Friday, 29 November 2013

Invasion!: 'Dartmoor', Part 1

NAME
Invasion!: 'Dartmoor', Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 10

DATELINE
30 Apr 79

PAGE COUNT
3

REPRINTS
Extreme Edition 5 and Invasion!

SYNOPSIS
Savage must get a prisoner out of the Dartmoor Maximum Security Complex.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First work on 2000 A.D. by Eric Bradbury.

INFORMATION
Dartmoor Prison has been renamed Dartmoor Maximum Security Complex and is essentially an internment camp for those who speak out against the Volgan regime. Work parties are assigned to a nearby quarry. There are tales of killer monsters roaming Dartmoor.


BILL SAVAGE
He is charged with getting Samuel Frost out of the Dartmoor Maximum Security Complex. They successfully get him to their car only to find it destroyed and their contact dead. They come face-to-face with a pack of wild dogs.

OTHER CHARACTERS
PETER SILK
He and Savage help get Samuel Frost out of the Dartmoor Maximum Security Complex. They successfully get him to their car only to find it destroyed and their contact dead. They come face-to-face with a pack of wild dogs.

SAMUEL FROST
Nobel prize winning Aero-Engineer. He is being held by the Volgans in the Dartmoor Maximum Security Complex. Savage and Silk aid his escape. They come face-to-face with a pack of wild dogs.

DEATHS
Presumably three. The two escaping prisoners are apparently reduced to a pile of dogs. Savage kills a Volgan prison guard, while the farmer is ripped to pieces.

BEST LINES
Volgan: "Men hiding inside the stone tarns. Open fire!"
Savage: "Anything to oblige, Volg!"

WORST LINES
"It's...wild dogs versus Mad Dogs!"

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Using Code 2 of the Red Alert Survival Wallet: "PQHYH WEH CFPWMP RJIY, YSHGTWOOX DEHR DX PQH NJOIWCY-TZ XJF CHHP WMX, EHPEHWP UTPQ GWDPTJM WMR EHSJEP PJ ZGHOR GJCCWMRHE" translates as "THESE ARE MUTANT DOGS SPECIALLY BRED BY THE VOLGAMS-IF YOU MEET ANY RETREAT WITH CABTION AND REPORT TO FCELD COMMANDER." (see MISTAKES)

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1901 to 1902) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is set largely on Dartmoor and features a legend of a supernatural killer hound.

MISTAKES
Volgan, Field and Caution are encoded as Volgam, Fceld and Cabtion.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Gerry Finley-Day
Artist: Eric Bradbury
Letters: John Aldrich

In addition to Invasion!, Eric Bradbury provided art for The Mean Arena, Rogue Trooper, Tharg's Future Shocks, Tharg's Terror Tales, Tharg The Mighty, Time Twisters, a Judge Dredd text story and a one-off called What A Load Of Rubbish.

REVIEW
The Holocaust imagery of the opening page is uncomfortable, but the art is impressive as are the slavering wild dogs in the cliffhanger. The middle page seems cluttered by comparison.

More Next Prog!

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