Timequake, Part 1

NAME
Timequake, Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
Starlord Issue 1

DATELINE
13 May 78

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
None

SYNOPSIS
An alien race from the future starts World War III and destroys the destiny of the Human race, but Time Control kidnaps a tramp steamer skipper to help them avert Armageddon.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Timequake.

INFORMATION
In 1997, a man called Lyon Sprague discovers a means of travelling faster than light. The Sprague Interstellar Drive carries humanity to the stars. By the 40th Century humanity was the greatest power in the universe and adversaries of the Droon. The Droon are a highly developed but brutal race from the Rigel system with a desire for more territory. They could not hope to beat the humans with conventional warfare, but they managed to steal the secret of temporal warp-dis-placement time travel.

Time Control attempts to prevent the Droon from changing history and operates a sub-station in the Cretaceous Era (roughly 85 million years before 1978).

On the 1st of May 1978 at 07:14 Greenwich Meantime London, New York and Moscow were all hit by nuclear strikes, soon after contact with Paris is lost. Following the nuclear strikes all the Time Control sub-stations after the 20th century ceased to exist.

The Droon then attacked the Cretaceous sub-station.

JAMES BLOCKER
Skipper of a tramp steamer. He is abducted by Time Control seconds before his death in a nuclear disaster and taken to the Cretaceous Period Substation. They want him to travel back on 1978 and prevent himself from transporting Kemel Azwan to Israel.

OTHER CHARACTERS
HARL VINDA
Temporal Sub-station controller from the 38th century.

SUZI CHO
A princess of the Haniken Empire of the 32nd century. Time Control member.

QUEXALCHOLMEC
A pure-strain Aztec. Time Control member.

MARCUS GELADIUS
A centurion attached to the 9th Legion. Time Control member.

KEMEL AZWAN
The Droon travelled back in time and paid him to start a third world war. He bought illegal passage aboard a tramp steamer to Israel in March. Azwan is responsible for killings which broke up peace talks in the Middle East and is linked to the nuclear strikes on London, New York and Moscow.

DEATHS
Millions. Much of the populations of London, New York and Moscow are killed in a nuclear attack.

BEST LINES
Blocker: "Chew knuckles, Sunshine!"

WORST LINES
Marcus: "Temporal warp-dis-placement time travel"

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Jack Adrian
Artist: Ian Kennedy
Letters: Peter Knight

REVIEW
The opening page lends the story a grittiness that the Droon, dinosaur-proof force fields and the Time Control tunics couldn't. The continued use of the word sub-station and the weird details Harl Vinda supplies about his comrades makes Time Control seem a very odd bunch. I don't blame Blocker for being confused, but this strip still deals with the concept of alternative timelines very well.

Next Week: 'The DROON have WIPED OUT he FUTURE!'

Star Pin-Up: Buggo The Brave And Uglika

NAME
Star Pin-Up: Buggo The Brave And Uglika

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Featuring Judge Dredd Prog 217

DATELINE
20 June 81

PAGE COUNT
1

REPRINTS
None.

SYNOPSIS
None.

FIRSTS & LASTS
None.

INFORMATION
None.


JUDGE DREDD
None.

OTHER CHARACTERS
BUGGO THE BRAVE AND UGLIKA
BUggo and Uglika have apparently had a son.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
None.

WORST LINES
None.

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Buggo The Brave And Uglika previously featured in Judge Dredd: The Judge Child, Part 8.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
None.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: None.
Artist: Mike McMahon
Letters: None.

REVIEW
Probably the most obscure characters to get the Star Pin-Up treatment and very nice it is too.

Judge Dredd: The Mega-Rackets, Crime File: 5 - The Psycos, Part 2

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Mega-Rackets, Crime File: 5 - The Psycos, Part 2

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Featuring Judge Dredd Prog 217

DATELINE
20 June 81

This prog featured Tharg's Future Shocks, Meltdown Man, Return To Armageddon and Strontium Dog strips, a Judge Dredd Star Pin-Up and a Tharg's Future Shocks cover by Mike McMahon.

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Best of 2000AD 28, The Complete Judge Dredd 21, Judge Dredd's Crime Files 5, Judge Dredd Mega City Vice Book 1 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 05.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd goes after Squeers, Squeers goes after Dredd.

FIRSTS & LASTS
Last Judge Dredd art by Barry Mitchell.

INFORMATION
Mega City One's has a Ray Milland Block and the Third Eye Insurance Company has its own building. The city's Mega-Docks Area has at least three Atlantic Gates.

Judges are trained to resist Psi influence. Psi Division can undertake a brain search of an individual in their 'Psyke Tank'. The process requires a warrant and can legally only take twelve hours. Named Judges: Judge Grant.

Psykers can convince an individual of something untrue.

JUDGE DREDD
A Hover'porter crash narrowly avoids him and he stops a woman from climbing into the burning wreckage to rescue a baby she doesn't have. Assuming Squeers' involvement Dredd gets a warrant for a brain search

OTHER CHARACTERS
HODGE JONMAN
Hover'Porter driver affected by Psyker related hallucinations of a colossal monster.

REX SQUEERS
He lives at Ray Milland Block. Psi Division are struggling to get through his scramble shields, so they put him through a brain search and he lasts the full twelve hours without cracking. He returns home and uses his Psi powers to influence two Third Eye 'salesmen' to kill Dredd, they fail and end up in the Black Atlantic. He later turns up dead in the same waters.

JEREMY SOLL
Chief executive of Third Eye Insurance Company.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
Three. Dredd shoots one of Squeers' two 'blitzers' dead, who then drives off the road and into the Black Atlantic drowning the other one. Squeers' corpse turns up later.

BEST LINES
Woman: "You - you saved my life, Judge Dredd! I - I don't know what came over me! I don't even have a baby!"

WORST LINES
Dredd (seeing sign of a car): "Headlights! Could be them!"

Bit jumpy, Dredd?

CATCHPHRASES
Dredd says "Drokk!", Soll thinks a "Rot",

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Ray Milland Block is named after actor Ray Milland (1905-1986) who starred in Dial M For Murder (1954), X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963) and Aces High (1976).

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: T.B. Grover
Artist: Barry Mitchell
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
As with Part 1, the opening page and a half are good, but the strip does not sustain the story.

The End

Judge Dredd: 'The Psycos', Part 1

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'The Psycos', Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Featuring Judge Dredd Prog 216

DATELINE
13 June 81

This featured one of the all time great Judge Dredd covers by Brian Bolland, a Rogue Trooper preview and Tharg's Future Shocks, Meltdown Man, Return To Armageddon and Strontium Dog strips.

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Best of 2000AD 28, The Complete Judge Dredd 21, Judge Dredd's Crime Files 5, Judge Dredd Mega City Vice Book 1 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 05.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd investigates a death caused a Psyker.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First part of 'The Mega-Rackets' not labelled as such. Last part of 'The Mega-Rackets' not labelled as such.

INFORMATION
Synthetti is synthetic spaghetti. Crepetto is a dish.

A hover taxi is taxi that hovers. Whizz bars are a automobile component.

Individuals with Psi powers, or Psykers, have been used by criminal gangs to ensure loyalty among members, to predict potential failure and to broadcast directly into the minds of individuals to convince them to pay protection money. A Psyker can confuse the senses of its target. The Justice Department's Psi Division can detect psionic interference in a corpse.

Third Eye Insurance is an insurance company that employs Psykers to force individuals to take out policies.

JUDGE DREDD
He is called to scene of Aldo Pollo's death. Under Section 59(d) of the criminal code he undertakes crime blitz search of Rex Squeers' home. Dredd later has him followed by spy-in-the sky cameras and strip-searched when he arrives at work.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ALDO POLLO
Wealthy restaurateur without insurance. He owns Aldo's Sintheria on the 698th floor of a high rise building. He hallucinates a synthetti monster and steps on an equally illusory hover taxi and falls to his death. He was subject to psionic interference that burnt out half his pineal cells.

FINGERS
Member of a criminal gang that was loyal to Low-Side Larry instead.

LOW-SIDE LOUIS
Fingers really works for him.

REX SQUEERS
Third Eye Insurance's top Psyker and Psi Division's top suspect for Aldo Pollo's murder. Dredd undertakes crime blitz search of Rex Squeers' home. Later Dredd has him followed by spy-in-the sky cameras and strip-searched when he arrives at work.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
One. Aldo Pollo fell to his death.

BEST LINES
Gangster: "Put it this way, Bud - if you don't buy one of our policies, you're gonna have an accident for sure!"

WORST LINES
None.

CATCHPHRASES
Squeers says "Rot you"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Squeers shares his surname with a character from Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

MISTAKES
Sintheria was presumably meant to be spelled Syntheria.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant
Artist: Barry Mitchell
Letters: Unknown

REVIEW
Sadly, Barry Mitchell's Synthetti monsters in the strip fail to live up to Brian Bolland's amazing cover and that is the general tone of this strip. It doesn't quite live up to the other 'Mega Rackets' that we've seen so far. The script gives us an interesting character in Aldo Pollo, but he doesn't survive past the second page. Rex Squeers, however, seems fairly unremarkable despite his abilities and isn't shown in close-up until the final frame at which point his desire to exact revenge on Dredd falls pretty flat.

Strontium Dog: Funfair Of Fear

NAME
Strontium Dog: Funfair Of Fear

FIRST PUBLISHED
Starlord Annual 1980

DATELINE
1 Sept 79

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Johnny and Wulf search for Colombo at the fun-fair.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Strontium Dog strip in a Starlord Annual.

INFORMATION
Neridian 5 is a planet with at least one island on it.

Inter-Galactic Fun-Fun Tours built a fun-fair on an island on Neridian 5, but when the space lanes were re-routed the holidaymakers stopped coming.

JOHNNY ALPHA
He and Wulf go in search of Colombo. After Wulf is shot, Johnny climbs the helter skelter to get an aerial view, but instead he himself is shot with a stun-ray. He slides down to the bottom unconscious. He awakes to discover that Colombo has tied him to a duck. Colombo shoots a hundred bullets at Johnny but only successfully hits his S.D. bag. Colombo is about to shoot at Johnny again when Wulf crushes him with a Big Dipper carriage.

WULF STERNHAMMER
He and Johnny go in search of Colombo. Whilst in the hall of mirrors, he is shot in the shoulder. Gomo tends to his wound and he follows the sound of Colombo's laughter. He discover Colombo about tho kill Johnny and throws his hammer at the starting lever for the Big Dipper causing the ride to start and the carriage to crush Colombo.

OTHER CHARACTERS
COLOMBO HARLEQUIN
Criminal hiding in the fun-fair on Neridian 5. He adopts a variety of disguises. He shoot Johnny with a stun-ray and ties him to a large duck. When Johnny awakes he shoots a hundred bullets at him but only successfully hits his S.D. bag.

GOMO
The keeper of the fairground. He tends to Wulf's wound.

DEATHS
One. Colombo is crushed by the Big Dipper carriage.

BEST LINES
Wulf: "No-one shoots at Voulf and runs vithout a fight!"

WORST LINES
Johnny: "In the end we caught him fair and square."

CATCHPHRASES
Wulf says 'goot', 'vere', 'vill', 'vithout', 'vot' and 'Vulf'.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Johnny and Wulf are travelling without the Gronk and so this presumably takes place at some point before Two-Faced Terror.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The abandoned fun-fair is a widely used trope and, beginning in 1969, the backbone of the various incarnations of Scooby Doo.

MISTAKES
Colombo shoots a hundred bullets at Johnny but only hits his S.D. bag? And presumably his bonds?

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Unknown
Artist: Brendon McCarthy
Letters: Unknown

REVIEW
This is a very slight tale that could have featured any characters and therefore doesn't really feel like Strontium Dog at all. Johnny's abilities are referenced, but entirely unnecessarily as they don't help him in the hall of mirrors nor are they any use in finding Colombo. The captions allude to Johnny's powers to pass for dead as if it was an amazing skill. I'm willing to concede there an element of acting ability involved, but how impressed are we supposed to be that he can play dead? Colombo is very a creepy design, but we find out almost nothing about him or his motivations and how scary can he be if he fails to hit Johnny with hundred bullets? And why has Johnny put his hand on Gomo's head like that in the last panel? It's bizarre.

The End

Judge Dredd: The Mega-Rackets, Crime File: 4 - The Blitz Agencies

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Mega-Rackets, Crime File: 4 - The Blitz Agencies

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Featuring Judge Dredd Prog 215

DATELINE
6 June 81

This prog also featured Tharg's Future Shocks, Meltdown Man, Return To Armageddon and Strontium Dog, alongside a Star Pin-Up of Tharg and all behind a Judge Dredd cover by Brian Bolland.

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Best of 2000AD 27, The Complete Judge Dredd 20, Judge Dredd's Crime Files 2, Judge Dredd Mega City Vice Book 2 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 05.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd takes on a pair of contract killers.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First of the Mega Rackets to be a single part. Last of the Mega Rackets to be a single part.

INFORMATION
In Mega-City One, Grover Cleveland Block is poor quality housing, Mark Clark Block is thought to be worse and Sir Kenneth Clarke Block is part of a new upcity development and considered much better accommodation. Mega-City One has a housing committee responsible for moving people out of slum housing. It's rare to see a human delivering things door-to-door in Mega-City One, it's work usually performed by robots.

Contract murder is also known as blitz, wipe-out, hit, big whack, among others. Organised contract killers are known as a blitz agency or 'blitzers'. All 'blitzers' are equipped with emotion-sensitive self-destruct devices or 'suicide boxes'. Conspiracy in a blitz agency murder carries a sentence of fifteen years in an iso-cube.

Munce can be fried.

Kneepads come in different grades.

JUDGE DREDD
He is called to the Lumly's home following the assassination of Teddington Lumly. He is present when an attempt is made on the life of Reeta Lumly. He intervenes and shoots a Blitzer dead. He arrests Reeta for her own safety.

OTHER CHARACTERS
REETA AND TEDDINGTON LUMLY
A jobless couple that rent poor quality housing in Grover Cleveland Block who upon being informed that they are expected to move into Mark Clark Block decide to commit suicide. They can't go through with it and they elect instead to spend their life savings taking a contract out on their own lives. They then discover that they are due to be moved to Sir Kenneth Clarke Block instead and that Teddington has successfully found employment as a kneepad grader, but at that moment the blitz agency strikes and he is killed. Reeta calls in the Judges. Dredd finds Reeta Lumly guilty of conspiracy in a blitz agency murder which carries a sentence of fifteen years in an iso-cube. He commutes that sentence in exchange for assistance in finding her husband's killer. When she discovers that the contract is still open and her life is still under threat, she insists upon serving it.

CHARLIE
Blitz Agency killer that Teddington Lumly contracted to kill him and his wife.

ARRESTS
One. Dredd finds Reeta Lumly guilty of conspiracy in a blitz agency murder which carries a sentence of fifteen years in an iso-cube. He commutes that sentence in exchange for assistance in finding her husband's killer, but she insists upon serving it for her own safety.

DEATHS
Two. Teddington Lumly is shot dead by a Blitz Agency Killer and a 'Blitzer' called Salinas shot dead by Dredd.

BEST LINES
Blitzer: "There's more than one way to fry munce!"

WORST LINES
Big Whack

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Grover Cleveland Block is named after Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) the 22nd and 24th president of the United States of America, the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office (1885–1889 and 1893–1897). Sir Kenneth Clarke Block is named after Sir Kenneth Clarke (1903-1983) British historian and television presenter. Mark Clark Block is presumably named after a Mark Clark, but which one?

MISTAKES
Not necessarily a mistake, but why is Charlie so scaly?

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: T. B. Grover
Artist: Ron Smith
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
The artwork is great, the idea compelling and the script drives the story along well. This is the most engaging suicide attempt I can think of.

The End

Ro-Busters: 'Avalanche!'

NAME
Ro-Busters: 'Avalanche!'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Annual 1980

DATELINE
1 Sept 79

PAGE COUNT
10

REPRINTS
The Complete Ro-Busters.

SYNOPSIS
Geneva is buried in an avalanche.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Ro-Busters appearance in a 2000 AD Annual.

INFORMATION
Geneva is home to the world bank. The Robo-Hilton provides accommodation for robots.

Ro-Busters has medical and maintenance teams.

HAMMER-STEIN
He parachutes down to the avalanche site, but his landing sends his armaments circuits haywire and his weapons fire with one shell lodging in Mek-Quake. He rescues a little girl on her own and later a group of children.

RO-JAWS
He parachutes down to the avalanche site. He helps rescue a group of children

OTHER CHARACTERS
HOWARD QUARTZ
He keeps his money in the World Bank. When Mek-Quake's brain is damaged the Ro-Busters maintenance team suggest taking a scraping of Quartz' brain and grafting it into the robot. He does not get paid by the Mayor of Geneva.

MEK-QUAKE
One of Hammer-Stein's shells lodges in Mek-Quake. He pushes back the fallen rocks, but is ultimately buried. Hammer-Stein and Ro-Jaws attempt to use explosives to blow the rocks and expect Mek-Quake to be destroyed. Instead the shell detonates and Mek-Quake is freed and his positronic brain is damaged. The Ro-busters' maintenance team suggest using a scraping of Quartz' brain to fix Mek-Quake. It works and Mek-Quake rescues Quartz' money and eats it before aggressively attempting to cuddle him.

DOCTOR OPTICS
He hypnotises Mek-Quake to calm him down.

DEATHS
None, it seems.

BEST LINES
Ro-Jaws (about Howard Quartz): "Heh Heh! He doesn't know which is worse - bein' operated on or losin' his money!"

WORST LINES
Ro-Jaws (about Howard Quartz): "I reckon they should change his name to Howard Squashed! Heh! Heh! Heh!"

CATCHPHRASES
There are a few mentions of "Humes".

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
After the brain scraping graft to Mek-Quake, is Howard Quartz still Mr Ten-Per-Cent?

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Unknown
Artist: Kev F Sutherland
Letters: Unknown

REVIEW
This strip features some good characters moments for Ro-Jaws, Mek-Quake and Howard Quartz and some heroism for Hammer-Stein, but the visuals fail to get the avalanche itself across and the story itself feels pretty throwaway.

The End.