Inferno, Part 7

NAME
Inferno, Part 7

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 42

DATELINE
10 Dec 77

This Prog featured Invasion, Bonjo From Beyond The Stars, Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Tharg's Future Shocks and M.A.C.H.1 strips and a supercover by an unknown artist.

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
The Complete Harlem Heroes.

SYNOPSIS
Giant forms his own Inferno team.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of TJ and the Harlem Hellcats

INFORMATION
Beddlam village is a rundown suburb of Long Island set aside for social outcasts and undesirables.

The recently founded Harlem Hellcats are accepted into the fourth division of the Inferno league. Their first fixture is playing away against Shafer's Sickles.

The Shafer's Sickles Firebowl is shaped like a giant dented crash helmet. The team offer a pre-match spectator-prize to the fan who can ride their bike around their Firebowl three times without hitting the cinders.

GIANT
He recruits seven other players for his new Inferno team, the Harlem Hellcats. He has a helicar.

SLIM
He joins the Harlem Hellcats.

ZACK
He joins the Harlem Hellcats.

LOUIS MEYER
His new body is a general purpose model android mark IV built to his own specifications and his brain is housed in a transparent cranium. The procedure was undertaken at the New York Medi-Science Institute. He has learned to harness his mental energy to a very high degree that he can move his nu-shape at will without the need for an expensive power cell. He joins the Harlem Hellcats.

OTHER CHARACTERS
'JUNK' JACKSON
He is no longer the squad leader of Washington Wolves and joins the Harlem Hellcats as a biker.

T.J. CASH
Junk's mechanic, Teejay is seventeen years old. He volunteers to be a biker for Harlem Hellcats.

MOODY BLOO
Since the Charlie Vance incident he has been trying to join another Inferno team without success and living in Beddlam village. He joins the Harlem Hellcats as Cave-man.

RIP VENNER
He joins the Harlem Hellcats.

DEATHS
Probably some Sickles fans on bikes, but it's not explicitly stated.

BEST LINES
Louis: "I shall not rest until the innocence of the Heroes has been established beyond all doubt!"

WORST LINES
Giant: "'Beddlam village'! Say, isn't that the area which has been set aside for social outcasts and undesirables?"
Junk: "Yeah. It's for people who just can't get on with their neighbours..."

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
Louis Mayer's surname is now spelt Meyer.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Tom Tully
Artist: Belardinelli
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
Another enjoyable instalment with practically no Inferno in it. The dismissal of the plight of those in Beddlam, the depiction of the Sickle's fans and Louis Meyer's new appearance are fascinating, but it's a shame that it builds to a cliffhanger that is little more than Caution: Top Hat.

Harlem Hellcats would have been a much better name for this strip and even at this early stage the new dynamic is presenting itself.

Continued Next Prog.