Trollheart

“Muggers Moon”
First print date: July 2 1977
Prog appearance: 19
Writer(s): Gerry Finley-Day
Artist(s): John Cooper
Total episodes: 1

Dredd goes on patrol during what's known as a “Mugger's moon”: a bright, full one. As he heads out on the road, an unlucky citizen is being mugged. Despite surrendering his money to the thieves, he is still to be beaten up “just for fun”. Thinking he is saved when a car comes along the road, he is dismayed to find that the driver does not want to get involved and drives on. In desperation he grabs onto the exhaust pipe of the fleeing car, and burns his hand. Luckily for him, Dredd is on the scene and despatches the muggers, then asks the would-be victim to describe the car that left him and the driver who refused to help. He is determined to make an example and show the citizenry that they can't just bury their heads in the sand when danger is in front of them, that they can't leave their fellow citizens to the mercy of muggers.

Catching up on the car, Dredd pulls it over but the driver is cocky: “You ain't got nothing on me Judge” he says with a smirk. “I didn't break no law.” And Dredd, to his chagrin, has to agree: refusing help to a citizen is not a crime. But then his eye lights on the broken exhaust pipe and he smiles grimly. Mega-City One's anti-pollution laws are strict and absolute, and because the exhaust has been (unbeknownst to the driver) spewing exhaust fumes into the pristine air of the city, Dredd carries out the assigned punishment for this crime. Ordering the driver out of the car, he aims at it and destroys it. The driver is aghast: he paid a lot for this vintage car. But now he knows that had he stopped, or at least called the Judges and reported the crime in progress, he might have paid a much lower price.

Quotes
Victim: “Muggers! Here, take all my money! Please don't hurt me!”
Mugger: “We'll take your money all right pal, but we'll hurt you too, just for fun!”

Mugger 1: “What a laugh! He's grabbed the exhaust pipe and burned his hand!”
Mugger 2: “Yeah! Now we're gonna burn him --- permanent!”

Victim: “I'm saved! When that motorist drove off and left me I thought I was done for! Thank you, Judge! How can I ever repay you?”
Dredd: “You can describe the car of the scum who left you in cold blood, Citizen: the law must deal with him too!”

Dredd: “You drove off leaving an innocent citizen at the mercy of muggers, correct?”
Driver: “Sure! It was none of my business. And it ain't a crime, so you can't touch me.”
Dredd: “You're right, Citizen. My bike's computer terminal says you're clean. But my Pollution Meter says your car isn't!”
Drive: “Huh? That guy must have broken off the exhaust purifier when he grabbed it. I didn't know: I'll get it fixed.”
Dredd: “It's too late for that. You have broken the law by polluting the atmosphere. You know the penalty. Get out of the car.”
Driver: “But Judge, this an old twentieth century petrol burner! It cost me a bomb!”
Dredd: “Out of the car! For gross pollution of the atmosphere, this vehicle is condemned to immediate destruction!”

I AM THE LAW!
One thing Dredd hates, possibly as much as if not more than perps, is those who turn a blind eye. In doing so, in refusing to come to the aid of an afflicted fellow citizen, they help perpetrate the cycle of violence, as wrongdoers know they can act with impunity, and nobody will interfere. Everyone is too scared; nobody wants to get involved. (Sound familiar?) But much as he wishes to punish this citizen for what he sees as dereliction of the duty of any citizen to do what he or she can to help uphold the law, Dredd is also bound by the strictures of that very law. If he had not seen the broken exhaust, all he could do is probably warn the driver that Dredd would be watching him, and the moment he broke a law --- even a small one --- the Judge would come down upon him.

Luckily for Dredd, though he can't sentence the man to any punishment as he has not committed any crime, the pollution of the air of Mega-City One carries heavy penalties, and the fact that this car cost the man so much is going to mean that its loss (in such a way as he surely has no recourse to compensation or insurance) is going to hit him harder than perhaps a spell in the cubes. You want to hurt a car enthusiast? Wreck his car.

It's interesting to see, too, that common or garden muggers can be shot down as easily as murderers and bankrobbers; seems they all fall into the same category of criminal, and I guess it's to be expected that in general they might go so far as to kill their victims, though this is by no means certain. I suppose in terms of perps, they're seen as one of the lowest, those who prey on the vulnerable for profit and for whom violence is a way of life. There's a definite “police state/totalitarianism” bent though to the fact that Dredd just shoots them out of hand, without any chance of surrender. Then again, they did shoot out his headlights first...

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!
Where, thanks to stringent anti-pollution laws, the air is, as Sinatra once put it “fresh and clean”, and the Judges intend it to remain that way. Consequently, anyone who pollutes is liable to severe penalties. What those penalties are if they don't involve a motor vehicle is not clear, but one would assume incarceration would certainly figure in them. I'm not quite sure what it is that the rest of the vehicles run on --- we've seen, during the “Robot Wars” story, that oil is certainly still in use, though as I postulated this could be only for use in robots and not vehicles --- but whatever it is, it seems not to pollute the air, and can't really, as otherwise the daily cavalcade of Lawmasters tearing up and down Mega-City One's freeways and highways would surely be the biggest offenders?

Notes: Generally speaking, this is a very weak and uneventful episode. It could be summed up really in two sentences: Dredd chases after muggers and shoots them all, then goes after a citizen who refused to help. He finds his car's exhaust is polluting the atmosphere and destroys it. The end. Okay, three sentences. But it's telling that this is the first script in a long while that has not been written by creator John Wagner, and while it's action packed for what it is, it adds little to the story or the development of Dredd. Even the previous episode helped flesh out his character by showing that he can be, very occasionally, moved to compassion, and featured him sporting a rarer-than-rare grin, even if this was hypnotically induced. But the only real thing we can take from this is that Dredd will always find a way to make the guilty pay. Other than that, it's a “ridealong” episode without anyone (unless you count us) to ride along with him; a typical night in the life of a Judge.

Wagner would return in the following issue, and the story would be so much better, even introducing a new character who would be a recurring, if not very important one.

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“The Comic Pusher”
First print date: July 9 1977
Prog appearance: 20
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): John Cooper
Total episodes: 1

New character!

Max Normal, known as the Pinstripe Freak. In a world where the norm is to dress garishly and to have long hair, Max stands out like a sore thumb in his pinstripe suit, bowler hat, brolly and crewcut hair. He is however one of Dredd's narks, an informer who gives him details about upcoming crimes, or the location of lawbreakers who are on the run, or indeed any juicy information that could be helpful to the Judges.

Dredd meets Max Normal, one of his informers, and though disgusted at the clean-cut image Normal presents, listens as the Pinstripe Freak tells him he has some good information for him. Indeed, it turns out to be a bombshell: the owner of the soda bar across the way, Max tells him, is selling comics to kids. This is highly illegal and Dredd is interested when Max tells him there is to be a big comic drop that night. He thanks the informer and stakes out the comic drop, but he does not bust Sam, the soda bar owner, just yet. He wants, as ever, to find the source of this illegal trade. The bagman unknowingly leads him to a warehouse, the store of an importer which the Judges have long suspected of being involved in the comic book business. Now they have their proof.

Forcing his way into the warehouse Dredd takes down the owners, who try to kill him. Although he shoots them, they are assured by another Judge that they will not die, and will be able to look forward to a nice long stretch in the iso-cubes. Back at Justice Central, the Chief Judge advises Dredd to look at one of the comic slugs, so that he can appreciate how valuable they are. Of course, they turn out to be issues of 2000AD! Dredd is impressed...

Quotes
Dredd: “Stomm! It makes me sick just to look at you, Max! Why don't you grow your hair and get some decent wild clothes like everybody else? Why have you young people always gotta be different?”
Max: “Don't be mean to the dude who's clean! I got some tight info. Stretch a lobe and I'll lay it on you!”

Dredd (thinking): “Old comics are worth a fortune. Selling them to kids is one of the lowest forms of crime. After one or two, kids get so they can't give them up. Then the price goes up and up...”

Dredd: “You wiseguys never learn: gunplay don't pay!”

Judge Strong: “2000AD! The famous comic from the twentieth century! Brilliant!”
Dredd: “Fantastic stuff! No wonder those lawbreakers were charging a fortune for it!”

I AM THE LAW!
Another serious crime in Mega-City One, we learn here, is the sale of illegal comic books. Why? Because they are seen as a kind of drug, and worse, one aimed at kids. Once they get hooked, the prices skyrocket and it's likely kids will enter a world of crime to support their habit. Comic pushers therefore are seen as the same as, if not worse than, drug pushers. It's a clever idea, and the logic is really quite sound. Imagine if you had no access to comics via the web and had to pay top dollar in order to follow the adventures of your favourite characters. What would you do to ensure you didn't miss out? I'm talking to you, Batlord!

Those clever little touches
As Justice Central tracks the bagmen, it's reported that they're “heading east on Third and Grover.” T.B. Grover is the pseudonym under which John Wagner wrote “Strontium Dog.”

Laughing in the face of death
You can't help but be amused by the fact that a man who dresses in a suit and has short hair is seen as a freak, among a city populated by long-haired weirdos who are seen as normal. The only sane man in the asylum? Dredd even snarls at him why can't he grow his hair?

It's also a great job of juxtapositioning that Normal, dressed as an English city gent, complete with bowler and brolly, speaks in street lingo, most reminiscent of the great Huggy Bear from “Starsky and Hutch”!

Nothing changes?
A new section in which I'll ask the question, even in this so-called enlightened age, when they've cleaned up the air and sorted out the weather, are there some things that are universal, that don't change no matter how far into the future you go?

Here, we see that informers still only impart their information to the Judges in return for money, as Dredd pays Max Normal 10,000 credits for the tip-off.

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Episode IV : “No cure for Kansyr”, part one

First print date: June 17 1978
Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 6
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 2

On a lonely planet called Metastis in the far-flung system of Pol, where criminals believe themselves safe from the law due to the planet's tough reputation, Johnny Alpha and Wulf fear not to tread. They have come here seeking a man called Kansyr, the boss of this lawless planet, and for Johnny, though a bona fide commission, it's also personal. Seven years ago Kansyr killed Johnny's then-partner, Sniffer Martinez, and the bounty hunter has a score to settle with him. He relates to Wulf, as they wait to take the criminal in, the story of how Kansyr tricked he and his partner with a holographic image created by the technology he had stolen, and was being hunted for, getting the drop on Martinez and shooting him dead.

Just then, Wulf does something very strange: he tells Johnny he does not believe him, that he is the quarry they seek, and begins shooting at him! As Johnny dives for cover, Wulf's form shimmers and in its place is a large alien being...

Quotes
Johnny: “In person, friend: this Strontium Dog's come to call!”
Wulf: “You're pretty good at singing songs about us: now back it up vith action!”

Johnny: “Seven years ago, before Kansyr even had a price on his head, I used to work with another S/D agent: a man called Sniffer Martinez. It was on the planet Laz. Kansyr was a native of the cold western regions, a young west-Laz punk just starting out on the road to crime. He'd stolen a mind weapon from a research lab --- a device called the “Halugin” --- and we'd been hired to get it back.”

Johnny: “I should have known better than to trust the Laz authorities. They didn't reckon killing a Strontium Dog was much of a crime. They let him off with a fine. And now he's one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy, and one of the most dangerous.”

The Powers that Be
Johnny again uses his uncanny alpha vision to see inside the head of the guy he grabs at the saloon and verify that he does indeed know where Kansyr is, even though he professes to know nothing. He knows then that this man will carry his message to the perp.

Show no mercy?
It seems unlikely that Alpha will be lenient this time as he is personally invested in this job. Of course, he is a professional, and if the warrant specifies that Kansyr be brought back alive, Johnny will forego his own revenge in order to bring the bounty in.

Famous firsts
Sort of. This is the first time we hear Alpha use the phrase “My dok!” so it's likely to get used across the 2000AD universe, not just in Judge Dredd.

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Episode V : “No cure for Kansyr, part two”

First print date: June 28 1978
Prog appearance: Starlord issue 7
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 2

As Johnny and Wulf face each other, Alpha reasons that the only way his partner would attack him would be if he, too, saw an alien, and so he must see Johnny as one. Now he realises that Kansyr must be close by, using the very machine that led to Sniffer Martinez's death, the Halugin. He entreats Wulf to look in the mirror, where the giant viking can see his own reflection, and that of his partner. Kansyr obviously can't control, or forgot to, the images in the mirror and each can see the other as he really is. Foiled in his attempts to have the two Strontium Dogs kill each other, Kansyr uses a heat beam to set fire to the bar. Trapped, Johnny uses a Time Bomb to move them three seconds forward into the future, by which time the asteroid has moved on, but not enough to leave them choking on vacuum, just out into the street.

Here they encounter Kansyr, and go for their weapons, only to find it is yet another image created by the Halugin. Then from out of nowhere a shot takes Wulf down! Next dozens of images surround Alpha, and he does not know which one is the real Kansyr. The criminal is having fun now: he has downed Alpha's partner and now he intends to confuse him until the S/D agent runs out of ammunition, or tires, and Kansyr can pick him off easily. But Kansyr grows impatient, and shoots Alpha, who falls. Standing over him, the alien leers down at him, telling him he wants him to see the man he boned (ooer!) before he dies. Johnny puts his blaster to his head, telling Kansyr he won't give him the pleasure of killing him, but in fact Johnny has set the adjustable range finder in his gun to pass through his head and have the beam explode inside Kansyr as he stands over him. The criminal is dead, and he probably never even realised he had been tricked at the last.

Wulf has of course not been killed, just wounded, and Johnny patches him up as they prepare to leave the asteroid, seven years of hurt and anger assuaged, the job done, revenge accomplished.

Quotes
Johnny: “There he is! Seven years ago he killed my best friend, and I boned his hand. We'll split the reward, but this is my fight, Wulf.”
Wulf: “No, Johnny. Where you go, I go.”

Tools of the Trade
Not strictly a tool, but it's interesting and informative that the blaster can be set to different depths, so that its beam can pass through something and hit something further along. This allows Johnny to fool Kansyr into thinking he is committing suicide when he puts the gun to his own head, when in fact he is lining the alien up for a kill shot.

Aliens!
Lazians
Kansyr is from the planet Laz, and so although the phrase is not used we can assume his species is Lazian. Either way, they're basically humanoid but much taller than a human, with a small bulbous head, powerful arms and legs and a face that reminds me of Spiderman's mask; kind of webbed pattern all over it and all that is visible are the eyes, slanted at an angle, wide and rimmed in black.

Fundian Slime Drippler
Wulf sees Johnny “change into” this form under the effects of the Halugin. The alien is like a huge worm, with a twisting, coiled body, its head ending in a flower-like opening out of which what may be an eye peeks. It seems to have two arms, but unlike humanoids they end in short, clawed hands with three fingers on each.

Preying Zorg
On the flipside, this is what Johnny sees when he looks at Wulf. The Praying Zorg stands certainly as tall as the viking bounty hunter, and possibly taller, with an armoured carapace, two spindly but long arms and two spindly legs. Its head is like that of a grasshopper, with powerful mandibles in which rows of sharp teeth can be seen, and very large black eyes like those of a fly.

Personal Darkness
Here we learn some more of Johnny's past, and see that Wulf was not always his partner. On the contrary, they have been working together for less than seven years, as we're told that prior to this Johnny had another partner, Sniffer Martinez, who fell to the treachery of Kansyr. In this story, Alpha proves that though he usually does his best to play by the book, he is not above a little personal revenge. He again bemoans the social status of mutants when he snarls “They didn't think killing a Strontium Dog was such a crime” and it's clear that he thinks little of the entire world of Metastis, which is known to be an unofficial refuge for the scum of the galaxy, and if he could get away with destroying the entire asteroid, he probably would do it.

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Chapter II: Absent Friends
( A quote from Elvis Costello: ”And I'm up while the dawn is breaking, even though my heart is aching. I should be drinking a toast to absent friends instead of these comedians.”)

It's the morning of the funeral of Eddie Blake, but Lori does not want to attend the Comedian's burial and so has instead gone to visit her mother. She is shocked to find out that the woman who used to be the Silk Specter, Sally Jupiter, still has feelings for Blake, after what he did, but her mother says the past is history. This leads to recollections about Sally's own past, when she was part of the Minutemen, and she remembers vividly the time Eddie Blake attacked and tried to rape her, she only being saved by the intervention of one of the other superheroes, Hooded Justice. At the graveside, we see a sad and thoughtful Adrian Veidt, as his own memories drift back to a time we're not told the date of, but I'm thinking it's somewhere in the sixties or seventies. He remembers another grouping of superheroes, who called themselves The Crimebusters, but quickly disbanded when it became clear there really was no real interest there. We see Rorschach and Nite Owl, two of the few (other than the organiser, Captain Metropolis) who seem to be into the idea, though Rorschach believes the group is too big and cumbersome, and will only get in the way of the work.

The Comedian spits on the idea, laughing at how little the others seem to know of the world and how futile their attempts to change it will be, must be. “Inside thirty years”, he sneers, “the nukes will be flying like mayflys. Then Ozzy (Veidt, whose alter-ego was Ozymandius) here will be the smartest man on the cinder!” Back at the graveside, we now see the memories of the enigmatic Doctor Manhattan, as he recalls the victory in Viet Nam, 1971. He is keeping company with The Comedian, who tells him he can't wait to get out of the place, when a woman approaches. She is evidently carrying Blake's baby, but he is not interested. Enraged, hurt, she slashes him with a bottle and he shoots her down like a dog, despite Manhattan's protests.

Next to remember is Nite Owl, and he recalls a police strike which resulted in riots on the street as the superheroes (specifically, he and The Comedian) took control and tried to restore order. He noted that Blake seemed to be happiest when he was making the crowd run, throwing tear gas cannisters and basically acting like a riot cop, whereas Danny was more worried about maintaining order but not hurting anyone. The Comedian seems to treat the whole thing as a massive joke, an adventure; it seems to fire his blood and Danny must wonder what sort of person could actually enjoy and look forward to scenes like these?

As he leaves the cemetery, a man in an overcoat is shadowed by Rorschach, who knows the stranger as Moloch, one of his arch enemies. Moloch tells Rorschach, after he's been beaten up a little, that he has renounced being a supervillain, paid his debt to society and now just wants to live as an ordinary citizen. He tells Rorschach that Blake came to visit him, without his mask but wearing his costume, so that his old enemy could tell they were one and the same. Blake was drunk, he tells Rorschach, and started babbling about some list, and then an airship and an island, saying he wished he had never got involved. This was all a week before he died. He talked about writers, Moloch tells Rorschach; writers and artists and scientists, on all that island, and he seemed to shudder at what was being done there. And then he left.

QUOTES
Blake: “Once you figure out what a joke everything is, bein' The Comedian is the only thing that makes sense!”

Doctor Manhattan: “Blake! She was pregnant! You gunned her down!”
Blake: “Yeah that's right. Pregnant woman and I gunned her down. Bang! And you know what? You watched me. You coulda changed the gun into steam or the bullets into mercury or the bottle into snowflakes. You could have teleported either of us to Australia, but you didn't lift a finger. You don't really give a damn about human beings. I've watched you.”

Rorschach (from his journal): “42nd Street: women's breasts draped across every billboard, every sign, littering the sidewalk. Was offered French love and Swedish love, but not American love. American love, like Coke in green glass bottles, they don't make it anymore. Thought about Moloch's story on way to cemetery. Could all be lies. Could all be part of a revenge scheme, planned during his decade behind bars. But if true, then what? Puzzling reference to an island. Also to Doctor Manhattan. Might he be at risk? So many questions. Never mind: answers soon. Nothing is insoluble. Nothing is hopeless. Not while there's life.”

Rorschach (from his journal): “Heard joke once: man goes to doctor, says he feels depressed. Says life is harsh and cruel. Says he feel all alone in a threatening world, where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go see him. Should pick you up. Man bursts into tears. "But Doctor, he says, I am Pagliacci!”

Between the Lines

The very first panel shows a statue of an angel in a graveyard, as we witness the arrival of Blake's coffin to the cemetery, and a speech bubble offscreen says “Will you look at her! Pretty as a picture, and still keeping her figure!” The comment is from Lori's mother, directed at her daughter in a sort of offhand jealous/spiteful way, but the positioning of it makes it look like someone is talking about the angel.

As the gates are closed for the ceremony, we see a hand holding a sign down which the rain trickles, leaking down the pole onto the hand. In the next panel we can see it's a doomsayer, plying his trade outside the graveyard. In the background, on the other coast, Lori's mother says “In the end, you just wash your hands of it.”

When Lori's mother asks “Without your health, where are you?” we see again the scene as Blake is lowered into his grave, and in the next panel Lori, annoyed at her mother's attempts to get rid of the smoke from the cigarette she is smoking stubs it out and says testily “There! It's dead. Extinguished.” She might well be talking about Blake.

Lori's mother snarls “It rains on the just and the unjust alike” and we see Adrian Veidt under an umbrella at the funeral. Is he just or unjust? Time will tell, but keep a close eye on the multi-millionaire industrialist.

As Sally breathes “Life goes on, honey” outside the cemetery we see a man walking up and down with a placard that refutes this: “The end is nigh!” it howls. I have my suspicions about the signbearer too, but I don't remember if I'm right so will reserve judgement for now.

Time for some more on-point graffiti: as the smoke clears and Nite Owl and The Comedian walk away, having dispensed the crowds, a rioter with a handkerchief pressed to her nose and mouth stands at one of the walls and again spraypaints the words “Who watches the Watchmen?”

As Rorschach walks past a seedy movie theatre, the attraction is “Enola Gay and the Little Boys”. Obviously, Enola Gay was the B-52 which dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Little Boy was the bomb itself, but even aside from that, the inference of underage homosexual acts is hard to miss.

Those clever little touches

I still find it amazing that this comic book manages to play like TV at times. In one panel (a sequence of three, reproduced below) Lori's mother holds an old photograph of her and the Minutemen, the superheroes from the forties, of whom Night Owl, the Comedian and herself were part, and a tear drops on it. Light shines on the tear. Next panel, a camera flashes and then in the third panel we're back in time as the camera flashes again and the picture she now holds is originally taken. I could see that working onscreen, easily: it may have, I don't recall that much about the movie. But to be able to get that across in a few graphics drawn on paper is truly amazing.

It's interesting too to note that when Hooded Justice rescues Lori's mother, he must believe that there is something in what the Comedian suggested, ie that she asked for it. Rather than help her up or comfort her or ask if she is okay, he stands over her like a judgment, looming down in a personification of distaste and disgust, and growls “Get up, and for god's sake, cover yourself!” as if the sight of her half-naked is both an affront to his sensibilities, and proof of what she has just been involved in.

Another fantastic little link: when we go back to the past, as the new superhero squadron to be known as The Crimebusters (yeah) fall very quickly apart under the withering contempt of The Comedian, Captain Metropolis, who had organised the group (this was to have been their first meeting) stammers “Somebody has to do it, don't you see? Somebody has to save the world!” While he's protesting about this as everyone leaves, as he appeals for support, we see the thoughtful face of Adrian Veidt, in his mask, then cut back to the present, his face is there again, now without the mask but as pensive as ever. Someone has to save the world? He believes this, and he believes too that he is that someone. And he will. He will save the world. But the world may wish he had not bothered.

And another good one: as The Comedian accuses Doctor Manhattan of being out of touch and not caring for humans, the big blue giant strikes a certain thoughtful pose. As his memories return him to the present and the graveside, he is again in that exact pose.

I'm sure it's coincidence (or maybe not) but when The Comedian shoots at a rioter, the flare from his gun looks like the happy face badge he wears, his own insignia.

As others toss in earth on the coffin, as per our custom, Danny drops his happy face badge (cleaned of blood now) onto the wooden box. It's certainly not the biggest fall this little piece of tin has had recently, but it is the last.

As Rorschach visits the grave of The Comedian to pay his last respects, we see once again Blake's final fall played out, and the last panel of that fall is totally red, signifying obviously the blood as he hits. The next panel shows blood-red roses (which we've already seen and which Rorschach has remarked upon ---”Only our enemies leave us roses”) with rain dripping on them, and the symbolism could not be stronger, as Rorschach snips one off and sticks it in his lapel.

After the storm: Under the Hood

Mason goes on to describe how he became a superhero, the challenges that existed even in as seemingly simple a thing as designing his costume --- “Should I have a cape, or no cape? What sort of a mask should I have? Do bright colours make you more of a target than dark ones?” --- and how he eventually joined the emerging league of superheroes (or masked adventurers, as he prefers to refer to them, and probably more accurately, since as has already been pointed out in the first chapter, these guys had no actual superpowers), together mostly for publicity purposes in the forties, the Minutemen. He alludes strongly to The Comedian's attempt to rape Sally Jupiter, but oddly informs us that Hooded Justice and she were an item (“though I never saw him kiss her”), perhaps making sense of his cold reaction to her almost-rape at the time. He recalls the tragic death of Dollar Bill, one of the younger heroes, who was actually contracted to protect a particular bank, and whose cloak got entangled in the bank's revolving doors, leading to him being shot dead.

He also notes the damage being a superhero or masked adventurer had on some of the people he knew, some ending up in asylums, some dying, some marrying. He speaks too of how while the Minutemen were prancing about America's city skylines, dealing out justice, “Across in Europe they were making soap and lampshades out of human beings” and mentions that some of the heroes held what could only be deemed questionable attitudes, some supporting Hitler, some making racist slurs. By the end of the forties, he tells us that there was simply “Nobody interesting left to fight, and nothing worth talking about”, so they disbanded. But, he says with a sigh, the damage had already been done.

The story so far
All of the ex-superheroes (or as many as are left alive or at liberty) gather at the graveyard to bid farewell to their comrade, as Edward Blake, formerly known as The Comedian, begins his final journey. Thoughts of each drift back to the past, and some of the events we have been told about or which have been alluded to are explored and in part explained, particularly the almost-rape of Lori's mother. Rorschach meets Moloch, one of their old enemies, who has retired now and is dying of cancer. He tells him that Blake visited him about a week before he was found splattered all over the pavement, and spoke in a drunken fog about a mysterious island and some very nefarious things that were going on there, things he was involved in in some way.

Note: incidentally, I was wrong about the clock at the end of chapter one. It actually stands at eleven minutes to twelve, since by the final chapter we want to hit midnight, not one minute to. So chapter two then ends with the clock at ten minutes to the witching hour...

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Prologue: “Terror Tube”

First print date: July 5 1980
Prog appearance: 167
Writer(s): Pat Mills
Artist(s): Kevin O'Neill
Episodes: 1

As mentioned in the intro, Nemesis came about almost by accident. Tharg, alien editor of 2000AD, was trying out some rock-themed short stories, under the umbrella term “Comic Rock” (good idea) and commissioned Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill (writer and artist respectively) to create this story for that series, which was called “Terror Tube” and introduced the protagonists in what would go on to become one of the comic's most-loved, weirdest and successful strips.

We open on the world of Termight (which later will be changed to Terra, or Earth) which has been hollowed out after terrible wars, so that all the inhabitants live underground. Inspired by the song of the same name by The Jam, the opening lines confirm this as we hear “We're going underground!” where we find a labyrinthine network of roads and highways, and the locals cursing the tourists, who don't know how to use the massive roads. “Weekend trippers!” yells one irate driver. “Ya meant to drive on the ceiling!” The road, it would seem, is only for the larger juggernauts that hurtle through these dark tunnels. Next we are introduced to one of the two main protagonists, currently chief of the Tube Police but soon to rise to ruler of all Terra, Torquemada. He tells the public over the airwaves, broadcast to the ever-moving populace as traffic news, that the “deviant” Nemesis has been sighted and intends to disrupt “the sacred traffic laws”. He warns that anyone who helps him risks summary execution.

Torquemada rides in a sleek but deadly chariot, known as his “gundola” (geddit?) and flanked by his footsoldiers, the Terminators (and this four years before James Cameron coined the term), but waiting in one of the service tunnels is indeed Nemesis, in his Blitzspear, an alien looking craft with a long pointed nose. Nemesis is said to be the leader of Credo, the resistance to the tyranny of Torquemada and his terror police, and as a prison craft makes its way towards the vapourisation vats with a batch of condemned people, Nemesis springs into action!

Like the second part of its name, the Blitzspear slices right through the prison van, and the grateful captives spill out onto the road, escaping into the tunnel from where Nemesis has just emerged. From under the road, using a special exit ramp only available to the Tube Police, Torquemada and his Terminators arrive and set off in pursuit of the rebel. Turning sharply Nemesis goes off-road, flying his craft into the city. One of the Terminators jumps onto the Blitzspear with the aid of rocket boots called power pontoons, but Nemesis slams on the brakes and the man ends up flying through a plate-glass window. Now the other Terminators realise that he is heading for Blackhole Bypass.

As the mighty rack beams lance out and catch the Blitzspear in their grasp, holding it fast, Torquemada exults. However, he has reckoned without the power of Nemesis's strange alien craft, which the rebel now slams into overdrive, not only breaking the hold of the beams but forcing them to snap upwards, back towards the very watchtowers that fired them, tearing them apart! In the confusion and chaos, Nemesis makes his escape, his mission accomplished, another blow struck against the despotic hordes of Terra!

QUOTES

Child (watching a Terminator fly overhead): “I want to be a Terminator when I grow up, dad!”
Father: “Hush, child, or you may not grow up at all!”

Radio announcer: “There's been another major road accident at the junction of Inquest Alley with Rigor Mortis Roundabout. Drivers heading for Necropolis should take an alternative route down Autopsy Underpass!”

Torquemada: “Brethern! I have been informed that Nemesis --- the so-called freedom fighter --- is going to break our most sacred traffic laws again today! I warn you: do not help this deviant, this road hog, this moving accident black spot! Or your punishment will be severe, probably fatal! My outriders – the Terminators --- are watching at all times. So be pure, be vigilant, behave!”
(This last will become both a rallying call and a dread warning from Torquemada, a bitter reminder that the people of Termight are always being watched, and any slip in their behaviour will be brutally punished.)

Torquemada: “Now! Full power! Rip him apart! Let the people see their hero bleed! Let him die on the rack!”
(Another not-so-subtle reference to the Spanish Inquisition, see further).

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Where Earth (Terra) has been ravaged by wars and pestilence, and the population have been driven underground and now live there in the vast cities, the largest of which is the capital, Necropolis. In order to accomodate the transport of billions of human beings (as well as visitors to the underground planet) a network of intricate roadways and tunnels has been constructed, over an artificial black hole which lies at the bottom of the road system, and uses the incredible centrifugal force of a neutron star to fling craft through the stars. The roads are raised and lowered by the Tube Police, who control and regulate the traffic flow.

It would appear that in this century (not yet confirmed what date it is) Earth has managed to harness the awesome power of a black hole, even to the point of constructing one and using it as a gateway to the stars. Quite how they managed to make it stable, and ignore the laws of physics that say that anything entering a black hole is pulped to a point of light, and also that there is, at the present time, no evidence that anything can escape from one, much less that they can be used as a wormhole like in Star Trek, is not explained. The idea of black holes would at this point have been popular but still at its theoretical stage, so I guess Mills used some pseudo-science and guesswork, and made a lot of stuff up.

And Death shall have dominion...

The entire setup of Terra/Termight is predicated on the idea of death, pain and obedience. You only have to look at the names of some of the roads, as quoted above --- Autopsy Underpass. Rigor Mortis Roundabout. Cremation Corner. Everything is geared towards the grotesque, the severe and the dark. The Terminators' hoods are pointed, as indeed is Torquemada's, in perhaps a nod back to the Ku Klux Klan, though the overriding impression is of the Spanish Inquisition, and as we will find out later, this is not far from the truth. Even the top man is named after one of the most feared priests of that dread time in Catholic history.

There are references to “not growing up”, from a father to his son, he knowing how dangerous it is to even mention the name of Torquemada's dread troopers, and even the warning cry when Nemesis is sighted is “Black Alert”. Far from the iso-cubes of Judge Dredd's world, it seems here the preferred method of punishment for criminals is to be disintegrated, as when we see the prison shuttle it is on its way to the “Vapourisation Vats”, and the idea is easily planted that this is a normal, even daily occurrence. What these people have done to deserve such a fate we are not told, but it seems that down here on Termight, the merest hint of disobedience can get you a one-way trip to the Vats. By comparison, Dredd seems positively lenient and even soft!

Houston, we have a problem!

Apart from the idea about black holes alluded to above, how did Nemesis know that breaking through the prison shuttle as he did he would not take out many of the prisoners? Are we to assume that he studied schematics of the bus, knew exactly where the prisoners were kept and chose an area of the thing he knew they would be far from? Or did he assume that as they were scheduled to be killed anyway, what the hey? Case of using a sledgehammer to break a walnut? Subtlety is certainly not Nemesis's strong point, anyway.

Separation of Church and State

It's clear that here, on “Mighty Terra”, there is no such thing. The Church is in total control, with its fists tightly closed around the government, the military and all services. Torquemada calls his people “brethern”, like a preacher would, and refers to “sacred laws”, so it's pretty obvious that this is a religious theocracy and dictatorship. In common with many fictional (and real) regimes, in particular The Party in Orwell and the Cardassians in Star Trek: Deep Space 9, the population seem to be kept in a perpetual state of fear and paranoia, dreading the knock on the door and trying to live their lives without attracting the terrible attention of Torquemada or his henchmen. Can't be a fun place to live.

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"The Solar Sniper"

First print date: July 9 1977
Prog appearance: 21
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Ron Turner
Total episodes: 1

Always on the lookout for new ways to break the law and hit back at the Judges, some hoods have got hold of a gun powered by the sun, which they call a solar gun. Tharg tells us in a note that it is possible to fry a tank using this formidable weapon! Three Judges have already fallen to the “Solar Sniper”, and Dredd is informed that he is to be next. He knows what to do though, and heads to the weather control station we last saw in “Robot Wars”, presenting the controller with a weather warrant, which orders that the day be cloudy and sunless. With their source of power taken away, the criminals are unable to use their special weapon.

They resort to more traditional methods, but Dredd is too quick for them and they are all shot dead, as their vehicle crashes into the weather station. All but one, their leader, who goes by the name of Gorilla. He jumps out of the ruined car and heads into the weather building, where he pushes his way into a room and awaits the arrival of Dredd. Suddenly though a mechanical voice starts speaking, running a countdown! Too late, Gorilla realises he has just forced his way into a solar capsule, which is being sent to orbit the sun! As he punched the man in the door away just now, the guy dropped a startled chimp he was holding, this animal to have been the test subject for the experiment, to see if it would survive the trip. Now, it seems the perp has unwillingly taken his place, and is headed to the sun, with no hope of rescue, as the probe is totally autonomous and automatic. Though he has lost his quarry, Dredd takes comfort in the delicious irony that the very force with which he killed is about to be the instrument of Gorilla's demise.

Quotes
Note from Gorilla: “Hey Dredd! You got till high noon! Your friendly hit man!”

Weather controller: “The citizens' votes have come in. By a big majority, they want today kept hot and sunny.”
(This is interesting; the first time it has been intimated that weather is controlled in Mega-City One by popular vote. I guess citizens vote online or whatever each day and the majority get the weather they want. Probably as automatic and second nature to them as us checking the weather. I did assume, however, that it was either an automatic programme or that the Judges or some other high-up authority decided how the weather turned out. Guess this is one very small but important example of Mega-City One being a true democracy. At the same time, it seems, as here, that when it suits their purposes the Judges can overrule the vote of the citizenry to get the weather they need).

Gorilla: “OK, fry Dredd! What the --- my gun's going cold! It's losing the heat!”

Computer voice: “Sunprobe 9 on course for three year close orbit of sun. If the test animal comes back alive we will know if we can set up a manned weather station close to the sun.”

Dredd: “No way to take you back, Gorilla. Sunprobes are fully automatic. You killed by the sun, and now you're gonna get the worst case of sunburn ever!”

Those clever little touches
Reading this, does anyone else notice that the Solar Sniper (Gorilla) is killing Judges alphabetically? First Judge Able, then Judge Baker, then Judge Carter, and finally he attempts to off Judge Dredd?

Houston, we have a problem!
A big one, again. Although solar power may have been in its infancy in the seventies, it's well known now that it's a common fallacy that the sun has to be visible for solar power to work. It just has to be in the sky, which it always is, so a cloudy day will not stop solar power from operating. If it did, nobody in Ireland would have it! So when the cloud covers the sun, that solar gun should not be affected, and therefore the whole premise of the story is based on a misunderstanding --- deliberate or not --- of solar power.

Ch-ch-ch-changes
Dredd calls his gun his “Law Rod” (ooeer!) though it will in time end up being called the Lawgiver.

Again, it's Grand Judge when it should be Chief Judge

Laughing in the face of death
As Dredd approaches, one of the hoodlums says “Here comes the Judge!” which is a line from those old comedy sketch shows like “Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in”.

As he realises what's happened, Dredd says the rocket has taken off with Gorilla inside instead of the chimp.

Famous firsts
Although he used the word on the cover of the previous prog, this is the first time that Dredd uses the exclamation “Stomm!” in a story. Here he says “By Stomm!” but fairly quickly the preposition would be dropped and the expression would be “Stomm!”, an outburst of surprise or dismay.

Return of the Nitpicker!
Although we know that, at this point, the series takes place in 2099 AD (and if we were unsure, it says so in the first panel of this story) when Dredd goes into the weather station the date displayed is clearly 24-2-2090! We also see this on the scroll on which the votes of the citizens are printed, so it's not just a simple mistake, or if it is, it's been made twice.


I'll ask the questions, Creep!

Where in the world did Gorilla get that solar gun? And are there others out there? How did a cheap, two-bit hood like him get a hold of such sophisticated weaponry?

Not really sure what Gorilla thinks he's doing, lying in wait for Dredd in what he doesn't realise is the doorway to the solar capsule. He still has the solar gun: does he think it's going to work now?

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“Mr. Buzzz”

First print date: July 9 1977
Prog appearance: 22
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Ian Gibson
Total episodes: 1

Taking down a gang suspected of several murders, Dredd gets a tip-off from one of the gang members as to where he can find their leader, Mr. Buzzz (anyone going to take a guess that he's a robot?) and when he finds him in the hotel as expected, he orders it burned down, much to the dismay of its owner. However Dredd reminds him that the owner could technically be accused of harbouring a fugitive from the law, so he is in fact getting off lightly! As Mr. Buzzz jumps from the burning building, it's clear he has no eyes and is in fact a mutant (damn! So much for my clever guess! I owe you a coke!) , however when Dredd pursues him into a store it becomes clear the mutant can see in total darkness. Dredd, as he ducks a knife thrown at him, wonders how this can be, when Mr. Buzzz has no eyes?

He quickly comes to the conclusion that the mutant is listening to the echoes of the buzzing sounds he makes as he speaks, and by calculating the time it takes for those echoes to drift back to him he can home in on any spot with precision. Endeavouring to overload his hearing and throw his calculations off, Dredd fires his Lawgiver on high explosive repeatedly. It works: the mutant cover his ears in confusion and Dredd is able to get the drop on him, punching him out and arresting him.

Quotes
Gang member: “I'll get forty years for this! Reduce my sentence, Dredd, and I'll tell you where you can find our leader, Mr. Buzzz. He's holed up in an cheap hotel in Oldtown.”
Dredd: “Many thanks. In recognition of your co-operation I sentence you to thirty-nine years, three hundred and sixty-four days in an isolation cube.”
(Dredd: he's all heart huh?)

Dredd: “Control, slap a demolition order on the fleapit at third and Grover.”
Control: “Why? Did something happen to it?”
Dredd: “Yeah: it just burned down!”

Hotel owner: “My hotel! My hotel!”
Dredd: “The city'll pay. Just thank your stars I don't arrest you for harbouring a fugitive.”

Driver: “My Dok! He – he hasn't got any eyes!”
Mr Buzzz: “So what? You haven't got any teeth!”

Dredd (thinking): “These muties adapt themselves to make up for their warped bodies. Those buzzing sounds Mr. Buzzz makes act like a bat's radar. By listening to the echoes he can tell exactly where objects are.”


I'll ask the questions, Creep!

Dredd tells himself he wants Buzzz alive. Why? What difference does it make to him if he kills the mutant?

Also, the other officers tell him they can't get Buzzz out. Why not? Have they tried? If you allow that maybe they don't want to try storming the building in case innocent civilians are hurt, then how does that tie in with Dredd's plan to burn the place down? Does he have it on good authority that there are no other residents or guests in there? Has he checked? Does he care? He's given us to understand that he does all he can to ensure innocents are not harmed: is this not totally opposite to his usual behaviour? And what about the adjacent buildings? Has he ensured they won't be caught up in the blaze? Very reckless I feel, from a man who is not know for this trait.

Parallels
There's a direct conflict here between how Wagner writes mutants in Judge Dredd and how he writes about them in Strontium Dog. In the latter, they're a put-upon, pitiable species who get reviled for something that is not their fault, and yet try to retain what remains of their humanity, whereas here Dredd sees them as sub-human, evil and to be feared and objects of contempt. He has of course run into mutants before, during the story “The Brotherhood of Darkness”, so he has some experience of them. He also notes that purely because of their appearance mutants have been banned from the city. This is perhaps harsh: many of these people have probably committed no crime, other than being caught in the nuclear blast that created the Cursed Earth, and yet they are outcasts, treated as pariahs and mere entry into Mega-City One is enough to get them killed.

Famous firsts
Finally, Dredd refers to his gun as a Lawgiver. Whether this remains the case or changes we shall see, though eventually this name was chosen as the standard.

Also here we hear the phrase “My dok!” which is an exclamation of horror or surprise, obviously taken from “My god!”

I AM THE LAW!
Dredd is obviously empowered to make deals on the spot, such as reducing a sentence if decent information is offered. However here the criminal makes a fatal mistake, giving up the info without securing any sort of agreement with the lawman, and thus only gets a single day shaved off his sentence! He has played his hand too soon, and has nothing left to gamble with.

Dredd is also not above twisting the law to suit his purposes, as he orders Control to register the hotel in which Mr. Buzzz is hiding out as demolished, before he sets about demolishing it himself. He has therefore covered himself, even if this is a case of placing the cart before the horse.

We can't be sure, but he might have been considering, as he tells the hotel owner, placing the man under arrest for harbouring the perp, though with the hotel burned down he is satisfied. Interesting that he assures the owner he will be compensated by the city. I guess once Dredd has followed protocol (even if in reverse) the guy's claim will be honoured.

Those clever little touches
Another mention of the street Third and Grover; this time it's where the hotel is located.

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“Planet of the Dead, Part I”

First print date: July 1 1978
Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 8
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 3

Johnny and Wulf are due to meet someone called McIntyre in one of the empty, dead cities on the desolate planet Circes, on which all life was destroyed thirty years ago in a great war known as The Neutron War. However there is a snag, as the contact turns out not to be a person, but a computer. Johnny is dubious, Wulf dismissive, but the machine tells them it is the sole ruler of City 4, and, well, with all humanoid life-forms having been destroyed, it may very well be right. Ruler it may be, but McIntyre seems to have the temperament of a crusty old man, seemingly straining to hear what is said, and snapping at the answers. It seems the computer is used to being obeyed without question, and these interlopers irritate it.

At any rate, through its adjutant, Crynge, a small robot who calls it “master”, the bounty hunters learn that they have been tasked with hunting down the last twenty humanoid inhabitants of the planet, known as the Jox. These renegades refuse to swear allegiance to McIntyre, and Johnny and Wulf are to capture them and return them to City 4, in order that they might pledge their fealty to the machine. Neither Crynge nor his master know where to find these fugitives, but in order to aid in their location they are given a robot spider called Croll, which has been programmed with all available information on the Jox. In return for carrying out this bounty, Alpha and Wulf may choose one single item from City 4.

The two friends set off, and perhaps surprisingly, it's not long before they encounter the Jox, but as they give chase, and corner two of them who are trying to open a door, and these two turn around, offering surrender, the trap is sprung! More appear on the balconies above and Johnny and Wulf are caught!

Quotes

Crynge: “As legal ruler of City 4, my master is entitled to choose any name he likes. This year it is McIntyre. Last year it was Zxplok the Terrible. Next year it will be something else.”

McIntyre: “What did they say, Crynge? More rudeness, eh? Eh?”

Wulf: “Ach! I hope this spider is not hafing der bite!”

Wulf: “I am not liking this job, Johnny. Vy should ve be helping a computer against people?”
Johnny: “We're sworn to uphold the law, Wulf. And if I remember my history correctly, the city states handed over power to their computers a hundred years ago. Still, I don't like it any more than you do. We'll make our minds up once we've met these Jox and heard their side.”

Tools of the Trade

Infra-Red Torch: On the face of it, a simple idea. Bodyheat leaves a trail behind, if you have the equipment to detect it, and I suppose in a kind of adjustment to the blacklight idea (not sure if that was in use back in the late seventies) the torch picks out the heat traces and shows the footprints to the bounty hunter.

Letter of the Law

Although Johnny, and certainly Wulf, balk at the idea of taking orders from a hunk of metal (especially one that seems to have something of a personality problem) they must, as Johnny points out, uphold the law, and as the city states of Circes handed power to the computers over a century ago (and moreover, since there are virtually no other humanoids left alive now) the two are both duty bound and legally obliged to carry out the instructions of the computer McIntyre.

It's interesting though that Alpha retains a secret caveat on the bounty: he intends to see what the idea is behind the apprehending of the Jox, and if he's not happy that they've actually broken the law, he may change his allegiance. This would of course mean losing his commission (to say nothing of breaking the planetary law, and possibly incurring a reprimand from his own control, though there's no confirmation that this bounty is carried out under the aegis of the S/D Agency. It could be a “foreigner”, off the books, a personal thing done without the knowledge of their employers) but as we've seen, it's not always about money with this bounty hunter.

Return of the Nitpicker!

Yes, I could go on every episode about the times when Wulf uses a “w” sound when it should be a “v” to tie in with his Nordic heritage, like when he says “Someone” when it should really be “somevun”, but that would be tiring, for you as well as for me. So for now just be aware that Wagner (or maybe the letterer) tended to make a few slips in the big Viking's pronounciation. I'm more intrigued with how this huge computer heard of, and got in touch with, Alpha and Wulf? I won't call it a “problem” yet, as it may be explained later, but for now it's a loose end, and you know I hate loose ends...

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Which could easily have been the world of today! Neutron bombs were all the rage back in the seventies and eighties: weapons that would kill people but leave buildings standing. Surely the ultimate weapon for any army, particularly one that wished to take a town, city or country without destroying its infrastructure? Thankfully though, they never saw service and we stuck to good old Cruise missiles and the like! On the planet Circes though, it seems they did not learn that lesson, and now the computers, unaffected by the bombs, are the ones in charge of the dead cities on the dead planet.

Laughing in the face of death

It's pretty clever and quite hilarious that the servile robot that issues the proclamations of McIntyre is called Crynge. Also, the link between a trusted chancellor and an old, doddery king is well drawn here. As is ever the case, the real power lies with the servant. McIntyre, though ruler of the city, cannot even hear properly, and needs Crynge to tell him what's going on. Without the little robot, it's doubtful he would be able to do anything.

It's amusing too to hear Wulf referred to as “the fat one” by Crynge. Wulf is a big Viking, but I doubt anyone has dared comment on his weight! Well, not and lived to tell the tale, anyway!

Houston, we have a problem!

Perhaps not a problem, per se, but Wulf's despairing shout “Ve're dead, Johnny! Dead!” just because they've been outsmarted seems a little defeatist. Surely they've been in worse spots than this? I get that it's there to add drama and suspense to the final panel of the first part of the story, but still, what's he going to do next? Cry for his mother? It's a little out of character, I feel.

Also, how on Earth (or Circes, to be precise) did Alpha and Wulf find the Jox so easily, when they're supposed to be in hiding? There's no long search, no clues followed; it's like they walk out of the palace doors and right into the fugitive aliens!

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“Planet of the Dead, Part II”

First print date: July 8 1978
Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 9
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 3

Natrually, as expected, and contrary to Wulf's despairing assessment of the situation at the end of part one, they are not dead; Johnny and his partner easily get the drop on the Jox, ordering them to surrender before they are killed. Amazed that the two are human, and not robots sent to track them down and kill them, the Jox cease hostilities. Convinced that the bounty hunters may be amenable to their plight, they agree to take them to their underground base, where they were all working, they tell them, when the Neutron bombs fell, and were thus protected from the effects, being so far beneath the planet.

Taken to their leaders (sorry), Johnny and Wulf are filled in on the history of the rise to power of the computer known as McIntyre. It is true, they tell the bounty hunters, that the city handed over power to the machine, thinking it would be able to make better decisions and rule more wisely than humans. But power corrupts, even a computer, and the thing went mad with power. When the city assembled the required number of delegates needed to strip the computer of its authority and return power to them, the machine went mad and set off the bombs that began the war and destroyed all but twenty of the Jox, these twenty. However, one of their women is pregnant, and when the child is born that will make, technically, twenty-seven of them: enough to approach McIntyre and take power from him legally.

However now the full extent of McIntyre's duplicity and treachery is revealed. He had no intention of allowing the Jox to come to him and swear allegiance; he knew they would not. All he wanted was to find their base, so that he could wipe them out. Now, the tiny robot Croll turns out to be a miniature Neutron Bomb, and arms itself. The Jox, believing themselves betrayed, run for their lives before Johnny can set off a time bomb and save them, so it is up to him to defuse the bomb. Using his alpha ray eyes, he looks inside the tiny robot to see how the bomb is constructed. As the sixty-second countdown runs, Wulf realises Johnny is not going to make it and pulls him into the protection of a time bomb just before the robot explodes. Aghast and furious, both that he has been used, and that the Jox are now all dead, Johnny swears revenge against McIntyre.

Quotes

Johnny: “I aint' keen on killing but you Jox creeps have got my blood up! Drop those monkey sticks, or die!”
Jox fighter: “Blood? Then you're not robots? McIntyre didn't send you here to kill us?”

Jox Elder one: “As you know, over a hundred years ago, City 4 handed over all power to our computer. We thought such a brain would be able to govern better than we mere mortals. How wrong we were!”
Jox Elder two: “Power twisted McIntyre. As the years passed,his decisions grew crazier and crueller. At last, a delegation of twenty-seven senior citizens was organised. This was the number required by law to take away the computer's power.”
Jox Elder three: “But McIntyre had grown to love power too much. Before the delegation could serve their order, the computer gave the command that began the war that destroyed everything: everything except McIntyre and his robots!”

Wulf: “Ve could haf saved them with a time device. They run, but you can't run far enough from a neutron bomb!”

Johnny: “The last of a whole race! And I helped destroy them! That machine played me for a real sucker!”

Tools of the Trade

Anti-Grav Chutes: Anti-gravity devices have long become part of the stuff of science-fiction, and though we still haven't the technology yet to make this a reality, astronauts today use magnetic boots to allow them to stay achored to the side of a shuttle or the space station as they carry out essential work in space. Here, Johnny and Wulf have been issued with anti-grav chutes which allow them to create their own field which counteracts gravity and essentially allows them to fly, or at least float, to the ground. Very helpful for those moments when, having used a time bomb, you find yourself floating above the city!

Show no mercy?

Despite the fact that they are surrounded by people who mean to kill them, Johnny instructs Wulf to set his blaster to stun. He's not prepared to kill these people right away, at least not before he unearths the true story behind their being hunted by McIntyre. He shoots one and offers the others the chance to surrender, which they wisely take.

Return of the Nitpicker!

I can't be sure, but I think Wagner has got a little mixed up here, as this is the first (I can't say only) time Johnny refers to anyone as a “creep”. That's Dredd's line, and I think he's confusing the stories as he writes. Or maybe he wants to bring a little of Dredd's hardline no-nonsense attitude into the story. Either way, it's a little incongruous.

I also find the speech a little stilted. Johnny uses no contractions when he meet the leader of the Jox, saying “You are” rather than “You're” and “Let us” when he would normally say “Let's”. Odd, particularly when on other occasions he uses more colloquialisms, such as “I ain't keen on killing”, and referring to himself as a “sucker”.

Famous Firsts

This is the first time we hear Wulf refer to the massive hammer he carries as his weapon of choice (probably a carryover from his ancient Viking ancestors, even a reference back to the Norse god of thunder, Thor ) as his “happy stick”. This is something he will refer to again and again throughout the series.

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