Harlem Heroes, Part 20

NAME
Harlem Heroes, Part 20 (according to Wikipedia, this is the fifth and penultimate part of a strip also known as 'Gorgon's Gargoyles', although to be fair it also states that this is a 5 part story)

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 20

DATELINE
9 July 77

PAGE COUNT
3

REPRINTS
Sam Slade Robo-Hunter (Volume 2, Issue 17), 2000AD Extreme Edition 13 and The Complete Harlem Heroes.

SYNOPSIS
Louis returns to get the Harlem Haroes back on track and Artie Gruber is revealed.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First hint that Louis Mayer's brain has special powers.

INFORMATION
When set to auto drive, computer cars drive themselves and leave the occupants free to concentrate on something else, such as watching television.

GIANT
When told one of the Gorgon's Gargoyles is not an android, Giant suspects that Joe Mugglie is Artie Gruber in disguise and reveals the fact to his teammates.

CONRAD KING
He and Giant play a trick on Artie Gruber to force him to reveal he isn't Joe Mugglie.

LOUIS MAYER
He is no longer confined to his life-support trolley, instead scientists have connected his brain to a power source and jet-pack like apparatus and now he can fly the self-propulsion unit simply by thinking about where he wants it to go. His nurse still accompanies him. He is appalled to see the Harlem Heroes fighting amongst themselves. He can also detect a heartbeat and therefore knows one of Gorgon's Gargoyles is pretending to be an android.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ARTIE GRUBER
Louis can detect his heartbeat. Giant tricks him into revealing he isn't really Joe Mugglie and he pulls out a bomb.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Umpire: "Now perhaps we can restore some sanity to this game!"

Yes, this game with jet-packs, robots, three fatalities and a flying brain.

WORST LINES
Unknown: "It...it looks like a bomb!"

Yes, it does.

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
We finally get confirmation that Artie Gruber killed Joe Mugglie in Part 16.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The umpire asks "what in Sam Hill is going on...?" Sam Hill is a slang phrase in American English which is a euphemism for "the devil" or "hell" personified. Etymologists date the expression back to the late 1830s, but with an unknown origin.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
TVs in cars and autonomous cars that drive themselves are both concepts that were pure science-fiction in 1977, but exist today.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
There are no credits printed in the strip itself and so the following are taken from Barney.

Script: Tom Tully
Artist: Dave Gibbons
Letters: Dave Gibbons

REVIEW
What's the score? Who cares? It's good to Louis back and the reveal of Artie Gruber dealt with. These three page strips are surprisingly satisfying, could it be that they reveal the padding in earlier instalments?

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