Inferno, Part 31

NAME
Inferno, Part 31

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 66

DATELINE
27 May 78

This prog featured Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Tharg's Future Shocks, Death Planet and M.A.C.H.0 strips, behind a Judge Dredd cover by Mike McMahon.

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
The Complete Harlem Heroes.

SYNOPSIS
Artie Gruber is forced to leave Giant alone and kill Cindy instead.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First work of the strip by John Aldrich.

INFORMATION
A soccer-shot involves a player kicking the Inferno ball with their foot.

Global Films make horror movies.

Score so far: Harlem Hellcats 1 cave in (3 points) to the Philadelphia Freaks 0 (0 points).

GIANT
He scores a cave-in from an assist by Cindy Lamont.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ARTIE GRUBER
He successfully catches a ball in white heat.

MR. CHUBB
He suggests that Artie Gruber's hatred of Giant makes him stronger. He tells Gruber to postpone killing Giant and to end Cindy Lamont's life first.

CINDY LAMONT
She angers Artie Gruber enough that he throws the ball directly at her and she gains possession for the Harlem Hellcats.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Artie: "Stop it, ya hear? Ain't...nothing wrong with my face!"
Cindy: "Nothing that a new head wouldn't improve!"

WORST LINES
Slim: "Now I know why you took a chance on her, Giant! Cindy had a crush on Hale Eegle..!"

So that's how she got the edge on Louis and Marvin. Also how could Slim tell from the way she played Inferno?

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None, but Artie Gruber has a beautiful line in exclaimations with a "Fnuurrrggle!", an "Aaaauulgh!" and a "Gyeeeeeaaah!".

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Cindy mentions Frankenstein Meets The Blood-Beast From Mars referencing Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which has frequently been filmed most notably as Frankenstein (1931) and Bride Of Frankenstein (1935), but also as Cindy hints at it was frequently combined with other intellectual properties such as Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943), Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster (1965), Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966), Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), Dracula: Prisoner Of Frankenstein (1972) and Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (1974). I have nothing on The Blood-Beast From Mars.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
Massimo Belardinelli draws a self-portrait into the crowd on the first page, with his spectator thinking "What am I doing here?"

CREDITS
Script: Tom Tully
Artist: Belardinelli
Letters: John Aldrich

REVIEW
The Philadelphia Freaks are a lot of fun and this is the first part to really show off the great design of their cave-man. The second white heat ball in as many parts feels a bit repetitive, but serves to show Artie's superhuman strength in contrast to Eegle's human frailty. Putting Artie versus Giant on one side in favour of Artie versus Cindy is a nice departure from the Harlem Heroes remake of recent parts.

Next Prog: Death Play!