Inferno, Part 9

NAME
Inferno, Part 9

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 44

DATELINE
24 Dec 77

This strip lay behind a Dredd cover by Kevin O'Neill and Invasion, Bonjo From Beyond The Stars, Dan Dare, Judge Dredd and M.A.C.H.1 strips.

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
The Complete Harlem Heroes.

SYNOPSIS
Giant inspires the Harlem Hellcats to turn the game around.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First win for the Harlem Hellcats.

INFORMATION
Inferno Cave-men carry power-bats. It is legal to use a biker's flick-pick as a trip-wire.

Final score, the Harlem Hellcats have 3 cave-ins (9 points) to Shafer's Sickles 1 (3).

GIANT
He inspires the Harlem Hellcats to play with teamwork. Despite the new team, he is still connected by some fans with the salt-gum and bribery incidents.

SLIM
He scores a cave-in.

ZACK
He and Giant appear to do a mid-air switch with the ball, but actually they do a double-dummy instead and Giant retains it.

LOUIS MAYER
He proposes tracking down the organisation that Vance worked for.

OTHER CHARACTERS
RIP VENNER
He and Teejay both go for the same ball, until Giant grabs it from between them. He and Junk use their flick-picks as a trip-wire to get the ball from Ernie Shafer.

JUNK JACKSON
He and Rip use their flick-picks as a trip-wire to get the ball from Ernie Shafer. Junk found a gambling chip from the Crystal Maze in Vance's office before the last Washington Wolves game.

TEEJAY
He scores a cave-in.

ERNIE SHAFER
His refusal to pass to his team mates leaves him isolated and the victim of a trip-wire suspended between 'Junk' Jackson and Rip Venner's bikes. He loses possession of the ball to Teejay.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Shafer's Sickles Fan #1: "Another cave-in...I never thought they were this good!"
Shafer's Sickles Fan #2: "They ain't! They must've fouled up our guys in some way."

WORST LINES
Rip Venner: "Oh no, we missed the interception!"

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Giant refers to the death of the Harlem Heroes in Harlem Heroes.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
The panel of Giant talking to Louis Meyer on the last page borders on the bewilderingly pornographic.

RETROSPECT
Junk found a gambling chip from a freaky arcade called the Crystal Maze. The Crystal Maze would later be the name of a British TV game show broadcast between 1990 and 1995, initially presented by Richard O'Brien and later by Ed Tudor-Pole.

NOTES
None.

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

Tomas Frame is of course Tom Frame.

REVIEW
This is more fun and the art is an improvement on the last part. It's odd that Louis Meyer is quite literally being sidelined and that the Sickles' fans wait until they are losing to accuse Giant of cheating.

Next Prog! The Maze Of Terror!