Disaster 1990!, Part 1

NAME
Disaster 1990!, Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD & Starlord Prog 119

DATELINE
30 Jun 79

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Megazine 331

SYNOPSIS
Britain floods.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First spinoff from Invasion!

INFORMATION
In 1990, a new major trade route via the North Pole was the shortest route for massive nuclear powered ice breaking supertankers. A supertanker crashes into a nuclear submarine and the resulting explosion melts thousands of square miles of ice. The sudden rise in sea levels causes huge flooding. In Britain, London is completely flooded.

BILL SAVAGE
He is in a café in the Midlands when he hears about the coming flood. With about an hour until it hits he drives to London to find his mother. He loses his truck swerving to avoid a small child, the engine is smashed. He takes refuge more than fifteen floors up.

OTHER CHARACTERS
FRANCO
He runs a café in the Midlands.

DEATHS
Presumably millions worldwide.

BEST LINES
Savage: "This isn't the end, Lady - it's the beginning...the beginning of the fight for survival!"

WORST LINES
Savage: "Gimme another cod an' chips, Franco! And turn the TV up - nothing I like better than watching the news now all the newscasters are women!"

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Bill Savage previously appeared in Invasion!, although this story is set nine years earlier.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Floods wiping the slate (or in this case, the state) clean are a common feature in religion and mythology, from Noah's ark to Gilgamesh.

MISTAKES
"And the first in line is...Britain."

No, it's not. A tsunami-like wave moving from the North Pole would hit dozens of countries before Britain.

RETROSPECT
It turns out we didn't need a nuclear explosion at the pole to cause rising sea levels, we just needed a whole in the ozone layer, voter apathy and corporate greed.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: G.F. Day
Artist: Pino
Letters: S. Potter

REVIEW
The fight in the café is nice and it's great to see Savage back. It's not clear quite why this needed to be a prequel though.

Next Prog: Battle At The Imperial War Museum!