Prog 5 - Judge Dredd

Dredd is relaxing, reading a law book, in his apartment when he is rudely interrupted by a 'Sensor-Round' display. Maria, Dredd's cleaning lady enters the room with one Kevin O'Neill, the Senor-Round salesman. Dredd wants the 'ferret faced parasite' thrown out of his apartment. Maria nags Dredd, all he ever thinks of is the law and never has fun.

A group of citizens enter Dredds apartment. Dredd isn't too pleased until one of them tells Dredd why. There has been a murder on the 200th floor - the President of Sensor-Round is dead!

Dredd investigates. It seems the President has been killed by some 'monster!'.

Over the next few days other top Sensor-Round executives meet strange deaths.
Dredd is on patrol when he gets a call from HQ saying that they have identified a voice print from the scene of the last murder. The voice belongs to the curator of the Movie Special Effects Museum. Dredd decides to pay the curator a visit.

At the museum Dredd sees bloodspots on the robot 'monsters'. Everything makes sense to him now. The curator has been using these movie monsters to kill the Sensor-Round executives. The curator and killer turn out to be the Sensor-Round salesman - Kevin O'Neill!

O'Neill confesses to Dredd. He killed those executives because they ruined the movie monsters of old. Nobody wants to see those monsters anymore because Sensor-Round offer dream-worlds in their stead. O' Neill flees. Dredd follows in pursuit...but O'Neill has activated the greatest movie monster of them all - Krong!
The mechanical monster breaks out of the museum and smashes his way across the city to destroy the Sensor-Round building. Dredd follows in his lawmaster desperately trying to stop the giant robot ape.

Krong reaches the building and begins to climb it - ripping it apart at the same time.

The only way Dredd can stop it is by ramming his lawmaster down it's throat! It works and the creature falls landing on a hapless Kevin O'Neill.
Even though he left 2000ad, Carlos Ezquerrah came back to do this strip. This is his first published Dredd.

The 'Robot Ape' story was inspired by the 1976 remake of King Kong and the 'Kevin O'Neill' character in the strip was named after 2000ad's Kevin O'Neill. O'Neill was heavily into movie special effect back then and had even done a King Kong fanzine.

This story also contains the first appearance of Maria, Dredd's landlady. Although here she's referred to as a cleaning lady. Maria was introduced to give Dredd a mother figure and some sort of balance. Dredd was so robotic that Mills felt that Maria would humanise him more.

Prog 5 - MACH 1

Probe is on a well earned vacation and needs to burn off some energy. It ain't easy being a MACH man. Nice Popeye reference.

Later on the beach, Probe is approached by a stranger. The stranger had seen Probes display of hyperpower swimming. MACH 1's computer brain informs Probe that the stranger is Otto Brandt, an illegal weapons dealer and advises Probe to exercise caution because Brandt wants to find out the secret behind his hyperpower.

Brandt is planning a party and wants Probe to join him as his guest. Probe declines. Brandt 'persuades' him to change his mind... Probe agrees to go with Brandt. His computer brain disagrees with the decision and reminds him that with his hyperpower he could have taken out Brandts' goons. Probe responds that every second doing that would have cost more lives.

They board the boat plane. The 'party' starts. Brandt's goons lay into Probe. They beat him. Brandt asks Probe to be sensible...how much more punishment can he take? Probe says that he's not 'one of your old fashioned heroes - I'll tell you everything - If the money is right!'

The guards relax and Probe picks his moment for...
One guard gets blasted out of the plane...
He finishes the other two guards off by hyperpunching them. Hyperpunch equals instant death!

Brandt is now flying the plane. Probe is making his way toward him. Brandt calls Probe a fool, that they both could have been rich by cashing in on his Hyperpower. Brandt turns the plane so fast that Probe is shot out the side. MACH 1 takes it all in his stride and grabs onto the planes float.

Brandt shoots at probe. If he can't have Probes secrets alive...dead will do. Probe responds with a great line...'cos you got me angry in my skull!'
The plane heads inland and Brandt is going to do his best to make Probe roadkill. He flies the plane dangerously close to the ground trying scrap Probe off. But, a truck turns the corner and is heading straight for the plane. Brandt can't pull up in time and...
We leave Probe pondering that his hyperpower is more of a curse than a blessing.

Nice episode because we get to understand what a burden hyperpower can be. If Probe hadn't burned off some hyperpower by swimming as fast as he did, he wouldn't have attracted attention from Brandt, and the holiday makers that were gunned down would still be alive. It wouldn't be the first time that Probe would question the negative effects of having such power.

John Cooper's art is really suitable for this strip. His work has a totally 70's look to it. Cooper would draw a few Dredd stories too, but his work always seemed out of place for me on Dredd. He was way more suited for MACH 1. Cooper is probably best known for his work on Johnny Red for Battle...
and on John Wagners classic cop - One Eyed Jack for Valiant.

Prog 5 - Dan Dare

Dare and crew are face to face with Jupiters resident aliens. You'd think if you wanted to open up some decent communication with alien life forms you'd stop referring to their appearance as 'vile'. Oh well, not that it matters as the aliens attack anyway.

One crew member gets sucked up alive! And another creature turns to attack Dare. With Mondays help Dare cracks off a huge hunk of titanium crystal and as the alien attacks he shoves it up the aliens vacuum hole! (I know,it sounds really weird right?) With it's air passage blocked, the alien...explodes!

Dan and Monday are knocked unconscious. When they come too, they realise that they've been sucked up inside one of the aliens. (So much for their plan of shoving crystal up their blowholes!) Officer French is there too...but alas, he's dead!
Monday comes to the conclusion that the aliens are using their stomachs to transfer them to their base. How he comes to this conclusion, I haven't a clue but he does remember an old earth story...
Could Monday be referring to Jonah? I think so, and he called him insane. Nice bit of religious subversion there.

Meanwhile back on the Odyssey...the thing from Jupiter is trying to take control of the ship.
The thing manages to take over the 'control' bubble...and now commands the Odyssey!
Pretty standard installment of Dan Dare and not too wacky when compared with the previous episodes.

It's still pretty ridiculous, though. Why would the thing need a spaceship? Maybe that question will be answered next prog.

Prog 5 - Harlem Heroes

The Heroes come out after the half-time interval and smoke the opposition. Louis Mayers' revelation that the road-liner crash was sabotage has got them riled up.

They trash the Baltimore Bulls 6-1.

After the game Giant tells them that they'll know more about the alleged sabotage from Louis later. Louis is planning on touring with the team as they try and win the World Championship.

As they leave the Aero-drome they are approached by the head of Trans-World Network - Ulysses Cord.
Cord wants to offer the Heroes sponsorship for their World Championship attempt. It would be great publicity for his company if the Heroes can bounce back from the brink of disaster to win the Title. He offers them a state of the art road-liner, a 'hotel on wheels', designed with all the latest tools they'll need to keep fit for their Championship challenge. The team are elated except for Giant. Giant is suspicious of Cord. But he buries it for now and the Heroes head off for their next match against the Siberian Wolves as soon as they pick up Louis. Check out the rhyme on that 'to be continued' panel. I guess the writer is trying to evoke a Harlem Globetrotters feel to the strip. I find it to be pretty funny. Some of the dialogue reads like a blaxsplotation movie. I suppose that's what you get when you have a white British writer trying to write 70's African Americans. Even Ulysses Cord suffers from an over-the-top American stereotype. It looks and reads dated...but it is a lot of fun.

Again, nice solid artwork by Gibbons, especially the two page opener. Gibbons packs in lots of action in those two pages. You definitely get the impression that the Heroes are pissed off and there's a sense of urgency to the page layout. Nice touch to have the crowd sing and watch as their larger than life heroes take center stage.

Prog 5 - Flesh

It's meal time for the Tyrannosaurs as they invade Carver City. The population is in a panic. A group of men grab the robot sheriff and demand their guns back to defend themselves but the sheriff is programmed not to allow guns in the city. As they are remonstrating a dinosaur attacks.
Meanwhile Reagan and Old One Eye continue their battle. Reagan needs a gland from the tyrannosaur. He attacks her from her blindside and gets what he wanted. As she writhes on the ground shaking off the pain, she crashes into the saloon. Reagan rescues the doctor before Old One Eye unleashes her rage. She chomps down on a drunk who thinks he's dreaming because there's not supposed to be dinosaurs in the city.
While the doctor is taking care of Joe, Reagan decides to head back outside to try and get rid of the tyrannosaurs.
Old One Eye and her pack have more than Earl Reagan to deal with...Pteranodons and 'terrible claws' have also entered the cracked dome and the dinosaurs begin to turn on each other.But they are no match for Old One Eye and her pack. Back at the doctors surgery room, Claw Carver burst in. Him and Reagan have some unfinished business. Claw tells Reagan that they're all going to die because of him. He makes a swipe at Reagan with his claw, but Reagan is quick and lands a hit of his own.

Reagan tell Claw to get a grip and they form an uneasy truce until they've freed the town from the dinosaurs.
Some nice scenes in this episode.

I love the dark humor of the robot sheriff, after it gets it's head taken off by a tryannosaur, telling the townspeople that he's not programmed to deal with the situation of rampaging dinosaurs. That was funny.

We get inside Old One Eyes head and we can almost feel the anger she has towards humans. The parts written from her point of view are fascinating.

As for Reagan, he's a bit of a puzzle this episode, he leaves the Doc to go sort out the tyrannosaurs and he doesn't do anything. He just goes back to the surgery room. Maybe he's thinking that the dinosaurs will pick one another off. Which is kind of stupid. Just like the time he left Old One Eye alive thinking she was just knocked unconcious. He seems to be making mistake after mistake. I'm sure his latest farce, the truce with Carver, will come back to haunt him.

I can't blame Claw Carver being pissed off about Reagan. I mean, this ranger (Who he never liked anyways!) brings a dying man with the plague into your town, which could in all possibility, spread to the population, and then, on top of that, a pack of Tyrannosaurs have followed the dumbasses scent to to the town and started a bloody massacre simply because the idiot ranger didn't kill the pack leader when he had the chance. I'd be mad as hell too!

Having said all that, Flesh is probably the best strip for me in these first five issues. It's just so raw and violent when compared to the other strips. Ramon Solas art is a joy in these pages.

Prog 5 - Cover

Judge Dredd's first cover!

Dredd is so tiny, he might as well not appear on it at all. It's hard to get a sense of danger for him because the reader is so distant from the action. The cover must have been drawn before the first published Dredd story because the city doesn't resemble Mega-City One at all. It looks too static and not 'organic' enough. Heck! Some of the building look like martini glasses!

It does get bonus points for featuring a giant robotic ape though.

Below is Brian Bolland's cover for a US Dredd reprint title. The title reprints the 'Krong' Dredd story inside and while Prog 5's cover tells the story better, the cover would have stood out more if the artist (Barry Mitchell) or management had approached it the Bolland way. Artwise, it's unfair to compare both (not many people can compete with a Bolland cover) but just from a layout perspective, not necessarily the humor angle, it's definitely more up close and personal.

Love that Bolland cover. Krong does make a re-appearance 30 years later in a Judge Anderson story: Big Robots (Judge Dredd Megazine 257 - 264).