Disaster 1990!, Part 13

NAME
Disaster 1990!, Part 13

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD & Starlord Prog 131

DATELINE
22 Sept 79

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Megazine 332

SYNOPSIS
Savage tracks the birds back to the nest and confronts Pyke.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Pyke.

INFORMATION
There are flooded swamps ten miles to the west of Oxford, which were the site a bird sanctuary.

BILL SAVAGE
He scares off the birds with his shotgun. Savage takes a group of higher chemistry undergraduate to the flooded swamps to poison the attacking birds. When the undergraduates fail to return, he goes in search of them and discovers Doctor Pyke.

OTHER CHARACTERS
BAMBER
He accompanies Savage to the former bird sanctuary.

DOCTOR PYKE
He worked for Oxford University. Pyke had controversial ideas about bird communication and led a team that set up a bird sanctuary. He survived the floods and remained in the bird sanctuary, eating insects. Pyke commanded the birds to attack Oxford.

DEATHS
Four. The undergraduates are pecked to death by the birds.

BEST LINES
Savage: "Sometimes bullets are more useful than brains!"

WORST LINES
Oxford Don under attack by bird: "Birds! Hundreds of birds attacking us!"

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: G. Finley-Day
Artist: Carlos Pino
Letters: Steve Potter

REVIEW
With this part, Disaster 1990! takes a bizarre turn, but one that could well be the making of it. The rigid stuffiness of the Oxford dons is overplayed and Pyke could well be the shot-in-the-arm required to get the strip back on track.

Next Prog: The Chase!