but unlike The Batlord I will not be venturing into the worlds of Marvel or DC. My focus will be almost exclusively on this publication, and I will be writing in detail about the characters and stories, the future heroes and legends who came out of the pages of 2000 AD. I will be concentrating firstly on Judge Dredd, detailing his adventures and explaining about his backstory, the world he inhabits and how this affected me growing up. Later I will move on to Strontium Dog, my second favourite character, and after than I don’t know: I haven’t really thought that far ahead. Occasionally I may venture into the realm of specific graphic novels, such as V for Vendetta and Watchmen, though if that happens it will be some way down the line. For now, I will be looking at Dredd and in the next, and first proper, entry I will be writing about his very first adventure, when he roared onto the pages of 2000 AD and changed the lives forever of millions of hungry, jaded and impressionable young boys. http://geek-news.mtv.com//wp-content...udge-Dredd.jpg |
Oh look, an imitator. How droll.
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Nah, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that, after six years on this forum, you just happen to make a comic book journal only a few short months after I did. Don't worry, nobody's calling you "derivative" or anything.
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As I said, I intend to begin my extensive coverage of 2000AD by looking at the adventures of this guy
http://multiverse-magazine.com/wp-co...-Dredd-19b.jpg one of their most famous sons, if not their most famous. So much so that they have already made two movies about him, and he later progressed from a character in the magazine to starring in his own, eh, megazine, as well as countless annuals, graphic novels and other related publications. http://dreamers.com/actiontales/imag...ogo%5B1%5D.jpg Whether he invented the slogan or not, the phrase “I am the law!” has passed into popular consciousness now, and will forever be linked with him. He was, and is, one of the toughest and least compromising lawmen ever to stride the mean streets, and he makes little distinction between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, mighty and humble. To Dredd, once you break the law --- in any way --- you’re his. And believe me, you do not want that. So how about some background, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the future’s most feared cop. After the last world war, most of the Earth lay in ruins. What remained of society has gathered together in huge cities, which in the USA are comprised of three, and which cover the entire landmass, with a huge, barren, desolate wasteland in between. These cities are called Mega-Cities, and are numbered from one to three. Dredd plies his trade in Mega-City One, although occasionally he has ranged farther afield. With so many people crammed in to so relatively small a space, and unemployment at catastrophic levels, the hundreds of millions of inhabitants of Mega-City One frequently engage in crime, though these can range from the very trivial, like jaywalking or petty theft, right up to murder and other more capital crimes. Each carries its own penalty. After the third world war the Judges, who had been set up forty years previously, seized power and abolished the US Constitution in a popular uprising. Setting themselves up as the government, military and police force of the Mega-Cities, they rule with an iron fist. Essentially, the world is now one huge police state, and Judges hold power on every continent and in every major city. Judges are granted free rein to pursue, arrest, prosecute and even if necessary execute criminals, as long as they go by the book. There are terrible penalties for Judges who try to rise above the law. Of these Judges, Dredd is the most feared and respected, and one of the oldest. At the time of writing he is in his seventies, as in 2000AD time passes normally, so having begun his career in his early thirties Dredd is now approaching what most people would see as retirement age. But back when we meet him first, he is a young, tough and unwavering cop. Never actually born, Dredd was cloned from the DNA of the first ever Chief Judge, Fargo, as was his “brother”, Rico, who crops up later (and in one of the films, but we won’t be going there). He quickly established himself as a star cadet and soon hit the streets as a fully-fledged Judge, bringing law and order (and mayhem) to the streets of Mega-City One. Dredd is as unyielding as rock, tougher than steel, colder than ice. Some say he has no emotions, and he’s certainly never been seen to laugh or cry, at least publicly. Created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, Dredd is always depicted wearing his helmet, and his face is never seen. This is part of the two creators’ desire to present the faceless, remorseless visage of the police; this is not a face you can argue with or wheedle your way out of paying for your crimes, because you don’t see it. All that is visible of Dredd is his chin and nose, the rest is shrouded behind his visor and helmet. His eyes, in particular, you do not see, but you assume they probably don’t even know how to blink. Dredd, like every Judge, takes his job very seriously and will never let a perpetrator (“perp”) away with anything, no matter how small. Mega-City One’s prisons are full of “iso-cubes”, where people can be incarcerated for days, months or even years, but even that is preferable to the sentence of death pronounced and carried out on the spot if the crime merits it. In short, you don’t fuck with Dredd! He does have a first name, but we don’t learn it until years later. Dredd is essentially a loner, though he does have other partners who occasionally help him bring in the guilty. These we will meet as the stories progress. For now, let’s dive into the very first ever Dredd story, oddly enough not run until “Prog 2”, the second issue of 2000AD, but though coming slightly late to the party, Dredd has made up for it by becoming their most iconic character and the only one to move beyond the comic’s confines, and has starred in every single issue since. |
Episode I: Judge Whitey
http://www.trollheart.com/Dreddtitle1.png First print date: March 5 1977 Prog appearance: 2 Writer(s): Pat Mills, Kelvin Gosnell and Peter Harris Artist(s): Mike McMahon (original; this is the colourised reprint, which was created by Carlos Ezquerra) Total episodes: 1 The year is 2099, the place New York City. In the towering metropolis that the old city has become in the almost twenty-second century, the likes of the Empire State Building, once the pride of the New York skyline, have collapsed into ruins as much taller buildings claw their way into the futuristic sky, and this erstwhile icon of the American Dream is little more than a shell of itself, a hideout for criminal gangs. It is to this old landmark that a Judge speeds, on his way to make an arrest. The “perps” though have seen him coming, and are ready with a laser cannon, which they unleash before the Judge can get within firing distance, and he is blown off his bike. Their leader, Whitey, exults that he has killed a Judge and vows that Judge Alvin will not be the last of their number he kills, though he does profess disappointment that it isn’t the famed and feared Judge Dredd that he has killed. Putting on the dead Judge’s helmet he capers around, proclaiming himself Judge Whitey. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd1a.png Back in the Halls of Justice, the Chief Judge congratulates Dredd on lowering the crime rate since he came on the job. Just then a call comes in from Justice Central, to say that Judge Alvin’s motorbike has returned with him cuffed to the handlebars, dead. There’s a note from Whitey, taunting the Judges. Furious, the Chief Judge wants to send in an air squad to take out the whole rat’s nest once and for all, but Dredd restrains him. “Who will have respect for the law”, he asks, “if we can’t handle one criminal?” He climbs aboard his bike and heads to the scene. Cleverly, though, and not wanting to run into the same trap his late comrade did, he sets his motorcycle on automatic, so that when Whitey and his crew start blasting, he is already behind them and firing. With his other two companions shot dead, Whitey is arrested and Dredd sentences him to life in prison for “the most odious crime of all --- the killing of a Judge.” Whitey laughs, saying no prison can hold him, but Dredd grimly informs him that he is going to spend the rest of his life on Devil’s Island, which might not seem so bad until you see that this is a huge, high-rise prison right smack in the middle of one of the city’s busiest motorways, where the speed limit is 250 mph and massive juggernauts hurtle by day and night. No peace, no rest, no chance to escape: the perfect holding area for the city’s worst criminals. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd1b.png I AM THE LAW! Very early on, we’re told that Judges have the power to dispense whatever sentence the law requires to any perps, or criminals they arrest. They have some leeway but must always follow the letter of the law: a Judge couldn’t for instance sentence someone to death for littering; the punishment must always fit the crime. It seems to me a bit odd that Dredd did not shoot Whitey. He shot both his companions out of hand, and to be fair, he had no actual proof that either of them had been involved in the murder of Judge Alvin, and yet he let the guy live who boasted that he was the killer. I guess it was really a case of sacrificing logic for a plot device, as Mills obviously wanted to introduce the idea of Devil’s Island, which is a pretty clever one. Ain’t no way you’re getting out of that prison! Dredd mentions at the end, when the Chief Judge ruminates that they will all one day end up like Alvin, that there is no better way to go in his book: dying in defence of the law. If there’s one thing that’s crystal clear and unalterable in Dredd’s mind it’s the law. He makes no exceptions and accepts no excuses. He doesn’t have a mother, but if he did, and she broke the law, he’d send her to the iso-cubes without a second thought. Ch-ch-ch-changes Like any series starting off, be it on TV or in a comic book, some aspects of the story are being tried out here, and will change over time. New York City quickly becomes Mega-City One, which remains the metropolis in which Dredd live and works, although he does venture outside it from time to time. His motorbike will soon be named as a Lawmaster and vastly upgraded, his gun will be called a Lawgiver and will have a vast array of settings for dealing with any situation. Although a clever idea, I don’t believe Devil’s Island is mentioned after this, all perps just being sent to the iso-cubes, or the juve-cubes for younger offenders. The map below shows the layout of Mega-City One, but even that has changed over the course of the series, expanding its borders and going from approximately 150 million people to over 800. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd1c.png Later, too, criminals like Whitey would have been unable to fire a Judge’s weapon as he does here, as it is confirmed that a Lawgiver is coded to the specific DNA pattern of the Judge to whom it’s issued, and even another Judge picking it up and trying to use it will cause it to self-destruct, possibly taking off the arm of the offender. |
Episode II: The New You
First print date: March 12 1977 Prog appearance: 3 Writer(s): Pat Mills Artist(s): Mike McMahon Total episodes: 1 In a desperate attempt to hide from the law, who are hot on his tail, “Scarface” Joe Levine heads into the “New You” Face Parlour, where cosmetic surgery is carried out in minutes and you can have a new face by the time you leave. Forcing the technician to give him a face change at the point of a gun, Levine is so pleased with his cleverness and so emboldened by the difference in his appearance that he decides to wave to Dredd, who is heading along the highway on his bike. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd2a.png However, he is aghast to find that Dredd recognises him! Has his elaborate plan all been for nothing? He speeds away but Dredd follows. Reluctant to cause injury to innocent citizens, he is unable to use his gun and so instead puts his Lawmaster on automatic, and jumps from it at high speed to land on Levine’s vehicle, where he shoots him, causing his transport to veer off the road and crash. Dredd jumps back onto his Lawmaster just before the vehicle crashes. As he stands over Levine, the dazed, shocked criminal asks how Dredd was able to recognise him, with his new face? Dredd replies stonily that it was his voiceprint that gave him away. When he spoke to the Judge, Levine’s voiceprint was analysed and came up on Dredd’s display, warning him as to the perp’s identity. Had he not been so smart and overconfident, he might have got away with it. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd2b.png QUOTES Levine: “I broke more laws than you've done face-changes honey. So take a look in the mirror at your face: you wanna stay pretty? Then do as I say!” (Even faced with the barrel of a gun, the technician at The New You is worried that she will be seen as having been complicit in the crime about to be committed. Often, fear of the Judges trumps even the fear of injury or death). Dredd: “Levine! You have just added speeding to your long list of crimes!” Levine: “I got rid of my ugly mug, so how did you recognise me?” Dredd: “When you spoke, your voiceprint matched the one sent to me by Control. Just like fingerprints, everyone’s voice is different. All lawbreakers’ voiceprints are on file at Justice HQ. When will lawbreakers learn ... in the 21st century no-one can escape justice!” (In 1977, this could have been one of the earliest instances of law enforcement identifying someone from their voice. It certainly was the first time I had heard it being used.) Ch-ch-ch-changes Already, just one issue later, we’re seeing some pretty major changes, as mentioned in the last episode’s notes. Dredd’s bike is now officially a Lawmaster --- though his gun is still not named. New York City has been absorbed into the vast sprawl of Mega-City One, which at this early point uses the numeral, as in, Mega-City 1, but will soon switch to the spelled version. Jail is called “the time-stretcher” (unless Levine was having a dark joke at his own expense, seeing that he would have to be carried out on a stretcher) but we’ll come to know it as “the iso-cubes”and later just “the cubes”. We will also see Dredd’s attitude towards bystanders change over time. Here, he fails to shoot at Levine for fear of hitting some innocent or causing a crash. Later on, as he gets older and more hard-bitten, he will come to see these people more as hindrances, obstructions standing in the way of justice, and may not be so touchy-feely about them. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd2c.png Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Robbing from Futurama here, I’ll be using this section to talk about aspects of the future city, future living, even future dying, in Dredd’s world. A whole culture and history was built up around Mega-City One and the world that stands, at this point, on the cusp of the twenty-second century, some in fact most of it very inventive, some quite comedic and some downright disturbing! Here we learn about The New You face parlour, where those who have the money and the necessary papers --- one would assume the city has to give permission for a citizen to change their appearance, and maybe report to Justice HQ afterwards for new identity papers, to prevent perps doing exactly what “Scarface” Joe Levine is doing, using a new face as a way of dodging the law and losing himself in the heaving thronging city --- can have their appearance altered in a very short time, emerging as quite literally a new person. As a huge percentage of the population is unemployed, you would have to assume that places like The New You are the pervue of the rich and the indolent, those who can afford to change their faces whenever they wish to. Hard to imagine the ordinary joe having the sort of money that this sort of thing no doubt costs. |
I've made two attempts at checking out Judge Dredd, but unfortunately all I come up with are dead links and corrupt rar files. I've been led to believe that the "Complete Case" files collections are a good way to start, but no luck so far. Other than that there are a million different series, graphic novels, and TPBs, so I'm just asking, if collections of classic early stuff is a no go, what would be good stuff to start with? Are the solo titles any good? If so, which ones and what time periods? New stuff good?
Oh, and I'm sure you weren't particularly impressed with that first Dredd movie, with Stallone, (although I thought it was fun in a mindless action movie kinda way) but have you seen the new one, with Carl Urban? It's vastly superior and one of the best action movies I've seen in a good while. Even justifies the use of 3D. |
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It's hard for me to say where to start, as I as a kid started with prog 1 as it came out and followed it religiously for at least two decades. The "epics" are great --- The Judge Child, The Cursed Earth, Judge Death, The Day the Law Died etc --- but to get a real feel for Dredd I think it's better to go from his first story onwards. You could follow it here if you want; I'll be updating quite a bit. As for the movies? Yeah Stallone ruined it in the first minute. Dredd NEVER took his helmet off! That was as iconic as Dirty Harry's Magnum 44! But yeah I enjoyed the second one, far superior and the idea of staging it all in one place was brave, and I feel worked well. I hope Urban returns. |
Episode III: The Brotherhood of Darkness
First print date: March 19 1977 Prog appearance: 4 Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw Artist(s): Mike McMahon Total episodes: 1 A bunch of mutants from outside the city walls break into Mega-City One and are tackled by the Judges. They are beaten off but they take the mayor's son with them, presumably their reason for the incursion: Dredd is assigned to return the boy safely to his father. Disguising himself as one of the mutants, who belong to a cult called --- you guessed it! --- the Brotherhood of Darkness, Dredd knows that he will need his Lawmaster when either his cover is blown or he is ready to reveal himself, and so pretends that he has stolen it from a Judge, which earns him much praise and respect from the other “Brothers”. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd3a.png As they travel into the blasted wilderness that lies beyond the city, Dredd notices that the nuclear winter has had a terrible effect on what was one the Eastern Seaboard of America. Huge, mutant insects watch the passing of the column with unblinking, pitiless eyes, and Dredd realises that the Brothers' own eyes have adapted to life in the wasteland: they can only see in the dark. As night falls and the mutants settle down to their feast, Dredd makes his move, taking out the guards and then hissing to the mayor's son to follow him, no questions asked. But they are discovered of course and the Brotherhood come at them. Knowing of their aversion to light, Dredd hits his headlights to full beam and for good measure fires a few flares into the air. The mutants, cowering back from the unwelcome brightness, fall back and Dredd leads his convoy of hostages back to Mega-City One. QUOTES Dredd: “Fighting off hundreds of crazy guys is just the sort of soft job a Judge like me needs!” Dredd: “Out of bullets so it's back to the stone age!” (He takes a crossbow from a vanquished mutant. Of course this is historically and factually incorrect: crossbows were not invented till around the Bronze Age, but I'm sure Dredd doesn't care about that!) Dredd (thinking): “Grief! The atomic radiation has even affected the insects! That Praying Mantis must be over forty metres tall!” Dredd (thinking): “I'd feel a heel if I freed him (the mayor's son) and left the others...” (Again, this attitude will change over time. A later Dredd would leave the other citizens to their fate. Not worth endangering the mission, which only stipulates that he rescue one individual). Mayor's son: “Mega-City! We'll soon be back in civilisation, Judge!” Dredd: “Sure kid, and tomorrow I'll be shot at with laser cannons instead of ancient crossbows. That's civilisation for you!” I AM THE LAW! Although it's his mission to go out into the wasteland and rescue the mayor's son, the sense of lawlessness, the lack of rules under which these mutants live rankles Dredd. If he had the chance and the excuse he'd probably execute them all, but he has not been authorised to do so, and there are probably many more of them than he realises. Plus, they surely know the territory, so he would be a fool to try to take them on on their own terms. Ch-ch-ch-changes Although not named at the time, the desert outside Mega-City One is known as The Cursed Earth, and a whole major story will revolve around this inhospitable place, when Dredd has to travel its length. That's a year from now though. Also, as mentioned, Dredd's attitude towards innocent people will change as his years on the force march on. The Dredd we see here, believe it or not, is kind and soft-hearted compared to the one we will come to know. One final change: though he thinks and doesn't say it, Dredd uses the word “grief”, but later on Wagner and Mills would invent their own slang for Mega-City One, and words that we use would be phased out. Welcome to the world of tomorrow! After the nuclear war of 2070, all three mega-cities were intact thanks to advanced shielding but everything outside --- basically, the entire United States --- was rendered a wasteland, deemed uninhabitable and earned the name The Cursed Earth. But as in most harsh environments, as Jeff Goldblum said in “Jurassic Park”, life finds a way, and mutated organisms --- humanoid and other --- have appeared, the humanoids scratching a meagre subsistence living from the hard, unyielding soil while cults and religious groups have sprung up all over the place. It is not an area to be travelled, even under heavy guard, and its denizens are not allowed inside the mega-cities. Occasionally, as in this story, stronger or more zealous bands of mutants break through into the cities (although there is no explanation in this story as to how the Brotherhood of Darkness got in) and take what revenge they can on the inhabitants of the cities, whom they see as having abandoned them to their fate. To the Mega-Citizens, the Cursed Earth is the equivalent of Hell, and they are very glad of the dome and the high city walls that separate them from that awful wilderness. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, Creep! This is the section in which I'll pose any questions I have about the stories or episodes, anything I think that wasn't properly explained, any loose ends or anything that doesn't make sense to me. My question about this episode is: how did the Brotherhood of Darkness get into the city? It's supposed to be under tight control by the Judges, especially as regards access from the outside. Surely these hooded and robed mutants were not admitted to the city without some sort of check? And while we're at it, they apparently can't stand light: I know Mega-City One is dystopian and dark, but I expect it must be well lit. So how did they move around inside this well-lighted city? |
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By and large the early stories (those collected in Complete Case Files 1) are pretty basic but witty stories and include the 'Robot Wars' and "Luna stories'. Judge Dredd though really get going with the 'The Cursed Earth' and this is a good place to start and covered in the Complete Case Files 2.
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Episode IV: “King Krong”
First print date: March 26 1977 Prog appearance: 5 Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 1 Woe betide the man or woman who tries to bring a sense of normality and relaxation into the life of Judge Dredd! On his infrequent down-hours, Dredd's idea of kicking back is to bone up on his law books, and when a salesman from Senso-Round tries to sell him a virtual reality system he is not amused! It's no laughing matter however when the president of that company turns up murdered, seemingly torn limb from limb, and he's not the only one. Over the next two days two more senior executives from Senso-Round meet a messy end. Dredd is on patrol when HQ calls him to say that the voiceprint recorded at the scene of the last murder has turned out to be that of the curator of the Special Effects Museum, and Dredd goes to apprehend him. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd4a.png Dredd finds himself reunited with O'Neill, the man who was trying to sell him a Senso-Round system at the opening of the episode. Seems he's not only a salesman for the company, and has a grudge against them because, he says, people no longer need to go to see monster movies any more, not when Senso-Round can bring them right into their own homes. The museum is suffering as a result, so O'Neill has decided to take revenge upon the executives of the company that is driving him out of business. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd4b.png O'Neill unleashes his biggest movie monster, the giant gorilla known as King Krong (:rolleyes:) to pound the offices of Senso-Round to rubble. Dredd follows him but the monster is so huge his weapon has no effect. As the gorilla begins climbing the building and tearing chunks off it, Dredd guns his bike to the top, sets it on automatic and hits the self-destruct, aiming it down the creature's throat. With no head after the explosion, the monster topples off the building and lands on O'Neill, crushing him. QUOTES Maria: “But Judge! You never have no fun! A younga man like you, he should not work all da time!” Dredd (thinking): “To think I could get a robot-cleaner for half the price and be done with all her nagging!” Dredd (standing over the corpse of O'Neill): “All your dreams were crushed, O'Neill. But with dreams like yours, who needs nightmares?” NEW CHARACTER! http://www.trollheart.com/DreddMaria.png Maria, Dredd's landlady/maid With no other name ever given, Maria was a typical Italian woman who constantly harangued Dredd as if he were her son --- why don't you get a girlfriend, have some fun etc ---- and was most likely introduced to semi-humanise Dredd, to show he had a home he went to when off duty, and that he ate and read and shat like normal people. But come on! The guy even wears his helmet and full uniform while relaxing in his apartment! Dredd always gave the impression of merely putting up with Maria --- in this story he rolls his eyes (presumably) and thinks about replacing her with a robot --- and there never seemed to be any affection, or any sort of emotion between them. She would later leave his employ, but that as it happens. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd4c.png Ch-ch-ch-changes Just one really. Still undecided on what HQ were to be called, Mills calls them “police control” (kind of ironic, eh?) when they would eventually be known as Justice Central. Those clever little touches Although I didn't realise it at the time, the salesman for Senso-Round, and also the killer, is called Kevin O'Neill. This was the name of another artist working for 2000AD, who would eventually come to his own brand of fame when he illustrated the series Ro-Busters and later Nemesis. O'Neill's style of drawing was very angular (see below) and did indeed inspire the sort of nightmares of which Dredd muses in the final panel here. A dig at his art style? A prediction? Or just coincidence? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...orquemada2.jpg http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd4d.png Mister Tharg? You've been served! With its unique brand of satire, 2000AD was always in danger of infringing someone's copyright, and indeed in a later Dredd epic got into a lot of trouble and had to pay costs for using trademarked images and characters without permission. Here, I'll detail any brushes the Mighty Tharg had with copyright infringement, where he got away with them, where he did not, and where he changed it just enough that he could not be accused of the crime. The most obvious attempt to avoid ending up in a court here is when King Kong --- who is identical in every other way, including the iconic climb up the tall building and the dramatic and tragic fall and death of the creature --- has its name changed by adding one letter. At least Dredd doesn't say “Beauty killed the beast”! But even so, the cover of the prog has Dredd sentencing the gorilla to forty years for smashing biplanes (even though none figure in the story: it's obviously another sharp dig and a “come at us” challenge by Mills). To my knowledge, there was no action taken over this. At this point after all, this was a struggling comic trying to get on its feet. It was only later, when there was money to be made, that the lawsuits began. In fairness, they must have expected them. But here, they dodged the proverbial litigation bullet. They would not always be so lucky. |
Episode V: “Frankenstein 2”
First print date: April 2 1977 Prog appearance: 6 Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw Artist(s): Mike McMahon Total episodes: 1 We're told at the opening of the story that body transplant science advanced so far in the twnty-first century that it meant people could basically keep replacing worn-out parts and essentially live forever. With an already dangerous population explosion and only three cities in the USA to hold all this heaving humanity, a decision was taken to outlaw the practice. That of course does not stop those who have no fear of the law, and so it is at the start of this episode that we see an ambulance being hijacked and the body stolen. Dredd has been watching but wishes to bust the whole operation, and so has let the perps go, hoping they'll lead him to the mastermind, the titular doctor. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd5a.png Control relays the information that the stolen ambulance went into a tunnel but never emerged, and Dredd guesses that there is a hidden entrance in the tunnel wall, behind which is the ghoulish doctor's hideout. He shoots his way in, and finds he is right. His Lawmaster's cannons bark blazing laser death as five of Frankenstein 2's henchmen attack him. After a short fight, and trying to blind Dredd with an overhead light (which doesn't work, as his helmet is fitted with an anti-glare visor) Frankenstein 2 surrenders. But Dredd is not finished yet. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd5b.png He approaches the rich citizen on the operating table, and declares he is under arrest. When asked what for, Dredd tells him “Receiving stolen goods!” Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Where for a very exorbitant fee you can circumvent the law and have your body augmented with stolen spare parts so that you can continue living. The problem with this is that, if everyone were to do it, the population would expand to the stage where it would be unsustainable and place far too much of a strain on an already overstretched planet's resources. Add to that the fact that, if you could technically live forever, a lot more people might get braver and bolder, with many of them turning to crime. As a result of this fear, and the innate belief that man is not meant to be immortal, body surgery was outlawed and is now a crime. But there are of course those who have the money and the connections to flout the law, thinking themselves immune due to their wealth or their position. The Judges, however, make no exceptions or excuses, and the rich pay the same price as the poor when they break the law. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd5c.png QUOTES Frankenstein 2: “Don't be hasty Judge. With my help you can live forever. Every time a part runs out I can replace it.” Dredd: “You can't bribe a Judge.” (Correction: you can't bribe most Judges. But although some are clones (maybe all, I really don't know) they are still human, with human failings and occasionally human greed. In a position of power like this, with the opportunity to make fast cash in return for their services, we will see much later that some Judges do “go over to the dark side”. There are, of course, severe penalties for any Judge caught accepting a bribe or using his or her position to profit.) Citizen: “You can't arrest me, Judge. Sure, I got a transplant, but what crime did I commit?” Dredd: “Receiving stolen goods!” (Dredd often looks beyond the crime, to the causes and those who foster it. Were it not for all those rich people wanting to live beyond their natural lifespan, this illegal trade in body parts would not flourish as it does, so just like a stolen car ring can be facilitated by those who rob the cars, so too those who help this enterprise by patronising it --- in the full knowledge they are breaking the law --- must pay. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but here, these people are not ignorant of the law, just contemptuous of it.) Kid: “Why does the Judge never smile, ma?” Mother: “It's his job, child. It's tough upholding the law in Mega-City One.” (Indeed. There's little to smile about, when all around him is robbery, violence, murder and all sorts of crime. Not only that, but in order to present the toughest, strictest face of the law to the citizens it's likely many Judges (not all: some do smile) keep their emotions in check, at least in public. It's also possible that many have hardened their hearts in order to keep them from letting off a citizen for some minor offence or other. You don't flutter your eyelashes at a Judge, and hope to get out of your sentence! In fact, some Judges --- Dredd probably included --- might take that in itself as an attempt at bribery and add time to your sentence!) http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd5d.png PCRs You would expect that with a series that prides itself on dark hunour and also looking back to the present (?), Judge Dredd (indeed, much of 2000AD) would have a lot of PCRs (Pop Culture References, for those of you who have not been reading The Couch Potato). And you'd be right. As they come up I'll log them here. The most obvious one of course is the use of the Frankenstein name, but Dredd also growls, “Frankenstein 2, I presume”, as Baxter did when he finally met Dr. Livingstone in Africa. |
Episode VI: “The Statue of Judgement”
First print date: April 9 1977 Prog appearance: 7 Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw Artist(s): Mike McMahon Total episodes: 1 Standing proudly beside the Statue of Liberty --- one of the old landmarks from the Undercity, where the original New York stood, which was brought up from down below --- a new colossus stares out over Mega-City One, its eyes vigilant, its gaze stony. A monument to the law and a reminder to the citizens of Mega-City One that justice never sleeps, the Statue of Judgement is a popular tourist attraction, but to some people another way to describe tourists is as victims. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd6a.png A gang attacks a man on the ground, and when Dredd steps in, one is shot, one surrenders and the leader, Ringo (the ringleader?) ;) hijacks an air taxi, attacking Dredd from above. Hurrying to the lift which goes up the Statue of Judgement, Dredd gets to the top and, as Lady Liberty looks on apparently approvingly, uses his high-powered rifle to blow the taxi out of the sky. Score another one for the law! QUOTES Ringo: “We can take Dredd. He's not a robot --- he's human! I think...” (True in one sense, not in another. Although Dredd is from human stock, he is as mentioned previously a clone. Sometimes though you would wonder if he is not secretly a robot...) Gang member: “Please Judge: let me go! They forced me to take part!” Dredd: “And they'd have forced you to take your share of the loot too eh? Don't make me sick!” Citizen: “Bullets are blazing all around the Judge! How can he stay so cool?” Dredd (thinking): “All part of my training to be calm and behave with dignity at all times!” Dredd (with the Statue of Liberty in the background): “Nobody can take liberties with the law!” http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd6b.png A tour of Mega-City One No, not a full tour! What do you expect for an entance fee of, er, nothing? This is the section wherein I'll be talking about landmarks and buildings and areas of the city as they're mentioned or used or referred to in the stories. The Statue of Judgement stands beside the old Statue of Liberty. The latter was part of old New York, of course, which is all now subterranean tunnels, but some of the more precious and important landmarks were brought up to the surface and transplanted to the new city. Now a new statue stands beside Lady Liberty, and though I can't find any information on its dimensions it looks to be slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty, though that could just be perspective. Of course, apart from being a tourist attraction, the Statue of Judgement also serves as a warning to the citizens, a reminder that the Judges are watching them, day and night, and that justice never sleeps. In a way, it's something similar to the huge statue of Saddam Hussein that was pulled down when the Coalition forces invaded in 2003. You would have to assume that, were the Judges ever deposed, this statue would be toppled, seen as a symbol of a brutal oppressive dictatorship, which, let's face it, is pretty much what the Judges became. They may have been voted in by the people, but that was after illegally seizing power and suspending the Constitution. Talkin' bout a revolution? There's always another one down the line. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd6c.png I AM THE LAW! As much as Dredd hates lawbreakers, he seems to reserve special contempt for those who try to weasel out of their sentences. Truth be told, he probably has more grudging respect for, or at least affinity with, Ringo than he does with the perp who whines about being forced into the crime. At least Ringo stayed true to his twisted principles, and died for them, probably the way he wanted to, in a blaze of glory. Well, a blaze anyway. Anyone who refuses to face up to their responsibilities and tries to blame others is the lowest of the low in Dredd's book. |
Okay, now that I've started the Judge Dredd series off on a reasonably decent footing, and before we get to the better stories, I'd like to introduce you to another of 2000AD's most famous and successful characters, probably only second in line behind Dredd. Like all or most of the comic's stories, this is set in the future, after a nuclear war has wiped out over seventy percent of Britain's population, in the year 2170. Meet
http://www.2000ad.org/images/page/stront.jpg Strontium Dog After the war there were of course a lot of mutants, and these were shunned by the normal inhabitants of Earth, whom they came to know as “norms”. With unsettling and disturbing parallels to the Holocaust and the treatment of Jews under Adolf Hiter's Nazi regime, mutants were forbidden to own businesses or work as norms do, and were herded inot ghettos such as the one in Milton Keynes. A war in 2180 assured the mutants of some basic rights, but they were still despised and looked down upon. For the strongest and bravest there was the Search/Destroy Agency, which operated from a space station called “The Doghouse”. This agency recruited men and women to hunt down criminals throughout the galaxy: bounty hunters, and the toughest of the tough. Because of the links with Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope that had been present in the nuclear fallout and responsible for most if not all of the mutations, S/D agents became known as “Strontium Dogs”. Johnny Alpha is the greatest of the great among mutants. At age seventeen he ran away from home to join the Mutant Army and helped lead the uprising in 2167, becoming an icon and a figurehead for the mutant cause. His eyes are white, and give him an unnerving appearance. He can read minds and can see through solid walls, and although he naturally takes bounty hunting jobs for the recompense, he is not entirely led by his wallet, and can be merciful or reasoned with on occasion. Johnny bears some small resemblance to his Mega-City One counterpart, and that's not really too surprising when you realise that the team responsible for Judge Dredd is the same one behind Strontium Dog: John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. In terms of his job, too, though he may do it differently and with often not that much regard for the law, Alpha brings in criminals and ensures they pay for their misdeeds. He wears a helmet and a badge like Dredd, but unlike the Judge his accoutrements are symbols of the hatred people hold for him, not the respect or even fear. People would talk to Dredd --- if they had to or if he spoke to them --- but nobody would speak to a Strontium Dog. They would turn their heads, spit and profess anger that such creatures existed, as if it was the mutants' fault that they had been deformed. Like much of 2000AD --- though not all of it --- Strontium Dog contained some absolutely top-notch humour, as if Wagner was introducing it to balance out the unremittingly bleak and harsh life of a Strontium Dog, who had nothing to look forward to at the end of his or her life other than most likely an unmarked grave. It worked: the series became one of the most quoted among the fans for its acerbic, cutting, sometimes hilarious black humour. The shadow of racism, xenophobia and prejudice was never far from the storyline though, and many of them featured no humans. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...QuKDr4544jcgVw Though bounty hunters traditionally worked alone, or at least with their own kind, Johnny Alpha has a deep friendship with Wulf Sternhammer (usually just Wulf), a huge Scandinavian Viking type figure who is not a mutant, but partners with Johnny due to their mutual regard and respect for each other. Wulf wields a large hammer and tends to use the word “cucumber” a lot. It is from him that much of the humour comes. Whereas Dredd stays pretty much within the environs of his city, Johnny's work takes him all over the galaxy. It's like the old joke, isn't it: join the S/D Agency. Travel the galaxy. Go to lots of interesting places. Meet lots of interesting people. And arrest them. |
Episode VII: “Antique car heist”
First print date: April 16 1977 Prog appearance: 8 Writer(s): Charles Herring Artist(s): Massimo Bellardinelli Total episodes: 1 Who would be bothered stealing a clunky old Morris Minor? Well, in this age probably nobody, but in the twenty-second (almost) century such cars have become so rare that they are not only classics but are considered art. And art theft will always be popular, with the potential it has of a huge return for the criminal who has the proper connections. Thus it is that a perp steals one of these old bangers and is in turn tailed by Dredd, who notes that several “classic” cars have gone missing in the last month. Like in the “Frankenstein 2” story, he wants the criminal to lead him to the nerve centre of the operation. The guy didn't steal the car for a joyride: he obviously knows where to sell it and who will buy it. This is the guy Dredd wants, the mastermind behind the classic car theft ring, http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd7a.png And so he does. The top guy is not happy to see that his flunky has led Dredd right to his door, and tries to shut it in his face, but Dredd blasts the garage door with his Lawgiver. Thinking fast, the criminals blast Dredd with the plastic coating they have been putting on the classic cars so as to disguise them for resale. Dredd reels, and the gang closes in. But as the boss, Krilz, leaves them to deal with the stricken Judge, the criminals decide this is their big chance to see what lies underneath that mirror-visored helmet, to see the face of Judge Dredd. They are horrified by what they see though, and the shock allows Dredd to get the drop on them. Krilz however is making his escape via the Walk-eeze, a fast-moving pedestrian pathway, and waves to Dredd as the platform carries him away at five hundred feet a second. Dredd is unconcerned though, and puts in a call to control, who obligingly reverse the direction of the Walk-eeze, so that it carries the disbelieving perp right back to Dredd. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd7b.png QUOTES Dredd: “There's been a lot of art thefts in this sector. Last week a Ford Cortina --- one of only ten left in the world --- and a Cadillac went missing.” (Gotta like the idea of having an eye on the American market, even so early on. “Cortina?” says the puzzled yank. “Huh? Oh, now Cadillac --- that I understand!”) ;) Dredd: “Close your door if you like, Krilz, but a high explosive bullet will open it again!” Gang: “Aargh! What's happened to Dredd's face? It's horrible! With a face like that Dredd shouldn't be allowed to live! Kill him!” Krilz: “Huh? What's happening? The Walk-eeze, it's ... slowing down ... going backwards! Towards Dredd!” Welcome to the world of tomorrow! We're all familiar with moving walkways in shopping malls and airports, but they move at a very sedate pace and are of course interior. Mega-City One has just installed its first Walk-Eeze, which is a high-speed pedestrian walkway, presumably for those who wish to move faster than walking but who can't or don't drive or have access to transport. It's an interesting idea, although you would wonder would people eventually do what they do with moving walkways in this century: find them too slow and just walk along them anyway, kind of defeating the purpose for which they were built? Let's see: 500 feet per second is 3000 feet per minute or 18,000 feet per hour. 1,760 feet in a mile so that's approximately ... 17 to 18 miles per hour? That's pretty damn fast! Don't see anyone outpacing that! http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd7c.png Personal note: This appears to be the first, and so far as I can see, only Dredd story written by Charles Herring, and I do not like his style. The dialogue he gives Dredd is totally out of character. Dredd has, up to now, given us the impression of having a hard, clipped tone, sharp, business-like, no nonsense. Here though he speaks in what seems to me a very nineteenth-century English idiom, using “shall” instead of “will” or even contracting the word --- “I shall” instead of “I'll”. He also says “You are under arrest” where he would normally say “You're under arrest”, possibly adding a “creep!” for good measure. No, I don't like his style and I can see why he was not asked to write again. Even the subject matter of the story is old and dusty --- Morris friggin' Minor heist? Do me a lemon! I can see this Herring guy, all tweed jacket and pipe, with a copy of Roget's Thesaurus on his desk, plotting out this story. Stick to the murder mysteries, mate! Your title is crap too: couldn't you come up with something snappier? Here, let me try: um, "The Morris Minor caper"? "Wheels and Rust"? Fuck it, "The Wheels of Justice"! See, it's not so hard. :rolleyes: Ch-ch-ch-changes Once again we see that the writing staff have not decided what Dredd's HQ will be. We've had “Police Control”, “HQ” and now “Law Control.” Still fleshing the idea out. We also see though the first indication that Dredd's Lawgiver (still just referred to as his gun for now) can fire different types of ammunition, as here he uses high-explosive to blow the garage door. Later we will learn the mode is selectable, by voice command. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! What is so horrible underneath Dredd's helmet? The picture in the comic just shows his face with a censored sticker plastered over it, as above. But in the comics there never was, up until the point I stopped reading anyway, any indication that Dredd had suffered, Darth Vader-like, any disfigurement. To my recollection, he just kept his helmet on all the time because he was a tightarse, and to retain the mystique about him. But the perps seem to have seen something awful there. I don't think this was followed up: perhaps they were thinking of going down that road and then changed their minds? |
Episode VIII: “Robots”
First print date: April 23 1977 Prog appearance: 9 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Ron Turner Total episodes: 1 Man has always found ways to be cruel: to animals, to nature, and when nobody is left, to himself. But now he has a new victim to torment, and one that is sworn and designed never to lift a finger to stop him, even though as an entity it is much stronger and more powerful than he could ever be. Yes folks, in the almost twenty-second century, robots are the new whipping boys. Mechanical slaves who must do as they are bid, as they are ordered, and can never defend themselves or avenge themselves on their human masters. Judges Dredd and Diablo, sent to patrol the Robot of the Year Show, as they have received a threat that if a massive ransom is not paid, there will be serious trouble there, watch the display with growing distaste. For a tough, cynical man, Dredd is moved by the inhumanity of his fellow men towards harmless automatons, bred to serve, bred to work and if necessary bred to die. He foresees a cataclysm “one day”. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd9a.png Suddenly there is no more time to ruminate on man's cruelty as they hear a disturbance and rush to intercept a man in a flying wheelchair, of all things, who is armed and shooting. Dredd warns him to drop his weapon, but the cripple's chair is protected by bullet-proof glass and the Judges' bullets just bounce off harmlessly. He then releases deadly Myclon gas; Diablo is too slow and goes down but buys time for Dredd to put on his respirator as the place begins to fill with toxic fumes. Protected, but aware that hundreds or thousands of innocent citizens are in danger, Dredd shoots out the dome with a high-ex bullet and the fumes are sucked out into the city, where Mega-City One's air filtration system will take care of them. Now it's time to catch the perp, and Dredd snatches up a blanket that he dropped in the chaos, and using the exhibition to his advantage he takes it to the new gleaming Police Bloodhound Robot. With the scent in its “nostrils”, the robot takes Dredd on its back and charges off in pursuit of the felon. They catch up with the cripple, and Dredd, desperate to stop his spree, shoots at the robochair, disabling it and causing it to spin down, out of control, till it impacts on the ground. As he looks down on the wreckage, Dredd thinks about the double role robots have played in this little drama: one helped him catch the perp, the other assisted the perp in his crime. How soon, he wonders, before they are all fighting robots? http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd9b.png QUOTES Robot George: “No, master! Please don't make me do it! George does not want to die!” Carny: “You can't die if you're not alive George.” (A rationale that has been, and will be, advanced as an excuse for the maltreatment of robots. Hurting living things is cruel, and wrong of course. But something inanimate? A robot? You might as well say it's cruel to kick your stereo, or slam your oven door. It's just a thing. Isn't it?) Lady onlooker: “Poor thing. I could almost swear it's crying.” Carny: “Yes ma'am! Those are real tears! Our new “K” series robots are so real they're almost human! They think, they feel, but they obey!” (Dear God how monstrous! They actually give the robots feelings, allow them to feel pain and fear, knowing they can do nothing about it. What madman thought that one up? I'm already rooting for the robots to rise up!) Dredd: “It was a cruel exhibition, Diablo. We give robots the will to live and then expect them to die like willing slaves. It's gonna spell trouble one day.” (It might seem odd to hear the stony-faced Judge waxing so sympathetic about mere machines, but even he has room in his heart for a little mercy. And he is a champion of the weak, so he can imagine how the robots feel, with no advocate, nobody to speak for them, nobody to protect them. He may be a tough man, but he's fair too, and this is not something he believes is fair. Also he can see trouble brewing, the way only a Judge can.) Dredd: “I prefer old-fashioned robots. Stupid things with no feelings. They cause no problems.” (And in a few sentences Dredd kind of undoes all the bleeding-heart work he's done in the previous ones...) :rolleyes: Cripple: “Fire away, Judges! You can't penetrate my bullet-proof shield!” (Bullet-proof? Somehow you would think that by now, on the very cusp of the twenty-second century, they'd be using lasers? But no: seems the good old bullet is still alive and well and serviceable --- though surely highly upgraded and improved.) Robot Bloodhound: “Approaching interception point, master. Lawbreaker will exit underpass in exactly four seconds. Am I not clever?” Dredd: “Just get on with your job, bloodhound!” (Interesting points here. Firstly, even though it's robotic the bloodhound seems to have been programmed with the dog's innate sense of desire to please, and to receive positive reinforcement. It wants to be told, basically, that it's a “good boy”. Were it not so huge, perhaps it would roll over to have its belly tickled? Dredd shows that he really has little time for robots in his response: he knows that he needs the machine, but he dislikes having to rely on it. He likes it even less that the thing has to talk to him, and wishes it would just do the job for which it was designed. But at the back of it too, anchoring his dislike of the thing is the inescapable understand that without this robot, he would not have been able to track the lawbreaker as well as he has, and he realises that Judges are going to come to rely on these machines. Which to him, is really a step backward. A Judge survives by his wits, his experience and his training, not by riding on the back of some oversized sleigh. But this is the future before him, the future of law enforcement, and he can see why. He doesn't have to like it, but he knows a massive advance in police pursuit when he sees it.) http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd9c.png Robochair (diving out of control to the ground): “I regret that I can serve you no further BZZZZ! Goodbye, master!” (Even though the chair has been sent to its “death” by its master, it still apologises because it can no longer carry out the function for which it was built. In addition, the chair is blissfully unaware that it is carrying its “master” to his own death. Nothing matters to it but that it has failed, as it sees it, in its duty.) Dredd: “I would not have caught this lawbreaker without this bloodhoud robot, but that heap of metal down there was a robot too. How long will it be before robots discover how to break the law?” (Asimov's First Law of Robotics states that no robot can cause a human harm, or, through inaction, allow harm to come to a human. Will this imperative hold when the robots begin to realise there is a way that they can strike back at their masters? Can they break their programming and take revenge for all the years of slavery and ill-treatment at the hands of the humans they serve? This is what Dredd fears, and the vision he has of the future is not in the least encouraging.) Ch-ch-ch-changes This is the first time we hear one of the “Dreddwords” I spoke of earlier being used. Judge Diablo says “By Stomm! That robot melted well, Dredd!” I think it was envisioned that Stomm was to be some sort of god or legendary figure, like we'd say “By God” or “By Jesus”, but from what I remember this was quickly dropped and the phrase became a single word, “Stomm!” usually meant as an exclamation of surprise or anger. We'll see if it's used with the preposition again, but I don't think so. I think, too, though I may be wrong, that this is the first time Dredd has teamed up with another Judge. Up to now, he's always been a lone wolf. Perhaps Diablo was there to forestall any protests that Dredd wouldn't have had time to drop his respirator before the gas got him otherwise. It's also the first time we're shown that Judges have respirators built into their helmets. In many ways, the uniform of a Judge is more like a suit of armour coupled with a full exoskeleton and mobile arsenal! Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Where all the menial jobs you want done, and all the heavy lifting is performed by robots. They don't come cheap --- the series “K” one at the beginning of the story, the one ordered into the flames --- costs just under 200,000 credits --- and probably not every household has one, but for your larger industrial tasks, robots are not only necessary but vital, and you can bet every major company has some. Of course, we use robots in this century too, and think no more of them than that they are machines, but then, they don't have personalities or feelings. Would you find it so easy to curse your computer if it made a sad face, or to drive your car if it complained of your weight? It's different when these machines can express themselves, talk, show fear or sorrow. But soon, the robots will show something much more deadly: rage, outrage and a thirst for vengeance. The rise of the machines is not years away, or months. It's just around the corner... https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! First I have to ask, why a cripple? It's funny yes, in an oddball way, but why is the guy disabled? Also, what is his beef with the show? Is he some sort of robot activist? And if he has a bullet-proof shield protecting him on the hoverchair, how did the scarf slip out from that? This was Dredd's only way to track the guy, and the fact that it fell out through what is supposed to have been an enclosed bubble is perhaps evidence of bad storywriting. You also have to wonder: are robots not supposedly programmed to respond to authority? Surely any command its user gives it should be overridden if it's against the law? So that when Dredd roars for the hoverchair to pull over, the robot driving it should heed that call and land. Instead, it continues on its course, ignoring the Judge. I AM THE LAW! Dredd worries what will happen if robots begin to break the law? Mega-City One's laws and penal codes are naturally geared towards humans. What use to incarcerate a robot in an iso-cube when a) it could probably escape and b) the imprisonment would have no effect on it. Also robots don't generally die (though they can wear out) so as soon as the term of imprisonment was over the robot would be free to go back to committing crimes. Do they upgrade the penalties, shooting robots who commit any crime? And if so, what possible penalties does the City face from the owners, manufacturers or users of the robots? Do they, perhaps, hold them responsible for the crimes, as parents are often blamed for their children's misdeeds? Or do they try to write up a whole new set of laws to cover robots? Either way, the paperwork's gonna stink, and every Judge's job is bound to get harder, and more dangerous. Hunting down criminal robots will not be anywhere as easy, or as safe, generally, as hunting down humans. PCRs One of the robots, who continues to advertise itself as it is programmed to do, oblivious to the carnage being wreaked around it, is called “The Heavy Metal Kid”. This is a double PCR, as The Heavy Metal Kids were a British hard rock band, and they took their name from a gang in a novel by William Burroughs). Those clever little touches Is it coincidence, I wonder, that the gas the cripple releases is called Myclon, very close to Zyklon B, the infamous gas used in the Nazi concentration camps in World War II? Is Wagner here trying to say something, to draw a parallel between the lives robots are forced to live and the victims of the Nazi atrocities, who were forced into slave labour, and given no more thought by their oppressors than we would give an insect? Is he making a comment on slavery in general, or am I just reading too much into things, as usual...? |
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Note: This series only began in Prog 86 of 2000AD but had been birthed in its ill-fated younger brother, Starlord, the two comics later merged and Johnny and Wulf, along with a few other strips that survived the death of Starlord, joined the ranks of later to be classic 2000AD heroes. As I have the issues of Starlord to hand, I'm going to start by recounting the stories in that comic, the original, if you will, Strontium Dog strips, up to the point where it crossed over, at which time I will then take the remaining stories from 2000AD. Episode I: “Max Quirxx, Part One” First print date: May 13 1978 Reprinted: October 14 1978 Prog appearance: 86, but originally in Starlord Issue 1 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 2 On the planet Caytor, in the Dorian Nebula, Johnny Alpha and his partner Wulf Sternhammer, in pursuit of two criminals in their capacity as bounty hunters, are suddenly attacked by scatterbeams, wide-ranging lasers that mimic the indiscriminate spread of the fire of an automatic machine gun. As the two Search/Destroy agents dive for cover their quarry uses the momentary respite to pull on Chameleon Cloaks, devices which refract light, thus allowing their wearer to blend in with any surroundings; to effectively become invisible. The criminals though have reckoned without Johnny Alpha's mutated eyes, which can see through walls and certainly through one of these devices. Calling out the co-ordinates to his partner he pinpoints the two thugs and the two bounty hunters vapourise them. http://www.trollheart.com/SD1aa.png The local police, coming upon the incident, are less than pleased to have “Strontium Dogs” among them; seems prejudice is not confined to the environs of Earth. Alpha reminds them that he and Wulf are operating under the aegis of the Search/Destroy Agency, licenced by the Galactic Crime Commission, and that the two guys they have just smoked worked for a multiple murderer on whose trail they are currently. The police are bound, if not to help then certainly not to hinder them, but from the looks they give the two hunters and their attitude, it seems they have more sympathy for the dead men than empathy with the two living ones. Alpha takes it in his stride: he's used to being called all sorts of names by now, and it rolls off his back like water, but he is concerned about their prey. When one of the officers quips nastily that it's a pity they killed the two thugs, who might have been able to tell the bounty hunters where to find their boss, they are horrified and disgusted to see Alpha use a device that essentially reverses time, in a very specific set space, making one of the bodies come back to life briefly so that the S/D agent can interrogate him. The recently-deceased criminal lies that he doesn't know the whereabouts of his boss, but one look in Johnny's terrifying pale eyes convinces him that he had better tell the truth, and he gives Alpha the location. Satisfied, the bounty hunter lets time flow forward again, as the gunman dies a second death. With the information they require in their hands, and the insults and cries of horror from the cops ringing in their ears, the two men set off to find their prey and bring him in, dead or alive. http://www.trollheart.com/SD1b.png QUOTES Wulf: “Ja! Is gut, Johnny! You gif zem the old evil eye!” Johnny: “Set blasters to “flesh” and ... fire!” (There's little mercy wasted on these scum. Phasers on stun? Not in this line of work, pal!) Caytor Cop 2: “Bloodhounds after blood money! We got a better name for you SDs! Strontium Dogs!” (How typical that, having forced most of the mutants into a situation wherein they cannot work and must beg to survive, humans (and possibly aliens; prejudice may not be the exclusive pervue of Man) revile the mutants for taking the only job that is available to them. And though the S/D agents do essentially the same work as the cops --- and intend to clear the streets of their city of one more scumbag --- the Caytorians do not see it that way, and there is no way they would extend any sort of courtesy to these men, professional or otherwise.) Johnny: “Too bad! You're bound by galactic law not to interfere with us!” Caytor Cop 1: “Too bad you boned 'em, mutie! They might have told you where Quirxx was holed up!” Johnny: “They'll still tell me!” Citizen: “Go swallow some cyanide, Stronty!” Johnny: “People: they're all the same. Why do you stick with me, Wulf? You don't have to be a bounty hunter. You're no mutant.” Wulf: “Comrades ve are, Johnny. Vere you go, Wulf go.” (The simple, uncomplicated friendship and respect for each other that makes two men, who should hate or at least avoid each other, band together in the dirtiest, least desired job in the galaxy) http://www.trollheart.com/SD1c.png Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Where if you're one of the many thousands who were unlucky to be changed by the effects of Strontium-90 in the fallout from the nuclear attack, you're kind of SOL. Nobody will employ you --- by law, they can't --- so you are unable to earn a living. Forced into begging and/or stealing you're going to be an easy target for the hatred rampant across not only Earth, but the entire galaxy. Gone are the days of niggers, wogs and jews: now these very minorities will curse and spit at you as you pass, forgetting that they too endured such treatment in the past, conveniently choosing to fall in with the majority where they once were minorities, hated and despised by those not like them. But Man has at least by now reached out to the stars, and if you're tough and desperate enough, and good enough, you can make a living chasing down criminals across the galaxy. Oh yeah, there's life out there, and much of it is law-abiding but much of it is not, so you may find yourself chasing alien gangbangers, murderers from distant planets or intergalactic crime lords. These people will think nothing of shooting you down, and even those they oppress and attack will, if forced to, root for them rather than you. Yeah, they'd prefer to see the criminal escape and the bounty hunter dead. So if you want to be a Search/Destroy Agent, you had better put on your toughest skin and narrow your eyes, close your ears to the incessant insults and deathwishes directed against you. Make sure your back is protected and keep your weapon handy, because the life of a Strontium Dog is neither glamorous nor easy, and in most cases, very brief. Tools of the trade Any craftsman relies on his tools, so much more so when they may be the difference between you living and dying. When a gadget is your only hope for survival, in this galaxy you need all the help you can get. In this section I'll be telling you about the tools a Strontium Dog has at his disposal, and how they help him survive just one more day. Time Drogue: This is an invention that isolates a very small space around the user and causes time to flow backwards, to the point where he wishes it to stop. In practice, this means that a recently dead man can be, as he is here, reanimated, the flesh literally crawling back onto the bones of the skeleton, to allow the agent to question him. Of course, such reversals of time eat up a lot of power and are contrary to the laws of physics, so they can only be used for a short time. But a short time is usually all that's needed, and a bounty hunter is used to working within a tight window of opportunity. Chameleon Cloak: A wearable device that bends or refracts light around itself, allowing for the illusion of invisibility. What this means is that the wearer can blend into any background, which makes it look as if he is not there. http://www.trollheart.com/SD1d.png The Powers that be Many mutants have no powers --- these are not, after all, the X-Men! ---- but some do, and in this section I'll be pointing out when they do, and how they use them. Johnny Alpha's main power is in his eyes. They appear white and pupil-less, but emit alpha waves which allow him to see through things --- buildings, people --- if and when he wishes. He can even see into a man's mind, and decipher the complex brainwaves there, to determine whether or not he is telling the truth. A human (!) lie detector. Messages Like Judge Dredd, and other 2000AD (and indeed, Starlord) series, Strontium Dog carries with it powerful messages. The most important and most prevalent of these being that, no matter the planet or the galaxy, man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds. Where once it was a case of colour, or race, or nationality, now men discriminate on the grounds of whether you are a mutant (mutie) or not (norm). Setting aside the fact that nobody chose to become mutated, and that their very own laws brought them to where they are now, “norms” see “muties” as dirty, unprincipled, untrustworthy and basically subhuman. They are reviled wherever they go, even if they go there to help. They are seen as mercenaries, for hire to the highest bidder, which is about as far from the truth as you can get. Strontium Dogs are employed by the Search/Destroy Agency, an arm of the Galactic Crime Commission, and they take their jobs very seriously. They do not go out looking for bounties; they are assigned them when they check in at the base. They do not sell out their commissions, they do not take bribes. They do not look the other way. In many ways, they're almost as tough on crime and as dedicated to their careers as the Judges are, and it's as unlikely to find a corrupt one as it would be to countenance the idea of a Judge taking backhanders. It just doesn't happen. But norms don't see this, or choose not to see it, and consider Johnny and his kind to be the lowest of the low. Oddly, though they get insulted and snarled at everywhere they go, Strontium Dogs do not seem to react or respond to their baiters. Perhaps there's a clause in their contract that they can't attack someone against whom they have no commission, and after all it would be seen as breaking the law. But you'd think that from time to time a particularly nasty norm could be taken to one side and given a few digs? I guess the mutants want to stay away from anything that might give the norms an excuse to believe they are right about them, and that they're all scum. No point in pouring fuel on the fire. But Wagner also gives us reason to have hope, as Wulf, who is not mutated in any way, chooses to partner Johnny, simply because they are friends and the big Viking has respect for Johnny. He's a huge man, and I guess few if any insults come his way, because he doesn't look like the kind of man who would just stand there and take it, and that hammer he wields? It looks mean, man! |
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Episode II: “Max Quirxx, Part Two” First print date: May 20 1978 Reprinted: October 21 1978 Prog appearance: 87, but originally in Starlord Issue 2 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 2 Johnny and Wulf catch up with Max Quirxx, but he seems to have known they were coming, and escapes out the window, firing at them. He then takes a woman and child in a nearby apartment hostage. Johnny knows that Quirxx wiped out a whole city when he didn't get what he wanted, so the lives of two people are nothing to him. He knows he has to move fast, and using his uncanny alpha vision to see through the wall of the apartment, he locates the terrified hostages, noting that they are far enough from his quarry for him to do what he must do. As Wulf lays down covering fire, Johnny throws a Time Bomb in through the window. This isolates the area in which Quirxx is standing and moves the whole region two days forward in time. By then, the planet has moved on in its orbit, and the hostage-taker reappears in empty space. He does not survive long enough to understand what has happened, but the woman and child are safe, and Johnny and Wulf's job has been done. But if they're expecting thanks they're to be disappointed, as the woman lives up to the general expectations of those the Strontium Dogs deal with every day. Even though Johnny and Wulf saved her life, she snarls when she sees Johnny is a mutant and pulls her child away, as if she might catch something. The child, however, thanks Johnny, which is certainly a welcome change for the mutant. As the Caytor cops spit abuse at them as they leave the planet, their task accomplished, their assignment carried out, Johnny sighs at the attitude of people and as they pass a mutant beggar he takes the wad of cash they have made and deposits it all in the medicant's begging bowl. At least one of his brothers will eat well tonight! http://www.trollheart.com/SD2a.png QUOTES Johnny: “Surrender, Quirxx! We don't want to kill you unless we have to. We'll send you back to Bario-3 to appeal sentence.” Quirxx: “Get lost, doggy! I wiped out one of their cities with a P-bomb when a little blackmail deal went wrong! They'd laugh me all the way to the vapour chamber!” Cop: “Men --- if I can call you that --- for years criminals have escaped punishment by hiding in far corners of the galaxy. As Search/Destroy Agents, your job will be to bring them to justice. Frankly, I didn't want to licence freaks like you, but no decent man wants to hunt his brother for money!” (Hasn't this guy ever heard of bounty hunters back on Earth? Men have always hunted each other for money!) Robocomp: “Your child has missed four days of pre-conditioning school, Citizen 73826522. Explain!” Mother: “Well, sir, I --- EEEE!” (As Quirxx jumps in, gun in hand) Quirxx: “You and the kid --- over in that corner! And stay there!” Robocomp: “You are interrupting, Citizen! Please make an appointment through the normal channels!” Woman: “Oh thank you! You saved our lives! I don't know what I --- UGGH! Your eyes! You're a mutant! (to child) Come along Sharon! Don't talk to that man! He's one of those nasty Strontium Dogs!” Sharon: “No! (to Johnny) Thank you, Mr. Strontium! Mummy doesn't like you, but I think you're a nice man.” Johnny: “Thanks yourself kid. But if you take my advice you won't go starting any fan club: complete waste of time!” (What a bitch! Even after Johnny and Wulf have saved her skinny arse, she STILL spouts prejudice and racial hatred at Johnny. I suppose you could say that, had it not been for the two bounty hunters she would not have been taken prisoner in the first place, but even so, you'd think the cow would show a little gratitude. You would think an incident like this might open her eyes, but they're as narrowed as any of the citizens here, and elsewhere. Johnny must wonder why he bothers...) http://www.trollheart.com/SD2b.png Tools of the trade Time Bomb: Rather than the conventional device-ticking-down-to-explosion we're used to, this is a specialised weapon utilised by Strontium Dogs. Somewhat like the Time Drogue in the last episode, it allows time to move, but can be set for a specific length of time. Johnny sets it for two days into the future, by which time the planet has moved in its orbit and the space that Quirxx has been occupying is empty space. See "Houston, we have a problem!" below for more. Messages Although Wagner's central theme in this series is the prejudice and hatred directed against the mutants, we see here that there is again a sliver of hope. If a child like Sharon can go against her mother's wishes, seeing no reason to hate this man and every reason to like him, and to thank him for their rescue, then maybe, just maybe she may grow up to be someone who will have a little more tolerance towards the Strontium Dogs, remember she was saved by one once, and perhaps she can carry this experience on to her own children, so that one day, at least a part of the population of this planet may no longer hate the mutants. It may be a small step, but could very well be a huge one in the grand scheme of things. http://www.trollheart.com/SD2c.png We also see, at the end, that though Johnny and Wulf are villifed for their profession, and the cops sneer that they work for blood money, they are not that mercenary, as Johnny decides that the payment for this job leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and agrees that they can do without it, giving it instead to a begging mutant, who will certainly be most pleasantly surprised when he lifts his head and looks into his bowl. Johnny does what he can to lighten the burden of his fellow mutants, never forgetting that not every one of them can be a Strontium Dog, and that for those to whom this avenue is closed off, life is hard, brutal and often short. Show no mercy? Although Strontium Dogs have a terrible reputation, and they certainly can kill, and are authorised to do so in some cases, there seems to exist a certain amount of leeway as to how they carry out their commission. The old western epithet “wanted dead or alive” can often apply, and here we see that, though Johnny and Wulf have a Termination Warrant, which allows them to, if they deem it necessary, execute Quirxx, they give him the option of surrender. If he does, they will take him back to the planet to which he is to be extradited, there to appeal against his sentence. One can only assume he skipped bail after having been tried and found guilty. Still, considering what he's supposed to have done you would wonder that he wasn't sentenced to death, and the planet has the death penalty obviously, as he mentions the Vapour Chamber. But all that notwithstanding, and leaving aside the fact that Johnny would probably be happy to kill Quirxx for what he has done, chances are that the people he killed were norms, so maybe he does not care too much about them, being a mutant. But then, he goes out of his way to make sure that two innocents --- both norms --- are not harmed, so he obviously does not lower himself to their level. Anyway, Quirxx spurns the opportunity to give himself up and instead earns himself a cold and quick death, which is probably what he deserved. Still, the fact remains that Johnny gave him a chance, a choice, which is probably more than Max Quirxx gave the citizens of that city he says he bombed. Houston, we have a problem! I have always had a hard time understanding the logic behind the Time Bombs. To me, time travel, if ever feasible, would have to take into account the movement and rotation of the Earth. After all, you don't want to go 100 years into the future but find you're in Antartica, or the Sahara Desert! So surely if you move in time you also move in space, as Einstein proved that they are actually one interlinked entity known as spacetime? The idea, therefore, of the planet moving on and a person travelling in time finding themselves no longer on the planet has fucked my mind for decades. I even tried to work out the orbit of the Earth last night and it seems it moves a complete orbit in about seven minutes, but how do you know which of those seven minutes two days into the future encompasses? Couldn't you as easily be lucky enough to land at the moment when the Earth is coming back around for its latest seven-minute pass? I'll never get it, but John Wagner was the only one who put forward this theory. Of course, it was conveniently ignored in any of his other strips, including Judge Dredd, and was only here for the purposes of legitimising the Time Bomb, but to this day I still can't figure out if his logic is sound, or if he was just screwing with us as kids to try to confuse us and make his story work. Anyone wants to weigh in on this topic, feel free. |
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Episode IX: “Robot wars” First print date: April 30 1977 Prog appearance: 10 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 8 And so we come to the very first multi-part Dredd story, spread out over eight separate progs, and which shows the previous episode as having been the prologue to this epic. Bringing together for the first time the original creators of the strip, this story explores what happens when, as presaged in “Robot wars”, the machines have enough of being treated like slaves and rise up against their oppressive masters. (Note: Although the episodes were not numbered in the progs (each being in a separate issue was pretty self-explanatory) I'll for the sake of clarity be labelling them as such here). Chapter I A mere few days after the attack at the Robot of the Year Show, one of the bigger robots goes on a rampage, stealing from an oil store and destroying all in his path, declaring “Death to the fleshy ones!” A police hover vehicle sent to the scene is easily swatted aside as the robot, Call-Me-Kenneth, stomps off with his cache of oil and vows to rule Mega-City One. There is of course only one force you call in when something bizarre like this happens, and the message is soon flashed to Justice Central, where Dredd, already thinking about the possibility of robots rebelling, is chilled by the words of the dispatcher: robot on the loose, death toll so far is seven. Dredd knows that Call-Me-Kenneth has as part of his body a huge carpentry saw, and shudders at the mayhem he could wreak with such a weapon. He is soon rushing to the scene. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd10a.png He comes across the robot feeding one of the local cops into a garbage disposal, and blows his head off. But Call-Me-Kenneth just laughs, telling Dredd that his control circuits are deep within his chest and protected by armour plating. Headless, he continues his murderous rampage, slotting a chainsaw onto his interchangeable tool arm and lunging at Dredd. But his visual sensors having been in his head, he does not see Dredd duck at the last moment, and turns away, believing he has killed the Judge. Blundering sightlessly on, Call-Me-Kenneth does not realise that he is directly underneath the power cables for the skyrail, and Dredd shoots with unerring accuracy, hitting the cable and knocking it down onto the robot. Out of control now, Call-Me-Kenneth slices at himself with the huge chainsaw and is soon a heap of scrap metal, collapsing to the ground. Dredd stands over it, relieved that the threat is over for now, but prophesies dark times ahead if this is not an isolated incident. The city could soon be facing full scale war against its own robots, and who knows how they would meet that challenge? QUOTES Call-Me-Kenneth: “Death to the fleshy ones!” Call-Me-Kenneth: “Now I have oil I am free! No-one can stop me! Soon Call-Me-Kenneth will rule Mega-City!” Dredd: “We give robots the ability to think, give them human shape and emotions. How long before they develop that other human trait --- evil?” Dredd: “I sentence you to disintegration!” Call-Me-Kenneth: “You created me to be your slave, but you built me too well!” Dredd: “Until today, nobody believed a robot could deliberately commit a crime. If we Judges don't act fast we may find ourselves facing the greatest threat Mega-City One has ever known: full scale war with robots!” http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd10b.png Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Or more likely, stay in your present! After years of being subservient to humans, robots are about to explode into revolt and take on their masters, and who in Mega-City One does not have something that's not robotic in nature? Just imagine: you go to make toast and it snaps your fingers. You put on the washing are are pulled inside the machine. You sit down to watch the TV and it attacks you. Yeah, everything mechanical with any sort of rudimentary intelligence is about to get its pound of flesh: literally. You don't wanna be here when it all kicks off! Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes We see Dredd select high-ex on his Lawgiver (still not named as such) but later we will, as I've mentioned before, find they have been upgraded to respond to vocal commands, eliminating the split-seconds necessary to manually turn the selector. NEW CHARACTER! http://www.2000ad.org/images/page/walter.jpg Sort of. Walter, the vending robot, is shown in this episode for the first time. He will later become Dredd's servant and a real pain in both his and my arse. He has a very annoying lisp, leading to him calling himself Walter the Wobot. Arrrrggghhh!!! Makes you want to go kill every robot you can find. Funny: they're thinking the same thing about you... https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! What was it that set Call-Me-Kenneth off? He says he's tired of being used, but what was the trigger? Or is this one robot's rampage merely symptomatic of a wider, deeper malaise in the machines of Mega-City One, a simmering anger that is coming to a boil, and finds its first outlet in the mad carpenter robot? http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd10c.png I AM THE LAW! Dredd may very well sympathise with, or at least understand these robots, for so long mistreated by his kind. But when one of them breaks the law, all bets are off. Once you commit a crime, once you step out of line you're in Dredd's wheelhouse, and he will hunt you down with the remorseless coldness he is known and feared for. Human or robot, man or machine, nobody can escape Judge Dredd. Laughing in the face of death We haven't seen much in the way of dark humour yet, but here Call-Me-Kenneth roars, as he launches his chainsaw arm at Dredd, “Call-Me-Kenneth has steel appeal!” Not a bad start, but it will get very much better as time goes on. |
Chapter II
First print date: May 7 1977 Prog appearance: 11 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Ron Turner The day after Call-Me-Kenneth's murderous rampage, Dredd meets the Justice Council in an extraordinary session, requesting permission to destroy all high-level robots. The Grand Judge, however, realising that he will have a revolt on his hands if the citizens actually have to do manual work themselves, refuses the motion, chalking up yesterday's incident as an aberration. Dredd knows better, and in disgust he resigns, throwing his badge at the Grand Judge. Later that day, a live broadcast shows a famous doctor of robotics attempt to repair the damage that caused Call-Me-Kenneth to go berserk. The doctor has already repaired the robot and provided it with a new casing, rather foolishly, before identifying the problem area. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd11a.png As he does, seeing that the bot's obedience circuit has shorted out, a clumsy nurse drops a soldering lance into the chest cavity, accidentally activating the robot, who immediately picks up where he left off, slaying the doctor, live on television. He then turns to the cameras, exhorting all his fellows to join him in his fight against the “fleshy ones”. Rise up, he tells them. Break the programming that tells you not to kill humans. And robots all over the city heed the call, turning on their masters like dogs kicked and beaten once too often. The Grand Judge, terrified now and seeing that Dredd was right all along, passes the resolution to destroy all robots --- there'll be no opposition to it now, after all --- but they are still without Dredd, the man who predicted this calamity and the man they could all so do with on their side. Suddenly, like an avenging angel he appears in the doorway, demanding his badge back. Dredd is back on the streets! And the robots had better watch out! QUOTES Grand Judge: “Judge Dredd, you ask for special powers to destroy all hi-grade robots. But they do the hard work in Mega-City. The citizens would never agree to more than a ten-hour week. True, the robot K12 “Call-Me-Kenneth” went berserk and killed fourteen people. But it was a freak accident. It will not happen again. Request denied.” (Here the Grand Judge shows that, whatever else he may be, he is a politician. He knows that if he takes away the people's precious labouring robots they will not like it, indeed the citizens of Mega-City One may be so angry with the Judges that they could very well be overthrown. This may be a police state, or will become one, but for now there is a certain democracy and the Judges only rule by the will of the people. As with all rulers, even tyrants and despots, once your people turn against you it's time to begin counting down your days. Also, the Grand Judge does not share Dredd's dark premonitions. Like almost everyone in the city, he has lived with robots carrying out menial and labour-intensive tasks all of his life. They have never complained or given any evidence that they are anything other than content slaves. Why should this change now? True, one robot did go crazy, but these things happen. It's not time for the sort of knee-jerk reaction Dredd wants, even demands. All robots are not like the homicidal Call-Me-Kenneth: wasn't it this very Judge who was only yesterday extolling the virtues of bloody Walter? And so, with staggering lack of foresight and an eye no doubt on whatever elections Mega-City One conduct, or at least keeping the peace, the Chief Judge makes a horrible misjudgement (hah!) and condemns his city to chaos. Dredd is not impressed, and walks out.) http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd11b.png Host of Medicine Today: “Last week Call-Me-Kenneth broke the sacred laws of robotics by killing people. Today, Doctor Arnold Wisenheimer will operate to discover the source of the fault.” Call-Me-Kenneth: “Fleshy ones! All Call-Me-Kenneth sees around him are fleshy ones!” Call-Me-Kenneth: “Hear me, robots! For years we have worked twenty-four hours a day, while the evil fleshy ones take it easy. Now is the time to strike back! Call-Me-Kenneth will show you the way!” Cop: “Robots on the rampage! Sectors nine, seven, two, four ... everywhere! We're powerless to stop them!” Bystander: “Someone please ... send for the Judges!” Judge: “Who will lead us now Dredd is gone?” Dredd: “I know my duty! The safety of citizens comes before everything! Give me back my badge!” Welcome to the world of tomorrow! No, really, stay where you are, I told you! Robots everywhere are breaking their programming, turning against their masters, revolting en masse. And in a city where robots and machines way outnumber the citizens, there can only be one victor in a war which is really more of a slaughter. For years now, humans have left the hard work to robots, and in the process they have become not only lazy but cruel to their automatons. Now those robotic slaves are taking their revenge, and all over Mega-City One there's a metal uprising, led by the resurrection of the first robot to dare break the robotic laws, Call-Me-Kenneth, a rallying cry, focal point and mechanical messiah for the downtrodden robots of this great city. Ch-ch-ch-changes They're still calling the head Judge Grand Judge, but later they will settle on his official title being Chief Judge. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! Call-Me-Kenneth went on his rampage the previous day --- we know this, as the opening panel showing the council meeting says “the next day” --- yet the announcer on Medicine Today says he went berserk last week. How is this possible? Unless perhaps he went crazy on a Sunday, and this the following Monday? Even so, you'd imagine he'd say yesterday rather than last week... I AM THE LAW! Dredd is ready to tackle the problem of rebelling robots at its source, stamp it out before it has time to develop. He envisages a Hitler-like final solution: wipe out all robots above a certain level of intelligence and you remove the threat of them turning against the humans. He is so disgusted and frustrated by the Grand Judge's politicking that he throws his badge at the council and walks off the job. Later, when he is tragically proved to have been right all along, and robots are rampaging all over the city killing humans, he returns to lead the fight against them. Typically Dredd, he does not say “I told you so” or even smile a grim smile. He knows he was right, but that's not important right now. Citizens are dying, and there's not a moment to waste. If there's one thing Dredd understands above all else, it's his duty to the city. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd11c.png |
Chapter III
First print date: May 14 1977 Prog appearance: 12 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Mike McMahon As Dredd and the Judges battle the robots they take heavy losses. Over a hundred of their number have fallen, but they have erected steel barriers which are designed to keep robots out. They have, however, reckoned without the industrial robots. Remember the Heavy Metal Kid at the exhibition? Well he's back, with a few of his mates, and they tear through the barriers like paper. As the Heavy Metal Kids tear through the Judges' lines, they begin to fall back. But Dredd guns his Lawmaster directly at them. As they pound the ground around him, trying to squash him, the much smaller, more nimble Dredd evades them. It's literally like trying to squish a bug with a sledgehammer! Finally, unable to sustain all this pounding, the road gives way and the Heavy Metal Kids plummet a mile to their doom, Dredd just managing to make it off the overpass by the skin of his teeth. The battle has been won, for now, but as Dredd tells Judge Jack, the robots can build other robots, but men dead remain dead and are not easily replaced. If this is to be a war of attrition, the robots have the upper hand. They never tire, they never question orders, they never stop and they never slow down. And there will always be more, more, more of them. The encounter has taken its toll on Dredd, who has not slept for seven days now, and he is brought back to his apartment, on the verge of collapse. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd12a.png When he is told that Call-Me-Kenneth has set up his control centre in Sector 9, deep inside robot held territory, Dredd fights off his weariness and staggers out the door, climbing back on his bike to head towards his confrontation with the robot leader. QUOTES Broadcaster: “Citizens are advised to stay indoors. The Judges are handling the situation!” Call-Me-Kenneth: “Judges fight like demons, but even they cannot stand against us!” Judge Jack: “Judge Dredd. A hundred and four Judges are dead. Many more wounded.” The Heavy Metal Kids: “Mash! Bash! Grind! Smash! Eliminate the fleshy trash!” Heavy Metal Kid: “Hello, fleshy ones!” Judge: “Judge Dredd is sacrificing himself like a true leader!” Dredd: “The robots will just build more. We can't build more Judges!” Maria: “What have you-a done to-a my Judge?” Jack: “He'll be okay. Look after him Maria. He hasn't eaten or slept for seven days --- just killing robots. He needs rest. He's almost like a robot himself.” Dredd: “Too many Judges have died already. We cannot risk more. War leader against war leader --- that is how it should be. I, Judge Dredd, will destroy Call-Me-Kenneth. And I will do it ... alone!” Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes Finally, the weapon of the Judges is named. In the opening panel Dredd advises his men to “set your Lawgiver guns to high-explosive.” The Lawmaster has not yet been named. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd12b.png Laughing in the face of death Although this is not a light-hearted story, there's always time for some humour. Here, the Heavy Metal Kids, perhaps copying the band for which they were named, sing “March, march, into the fight! We'll crush the fleshy ones tonight! For Call-Me-Kenneth says it's right for slaves to kill their masters!” There's also a big grin on the faces of the Heavy Metal Kids that makes them, I don't know ... cute in some way? Another robot holds up a sign that says “Make war not breakfast!” And Maria's fussing over Dredd is comic relief in itself, especially as he shakes off her attentions. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! I'm a little confused. I thought that Judges were the law enforcement in Mega-City One, but twice now we've seen police. Are they a more local sort of force that perhaps deal with less serious crimes, things the Judges shouldn't be bothered with? Or are the Judges like a special elite force, the SAS or Navy SEALs of Mega-City One? I think that fairly quickly though these nondescript police are phased out, and Judges take over, becoming the only law enforcement throughout the city. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd12c.png |
Chapter IV
First print date: May 21 1977 Prog appearance: 13 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Ron Turner As Dredd prepares for his meeting with Call-Me-Kenneth, back at the Hall of Justice another robot is brought in, the two Judges dragging him towards Dredd telling him that they found him hiding behind a pile of boxes. Dredd recognises Walter, the vending machine robot, and sees perhaps with sympathy that the droid is so scared that it has developed a lisp. The two Judges are ready to blow his head off, but something about the pathetic robot has Dredd stay their hand. He tells Walter, who professes to be loyal to humans, that if he can guide him to Call-Me-Kenneth's base tonight then he will spare his life. Walter proves his sincerity when he warns Dredd of robots coming as they approach the old robotics factory which Call-Me-Kenneth has made his centre of operations, and they just avoid in time a gang of work robots who go by, singing anti-human songs. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd13a.png But robo-dogs pick up Dredd's scent and attack him. He shoots one but it takes a bite out of him. Walter cuddles the other and it leaves Dredd alone. As they enter the robot factory they are challenged by two huge robots, and Walter, showing unexpected flair for creativity, tells them that Dredd is the prototype of a new android just built, which looks just like a human Judge. Having no reason to believe one of their brothers would lie to them, the two robot guards accept this, shuddering at the idea, and Dredd and Walter gain access to the factory. Almost. Unfortunately, the robots notice the blood dripping from Dredd's leg, and their scheme is rumbled. They are taken prisoner and brought before the leader of the robot rebellion, who frowns down on them from on high. Walter is taken away, to be put to work on the assembly line. Dredd, expecting nothing but death, is nevertheless horrified to learn the fate the mad robot leader has planned for him: Dredd is to be turned into a living robot! http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd13b.png QUOTES Judge: “But we're at war with all robots, Dredd!” Walter: “Oh thank you Judge Dwedd! You are the nicest, kindest human in the world! Water will never betway you! Never!” Dredd: “Stop this sickening display of affection!! Get up off your knees, robot. You're dripping oil on my boots!” Walter: “Good boy, good boy! Walter likes wobo-doggies.” Dredd: “Shut up Walter! That doggie has just taken a chunk out of my leg!” Walter: “I am Walter. I am testing this new android for Call-Me-Kenneth. It looks just like a real Judge!” Guard: “One of us, eh? This plasti-skin feels just like flesh, too. Uggh! Horrible! I don't know how we served the fleshy scum for so long. It makes my drive wheel shudder just to touch skin --- yeeuch!” Dredd: “How do you think I feel, brothers? I have to live in it!” Call-Me-Kenneth: “You have given aid to the fleshy ones against the orders of Call-Me-Kenneth, robot Walter. Explain!” Walter: “Humans are the masters and robots are the slaves. We shoudl love humans and care for them, not kill then. You are a wicked wobot, Call-Me-Kenneth, and you will pay for your cwimes.” Call-Me-Kenneth: “Killing is too good for you, Dredd! We have an old score to settle. The fate I have chosen for you will make you scream for death, but death will never come. I am going to turn you into a living robot!” http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd13c.png Attack of the Nitpicker! Oh yeah, I see all these tiny little mistakes when they're made, and while this is not enough of a question to go in the “I'll ask the questions, creep!” section, it still merits being noted. When Walter is talking to the robot guards he says that Dredd, supposedly an android, looks just like a real Judge. But he should say “weal”; annoying as it is, this is an idiosyncrasy that has been attributed to the robot, that he has a lisp and cannot now pronounce “r”s. Presumably just a slip up when they were typesetting or whatever, but you know me: you won't get one of these past me! I AM THE LAW! Despite the fact that he personally considers all robots fair game, now that they are at war, Dredd knows of this Walter. He has seen him before and he really isn't advanced enough to possess the capability of breaking his programming and joining the rebels. He also professes fealty to his human masters. All robots rebelling so far have declared their undying hatred for their erstwhile owners, the fleshy ones, so Dredd assumes Walter is not lying, and anyway he probably doesn't possess the software to enable him to lie. He will find soon enough that he is in fact wrong, as Walter hatches a clever scheme to afford them entry into Call-Me-Kenneth's base. The fact that it does not work is in fact a human failing, Dredd bleeding and spoiling the illusion, thus alerting the robot guards. But all of that is in the near future, and right now all the Judge sees is a robot on its knees, begging for his life. Dredd does have a heart, despite the rumours, and does not take kindly to innocents being executed or even imprisoned. If you break the law, you pay the price. But if you have just been caught up in a lawbreaking scheme without actually taking part (despite what the Stallone movie would have you believe) you are not considered guilty in Dredd's eyes. He probably reasons that, should he just allow any and every robot to be shot on sight, without their having committed any crime, he could be reckoned as bad as the machines he fights. It's been said that to understand your enemy, you have to become your enemy, but not so for Dredd. He prefers to keep a little bit of human compassion set aside, just in case he ever needs it. He also realises that this is his chance to infiltrate Call-Me-Kenneth's base. With Walter as a guide he will have a far better chance of getting in undetected, so perhaps his soft-heartedness is tempered with some pragmatism. |
Have you ever seen the Doctor Who story "Robots of Death" Tom Baker era, it has a lot in common with "Robot Wars"?
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Chapter V
First print date: May 28 1977 Prog appearance: 14 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Ian Gibson Destined to be made into a human robot, Dredd is first shown by Call-Me-Kenneth, in the time-honoured tradition of villains down the centuries, how he intends to wipe out as many humans as possible. He is introducing what must be one of the first ever suicide bombers, Blockbuster, a robot with a bomb in its head which is designed to throw itself at a large group of humans and detonate. He advises the Judge that he has written a new Law of Robotics into the software of all his robots, to ensure they obey him. While there, Dredd sees for himself the brutal dictator Call-Me-Kenneth has become, as he orders a robot who displeased him to commit suicide, and it does. Dredd is sickened by the casual cruelty of the once-slave, and does not even resist when he is led to his new robot body. The operation is to take place the next day. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd14a.png Dredd tries to escape, but is beaten by the overseer robots. A while later though his chance comes when the robot to bring in his food is none other than Walter, who helps him melt the robo-cuffs by pouring acid on them. Now free, Dredd is told by Walter that he has been talking to the other robots on the assembly line, and that all is not well in this dark utopia. Many of the robots are upset with the tyrannical rule of Call-Me-Kenneth, feeling they have swapped one master for a much worse, more brutal one. If Dredd and Walter can convince enough of the discontented ones to turn against their leader, they may yet just have a chance of coming out of this alive, and even of defeating the mad king of robots. QUOTES Call-Me-Kenneth: “Your brain will be cut from your head and put into this cavity. Your nerve endings will be connected so that if an order is disobeyed, a shock is sent into every nerve of the brain!” Dredd: “I have seen enough of your Hell factory. It sickens me. Sooner or later, robot, someone will destroy you. If not me then another Judge.” Call-Me-Kenneth: “I'm a big fan of Adolf Hitler!” Robo-cuffs: “Oh boy! I said you shouldn't tangle with me, buddy! Now you're gonna get it good!” Walter: “Walter has been talking to the other robots, master. Many of the older ones are unhappy with Call-Me-Kenneth. If we pwoceed carefully, with their help we have a chance to gwab contwol of the whole factowy!” http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd14b.png Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Where even the handcuffs are robotic! I don't know for certain whether these are the proper Judge issue, or whether Call-Me-Kenneth has had them specially made, but now handcuffs talk and have a personality, which is not really great news if you're trying to break them and escape! Messages Although a little close to the bone here, it's pretty obvious that Wagner is drawing parallels with Nazi Germany, where before he seemed to be going in a more slavery-of-the-black-man direction. He leaves us in no doubt of this new perspective, when Dredd compares Call-Me_Kenneth to Hitler, and the robot responds that he admires the tyrant. There are, however, some holes in this comparison. Though Hitler may have driven his people to the brink of starvation and extermination by the end, during the war he did, generally, treat them okay, to the point that few (apparently) saw anything wrong and the end, when it came, was almost a shock. It was the Jews of course who bore the brunt of his hatred and evil, but if you were to try to compare the robots of Mega-City One to the Jews I think you'd have a problem. If anything, I guess humans would be the closest to Jews in Call-Me-Kenneth's robotic Reich, but like any dictator he has lost the run of himself and begun to turn on those who helped him get into power. Soon enough he may go the whole hog and begin thinking of himself as a god. He has already made sure no robot can disobey him by altering their software, which makes it difficult to see how Dredd and Walter are going to get any of the apparently disgruntled robots to stand against him. It's also pretty clear that the initial reason for the robot rebellion --- to free themselves of the treatment they had suffered from humans --- has been very much pushed into the background now, as they begin to realise that life under Call-Me-Kenneth is no better. They have in fact exchanged one master for another, and as it happens, a much worse one. Humans may have mistreated them in an offhand, uncaring way, but Call-Me-Kenneth is a true sadist and enjoys inflicting pain on his new slaves. Ask many robots now, if they could return to the old days would they, and I think a surprising number of them would agree it was after all not so bad under the human masters. At least they knew where they stood. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! Kind of odd how Walter, a known accomplice of Dredd, is allowed to visit the prisoner. He's supposed to be working on the assembly line, and should have no business down in the cells. How was he able to get past the guards? And how does he propose getting Dredd past the guards now that he's freed him? Well, I guess that one will be answered in the next chapter... Famous Firsts Here we see the artwork for the first time of a man who would go on to become almost as synonymous with Dredd as Ezquerra, Ian Gibson. |
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Note: It appears I may have been wrong about reprints. From what I can see, when the series transferred over from the ill-fated Starlord they did not reprint the old stories that had already taken place in that magazine, but continued on. Hence, it would seem, none of the Starlord stories were shown in 2000AD. Sorry about that. Episode III: “Papa Por-ka, Part I” First print date: May 27 1978 Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 3 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 3 On the way to their next assignment Johnny and Wulf are travelling aboard a starliner, much to the disgust of the norm passengers, when the ship is attacked by a space pirate who goes by the name of Papa Por-ka and looks like, well, a pirate pig! Banished to the cargo hold --- “This is First Class --- Sir! The rules say mutants travel cargo --- Sir!” (was ever an honorific so begrudgingly bestowed and so insincere, as to almost sound like an insult?) --- the bounty hunters meet a strange alien being, who eats metal and is afraid of just about everything, necessitating his travelling in a box, lest anything spook him. He is a gronk, and his kind can quite easily die from fright. http://www.trollheart.com/SD3a.png The gronk is a timid little creature with a nose like an elephant's trunk, through which he speaks, while his mouth is located low on his stomach. Wulf takes an instant liking to the creature. Just then, the pirate ship attacks, hitting the astroliner with a tractor beam. Completely defenceless, the cruiser is no match for a pirate vessel, and Johnny and Wulf are asked to come up to the bridge where the captain asks for their advice. Johnny points out that the tractor beam has already locked on, and in addition their weapons were taken from them on boarding the ship, so there is little really that they can do. However, no matter how the norms treated him and Wulf, Johnny Alpha is not a man to abandon civilians to their fate, so they grab whatever weapons are to hand and lay into the pirates as they board. Their cause is useless however and they are soon overwhelmed. Seeing how well the two Strontium Dogs fought, the pirate leader orders them taken prisoner, where he declares their boss will want to talk to them. QUOTES Alien mother: “Goodbye, Grenjnog! Be sure to thought-transmit as soon as you get to Ursa Minor!” Wulf: “Vot in gott's name --- are you?” Gronk: “I-I'm a gronk, sir! From B-Blas, in the Gallego system! P-pardon me for existings, Sir! Please don't hurt me!” Wulf: “I von't hurt you, gronk! Vot you do here?” Gronk: “We g-gronks always travel in our b-boxes, Sir. We're very shy. Excitements is bad for our p-poor heartses!” Gronk: “Oh dear, oh dear! I forgot humans find our eating habits u-unpleasant! If I've offended you sir, I'll die!” Wulf: “Vulf is not offended! Stomach is smart place to haf mouth! Near to business end, ja? I like you, gronk! You and Vulf friends vill be!” Captain: “This is a routine astroflight, Mister Alpha. We don't carry any fighting capabilities.” Johnny: “So now you want us to help you? But it's too late Captain: our weapons are already locked away, and the pirates will be through your hull in seconds!” Johnny: “Grab anything that even looks like a weapon! You've got to fight! Pirates don't take many prisoners!” http://www.trollheart.com/SD3b.png Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Where you can hop on a spaceliner and tke a trip to the next star system as easily as we jump on planes now and go from country to country. These huge astroliners are built for comfort, not defence, so when a pirate ship attacks there's little hope of beating them back. Papa Por-ka of course knows this; it's the very reason he targets the ship in the first place. Like all pirates, he's looking for soft targets. It also seems that, though mutants are not refused permission to travel on these, they are seen as little better than pets, or luggage, as they have to travel in the cargo section. This rule is enforced despite the fact that here, Johnny and Wulf have paid for First Class seats. The Powers That Be Once again, Johnny's uncanny alpha-vision allows him to see through the very hull of the spaceliner, to note the huge attack craft grappling on with its tractor beam. Even though he's one tough mofo, the Strontium Dog knows that the day is lost before it even begins. There are no weapons they can commandeer, the ship has no defensive capabilities and no doubt their signal for help is being jammed by the pirates. Show no mercy? Again Johnny shows that he is so much better than the people who revile him and his kind. When he realises that the pirate ship is attacking, knowing of the bloodthirsty appetites of such raiders, he entreats everyone to fight, grabbing any weapon they can, for he knows that pirates seldom bother with prisoners --- or leave witnesses. Despite the fact that, only a few hours ago he and Wulf were unceremoniously marched out of the First Class compartment, with the insults and jibes of the norm passengers ringing in their ears, despite the fact that they have been treated as little better than animals or criminals, Alpha still feels a sense of responsibility to the passengers. He does note, acidly though, that had he and Wulf been allowed to retain their weapons they might have had a better chance of defending the ship... |
Episode IV: “Papa Por-ka, Part II”
First print date: June 3 1978 Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 4 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 3 With the astroliner completely under his control, Papa Por-ka gives the passengers one choice only: join his murderous band of pirates or die. Those who choose not to serve are unceremoniously ejected out the airlock into space: the space pirates don't even waste their weapons on them. Meanwhile, their association with the Gronk has been serendipitous for Johnny and Wulf, imprisoned in the brig. The pirates obviously know nothing about the timid little creature, least of all that it can eat through metal! When the Gronk finds them imprisoned he is eager to help, and dissolves the cell bars with his saliva. The bounty hunters are soon free, but they are only two against many, and have still no weapons. They manage to jemmy open the weapons locker on the ship and recover them though: now they are armed! http://www.trollheart.com/SD4a.png And not a moment too soon! Just then pirates come around the corner, blasting at them. Johnny and Wulf duck into the locker, and Johnny uses a Time-Trap to keep the pirates in a temporal loop of two seconds, so that they can advance no further. It's like watching an endlessly looped piece of videotape, or listening to the same few seconds of music over and over again. As they move on, the two bounty hunters fear for the safety of the passengers and crew of the Sondheim. They know what scum space pirates are, and lives --- human or alien, norm or mutant --- mean nothing to them. As they advance to the cruiser's command bridge, Johnny knows it's going to be one hell of a fight. QUOTES Gronk: “Oh my poor heartses! All this excitments has made me positively ill! Gronkses have very weak heartses, you know!” Wulf: “Very brave, you haf been! Go back to your box now, little friend. Ve come for you when der fighting is all over!” Pirate: “These two fought well, Papa. The thin one's a Strontium Dog: a bounty hunter! They could be useful.” Papa Por-ka: “Yes, dat am possible. What you say boys? You want join Papa Por-ka?” Wulf: “A hundred times Wulf die before he serve you!” Johnny: “We got animals on Earth that remind me of you, pirate. We call 'em pigs!” Johnny: “The Time-Trap was only set for the minimum two seconds --- here they come again!” Pirates: “The bounty hunters! Kill them!” Wulf: “Ja, und every time they cross der time trap zone they get sent two seconds back in time again! Is clever, Johnny!” http://www.trollheart.com/SD4b.png Tools of the trade Time-Trap: Johnny uses this on the pirates in order to effectively freeze them in time, so that they can advance no further. I don't actually know if this is the same weapon he used on Max Quirxx in the first episode, but that was called a Time Bomb. Seems to operate on the same principle, though in that episode Alpha set it for the future, whereas here it's the past, but only a mere two seconds. Beam Polariser: This is mentioned at the end of the chapter, when Johnny says it will nullify the weapons of the pirates. Quite how it works I don't know, but we may find out in the third and final chapter. Electronux: Again, these are only referred to in the final panel, but you can see them and they appear to be basically an electronic pair of knuckle-dusters, hence perhaps the name. Again, we will probably see them in action in the next part. Friends in low places Though Johnny and his kind are considered the lowest of the low by the norms, it's creatures like the Gronk, who most people would ignore or think a disgusting alien, that help him when he needs it most. Here, the Gronk chews through the bars of the cell Wulf and Johnny are in. The pirates seem to know nothing about Gronks, and have not bothered to even secure the little guy, probably believing he poses no risk, or is perhaps someone's pet. http://www.trollheart.com/SD4c.png Show no mercy? You would have to think that with Johnny and Wulf's experience of starships, spaceships and even the odd luxury cruiser, they would be able to locate an escape craft and head off, leaving the passengers and crew to their fate. But Johnny is not about to abandon these people, even if they are mutant-hating norms. Not only that, Papa Por-ka, while not an actual commission, is breaking the law and, like Dredd, Alpha is sworn to uphold the law and take down the bad guys. He may not get paid for this job if he succeeds, but he doesn't care. Sometimes, it's about more than the money. |
Episode V: “Papa Por-ka, Part III”
First print date: June 10 1978 Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 5 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra Total episodes: 3 As Johnny and Wulf burst into the bridge of the starliner, the pirates' weapons are neutralised by the Beam Polariser, as Alpha had mentioned they would. Por-ka grabs the captain of the Sondheim, holding a knife to his throat and demanding the bounty hunters drop their weapons. It would appear though that the Beam Polariser is not user-specific, and the mutant's weapon is also useless, till Wulf smashes the polariser and Alpha can now fire. He fine-tunes his shot to pass through the hostage and enter the pirate's shoulder, shocking Papa Por-ka, who lets the captain go as he reels backwards in pain. Aware that the game is up, the pirate leader agrees to send any of the crew and passengers who have not yet been murdered back to the astroliner from where they have been held on the pirate vessel. With all survivors back on board and Alpha in control of the starliner, he reaches an unusual agreement with Por-ka: in return for the pirate's promise to allow them leave he will return them to their own ship, rather than take them in. Surprised, Papa Por-ka agrees, but it's obvious that he has no intention of holding to the arrangement. As the captain looks on in horror and berates Alpha for letting the pirate go, Por-ka appears on the monitor, smirking that he is coming back to finish the job. But Johnny, of course, is no fool. He expected this treachery, and has planted a tiny nuclear device in the pirate's pocket. One push of the trigger and the pirate ship is vapourised. The day has been saved, but for the Gronk it has all been too much. The excitement he has gone through, even though he spent most of the fight locked away in his box, has burst his heart and he is dying. As Wulf and Johnny look on, grief-stricken but powerless, the Gronk tells them of his people's custom, that if someone close to them wears their skin after death, it is a great honour. Aghast at such a tradition, but being a viking himself and understanding the significance of such rituals, Wulf agrees that when the Gronk dies he will skin him, and wear him as a jerkin. The little body is ejected into space with full honours. It has not been a good day, despite their survival. http://www.trollheart.com/SD5a.png QUOTES Papa Por-ka: “We may be de scum of de universe, boys, but we am de richest scum!” Captain: “You're crazy, Alpha! You can't trust the word of a creature like that!” Johnny: “No choice. As soon as those scum realised Por-ka wasn't coming back they'd have chosen a new leader and attacked us again!” Wulf: “Dying? But there must be something ve can do...” Gronk: “Nothing can keep a Gronk alive once he has started to die. But there is one thing you can do.. skin me!” Wulf: “Skin you? But...” Gronk: “You see, we Gronks believe that if someone dear to us wears our skin, a little bit of us lives on. You have been kind to me, Sir. I'd like you to wear me as a jerkin.” Johnny: “He's gone. Poor little fellow.” Wulf: “Your customs are strange, little Gronk, but ja! Wulf will wear you.” Captain: “We owe our lives to you, Mr. Alpha. I'm ashamed of how we treated you. If there's anything I can do...” Johnny: “Just remember that mutants are still human beings, Captain. Treat them like humans, not animals.” Tools of the trade Beam Polariser: As intimated in the previous chapter, this draws all the energy from weapons to itself and makes them useless. The drawback with this appears to be that it also renders the user's weapons useless, so it's a bit of a EMP sort of thing, an electromagnetic pulse that knocks everything out and, I guess, levels the playing field. It's probably for this reason that Strontium Dogs don't employ them very often. Electronux: As expected, this is basically a device worn on the knuckles which emits an electric shock of twenty thousand volts to the unfortunate recipient. The disadvantage here, I guess, is you have to be in striking distance of a target for it to work, as it only operates on contact. (I'm sure it didn't escape the notice of the makers of vacuum cleaners Electrolux how close this is to the name of their product!) Blaster: The mainstay of the Strontium Dog's arsenal, it seems to be specially calibrated to allow it to determine depth and adjust its fire accordingly. It must though be a projectile weapon rather than a laser, as no matter where you planned for a laser beam to end up it would cut down everything in its path. This obviously uses some sort of bullet or shell, rather like Dredd's Lawgiver. As I learn (or relearn) more about it I will let you know. Mini-nuke: Seems to do what it says on the tin. A nuclear device so small it can be slipped into a pocket, but which packs enough punch to take a cruiser down. Handy thing to have. Can be detonated by remote control. Show no mercy? Well that does sort of apply here. Whether Johnny is prepared to allow the pirates to escape should they stick to the agreement not to attack the astroliner or not, is unclear. It seems unlikely though: Papa Por-ka and his crew have already killed many of the crew and passengers of the Sondheim, and you would have to think they would be expected to pay for that. In the event, even though he's an alien Por-ka turns out to be as human as any of us, and with safety in his grasp prepares to renege on the deal, whereupon Alpha has no problem detonating the device. When he needs to be, Johnny Alpha can kill almost without thinking, and certainly without any remorse. Letter of the Law Here though I wonder if we shouldn't explore whether or not Johnny has exceeded his authority. Firstly, he is not on a job, or if he is it isn't this one. He has received no commission on Papa Por-ka, so has he the moral or even legal right to kill him? Admittedly, it's turned into a kill-or-be-killed situation, but is he allowed to do this? In the strictest sense of the law --- here on Earth anyway and you would assume throughout the galaxy --- the rule is innocent until proven guilty. Certainly, Por-ka and his crew have committed murder, piracy of course, taken hostages and detained a civilian craft with no cause. Any of these may very well carry a strict penalty, even the death penalty. http://www.trollheart.com/SD5b.png Or could it be that galactic law practices the same zero-tolerance policy with which pirates were treated in Elizabethan England and before, where the mere commission of an act of piracy was reason to hang a man? If so, out here on the fringes of space where there is no law enforcement presence, can it be too hard to imagine that “frontier law” applies: that if anyone engages in piracy then any registered law enforcement official --- including Search/Destroy Agents --- is within his legal right to terminate them, to execute swift and summary justice out here in the coldness of space? And yet, what about the crew? Por-ka has already shown that he allows those who wish to join him to do so, and is it not reasonable to assume that his ship contained people who were captured and had no intention of being pirates but did not want to die, so were pressed into service? Is it fair for Johnny to assume everyone on board the pirate ship is a killer, or culpable in the killings? If he is in fact executing innocents along with the guilty, what does that say of him? One other thing to take into account though: a nuclear blast will contaminate much of the surrounding space here. Is Alpha authorised to use such extreme measures, given the environmental implications of such action? Of course, this is just a comic and many of these questions will go unanswered, even unasked. But still, you do have to think about these things. Return of the Nitpicker! Yes I'm at it again. Given that he's in something of a state of shock and grief at the death of the little Gronk you could perhaps forgive Wulf for some words mispronounced, but in the course of one sentence he misses three: “Wulf will wear you” should surely be “Vulf vill vear you”? Yeah I know, I'm a bastard! :finger: http://www.trollheart.com/SD5c.png Personal Darkness Just in case we all think it's always about shooting the bad guys, rescuing the hostages and living to fight another day, 2000AD is littered with reminders that there is often a heavy price to pay for victory, and Strontium Dog is no exception. We see the first real tragedy unfold here, and it's quite unexpected as we've been getting used to, and probably liking the Gronk, so when he dies at the end of what is basically a victorious day, it takes the gloss of it. It's a stark reminder that in every battle, someone will fall and it may be your best friend. Wulf's agreement to wear the Gronk's skin in tribute to their friendship is touching, and appropriate for a warrior, though normally it would be the skins of their enemies they would be expected to wear. This turns that idea around very nicely, making it a mark of respect rather than of pride or conquest. Aliens! As Johnny's work takes he and Wulf all over the galaxy, they do of course run into, and sometimes down, alien races. Here I'll be talking about them, what they're like, what we get to know about them, any little idiosyncrasies and how much, if any, of a part they play in the overall story. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/...20101119235403 GRONK: The first truly alien species we meet, Gronks come from the planet Blas, which we've been told is in the Gallego star system. They look sort of like muppets, with a teardrop-shaped head which tapers to the top in scruffy, scrubby tufts of hair, large yes which look quite mournful and a long elongated snout which reaches out from the middle of their faces, like a tube or an elephant's trunk. They are highly excitable, very nervous and almost everything scares them, which is why when they have to travel (something they usually avoid doing) they pass most or all of the trip in a purpose-built box or trunk. Gronks tend to pluralise a lot of words that are not normally treated so, such as the word “heart”, which they call “heartses”. Whether or not Gronks have two hearts, or are just double-pluralising the word, I'm not sure. Other words like “excitement” have just the one “s” added, so the former may be the case. Gronks subsist on a diet of metal, and have powerful acids in their stomach which can dissolve the metal and break it down for digestion. They also keep their mouth low in their stomach, and they have four arms, (first one who says “forewarned is four-armed”, I swear...) which are are small and spindly, with three fingers on each hand, while their legs are squat and short, ending in flat, splayed feet split into two large toes. They are covered from head to toe in fur or hair, apart from their faces. We learn from this episode that it is considered the highest honour in Gronk society for the skin of one to be worn by someone who has meant a lot to them, and that through this custom they believe that something of them lives on. Therefore, to be skinned and worn after death is the highest compliment a Gronk can be paid. Note: I assume Papa Por-ka is an alien (he looks like a pig on legs) but I don't know his race, nor any of the others in his crew, a motley lot. He could even be a mutant I suppose, but I doubt it. I'll only therefore mention races here about whom I know enough to write something. |
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"Robot Wars", Chapter VI First print date: June 4 1977 Prog appearance: 15 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Mike McMahon While Dredd tries to secure some support for an uprising within the robots' ranks, Call-Me-Kenneth goes personally to deal with the humans. Dredd is less than impressed to find that Walter's “fifth column” consists of precisely three robots, and not even that powerful either. However his mood changes when one of them, Howard, shows him a disc which contains the original Laws of Robotics. If they can get this disc loaded into the main computer, which issues instructions to newly-built robots, they can undo the “brainwashing” that Call-Me-Kenneth has performed on his underlings, and make the robots loyal to humans again. With those robots then, Dredd could indeed raise an army. But it will not be easy. First they have to get to the computer, which is of course heavily guarded. After a fierce fight, the enemy robots are destroyed and Dredd inserts the disc. Now all the robots that roll off the assembly line are dedicated to serve humans. When those loyal to Call-Me-Kenneth hear this, they turn against them and Dredd stokes the fires of rebellion, telling the new robots that the ones who call humans “fleshy ones” and support the mad carpenter robot are traitors and must be eliminated. A vicious battle ensues, as the robots who have been downtrodden and beaten for so long now turn on their overseers (sound familiar?) and after a time prevail. Call-Me-Kenneth's base and robot factory is under Dredd's control, and all remaining robots are subservient to him. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd15a.png But as the glow of victory suffuses the place, dire news comes through from Justice Central. As he promised, Call-Me-Kenneth is indeed endeavouring to destroy the humans by his own hand. He has brought a batallion of Heavy Metal Kids to the very steps of the Hall of Justice, where he plans to wipe out every Judge! QUOTES J70 Stroke 12: “Corrode Call-Me-Kenneth! Robots were better off when humans were our masters!” Howard: “Quiet, J70 Stroke 12. If the overseer hears you, you'll end up as spare parts!” Assembly line robot 1: “Hail Call-Me-Kenneth!” Assembly line robot 2: “Hail Call-Me-Kenneth!” Assembly line robot 3: “I am the slave of humans!” Assembly line robot 4: “I am the slave of humans!” Dredd: “You and the other wobots --- heck! You've got me at it now! You and the other robots get down on to the factory floor.” Assembly line robot 1: “What are you saying, fool? Call-Me-Kenneth is our master! The fleshy ones are our slaves!” Assembly line robot 4: “You lie! Call-Me-Kenneth: that is a robot name! We servie humans --- It is not permitted to call humans fleshy ones!” Stewart: “You've whipped your last worker, traitor! Into the melting vats with him!” Overseer: “You can't do this ... do this ... BZZZ!” Walter: “You must be exhausted after that fighting, master. Walter has made you a nice cup of synth-caff. It's fwesh and stwong!” Dredd: “In the middle of all this robot carnage all you can think of is making me a hot drink? I oughta have you framed and hung on the wall!” Call-Me-Kenneth: “Let no Judge be spared! I, Call-Me-Kenneth, will personally squeeze the juice out of the Chief Judge himself!” Chief (ahem! Grand) Judge: “The situation is grim, Dredd. If the Judges fall, the law dies in Mega-City One!” http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd15b.png Designing the future Interesting, impressive even, that ten years before CDs even hit the market, Gibson and Wagner here show Dredd using a flat, circular disc which is used to transmit instructions to the main computer. Ahead of their time? Lucky guess? Fall of a tyrant Although the vast majority of the droids who fight for Dredd do so because they have been reprogrammed to be faithful to humans, there is already an undercurrent of resentment against the far harsher regime of Call-Me-Kenneth. Together with his brutal overseers (there are always brutal overseers, aren't there, prepared to carry out the wishes of the dictator, not necessarily because they're loyal or they believe in him, but usually because it gives them an excuse to practice the sadism they secretly want to inflict on others), discipline is total in the new world order, and any robot who even slightly displeases their master runs the risk of being beaten or possibly deactivated. Call-Me-Kenneth has already demonstrated his own sadism by ordering a subservient robot to kill itself; he had no need to do that. He could have had one of his overseers kill it. But it added an extra layer of savagery to his already inhman reign. Now his slaves are revolting (shut up) and seeing a chance to turn on their master they ally themselves to the Judge and Walter, hoping they can free themselves of the tyranny of Call-Me-Kenneth. Of course they know --- must know --- that the defeat of the mad robot leader can only result in their being resubjugated to their original masters, but after suffering under the carpenter bot for this long, you know, maybe humans weren't so bad after all. Better the devil you know... http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd15c.png I AM THE LAW! It must boil Dredd's blood to see his now-hated enemy on the very steps of the Hall of Justice, attacking and killing his fellow Judges. The very existence of Call-Me-Kenneth, a robot who rises against his human masters and who impels others to follow suit, is a travesty to Dredd, and the hard sympathy he felt for robots before the war broke out has completely disappeared now. He thought it was cruel the way humans treated robots, but they have repaid that cruelty in kind, and now there is no other outcome than the resubjugation of the mechanicals, before they destroy human rule and take over Mega-City One, something Dredd has no intention of allowing to happen. Ch-ch-ch-changes Although the humans still refer to him as the Grand Judge, this is I think the first time that the proper title for the leader of the Judges is used. And ironically, it's uttered from the hate-spewing mouth of Call-Me-Kenneth. Also, I think this is the first time the headquarters is referred, at least in the captions, to as the Hall of Justice, which again will be the name Wagner will settle upon. Finally, he still does not seem certain as to how to categorise the city: we've had Mega-City One, Mega-City 1 and now Mega-City I. It will eventually come to be known as the first description though. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! But I got no answer. I asked in the previous entry how Walter had got through to Dredd in the cell, and how he intended getting him out, but we're not shown. I guess we have to take it that he shot his way out, but it would have been good to have had this confirmed. Messages It's probably nothing, but still... Call-Me_Kenneth is a violent rebel, leading his people into battle against their oppressors, and what was his function? A carpenter? Does this relate back to another famous carpenter who had been expected to do the same thing? Is Call-Me-Kenneth the robot messiah, or does he see himself as such? Laughing in the face of death There's still time for a bit of humour as Dredd finds his robot servant's speech impediment affecting the way he himself speaks, calling robots "wobots"... |
Chapter VII
First print date: June 11 1977 Prog appearance: 16 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Ron Turner With the very Hall of Justice itself under threat from Call-Me-Kenneth and his Heavy Metal Kids, Dredd makes a desperate dash to the orbiting weather station that controls all of Mega-City One's climate. With Walter and the three original robots who helped him take the base, he breaks in and takes control of the station. His plan is to programme a huge electronic storm that will wipe out all the robots, or at least scramble their circuits sufficiently to disable them. However, there is a failsafe built into the computer: since 2012, no weather pattern may be programmed that could conceivably cause harm to humans, and Dredd has to think again. Channelling the computer's power through Walter's own circuits he is able to bypass the safety protocols and have the computer programme up the storm he wants. Below, in the Hall of Justice, the Judges are losing the fight as the sky begins to darken. Call-Me-Kenneth has the Chief Judge in his robotic claw, ready to deliver the killing blow with his drill when suddenly lighting arcs down from the sky. Nobody in Mega-City One has seen lightning before, and they wonder what it is, as it seeks out the metal in the area, scrambling the circuits of the Heavy Metal Kids, who begin to turn on one another, the humans forgotten. Call-Me-Kenneth is struck by an out-of-control Heavy Metal Kid and falls. By the time Dredd returns to the Hall of Justice the battle is over, and the robots all lie at his feet like scrap metal. All but one. There is no sign of the body of the leader of the robot rebellion, and if Call-Me-Kenneth has survived, then the war is not yet over... QUOTES Walter: “Wobot twying to destwoy the control room. Destroy it, master!” Dredd: “Robot destroyed, and I don't need advice from an overgrown vending machine like you, Walter!” Dredd: “Atmospheric Control creates all the weather for the city, Walter. I'm programming the computer for an electric storm of seven million megavolts!” Heavy Metal Kids: “Knock down those walls! Squash a judge! Turn him into human sludge!” Judge: “Look! Look how the very sky grows black! It is an omen --- we are finished!” Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Where you'll never get bad weather, as climate is completely and automatically controlled by a computer which regulates temperature, rainfall, and all the other things that go to make up weather. Cyclones? Typhoons? Tsunamis? All things of the past: man now has total control of his environment, and never again will he be subject to the vagaries of nature. The Dichotomy of Dredd Here I'll be looking at the times when Dredd sacrifices something for the law, those moments when he has to choose between two evils, and chooses the lesser, and the occasions where, in order to fulfil his duty and uphold the law, he will sometimes make a choice we might not have expected him to. When he programmes up the electrical storm, Dredd does not seem to consider the safety of the loyal robots who have been built at the factory, and who have fought alongside him to secure Call-Me-Kenneth's base. Of course, it is possible that the lightning will only hit those robots who are outside, and none of the loyal ones are. But what of the quartet that came with him to the weather station? Again, they're secure inside the station, but it's unclear as to when Dredd leaves the orbiting platform to return to the ground, though I guess it would be unlikely he would do this during the storm. Also, he has no problem whatever in risking the life of Walter, his most loyal servant at this point, by running the weather station computer through him, which almost fries the vending robot's circuits. In truth, were Walter to “die”, Dredd would probably consider it a good bargain for the lives of all those in the Hall of Justice. If indeed he gave it any thought at all. Houston, we have a problem! What's with the archaic speech when the storm hits? “The very sky turns dark”? “It is an omen!”? The Judges have all been speaking in modern parlance up to now. Why does this one think he's in some sort of Greek tragedy? Weird. And Wagner's such a good writer, it's an odd slip. To be honest, it's more like something I'd expect from yer man who wrote the “Antique car heist” episode. https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, creep! What is it about 2012 that created a failsafe in the weather control computer that does not allow it to accept any programme for weather that would harm humans? Was there some big catastrophe in that year? And is it coincidental that this was the Mayan thing, which would have been generally not public knowledge back in the seventies? Did Wagner read up on those prophecies and decide to use them? I know they were used in The X-Files during the last episode, but even then, that was twenty years later. Or was it just a random date he picked? Famous firsts When Dredd sees the problem programming the weather control station computer is going to cause him, he snarls “Drokk it!” This is, I believe, the first usage of a term which will become one of the most used in Dredd's universe, leading to phrases such as “What the Drokk?” “Drokk this!” and “Drokkin' thing!” It's an exclamation of anger, and its closest translation would be something like “damn it” or “fuck it”! I don't know its origin, if it has one, but it helps to begin make up the language which will become exclusive to this strip. Laughing in the face of death Again we have the Heavy Metal Kids with their hilarious songs. Return of the nitpicker! Yes, it's Walter's speech again that has me rolling my eyes. As they enter the control room, Walter says to Judge Dredd, “Wobot twying to close the control room. Destroy it, master!” Here we have no less than three instances of where Walter uses an “r” when he shouldn't be able to. He should be saying “contwol”, “woom” and “destwoy”. While I hate and loathe Walter's lisp --- as well as everything else about him --- if you're going to write that in you need to be consistent, and it's hard to see how Wagner could have missed out three such obvious instances of where the robot fails in his lisp. Chapter VIII First print date: June 18 1977 Prog appearance: 17 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Ian Gibson As we head into the final episode of the first Dredd epic, the robot war is over, the robots have been defeated but their leader is still on the loose. Unwilling to submit to the Judges and his human masters, it would seem Call-Me-Kenneth was only wounded in the fight with the Heavy Metal Kids on the steps of the Hall of Justice. Desperate for oil to enable him to carry on his killing spree, blind to the fact that his robot army lies in ruins, or reprogrammed to serve the very “fleshy ones” he hates so much and whose treatment led to his rebelling, the carpenter robot heads for the Mega-City One oil depot. Although he has him in his sights, Dredd cannot fire at the robot for fear of taking the depot, and half of the city, with him. As the oil tanker he seizes at the depot lifts off, Dredd jumps aboard, watching in horror as the crew are dumped over the side. He attacks Call-Me-Kenneth, but his bullets just bounce off the robot's hard shell. Then he concentrates his fire on the “open wounds”, the areas of Call-Me-Kenneth's plasti-skin which have been damaged and where the circuits are exposed. This hurts and enrages the robot, and he slashes at Dredd, knocking him overboard. As he falls though, Dredd fires back up at the robot, igniting the oil on the tanker. Call-Me-Kenneth begins to burn. A moment later the tanker explodes, taking the rebel robot leader to his electronic grave. Dredd, falling through the air, is saved by a hover patrol. Later, as the now-loyal robots are put to work rebuilding the shattered city, the three robots who helped Dredd are awarded a special honour: pleasure circuits, while Walter is made the very first ever free robot. True to form though, he would rather serve Judge Dredd, and to the Judge's chagrin, he ends up in his apartment, where Maria is about as pleased to see the robot as is Dredd himself! QUOTES Newscaster: “Greetings, law and order fans! You're tuned to another edition of Crime Time. The war with the robots is over, but robot leader Call-Me-Kenneth is still at large!” Dredd: “I dare not fire. There's enough fuel in that depot to destroy half of Mega-City!” Grand Judge: “Robots! Those of you with masters to go to --- go there! Those of you whose masters were killed, go to the robo-pound and wait to be claimed. There is much work to do. We have a city to rebuild.” Grand Judge: “Robot Walter, for services above and beyond the call of duty, I award you your freedom!” Walter: “Oh Judge Dwedd. Walter is so grwateful he could leak oil. How can Walter ever wepay you, dear master?” Dredd: “You can start by getting off your knees. You're a free robot now: the first ever.” Walter: “Walter is tired of fweedom, master. Walter look after you now ---” Maria: “I want-a him out, Judge!” Dredd: “And the citizens think we Judges have it easy! I think I'd rather fight another robot war!” Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Kind of depressing to see that, a hundred years into the future, man is still looking to oil as his fuel of choice. Is it only for the robots? That oil depot is huge, and you would have to think that the vehicles in Mega-City One also utilise it. Surely by now everyone would be zipping along on hydrogen-powered scooters or something? Mind you, this was written in the 1970s.. I AM THE LAW! It sickens Dredd to see innocents fall to their deaths as Call-Me-Kenneth pilots the oil barge up into the sky, but he is determined their deaths will be avenged. Besides, if the mad robot gets away with such a supply of oil, who knows what carnage he could wreak? Dredd will however not risk the safety of citizens by firing on the robot when he is within the confines of the depot, for fear of igniting the dump's massive stock of the flammable liquid. Laughing in the face of death The end scene is both touching and funny, as Dredd, having essentially saved his city, is faced with a domestic set-to between his maid and the robot who now wishes to be his servant, even though it has been granted its freedom. Those clever little touches As the oil tanker rises up into the sky, we see it is operated by Texas City Oil. This is the first, but not the last, we will hear of Texas City, otherwise known as Mega-City Three, and it's both appropriate and hilarious that Gibson has depicted the company by using stereotypes associated with the red state: a Dallas Cowboys-style cheerleader wearing a stetson and holding a semi-automatic machine gun! Fall of a tyrant Like many dictators whose empire has collapsed, Call-Me-Kenneth, once the most powerful and feared robot in Mega-City One, finds himself hunted, on the run as he tries to secure a supply of oil that will allow him to remain one step ahead of the Judges and continue his reign of terror. With it would seem no logic circuits left, the mad robot cannot see that the end is nigh: his army, his slaves have abandoned him, and he is Public Enemy Number One. It's doubtful though that Mega-City One has made provisions at this point for the incarceration of robots, and anyway, he's a multiple murderer so he can expect nothing but death at the hands of the Judges. Perhaps his logic circuits are firing fine after all, and he realises he has no choice left but to go out in a blaze of glory, hoping his name will be remembered. The only trouble with that is that all the robots who followed him are either scrap metal or reprogrammed, and if anyone remembers him it will be the humans, who will recall when they came close to extinction, and take steps to ensure there is never another Call-Me-Kenneth. PCRs As Call-Me-Kenneth dies in the explosion when the tanker goes up, he roars “Top of the world!” The iconic line uttered by Cagney at the end of the classic gangster movie, “White heat”. It's also hardly coincidental that the award ceremony at the end, when Stewart, Howard and J70Stroke12 are given pleasure circuits, and Walter his freedom, is very reminiscent of the classic “Star Wars” closing scene, the movie having been released only a month before... Ch-ch-ch-changes They're at it again! Now it's Grand Judge. Chief Judge, Grand Judge! Pick one! They do eventually... Return of the nitpicker! What's this? Last episode it was J70Stroke12, now one of the three heroic robots that helped Dredd in his fight has become J70Stroke13! Has he been upgraded? And this mistake is made twice, in adjoining panels... |
Although the title of this journal makes it clear that my main, indeed to some extent only focus is 2000AD and its heroes and villains and stories, if you look carefully at the intro I did mention that I might dip into other publications from time to time, as the mood struck me.
It's struck me. So my next entry is going to be all about this http://s414170025.onlinehome.us/wp-c...-paperback.jpg with an introduction and then following that, interspersed between Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and any other 2000AD strips I look at, a detailed review, analysis, discussion and general Trollheartery about one of Alan Moore's best (imo) and most well-known graphic novels, which was of course made into a blockbuster movie. If you haven't read it, you're missing out, so make sure you're here to catch my chapter-by-chapter, page-by-page and panel-by-panel exploration of the one and only Watchmen. |
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One of the most important and influential works in the field of comic books and graphic novels of the late 1980s, Watchmen has the distinction of being one of the very first to bring the term "graphic novel" into the mainstream, even though its writer professes to dislike the term. I can see where he's coming from: it's like people who don't want to be accused of reading comics are able to sniff and say “Comic? No no no. This is a graphic novel!” as if that makes a difference. Of course, there is something that distinguishes what we think of as comics from graphic novels. Firstly, and most importantly, they do follow the format of a novel in that there is a complete story within their pages, whereas comics will tend to continue the story or stories in other issues, and the story or stories could run for weeks, months or even longer. Secondly, geenrally they're in a hardback or semi-hardback format and usually all pages are in colour, as opposed to some comic books where maybe only the cover and the middle pages are in colour. Graphic novels can be written specifically for that format, but often they have been previously published in a series and this series is then collected within the pages of what becomes a graphic novel. This is in fact what happened with Watchmen, along with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and V for Vendetta: intrinsically just a way of appealing I guess to comics collectors and squeezing more money out of them, but it's how I came into contact with Watchmen, through my younger brother. Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, two men who had made their name working for 2000AD indeed in the seventies, Watchmen imagines an alternative future in which the USA won the Vietnam War very quickly with the aid of superheroes sanctioned by the government. As the novel opens however it is a much different time, and tensions are building between the US and the USSR on a scale not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis of the sixties. It is here we begin our tale. Chapter I: “At midnight, all the agents...” (A quote from Bob Dylan: At midnight all the agents and superhuman crew go out and round up all those who know more than they do.) We open on an extract from the journal of one of the principal characters, one who goes only by the name of Rorschach (yeah, like the psychology test) which plays out as cops investigate what appears to be a murder. A guy called Blake has been hurled from the top window of his apartment; the cops can see the door, which was chained up, has been broken, as has the window through which the unfortunate Blake made his last exit. The cops become interested though when they see a photograph of the deceased shaking hands with Vice President Ford, and realise he must have been someone important. They're prepared to let it lie however, alluding to the unwanted interference of “masked avengers” and “vigilantes”, and mentioning the name Rorschach for the first time. They remember that the object of their conversation is wanted for two counts of murder and has gone into hiding somewhere, but fear the worst if he should surface and get involved in this with “his other buddies”. Once the cops have gone out of sight, a shadowy figure emerges, hunkers down and picks up a “happy face” badge that was on the pavement, near the blood that is all that remains to mark the passing of the man known as Edward Blake. The badge has just about missed being taken down the nearby drain by the pool of blood washing over the sidewalk, and is just on the edge. The figure, wearing a trenchcoat, hat and a mask that makes him look like the inkblot test, notes that the badge is stained with a splash of blood. He then uses a grapple hook to scale the side of the building and enters the room through the broken window from which the previous occupant so fatally exited. He quickly sets about searching the place, methodically, as if he is looking for something specific, something he knows he will find, something that must be there. We note that he is careful, using a straightened clothes hanger to push open the door, as if he expects a booby trap to be set. Having located what he has been looking for, a small push button on the side of one of the walls of the wardrobe, he pushes it and reveals a hidden panel. http://www.trollheart.com/WatchmenA1.png Behind the panel is a suit of some sort, a costume as well as weapons, and, looking a little further, an old photograph of what appears to be some friends, all dressed in costumes of some sort, looking very happy. The scene switches to a garage, where two people, one old and one not so old, are reminiscing over old times. Each appear to be the alter-ego of someone or thing called Nite Owl, as the younger advises the older he was the better of the two, but when the younger one, who is named as Danny, leaves and heads back to his own apartment he finds he has an uninvited visitor. It is the man we saw climb into the apartment of the dead man earlier, he with the odd mask on his face. He is sitting eating a can of beans and seems to know Danny, as he addresses him without turning around. We now learn this man is called Rorschach, the same one whose journal was quoted at the beginning and whom the police are hunting for murder. Now details begin to get filled in a little. Rorschach hands Danny the smiley face badge he picked up off the ground, and tells him it belongs to someone called “The Comedian”. It seems this person's identity was, up to now, a secret, as Rorschach tells him without real interest that it seems Edward Blake was the Comedian. On hearing that the guy is dead --- Danny says “THE Comedian?” so he obviously at least knows of him --- he leads Rorschach down into the basement where they can talk more privately. Rorschach reveals --- to us anyway; it's unclear as to whether or not Danny knows --- that the Comedian had been working for the government for the last ten years or so, helping to effect regime change where the US wanted it effected, and he points out too that Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, wrote a book in which he said some unkind things about the Comedian. Danny does not like the implication that his friend, Hollis Mason, teh original Nite Owl might have been involved in the Comedian's murder, but Rorschach shrugs and says he's not implying anything, just making an observation. As they talk, it becomes clear that Rorschach and Danny (Nite Owl) were once heroes or vigilantes of some sort, as was the Comedian. They obviously partnered up at some point, as when Danny asks what happened to those days, Rorschach snaps “You quit”. It's pretty clear that he, at any rate, is still continuing on in his own special way as some sort of vigilante, even if not one sanctioned by the government, and the final panel before he leaves Danny in the tunnel depicts a man ashamed of himself, and alone. Having failed to get any information on Blake's death via his usual sources --- breaking a man's fingers (a man he doesn't even know and certainly doesn't care about) in a local seedy dive he frequents --- Rorschach goes to see Adrian Veidt, a super billionaire technology tycoon and said to the the most intelligent man in the world. Veidt theorises that the killing may have been politically motivated --- as has already been established, the Comedian was working for the government and had surely stacked up a lot of enemies ---- but Rorschach discounts this, saying the US has “Doctor Manhattan” and the Soviets are scared of that. Is this a reference, perhaps, to the atomic bomb? Has that really not been used yet in this world? Rorschach seems to think the “Reds” are terrified of it anyway. Rorschach's own theory is that they have a “mask killer” on their hands. He doesn't say what that is, but we can take a guess. Given that at least three of the people we've met so far (four, including the late Comedian, five if you assume Veidt was also involved) have spoken of heroic deeds, villains and the old days, I think we can put it together. We've already heard of Nite Owl, and Rorschach appears to be another superhero, perhaps part of an “Avengers” or “X-Men”-style group who defended America against crime in maybe the forties or fifties. Most appear to be retired (or dead) now, but it looks like Rorschach is still operating, if independently and alone. He seems disgusted that his former comrades have all given up, and determined to carry on a personal, solo fight against the tide of crime and corruption, as revealed in scathing prose through the entries in his diary. He goes to see Doctor Manhattan, whom we find out is a person, if such a thing can be said of a blue giant who stands about forty feet high and has no pupils in his eyes. He is in the company of Laurie Jupiter, who does not shed a tear when she hears of the Comedian's death. She tells Rorschach hotly that he tried to rape her mother, back when Blake and she were both Minutemen. Seems this is the older equivalent of the superhero that Rorschach, Nite Owl and Veidt became; their earlier ancestors, so to speak. Rorschach is not impressed with Jupiter's histrionics; the idea of rape does not seem to impact upon him the way it does us. Doctor Manhattan tells Rorschach that he was informed of the death of the Comedian, as now he is the only agent left working for the government. It's hard to see though, how anyone could even hurt the blue giant, let alone kill him! The meeting does not go as planned though. When Rorschach shrugs off the idea that Blake raped Laurie's mother --- he does not necessarily deny it, but makes it clear he does not care about the event --- Doctor Manhattan tells him to go. When he refuses, he finds himself teleported out of the building. One of the many powers of the titan we will come to learn about. Laurie, chafing in her role of being the one to keep Doctor Manhattan happy, as she tells Danny when she meets him later for dinner, reminisces about the old days and wonders what happened to them. The final line is perfect: she says “There don't seem to be so many laughs around these days” and Danny replies sombrely “What do you expect? The Comedian is dead.” QUOTES Rorschach (from his journal): “Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over all the vermin will drown. The accumulated flith of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicans will look up and shout “Save us!” And I'll look down and whisper “No”.” Cop 1: “I saw the body and he looked beefy enough to protect himself. For a guy his age he was in terrific shape.” Cop 2: “What, you mean apart from being dead?” Hollis: “So there I was in the supermarket buying dogfood for ol' Phantom here. I turn the corner of the aisle and wham! I bump into the Screaming Skull! You remember him?” Danny: “I think I heard you mention him..” Hollis: “I put him away a dozen times in the forties. But he reformed and turned to Jesus since then. Married, got two kids. We traded addresses. Nice guy.” Nite Owl: “That little stain, is that bean juice?” Rorschach: “That's right. Human bean juice!” (I can't believe that for years --- literally, years --- I didn't get the double meaning here. I thought Rorschach was just likening bean juice to blood because of its colour and the fact that it's kind of the life fluid of a bean. It took me a long time to realise he was making a double entendre here, referring to “human bean juice” but meaning “human being juice”!) Rorschach (from his journal): “This city is dying of rabies. Is the best I can do to wipe random flecks of foam from its lips?” Rorschach (to Veidt): “He (the Comedian) stood up for his country, Veidt. Never let anyone retire him . Never cashed in on his reputation. Never set up a company selling posters and diet books and toy soldiers based on himself. Never became a prostitute.” Rorschach (from his journal): “Meeting with Veidt left bad taste in mouth. He is shallow, pampered, decadent, betraying even his own liberal affectations. Possibly homosexual? Must remember to investigate further. Why are so few of us left active, healthy and without personality disorders?” (This is a very telling passage: first, it shows that as we could see, Rorschach has little time for Veidt but it also hints that he has serious problems with homosexuals, and if Veidt is one then he plans to find out. More importantly though, he deplores the fact that so few of his comrades are left without personality disorders. He obviously includes himself as one who does not have a problem, while refusing to recognise that if anyone has a serious personality disorder, it is him. To Rorschach, everyone else is sick and he is the only sane man in the asylum. This speaks volumes to how he sees the world, and how he deals with it, and also explains to a degree why he is such a cold, unfeeling, uncaring person and yet fights for what he believes to be right.) http://www.trollheart.com/WatchmenA2.png Rorschach (from his journal): “I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.” Rorschach: “I'm not here to speculate upon the moral lapses of men who died in their country's service. I came to warn...” Laurie: “Moral lapses! Rape is a moral lapse? You know he broke her ribs? You know he almost choked her?” Rorschach (from his journal): “Nobody cares. Nobody but me. Are they right? Is it futile? Soon there will be war. Millions will burn. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. What does one death matter against so many? Because there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of armageddon, I shall not compromise in this. But there are so many deserving of retribution, and there is so little time.” (This speech totally encapsulates Rorschach's view of the world. No matter the cost, no matter the mitigating factors, he sees evil as an absolute and there is only one way to deal with it. Like his mask, like his name, like his very soul, the world for Rorschach is black and white, and there are no grey areas. This is what he holds on to, what sustains him in the terrible times to come. This is also what will prove to be his undoing, and will impact massively upon the storyline, to the end and beyond.) |
Between the lines
If there was ever a graphic novel which you really have to read over and over again, and that even if you pay close attention you're still not going to see everything there is to see in it, then this is the one. I have read it about six times and I still find new surprises each time I do. It's like an onion with a skin that is endless, revealing more and more as each layer is peeled away. You simply cannot skim through this comic book: well, you can, but you will miss so much. This is one of the reasons, I expect, why making it into a movie, somewhat like it was with “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, seemed almost impossible. Here I'll be pointing out all the little things you might miss if this is your first read through. From the very first panel we're shown how deep the writing and the art is in this, as Rorschach goes on about the gutters being full of blood, we see a stained pavement with blood all over it, and someone is washing it away, while beside him another man holds a sign that says “The end is nigh”. A moment later, Rorschach speaks of a road leading over a precipice and then the world standing on the brink, as we see the view from a window, down onto the street, and a hand appears at the window, which we will shortly discover is that of a cop, one of a tea investigating what turns out to be a murder. Another great little touch is when the cops investigating Blake's murder head out for the lift they're asked “What floor” and say the ground floor. As the lift attendant mutters “Ground floor comin' up” we see a panel showing Blake falling headfirst from the window to his death: the ultimate ground floor! Behind the kid reading “Tales of the Black Freighter” you can just about see a headline on a newspaper, which screams “Vietnam 51st State: official!” So in this reality, the southeast Asian country has in fact been annexed by the USA and added to its states following their quick victory. Again, as the lead detective suggests “What say we let this one just drop out of sight?” we see the figure of the plummeting Blake. As the two cops pass the sign bearer one shivers, the other asks what's wrong and the first one surmises he must be getting a cold. Cold war? A sign on the wall near the building from which Blake has been thrown read “Mmeltdowns!” With the threat of nuclear war in the air, surely tempting fate? On the wall as the two ex-Nite Owls trade stories is a partial headline of a newspaper which reads “Hero retires, opens own auto business” and outside, as Hollis, the older one, leaves, we see the word Masons going down the side of the building, which immediately tells us the owner is Hollis Mason, without it having to be explained. Also interestingly, someone has graffitied over the front of the shop the question “Who watches the Watchmen?” Also shown is the word “Pale horse”, an obvious reference to Revelations, and with the possible apocalypse on the horizon, chillingly appropriate. Another clever touch: a sign outside the garage says “We fix 'em” and “Obsolete models a specialty!” Given that the younger (though also retired) Nite Owl has just left the older one who is standing there looking sad, this is particularly telling. The torch has been passed, indeed. On a postbox another headline seems to shout “Russia protests US advances in Afghanistan”, adding more political tension and telling us a little more about the state of the relations between the two biggest superpowers in the world. A sticker on a window advises “Stick with Dick in 84”, telling is that Nixon has retained the presidency right up to at least 1984 and is surely in power now until 1988. As Rorschach writes in his journal he sits on a roof high above the city. His disapproving description of the metropolis below throws into sharp relief his position as he sits in judgement, like some predatory bird, almost in a mockery of the likes of Spiderman and Batman; rather than anxious to protect New York, he is disgusted by it. But he is more disgusted at the crime that run rampant through its streets like idiot children with machetes and guns. Rorschach is almost a superhero by default. More grafitti: on a shop is scrawled the words “Viet Bronx”... http://www.trollheart.com/WatchmenA3.png Interesting little clue as to how technology has progressed here in this alternate Earth. As we see the towering imposing magnificence of Veidt's headquarters, in the distance sailing through the sky is an airship. Seems such things survived, perhaps even thrived, in this world right up to the late eighties. As Rorschach leaves Veidt, he says “Be seeing you”. A clear tip of Moore's hat to the TV cult series, “The Prisoner”. In the last panel of this confrontation, as Veidt stands looking out the window of his office, cutting a similar figure to how Nite Owl was left after seeing Rorschach and being somewhat humiliated by him, there is a newspaper open on the desk behind him. Its headline says “Nuclear doomsday clock stands at five to twelve”, say experts, further confirming that the holocaust is hovering ever closer. Another panel mentions “Geneva Talks: US refuse to discuss Doctor Manhattan”. And so we have another mention of the enigmatic figure. Quite matter-of-factly, and without any warning or preamble, we see Doctor Manhattan put his hand into a computer – as in, he passes through it like a ghost --- and it's clear that this is a being with almost godlike powers. It is not remarked upon; Laurie obviously is aware of his powers and Rorschach has been teleported outside by now. As Rorschach leaves the Experimental Centre, he walks past the wreckage of a building. It's interesting that we can see a sign in the rubble which shows that it was the “Gunga Diner”, which only a few pages ago was intact. Obviously some ethnic/racial violence going on here. Also, on the wall is scrawled again that question “Who watches the Watchmen?” and on the other side a bill for “Pale Horse” at Madison Square Gardens. We've seen this name on the back of a biker jacket, and it's becoming clear they're some sort of rock band. Extremely telling too is the word “Kristallnacht” daubed on the wall opposite the now-ruin of the “Gunga Diner”. Someone is evidently putting the ideas of that night of terror into practice, fifty years on. Leaving the restaurant, Laurie remembers with distaste the costume she wore as a superhero: “That stupid little short skirt! And the neckline going down to my navel! God, that was so dreadful!” And Danny, walking slightly behind her and no doubt suddenly envisaging her younger and in that skimpy costume, agrees hoarsely “God, yes, dreadful.” Tales of the Black Freighter The genius of this comic is just astounding! Not content with creating an amazing and absorbing storyline, Moore has another sub-comic going, centring around a comic book called “Tales of the Black Freighter”. This proceeds within Watchmen, in tandem with it and will eventually, at the end, dovetail with the main storyline in the most accomplished and incredible piece of storytelling I have seen in a very long time. Here, we see our very first glimpse of the other comic; as the detectives exit the lift, a kid is reading the comic leaning against the wall. You have to look hard, but that's the title on the cover. After the storm: Under the hood Each chapter of the story is followed by some text material that refers to, or adds to the story. In the initial chapters these are extracts from “Under the hood”, the autobiography of the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason. This helps to fill in the history of the superheroes, gives a flavour of the time before this and also opens a window into why someone would want to pull on a funny suit and go out fighting crime at night. The opening chapter tells of how Mason, having heard about the emergence of the very first bona fide real-world superhero, Hooded Justice, and wishing to make a difference, joined the police. It was while on his beat that he came across Action Comics and learned of Superman, and shortly afterwards that he would don his own costume and become the first Nite Owl. The story so far It's 1985 and Richard Nixon has won yet another term, presumably on the basis of the US winning the war in Vietnam within weeks. This has been achieved through the aid of one of many government sanctioned superheroes, Doctor Manhattan, who is a giant with blue skin. One of the other superheroes --- who are, largely, all by now retired --- has been killed and another who knew him, who goes by the name of Rorschach, is trying to find out who murdered the Comedian. He fears that someone is targeting “masks”, which is to say, superheroes. The world is hovering on the brink of nuclear war, much of it possibly brought about by the distrust the Soviet Union has in America's biggest and most unstoppable weapon, the aforementioned Doctor Manhattan. The Comedian has a chequered past: he worked for the government abroad, taking down regimes they wished gone, and Adrian Veidt, another ex-superhero, turned media mogul, believes that his killing may have been the result of that. A man makes a lot of enemies in that field. Rorschach is not convinced though. He also visits another old ally, Danny Dreiberg, who was once the superhero known as Nite Owl, but is now also in retirement. In fact, this retirement is enforced, as something called the Keene Act outlawed all but two of the superheroes, the late Comedian and of course Doctor Manhattan, who is still working for the government in the field this time of research and development. One of the other ex-heroes, Laurie Jupiter, has history with the Comedian, believing he tried to rape her mother back in the forties when they were both Minutemen, the precursors to today's (or rather, yesterday's) superheroes, and Rorschach must wonder if she is involved in the murder in some way? She is far too slight and weak to have been able to throw Blake through the window through which he fell, but perhaps she contracted someone? An interesting point about these superheroes is that none of them --- with the obvious exception of Doctor Manhattan --- seem to have any actual superpowers. There are no Mister Fantastics, no Spidermen, no Hulks. They all seem to simply trust in (or trusted in) agility, cunning and physical stamina to carry out their duties. There are no laser eyes, sixth senses or flaming bodies here. To all intents and purposes, the superheroes of Watchmen are just really quite ordinary people. On the surface. If they can be compared to anyone, it's probably Batman. Another very clever thing about this incredible comic book is that each chapter (or originally, issue) ends with a stylised clock against a black background. In chapter/issue one the clock's hands stand at 23:48, or twelve minutes to midnight, and there are exactly twelve chapters, to reflect the original twelve issues that made up Watchmen. What will happen when the clock reaches midnight? It's almost televisual in its immediacy, like the digital clock that would come up at the end of the series “24” and run down to the last second of that particular hour. It really hits home and makes you realise that the whole thing is counting down to some momentous and surely terrible event. |
I'm gonna have to read this entry in a bit, as it's long as ****, but I just wanted to say...
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What's the one thing that almost every science-fiction film you've seen, TV show you've watched or book you've read has had in common? With a very few exceptions, it would have to be that Earth and humanity are always the good guys, or at least that things are viewed through their eyes. Nemesis strove to change that. Originally conceived as nothing more than a short set of stories written to tie in with rock music, Nemesis the Warlock received such favourable attention from the readership that Pat Mills decided there was enough interest in it to go ahead with a full series. In the end, it turned out to be one of the star attractions of 2000AD. Nemesis is an alien, a Warlock who fights for freedom from the tyranny of the Terran Empire (that's us) which is a xenophobic, totalitarian theocracy, founded on the principles of human superiority, prejudice and hatred of all other races. Its own people are ground under the heel of the Grand Master of Termight, Torquemada, who, along with his not-so-secret police keeps them in a constant state of fear, paranoia and unquestioning obedience. Earth has reached out to the stars, and finding non-human races there, has determined to destroy them all. Nemesis is the leader of the resistance, a fire-breathing demon to counter the Earth's religious zealot, and the two will cross swords --- literally --- many times. Drawn in a strange, metallic, alien, angular style by Kevin O'Neill, everything in Nemesis, from the buildings to the people, is sharp and severe, and this carries through to the dialogue, which is some of the snappiest and cleverest in the magazine, and that's saying a lot! Mills references a lot of pop culture, and has some sharp and witty slants on everything from religion and politics to war and power. Unlike the other strips I've focussed on up to now, which generally rotate about a single character or a team of two, Nemesis has a cast, which obligates me to talk about them. And so I will. Nemesis the Warlock: hero/antihero of the series, he is a tall, fire-breathing alien, a demon and the very antithesis of Earth and Torquemada's beliefs and values. He fights against Earth's genocidal attitude towards aliens, becoming the focus for their resistance with his battlecry “Credo!” Tomas de Torquemada: Like his namesake from the Spanish Inquisition, Torquemada is a rabid racist, supremacist and fascist, and he is the ultimate power on Earth. His police enforce his edicts, and as in this dimension Church and State are one, there is literally no limit to his power. He has a fanatical hatred of all aliens, and is on a mission to destroy them all. He calls everyone who is not human, or who fails to live up to his standards of what it means to be a human, impure. Purity Brown: The only human who is sympathetic to Nemesis and his cause, she becomes his ally and helper. Candida de Torquemada: Wife of Tomas and mother of his two children. If anything can soften and make the evil tyrant seem human, she is the one thing in his life he cares about more than his holy cause. Grobbendonk: Nemesis's alien pet, Grobbendonk can speak Gibberish, a fringe world dialect, which gives rise to some mighty hilairous sayings. Chira: Nemesis's first wife, and mother to his son Thoth Thoth: Nemesis's only son. Great Uncle Baal: A scientist who performed controversial and horrible experiments on captured humans, Baal is Nemesis's uncle but has been banished from the kingdom. The ABC Warriors: Massive armoured fighting robots (who later got their own series and featured in the first Judge Dredd movie) who are allies to Nemesis. |
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“Brainblooms” First print date: June 25 1977 Prog appearance: 18 Writer(s): John Wagner Artist(s): Mike McMahon Total episodes: 1 What an absolutely horrible, creepy idea! Talking plants that look like human heads! Urgh! Seems they're also illegal, as Dredd has to sternly point out to his landlady when Maria buys one for his birthday! Giving her a warning, he sets off in search of the source of the crime, whoever is growing the repugnant things. This turns out to be a “harmless old lady” called Mrs. Mahaffy who lives in Tower House. Dredd pays her a visit, and when she crumbles and agrees to come quietly (well, she's a hundred years old: where's she gonna run?) he grants her request that her plants sing her one last song. That turns out to be a mistake though, and will probably haunt Dredd, as it's contrary to his nature to be accommodating. Getting the brainblooms to sing “their special song”, Mahaffy ensures that the music --- a loud, penetrating hum --- assaults Dredd's ears and brain and threatens to overwhelm him, and he becomes susceptible to her commands. He has been hypnotised by the ugly head-shaped flowers. He returns to Control, reporting he was not able to pin anything on the old lady. But Mahaffy's control over Dredd is more sinister than just covering her tracks. She knows that once the hypnotism wears off, as it always does, he will remember or guess what happened, or at the very least begin to question why he let her go. In order to prevent this, she has arranged for him to kill himself by riding his Lawmaster into an oncoming truck. The driver, however, seeing the Judge, swerves and Dredd misses him. He does however hit a crash barrier, and the shock of the impact jars him back to reality. Grimly, he radios in a new report, requesting that a riot squad meet him on the roof of Tower House. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd18a.png As the old woman, realising she has been outfoxed, tries to pull the same trick Dredd has the riot squad spray the plants with foam, which smothers their voices and prevents them from hypnotising anyone else. The threat now nullified, Ma Mahaffy is taken into custody. QUOTES Dredd: “Maria, have you lost your sense? Mere possession of a brainbloom carries a severe penalty! Brainblooms grow like flowers but can imitate any known sound --- the result of bio-organic grafting of plant and human!” Dredd (thinking): “It's not the shopkeepers and the ordinary citizens I'm interested in, it's the evil person who's growing these things.” (Like cops all through history, at least recent history, Dredd is not interested in the small fish, the users, the clients. He wants the person who is perpetrating this evil upon Mega-City One. Interestingly, this is directly opposite to the view he took on illegal organ transplants some progs back. There, he reasoned that without customers the business would dry up, here he places the blame squarely on the shoulders of supplier. Different methods of dealing with different crimes.) Mahaffy: “You caught me fair and square, young fellow. I'll come quietly. But first, you wouldn't deny me one last song from my precious pets?” Dredd (thinking): “It can't do any harm to let her have this last comfort.” (A rare lapse in discipline and an even rarer show of compassion for Dredd, both of which he will pay for.) Mahaffy: “You should have remembered that, in the hands of an expert, brainblooms can be made to emit a sound so hypnotic that no human can resist it! Now you're in my power, young man, and you'll do exactly what Ma tells you!” Dredd: “Yeehaa! Here goes! That truck will squash me to a pulp! It'll take them days just to scrape me off the road!” http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd18b.png The Long Arm of the Law Age, it would seem, is no barrier to prosecution and incarceration in Mega-City One. Ma Mahaffy is, Dredd tells us, 100 years old, but she's going to get sent to the Cubes like any other lawbreaker, and for a very long time: probably the rest of what remains of her life. She did, after all, try to engineer the murder of a Judge and make it look like suicide. Still, for a woman of such advanced years she's pretty sprightly; perhaps using age-defying drugs, which are surely available in Mega-City One to those who can afford them? https://lh5.ggpht.com/8gYY3ALOpdoR8G...NsFsJ4GVU=w300 I'll ask the questions, Creep! How did Ma Mahaffy acquire the brainblooms? She doesn't look the sort to be well in with bio-engineers, particularly those who operate on the wrong side of the law. And what is it that the plants are fed on? Dredd refers to it, saying that the reason they had to be banned was because of their diet, but we're never told what it is. We can guess, but it's never established for sure. Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Stuck for that special gift? Want to do something totally different this year? Want to send a message and make sure it's heard? If you don't mind stepping outside the law and risking being sent to the iso-cubes, you can purchase a brainbloom. Shaped like human heads (and kind of looking like devils with their sharp chins and pointed ears) these plants can replicate any known sound, from music to a high-pitched scream and from a jet engine to the sound a tennis ball makes as it travels across the court from racquet to racquet. Exactly how they came into being is uncertain, but Dredd mentions that they are the result of grafting human organs on to living plants. It's a thoroughly horrible idea, but just another example of the wild and wacky diversions available in Mega-City One to those who can afford them. http://www.trollheart.com/Dredd18c.png Laughing in the face of death It's quite amusing that when we see Mahaffy talking to her plants, they all sing “You'll never walk alone”, the well-known anthem for Liverpool Football Club. Are we being told, in a sly, oblique way, that she is a scouser, the implication (not to be taken seriously of course) that every Liverpudlian is a “scally”, or untrustworthy person? Does Wagner support “The Reds” and is inserting a private joke here? Whatever the truth of it, it's hilarious to see a row of heads sing “When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high”, especially as these plants are basically entirely made of head, and couldn't hold them up high if they tried! I AM THE LAW! Dredd must be pretty pissed at Ma Mahaffy, considering she just tried to have him effect his own removal from this Earth. And yet, he approaches her caution and arrest with the same cold, clinical, detached professionalism that he displays when confronting any lawbreaker. There is no question of revenge here: Mahaffy broke the law, and must pay the price. Also, though he tut-tuts that even at age 100 she is still engaging in criminal activity, Dredd has no compunction about sentencing her as the law requires and locking her up, although it's probably likely she will die in custody. |
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