The Law In Order: Bob & Carol & Ted & Ringo

Orlok went to a circus as a kid and fucking hated it. It was nothing to do with the clowns or the mooks swinging around the high wire by their teeth, it was simply that this was his first experience with proper undomesticated animals and there they were being made to perform tricks for the baying unwashed. This has led him to a simple fact of life: if you advocate any sort of animal cruelty, you’re an utter cunt. Unless that animal is tearing the face off James Corden, in which case; as you were… 

DATELINE:
December 2105 (Progs 346-349).

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?:
John Wagner and Alan Grant gives us the angst of yoof while Ian Gibson goes apeshit on the scale.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT (IN ONE SENTENCE)?:
Dinosaurs run amok thanks to a droid with a conscience.

WHO’S THAT IN THE HELMET?:
Judges Jones and Brown are on hand when Irrawaddy Skinner is sentenced to 17 years.

IT’S CULTURAL, INNIT?:
David Baloney is clearly modelled on enthusiastic TV naturist David Bellamy, right down to the speech impediment.

ANY LAW LORE?:
Mutie Pens are used to hold incursive mutants at the West Wall.
Naughty robots are dismantled.

WHAT THE DROKK?:
When Bob collapses and dies his pose is totally impossible when compared to the angle and position of the other dinosaurs.
Granville disobeys the orders of a human to help the dinosaurs, clearly circumventing his programming.
After his leg is crushed, where does Granville get his crutch from?

WHAT’S THE ART LIKE?:
Smith’s dinosaurs are not great but they do have a slightly anthropomorphic feel to identify with them even more. It’s hard to pin down exactly what it is, but he nails this story and it’s clear from this why he is a favourite to so many fans. The scale seems a little off at times but apart from that it’s great.

HOW MANY LINKS?:
There is a wonderful sense of irony that a robot is the only thing that cares about the plight of the dinosaurs and is willing to destroy itself to free them. By the end, Dredd agrees that they should not have been locked up and yet voiced none of this concern when they were being paraded in the city. He’s an inconsistent cunt at times. Luckily the story passes on the message without being too heavy handed and there is some delicious dark humour as Baloney is eaten and his crew state it will be a ratings topper. Dredd is also uncharacteristically charitable in letting the dinosaurs leave at the end. He could easily have been an utter bastard. Four links.