Walter The Wobot: ‘Tap Dancer’

NAME
Walter The Wobot: 'Tap Dancer'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 50

DATELINE
4 Feb 78

PAGES
1

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Walter prepares for a fancy dress ball.

FIRSTS AND LASTS
First Walter The Wobot strip.

INFORMATION
There is a robot fancy dress ball on Luna-1.

Acme Plumbing is a plumbing company based on the Moon.

Robots take oil baths.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He has been invited to a fancy dress ball and decides to have an oil bath in preparation. He gets his toe stuck in the tap and calls a plumber. The tap remains attached to Walter and he elects to go to the fancy dress ball as tap dancer Fred Astaire.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
His accommodation has a videophone in the bathroom.

DEATHS
None.

BEST DIALOGUE
Walter: "What will I wear tonight? Something extwavagant, perhaps?"

WORST DIALOGUE
Acme Plumbing Representative: "Your call is noted!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says cwipes, Dwedd, dwess, extwavagant, Fwed, pwepawation, wed, wepair, wemarkable, wude, sowwy and twouble. Dredd says "Drokk it"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Walter, Dredd and Luna-1 all previously appeared multiple times in Judge Dredd, while a company called Acme appeared in Harlem Heroes, Part 6.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Fred Astaire (1899–1987) was indeed a remarkable tap dancer.

MISTAKES
Walter was revealed to have detachable feet in Judge Dredd: Meet Mr Moonie, which would make this dilemma pretty easy to solve.

RETROSPECT
In an astonishingly prescient move, the plumber bears more than a passing similarity to Bob Hoskins who would subsequently play a plumber in the Super Mario Bros movie (1993).

Script: Joe Collins
Artist: Ian Gibson
Letters: Tom Frame

Joe Collins wrote fourteen Walter The Wobots in 2000 A.D. in all and drew Action Mouse for Action.

NOTES
None.

REVIEW
Understandably the story here is slight, but it's interesting that our first real insight into Walter's Dreddless adventures isn't his day to day life , but instead something more out of the ordinary and yet not particularly extravagant either. It's very telling that we don't see Walter at a party, but instead preparing for it. It's also interesting that Dredd is unseen, although we hear his words from the next room as if actually seeing him would cross some line.

Judge Dredd: The First Luna Olympics

NAME
Judge Dredd: The First Luna Olympics

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 50

DATELINE
4 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Judge Death: Judge Dredd Featuring Judge Death, Judge Dredd 2, Judge Dredd Chronicles 1, Judge Death: Classic Judge Dredd, Judge Death: Dredd vs Death, The Complete Judge Dredd 4 and Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
The Olympic Games come to Luna-1 and tensions run high.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Sov-City citizens, Judges and specifically Sov Judge Cosmovich. First mention of the Brit-Territories.

INFORMATION
The first Lunar Olympics is being held at the Giant Crater Stadium in Luna-City. Among the nations competing are teams from the Sov-Cities, the Brit-Territories and Luna-1. Sportstime are a Luna-1 broadcaster showing the Olympics.

Events include pole vault (at heights reaching forty metres), shot put and the Dustboard Run, a new sport which works on the same principle as ski-jumping. Justin Bonnard competes for the Brit-Territories in the Dustboard Run, a new Moon sport, but he overshoots the safety nets and lands badly. Nikolai Zilch is a Sov sprinter with bionic thighs, while Tyrone J. Tyrone runs for Luna-1 and has a streamlined skull as a result of two years of cybo-surgery. Zilch is shot dead by a spectator and so Tyrone wins the race. The reduced gravity of the Moon sees many Earth-based sporting records broken.

Bio-scans are used to ensure that none of the competing athletes is more than twenty per cent bionic, while a spectro-scan can reveal any drug or steroid use: steroids show up as red areas and stanimine, taken to improve stamina, appears as blue and green areas.

At the end of the week-long competition the top three positions on the medal table are 24 Golds won by the Sov-Cities (among the Sov-City gold medal winners is Olga Borzoi for the shot put), 24 by Luna-1 and 8 by the Brit-Territories.

The symbol of the Sov-Cities is a hammer and sickle. Sov-City citizens can find themselves in labour camps to avoid potential embarrassment. Following the death of Judge Kolb, they declare war on Luna-1. Named Sov-City Judges: Judges Cosmovich, Judge Kolb (deceased).

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He is in charge of security for the Lunar Olympics and disqualifies one Sov athlete for being more than a fifth bionic.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE COSMOVICH
Sov Judge. He attends the athlete's inspections at the first Lunar Olympics on Luna-1 with Judge Kolb. When he catches Zilch's possible murderer, he intends to kill him. Dredd stops him, Kolb is killed and Cosmovich declares war on Luna-1.

JUDGE KOLB
Sov Judge. He attends the athlete's inspections at the first Lunar Olympics on Luna-1 with Judge Kolb. He is killed by an accidental ricochet from Dredd's gun.

ARRESTS
None, but the Sov athlete that Dredd disqualifies is sent to labour camp by his own legal system.

DEATHS
Presumably three. Zilch is vapourised by someone in the stadium's east stand, Dredd kills Judge Kolb with an accidental ricochet while Justin Bonnard's bad landing means he probably won't be getting up again.

BEST LINES
Judge-Marshal Dredd: "Drop that gun, Sov! You have no power to act in Luna-1. We have no death penalty here!"
Judge Cosmovich: "Then your law is weak, Dredd. We'll show you how it is done..."

WORST LINES
Judge Cosmovich: "We are at war!"

Don't you need to check with a superior?

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Luna-Sports were mentioned in Harlem Heroes, Part 12.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The 1976 Montreal Olympics would were the first to feature proven cases of anabolic steroid doping. Eight athletes, mostly weightlifters, were caught whilst competing for Bulgaria, Poland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and the USA.

MISTAKES
The artwork for the medal table reads Lunar-1. The hammer and sickle is flipped.

In the black and white reprint, the spectro-scan is merely white with no suggestions of where the localised patches of red, green and blue should be or how widespread they are.

RETROSPECT
Sergey Bubka (born 1963) holds the current outdoor pole vault world record of 6.14 metres (20 feet, 1 3/4 inches).

NOTES
2100 would indeed be an Olympic year.

CREDITS
Script: John Wagner
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
Bolland's artwork is fantastic, the sports are brilliantly depicted and the Sov-Judges are a very welcome addition to the mythos. The declaration of war comes as something of a shock.

Next Prog: War Games!

Judge Dredd: Oxygen Desert, Part 2 – Down And Out!

NAME
Judge Dredd: Oxygen Desert, Part 2 – Down And Out!

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 49

DATELINE
28 Jan 78

PAGES
7

REPRINTS
The Complete Judge Dredd 4, Judge Dredd: The Early Cases 5 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd survives the Oxygen Desert, but resigns as a Judge.

FIRSTS AND LASTS
First seven page Judge Dredd strip and the first time that an invidual part of a larger story has its own title.

INFORMATION
The Luna Module is a newspaper. Luna-City's streets are cleaned and its graves are dug by robots, but occasionally a human works with them.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
Starved of oxygen, he manages to shoot the controls on his hover bike to activate the audio circuit. He calls his bike to him. The next day, Dredd arrives back at the Luna-City Hall Of Justice and promptly resigns as a Judge. Days later, he joins a street cleaning squad, working with robots to clear litter, but he gets fired. Carmody confronts him and he uses his street cleaning equipment to disarm him. They fight and Dredd detains him. Dredd is reinstated as Judge-Marshall.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE TEX
He is in charge in Dredd's absence and following his resignation.

CARMODY
He told everyone he killed Dredd and when the Judge turned up alive he looked like a fool. He seeks Dredd out, they fight and the ex-Judge ties him up.

ARRESTS
Presumably one: Carmody. Dredd ties him up.

DEATHS
None.

BEST DIALOGUE
Dredd: "Please, Wild Butch, don't shoot me. I-I've the force."
Carmody: "But that ain't gonna save you, Dredd! I told everyone I killed you then you turned up and made me look a fool! Now I'm gonna finish the job!"

WORST DIALOGUE
Dredd: "I appreciate your concern, Tex. But this is where a failed Judge belongs, with the garbage...Say hello to the boys for me."

CATCHPHRASES
Tex's accent is made clear in phrases like "he dun", "y'all wus", "sure as shoot" and "ah want".

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Dredd previously resigned and returned to duty in Robot Wars, Part 2.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
There is an article on the back of Tex's newspaper about Spiderman (1962).

MISTAKES
Carmody's two nicknames have been conbined into Wild Butch.

RETROSPECT
Dredd's last line, "I am still a Judge...and I will remain a Judge until the day I die!", makes you contemplate a last ever Judge Dredd strip...

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Ian Gibson
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
It's interesting to see the lengths that Dredd will go to in order to catch a Lawbreaker and I love that Dredd seems to have chosen his new career based on whether it comes with a helmet which still affords him anonymity. As with Part 1, the Oxygen Desert is really just for the cliffhanger and Dredd's fall from grace is much more interesting.

Next Prog: Lunar Olympics

Judge Dredd: The Oxygen Desert, Part 1

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Oxygen Desert, Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 48

DATELINE
21 Jan 78

PAGES
6

REPRINTS
The Complete Judge Dredd 4, Judge Dredd: The Early Cases 5 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd recounts the events that left him dying of asphyxiation on the lunar surface.

FIRSTS AND LASTS
First Part 1 of a strip specifically labelled as such.

INFORMATION
On Luna-1, causing an accident while driving can result in a driving ban of five years and a fine of 73,000 credits. The sentence for armed robbery is ten years on a dome repair gang. There is a sin bin in Luna City for depositing arrested criminals for later collection. A priority 1 call means life is in danger. A Judge's hover bike has an oxygen supply which connects to valves on their helmets and when accompanied with an airtight vacuum visor makes them self-sufficient on the lunar surface. Named Judges: Judge Wimpey.

Apollo territory is outside the domed area and the current site of road building. Badlands gangs live out in the Hills of Ipsimus.

Plasti-Tar is road surface. Low Tension Cellu-Foam is used for dome construction and a breach is automatically sealed.

Dustboards are devices shaped like surfboards that hover.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
As part of his duties as Marshall, he presides over a minor complaints court. Frustrated with it, he abandons it in favour of patrolling Luna City. He is called to an attack on a roadmaker crew in Apollo Territory. Afterwards he goes in search of the gang's leader, Carmody, but instead finds a dummy. Carmody shoots Dredd and falls from his bike and oxygen supply.

OTHER CHARACTERS
WALTER THE WOBOT
He attends to Dredd's needs, whilst the Judge is at the minor complaints court.

JUDGE TEX
Dredd leaves him in charge of arbitrating at the minor complaints court.

CARMODY
The leader of the Badlands gang. His gang attacks a roadmaker crew in Apollo Territory. Carmody escapes arrest and Dredd goes after him. He prepares a successful trap with a dummy for Dredd. He shoots Dredd off his bike and out of reach of his oxygen supply. His referred to as both Wild Bill and Butch.

ARRESTS
The bandidos are rounded up.

DEATHS
Three judges and a whole road crew die during the Badlands Gang attack, whilst one of the gang members falls headfirst into a vat of Plasti-Tar.

BEST DIALOGUE
Dredd: "If we let danger stop us running down a lawbreaker we're not fit to wear the Judge's badge...remember that Judge Wimpey."

WORST DIALOGUE
Armed Robber: "Don't nobody call the law or...Erk!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says fwesh.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES
Carmody's nicknames recall Wild Bill Hickock (1837–1876) and Butch Cassidy (1866–1908 or 1866-1936 depending on who you believe).

MISTAKES
Dredd says "all Judges to dome perimeter", but without being more specific, surely this would have the opposite effect of concentrating them in one place. Later he has "to wait 'til nightfall", but day and night on the Moon both last 14.7 Earth days, which although not impossible makes waiting until after dark seem less likely.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Ian Gibson
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
Dredd's oxygen starvation isn't really at the core of this story at all. Who is Dredd talking to? If he was recording a log of some description then this would all be far more plausible and perilous. Dredd's dismissive attitude to the Bullock's potential domestic violence is astonishing.

Next Prog: "Down And Out"

Judge Dredd: 'Land Race'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'Land Race'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 47

DATELINE
14 Jan 78

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Complete Judge Dredd 4, Judge Dredd 2 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
A race sees claimants fighting over land on the Moon.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Rowena.

INFORMATION
On Luna-1, newly domed areas are divided up by means of a land race to claim plots. Competition can be both fierce and fatal. If an individual is declared insane then their claims go up for auction.

Interstellar Psionics Corporations developed the Psi Chair. A device which sends electrodes and influences into the brain, but on full power can also drive a person mad.

Named Judges: Judge Che, Judge Chico

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He starts the land race, ensures the rules are obeyed during and disputes are settled after. Dredd feigns disinterest in Rowena's assertions to give IPC a false sense of security and then moves in to arrest them.

OTHER CHARACTERS
WALTER THE WOBOT
He introduces Rowena to Dredd. Walter appears to have feeling for her.

ROWENA
Beatrice Spock's robot. She tries to alert Dredd to crimes against her mistress. Rowena appears to have feeling for Walter.

BEATRICE SPOCK
A widow. She claimed a site on Main Street with intentions to build a flapjack parlour on it. Interstellar Psionics Corporations wanted her site and attempted to force her to sign it over to them with intimidation and a psi-chair. She almost signs, but her willpower is too strong for the chair.

ARRESTS
Three IPC hoodlums and their bosses.

DEATHS
One. A man claims his plot and promptly dies.

BEST LINES
Dying land claimant: "I...made it...I claim this plot...uhhh..."

WORST LINES
IPC goon: "Sign the papers, widow lady!"

CATCHPHRASES
A crashing land claimant shouts "Aieee!". Walter says cwafty, cwime, dweadful, Dwedd, weport, wobot, Wowena, sowwy, pwetty, weady, wisks, wuff and waitwess, but has no trouble with trick.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Interstellar Psionics Corporations may or may not be the IPC mentioned in Judge Dredd: 'The Judges Graveyard'.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The name Spock obviously recalls the resident Vulcan first officer from Star Trek (1966-1969), while the Psi Chair is similar to a device in the episode Dagger Of The Mind (1966).

MISTAKES
Rowena's accent disappears halfway through.

RETROSPECT
It's surprising that this is Rowena's only real appearance, because her relationship with Walter (and indeed the penultimate panel of this strip) will be immortalised as a Star Pin-Up in Prog 109.

NOTES
Interstellar Psionics Corporations is of course a reference to 2000 A.D.'s then publisher IPC.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
The land race of 'Land Race' really only takes up the first two pages and the thinly veiled attack on IPC that follows feels tacked on. Brian Bolland's art is phenomenal throughout, Rowena is a great character and it's a shame that her relationship with Walter wasn't further explored.

Next Prog. The Oxygen Desert.

Judge Dredd: Meet Mr Moonie

NAME
Judge Dredd: Meet Mr Moonie

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 46

DATELINE
7 Jan 78

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Complete Judge Dredd 4 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd visits Mr Moonie.

FIRSTS & LASTS
Last appearance of Moonie.

INFORMATION
In 2014, there was a prize of ten million credits for proof of life on the Moon. The only form of life discovered was a microscopic virus which causes the human skull to swell up like a balloon. It can prove fatal, but there is a vaccine. It became known as Moonie's Virus, named after the first sufferer.

Luna-City has a prison. Moonie's Peak, has a river of Mercury running pased it.

Lunar projections are a moon phenomena akin to holograms. Lunar dust storms could rip a man's flesh from his bones in seconds.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He visits Moonie's Ranch, works his way through his Museum Of The Moon and survives it. He arrests Moonie.

OTHER CHARACTERS
WALTER THE WOBOT
He accompanies Dredd to meet Moonie. Walter falls into his Mercury river and is sucked under, but Dredd rescues him. He springs his ankle clips and loses his right foot. He and Dredd are trapped in a vacuum behind bullet-proof glass, Walter emits a high frequency sonic wave and smashes the glass. He burns out circuits and smashes his screen in the process.

C.W. MOONIE
He first landed on the moon in the spring of 2014, he was looking for signs of lunar life. He climbed what is now called Moonie's Peak and discovered its neighbouring river of mercury. He found life and claimed a ten million credit prize, but it was a microscopic virus which he himself fell victim to. It became known as Moonie's Virus. He hid himself away and hasn't been seen for over forty years. He used his prize money to buy, cheat and steal his monopoly on the Moon. His ranch contains a Museum of the Moon, with which he attempts to kill Dredd.

ARRESTS
One. Dredd arrests Moonie for attempted murder.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Moonie: "There is only one law on Luna-1...Moonie's law!"

WORST LINES
Walter: "It's a twap!"

Well, yeah.

CATCHPHRASES
Dredd gives us a "for drokk's sake", while Walter says bwick, cwipes, dwagged, dwastic, dwat, Dwedd, fwee, gwief, miwage, wecover, welease, wepairs, wequire, wobot, stwange, twap and vewy.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Dredd mentions three attempts on his life which were seen in 'Luna 1', Showdown On Luna-1 and either Red Christmas or 22nd Century Futsie.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Moonie appears very like the Mekon from Dan Dare.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Ian Gibson
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
The Moonie storyline draws to a close with finale that seems less crime boss conspiracy and more mercurial mystery tour. Moonie's reveal is a surprising one and it's nice that Walter saves the day, although it is a bit obvious that in narrative terms that's exactly why he's been taken along.

Next Prog: Even A Judge Can Die!

Judge Dredd: 22nd Century Futsie

NAME
Judge Dredd: 22nd Century Futsie

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 45

DATELINE
31 Dec 77

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Annual 1988, The Complete Judge Dredd 4 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
An office worker goes Futsie as everyone else celebrates New Year.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Mr Moonie. This is the last strip set in 2099 and the first strip set in 2100.

INFORMATION
(This strip begins on December 31, 2099 and goes into January 1, 2100)

The capital of Luna-1 is Luna City. Moonie Enterprises has a vast complex. Buzz Aldrin Street has metered parking.

On New Year's Eve, there is a Laze-works display on Luna-1. This year's reads: 2100 Go Forward In Law.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He supervises the New Year's Eve Laze-works display. He assists Arthur Goodworthy Junior in searching for his father.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ARTHUR GOODWORTHY
He works as Number 31 clerk at Moonie Enterprise Complex. He has a wife and a son, Arthur Goodworthy Junior. His wife has been ill and has been admitted to hospital for an operation. He has a backlog at work and is given until midnight to deal with it or his contract is terminated. He works through the office New Year's Eve party and finishes just before midnight, when a co-worker scatters his out tray all over the office. At exactly seven seconds into the new year Goodworthy goes Futsie, attacks his co-workers and some parking meters. Dredd sends him for medical treatment and expects him to be mostly recovered in a few weeks.

ARTHUR GOODWORTHY, JUNIOR
When he hears that his father has gone Futsie, he goes in search of Dredd.

MR MOONIE
Via a scan-cube in the Moonie Enterprises Complex, he gives Arthur Goodworthy Senior an ultimatum to clear our his backlog by midnight or lose his job. Later two of his hired thugs come looking for Goodworthy, but instead find Dredd.

ARRESTS
Probably two. Moonie's muscle men.

DEATHS
Possibly none, although Goodworth Senior hits his co-workers pretty hard.

BEST LINES
Arthur Goodworthy Senior: "Season's greetings, Judgie! (huuuuh)(huuuuh) Come and get a taste of terror from big bad Art of Badworthy! (huuuuh)(huuuuh)"

WORST LINES
Moonie's Muscle Man: "Our bullet's are just bouncing off! He's gonna crash into us!"

CATCHPHRASES
Futsie has clearly passed into common parlance, and huuuuh, huuuuhs are apparently one of the symptoms.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
2100 is not "the dawning of a new century", but instead the last year of the old century.

RETROSPECT
The setting of this strip means that all those before it took place in 2099, and more than any other sets a precedent that time moves forward for Dredd at about the same speed as the reader and Dredd's adventures are set 122 years after their initial publication.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Ian Gibson
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
This is a game of two halves. The first half depicting the events that drove Arthur Goodworthy Senior futsie is brilliantly explored. The latter half following the Arthur Goodworthy Junior and Dredd trying to find him is much simpler. Both manage to keep the Moonie storyline going. It ends on an interesting note of Dredd reassuring the younger Arthur Goodworthy followed by a thought bubble that reveals that the Judge is lying.

The End