#prog 9

2000AD Prog 9: 23-Apr-1977

Invasion! #9

The rebellion tries to take down a ship. Savage can’t participate because he has no underwater training. However, the scuba divers are taken out with sonic weapons. Thankfully Savage has a back-up plan! He floods the ship with gasoline and then shoots it, setting it ablaze.

I want to find some satire in there if only because it’ll give me something to talk about. I suggested in the beginning of the week that the joke might be on how personally Savage is taking all this, but that element’s mostly gone now. It might be that he’s somehow more competent than everyone despite being a truck driver, but they seem to be playing that relatively straight. 

Yeah. I just...don’t know. There just doesn’t seem to be anything here besides a plodding war story.

Flesh #9

“Like all females, Ol’ One-Eye hated the idea of another one on her territory.” Jesus.

We’ve gone full-on Jurassic Park as a trainful of tourists attract the attention of nearby T-rexes with a horn and then get out to snap pictures. I mean, really. The main characters turn up in time to point out this idiocy, but it’s too late. Ol’ One-Eye--who’s survived again--has shown up and knocks some rocks into the tracks before eating a kid. (Thankfully, that’s censored.) 

I think I can officially say I’m bored of this now and would be okay with it stopping. Everything I found novel and entertaining has disappeared--namely, the old-west trappings and occasional giant robot. Hell, even the prodding at social commentary has up and vanished. What’s the takeaway from this installment? Tourists are morons? Yawn.

Harlem Heroes #9

The Heroes’ new opponents are Aztec-themed. Their stadium is in a temple and everything. The franchise owner made this decision when it turned out the thing was on the same property as his ranch. The crowd’s got facemasks, too, some of them real gold. This is a rich area. 

Is it still appropriation if the culture you’re appropriating is long-dead? And is that the point? I mean, there’s some jokes about how ridiculous the get-ups are, but nothing offensive being said about Aztec culture itself.

Meanwhile, the Gruber-robot from last issue has Giant in his crosshairs. So that’s happening. The rest is pretty much all recap.

Dan Dare #9

Turns out Dare was faking last time to get to the ship more easily, and he lets the rest of the party in on the news. He then helps the Odyssey escape by telling them to warp, which burns a hole in the living Biog ship but plops them right smack in front of a proper fleet, rearing for battle. Whoops!

M.A.C.H.1 #9

This week, MACH1 hauls a dangerous nuclear physicist out of the hands of a despotic government and collapses a religious site.

He does this by driving two Jeeps at once, a feat made possible by the fact that each has a driver’s side on the opposite side. One wonders what side of the road you drive on in Turkestan. 

Also, MACH1 argues with the computer over emotions that aren’t compassion this time--specifically, anger and humor. Which I’m pretty sure isn’t an emotion but whatever.

Judge Dredd #8

Oh, god, finally, something with a little meat on it’s bones. Someone’s threatened to blow up a robot exhibition unless a ransom is paid. At the exhibition, a robot is made to burn itself to death for the amusement of the crowd. Dredd is disgusted, because the robot can feel--though it’s not just a moral stance. He prefers nonsentient robots, and feels the sentient ones are “going to cause trouble someday.” (He’s right, of course, but never mind that for the moment.)

That’s really his entire issue. As you can see from the page above, thanks to the shrunken Nerve Centre, Dredd’s really just worried that his job is going to get more difficult. Even the robot on his side isn’t enough to cause him to examine this issue in a way that’s at all multifaceted. 

Back in Prog 5, we saw Maria complain that all Dredd thinks about is the law. Turns out that’s not a humorous exaggeration.

Nerve Centre

I am unconvinced any of these stories besides maybe Dredd benefited from the extra page. Why not cut the scuba diver bits from Invasion!? Why not cut from the waaaay too long scenes in Flesh establishing one particular kid as a brat no one would mourn? Dan Dare’s trip to his ship probably could’ve been shorter. And did M.A.C.H.1 really benefit from its cold open?