Devlin Waugh : A Potted History. Part 3 : All Change

By Luke Williams

Click for Part 1 and Part 2

So, where were we?

Midway through Colin MacNeil’s run, that’s where.

“Vile Bodies” (Meg 227) is a wonderful one off that expands Devlin’s corner of the Dreddverse.  It introduces the skeletal horse headed east end copper,  Detective Inspector Strange of the Endangered Species Squad, later to spin out into his own (sadly one off) series.  The ESS is a division of Brit Cit Justice Department that works to conserve every creature that you thought didn’t exist, faeries, gorgons etcetera. Devlin is a carrier of a psychic VD and urgently needs to be quarantined before he begins to attract every rampant, and consequently horny, living thing from miles around. Devlin’s arrival at HQ sets off an orgy of debauchery, Judges, mythical creatures and all and stretching the boundaries of what the Meg would publish with its not too subtle (though hilarious) sex sequences.

After a short break the next Devlin extended series “All Hell” 231- 235 &237. It’s a follow up to “Sirius Rising”, picking up some of the plot threads from the Steve Yeowell epic. Devlin is missing the Eye of Sekhmet – now in the hands of the Catechist, one of his temporary allies in “Sirius Rising”. The Catchecist  and two allies are travelling to Hell release the worst Hell has to offer on the material world.  It maybe short, but”All Hell” has a lot going on, a large and fully fleshed supporting cast, and a return to that John Smith “otherness” and as an added bonus carnivorous mammal headed ninjas . Think of it as an abridged “Dante’s Inferno” with an extra dose sharp tongued wit from our star.

It’s also sadly the swansong for Colin MacNeil. MacNeil was a great fit for the series,  bringing beautiful, sumptuous and wonderfully atmospheric work to the strip, perfectly suited to the subject matter.

“Innocence and Experience” (Meg 253 -256), is Devlin’s origin story. Devlin is staying  with this mother as she is dictating her memoirs to a journalist. Cue lots of flashbacks to Devlin’s childhood, his time in boarding school, his formative years dabbling in the occult, and expands on the mystery of what exactly has happened to his brother, Freddy and the nature of their relationship.  Peter Doherty comes on board as artist, a creator whose work we sadly don’t see enough of in the Prog or Meg these days. Doherty has a very different style to MacNeil; the characters look more worn and craggy, like they have lived a bit more. The linework isn’t as sleek, but is as atmospheric and accomplished as MacNeil’s, a worthy replacement.

“Innocence & Experience” was to act as a prologue to John Smith’s next phase of Devlin’s story, sadly never to be realised by Smith. It has been reported that John Smith had been going through some personal difficulties which had curtailed his work.

Whatever the reason, in the introduction to volume 125 of “2000AD The Ultimate Collection”, Tharg / Matt Smith states that  10 years had passed  since the end of “Innocence and Experience”. As no further scripts from John Smith had been received, Tharg made the decision to pass the popular character to another writer.

Though largely company owned, characters in the 2000AD stable and strongly associated with a specific writer and or artist and created by them were usually allowed to drift into limbo if their stories had not ended definitively (the car crash that was Mark Millar’s Robo Hunter is as good example of when it goes wrong and Rogue Trooper should have ended with the Traitor General) or, if they were resurrected at least one half of the original creative team was involved (I’m looking at you D.R. & Quinch, and Johnny Alpha). Although Dreddverse, Devlin Waugh, like another resurrected strip Indigo Prime and associated strips has John Smith all over it.  Smith’s sensibilities are what gives the strips its character, the inventiveness, the perverseness and weirdness that Smith brings; that sense of playfulness and disquiet.

Having said that, it was work for hire and the company do own the characters and can do what they like with them. Devlin is popular and it easy to understand the reasoning behind continuing the strip with a new writer(which is why Dredd  will only end if he stops making money) , but I can’t see Tharg trying that ABC Warriors or Slaine.

So; Tharg commissions writer Rory McConville to finish off the “Freddy” saga. A good writer, McConville’s time in the Prog was relatively brief credits including Cursed Earth Koburn.

Taking “Innocence & Experience” as a spring board, McConville and new artist Mike Dowling create “Blood Debt” (Meg 388-393); aka what happened to Freddy Waugh. Before he disappeared, Freddy ran up huge debts in an interdimensional gambling den “The Chasm of Perpetual Delight & Endless Sorrow”, the casino comes calling Freddy’s closest relative to settle up :  Devlin.

On the upside Devlin now has a lead as to the location of his brother. With Vatican sidekicks in tow, Devlin heads off to rescue his brother. The dialogue is very Devlin, but the strip lacks that weirdness and intensity of John Smith. Long being trailed, the stormy relationship between the brothers isn’t really addressed and Freddy heads off into the sunset and this feels like it just tying off old plot threads for a new direction. On the whole it’s not a bad story, but it has the weird edges sanded down. It’s still Devlin as a character, but plot wise,  Devlin lite. Dowling is an inspired choice and has a similar approach to Doherty, colouring in the flat European style, dynamic camera work, strong easily recognisable characters, Dowling would stay with the character for a few years.

McConville and Dowling created the follow up, “Kiss of Death” (Meg 397-399) making good on the desire to make Devlin a more regular feature in the Meg.  “Kiss of Death”  is a 3 parter about one of Devlin’s dates, starting at an art gallery with a disinterested beau proceeding through a global plague and ending with a resurrection. Having cleared the decks McConville has fun here, with a better handle on Devlin and plot wise more bizarre than the previous strip, Dowling is consistently outstanding.

However, McConville was just keeping the seat warm and soon it was all change on the writer front again.

Where to find it

There are various collections of this available on the 2000AD website, including “Red Tide”which collects the end of Smith’s run and “Blood Debt” encompasing McConville’s strips. but also look up The “Judge Dredd Mega Collection” volumes 15 and 16 and “2000AD The Ultimate Collection” 125.

Devlin Waugh – A Potted History Part 2 : Fangs For The Memories

By Luke Williams

After fannying about on and off with Dredd for a few years (see part 1), Devlin really gets going again with a move to the Prog and a 6 month mega epic : “Chasing Herod / Reign of Frogs / Sirius Rising” storyline (Progs 1149-1173 :  1999), considering the whole fin de siecle atmosphere of the strip published appropriately in the build up to the millennium.

Joining John Smith on this run is Steve Yeowell. Yeowell remains for the entire run  : lauded by then Tharg, Bish-Op for high quality art, consistent , reliable and professional  (Thrillpower Overload : David Bishop).  Yeowell is great with facial expressions and action sequences and his fluid linework is aided by D’Israeli’s colours, making for clear and wonderful storytelling – just as well because here we return to John Smith madness.

“Swimming in Blood” was quite conventional for John Smith, not particularly complex  & reasonably brief; an “Aliens” esque action splatter thriller without his usual esoteric flights and obscure references “Chasing Herod” on the other hand ran for 6 months and was far more typical of John Smith’s usual output. The extended run and weekly release via the Prog also meant that the Smith Droid’s general bizarreness were easier to follow than had they been published in the Meg’ on a monthly frequency.

Devlin is an even bigger celebrity than he was before, but it’s the end of the world again so his personal life is put on hold. Someone has released the Herod, an unstoppable stone supernatural monster, targeting people across the world for sacrifice as an invitation to our alien creators to return and bring about a huge evolutionary leap forward for mankind, but not without a quite considerable bodycount.

Devlin is horrified that the Herod has been released. But he has allies this time around. A conglomerate of his enemies, “The Brotherhood of Shadows” put aside their differences with him and they join forces to save the world.

The extended run, and it’ weekly instalments also meant hat Smith could actually spend some time fleshing out his world and supporting cast. Far from being uber confident and cavalier, this sequence show at Devlin knows fear. Smith and Yeowell also begin to introduce supporting characters, such as his , Mum, Eddie Whyteman – hardboiled narrator, Ralph Beerbohm and Pussyfoot 5 (later to spin off into their own series),  and others, a bizarre cast of characters convincingly realised by Yeowell.

There are nods to JDs world here, but this feels very much like the “Smithverse” of “Indigo Prime” and “Tyranny Rex” ; you can imagine Sceneshifters  from Indigo Prime waiting in the wings to tidy up  the post apocalyptic devastation.   With its themes of aliens races and references to creation myths, it shares a lot of themes with “Finn” :

Finn – A Potted History. Part 1 of 2

It’s dense, but its pace doesn’t let up. Occasionally, when Smith is in full mad flow, it’s important that the art doesn’t complicate an already complicated story, Steve Yeowell’s elegant art has a flow and clarity that lends itself well to a story pace that painted art often hinders. Read episodically this storyline may be problematic to follow for the casual reader, its better read as a collected edition. And it’s great.

Skipping back to the Meg’, just over 2 years later Devlin returns in “Red Tide” (Judge Dredd Megazine 201-213 :2003).

 “Red Tide” is set in Florida and explores the fallout from the release of vampires to the Caribbean in Devlin’s debut. Devlin and  Professor Helsing are escorting a vampire daywalker to vivisection through Fangland – a vampire safari park, not realising that the scent is driving the now native vampires wild . And basically that’s it; editorial must have ordered more blood and action for this outing. So Smith and new artist Colin MacNeil deliver a remixed and extended “Swimming in Blood”.

Dialling down the mysticism and conspiracy theory, and ramping up the fang toothed bloodletting, with  sequences that are redolent of early episodes of “Flesh” as lots of innocents are thrown into the vampire meat grinder. This is a return to a far more confident Devlin delivering quip and one liners with aplomb. Overall its a more linear, action orientated strip than “Chasing Herod”, but as thrilling, beautifully drawn by a Colin MacNeil, wading in gore, fantastic use of colour.

Jumping forward a year to 2004 and Megs 224-225, Devlin guest stars in “Judge Dredd : Bite Fight”. Dredd and Wally Squad , the undercover unit of Justice Department  are investigating illegal bite fights  in MC1, not expecting that Devlin Waugh could also be involved but not necessarily with his consent. Devlin doesn’t appear that much, mainly a cameo in episode 1 with more to see in episode 2, he’s well used and the differences between the characters of Waugh and Dredd is always fun to watch, particularly drawn by the masterful John Burns.

Next up; more Smith and MacNeil, Devlin’s “origin”, a long lay off and significant creative changes.

Where to find it:

As per part 1, publication and collection is a little odd. Hachette have collected a few of these more for convenience rather than chronologically in Judge Dredd Mega Collection volumes 14 & 15. There are also collections of “Swimming in Blood” which also contain “Chasing Herod etc.” “Red Tide” is also collected by Rebellion with later stories (covered next episode).

Part 3 here

Devlin Waugh : A Potted History. Part 1 : Debut

By Luke Williams

John Smith has been known to be a little “esoteric”. Occasionally, his writing can be difficult, particularly his earlier works but it’s always inventive. Full disclosure, I’m a bit of a fan and there are other articles on this blog covering some of his other work : Vertigo’s Scarab, “Firekind” and a very brief overview of his career in the Prog’.  Of the second generation of 2000AD script droids, Smith is probably the most overlooked.

So when Smith  co created a new strip for Judge Dredd Megazine with regular collaborator Sean Phillips it wouldn’t be unreasonable to  expect it to be just as difficult as his previous almost wilfully impenetrable work. However, “Devlin Waugh” is the start of Smith’s more accessible period.Devlin Waugh is a freelance exorcist for the Vatican, a papal envoy – a freelance exorcist investigating the supernatural corners of the Dreddverse. Described as having the head of Terry Thomas (famous British actor of the 50s and 60s) on the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Devlin is playful, camp and incredibly vain with a sharp tongue. Devlin was a welcome relief from the other Meg’ strips that were in some shape or form a foreign variation on Dredd, editorial clearly agreed that not everyone has to be jackbooted proto fascist wearing an armoured rendition of a national costume.

In the opening story “Swimming in Blood” (Judge Dredd Megazine Volume 2.01-2.09 – 1992, fortnightly) we’re in the familiar John Smith territory of body horror. Phillips and Smith create an “Aliens” esque siege story, the underwater prison off the Bahamas “Aquatraz” suffers from an incursion of vampires and Devlin is sent into to clear them out. Devlin arrives just as all hell breaks loose and tried to escort the staff to safety as they are slowly picked off one by one by the vampires.  Plot wise it’s not any more complicated than that, but it succeeds in the delivery including absolutely beautiful Sean Phillips artwork, clever storytelling techniques, art styles and inventive design. The weirdness is toned done, the gore remains tempered with a witty script, sharp dialogue and great pacing resulting in a wonderful package and an early Judge Dredd Megazine classic. It’s a great set up for the character. There are a few story candidates for the oversized hardback reprint in an “Apex “style – “Swimming in Blood” is high on that that list.

Devlin was a huge hit, there was a quick follow up in the one off ”Brief Encounter” from Meg’ 2.26 “Brief Encounter” features Devlin’s attempting to enter MC1 while Old Stoney Face is on customs duty. Dredd plays the straight man to Waugh, the ascetic versus the hedonist, with typically wonderful Sean Phillips art and Smith’s sharp script who had a great ear for Dredd dialogue.

Sadly, Sean Phillps jumps ship after that, and there is a looooooooooong gap, with text stories “A Love Like Blood” (a popular title for Smith) for the 1993 JD Mega Special and “Body & Soul” for the 1994 Judge Dredd Yearbook illustrated by Phillips.

A much heralded team up with Dredd trailed with a prologue by Ashley Wood in Meg 3.08 (1995 the Meg had reverted to a monthly frequency), gets punted back when Wood drops out and Siku (Ajibayo Akinsiku) takes over with the story proper in “Fetish” (Meg 3.26-3.30 1997).Mysterious killings of MC1 racketeers are investigated by Dredd and Psi Judge Karyn. Karyn bites off more than she can chew and falls foul of the mysterious entity orchestrating the deaths and enters a coma. Justice Department trace the source of the killings to Pan Africa using the fetish of the title. Dredd heads out with Pan African Judge Shaka from Pan Africa. It all starts going a bit south, when Devlin who is exploring Pan Africa and rescues them duo, before teaming up and continuing the mission to save Karyn.This is a Dredd strip that happens to co star Devlin Waugh from around halfway through, it suffers slightly from Siku’s highly stylised art (Dredd has a comedy chin) and, which suffered from poor colour reproduction. Smith’s dialogue continues to sparkle, Devlin’s presence raises the story, but the whole thing is just a bit murky, though Smith again proves he can write Dredd.

After such a strong start with “Swimming in Blood”, the big gaps in appearances meant the character lost some momentum. but returned with a two parter in 2000s Judge Dredd Megazine 3.72 (the numbering an indicator of the seemingly routine relaunches and reformatting of the Meg’ during this period).

Black & white and drawn by Michael Gaydos, later to come to prominence with his partnership with Brian Michael Bendis on the Marvel Max title Alias, “A Mouthful of Dust”  began some fleshing out of Devlin’s back-story and the establishment of a supporting cast of sorts. Devlin’s old friend Jerry Biedekker comes to him for help, he hadn’t been as careful as should with his romantic dalliances, picking  up a nasty and debilitating “infection” after sleeping with something demonic. The only thing that can save him is the waste of life, from a pool in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. This feels a like a filler before an epic, or perhaps a try out for Gaydos on the character who sadly didn’t manage to convey his humour. For whatever reason Devlin was underused and the Meg’ was taking far too long on capitalising on the character.

Both “Fetish” and “A Mouthful of Dust” suffered in comparison with “Swimming In Blood” in the art department.  Things were going to change with the next instalments.

Where to find it:

Publication and collection is a little odd. There are collections of “Swimming in Blood” and “Fetish” but mainly out of print (Mandarin and Hamlyn) but it’s also collected by Rebellion with later stories (notably its sequel – which we’ll get to in part 3 ish).

Try the webshop, but also you can pick up them up in The Judge Dredd Mega Collection volumes 14 and 16 (15 covers later stories)

Part 2 can be found here

Part 3, here

The Art of Carlos Ezquerra

 

 

Review By Luke Williams

Tied in with 45^th anniversary celebrations, so a year late, but only recently read by yours truly, The Art Of Carlos Ezquerra is almost 240 hardback pages of King Carlos.

Where other famed 2000AD artists have had Apex edition of their work either published or planned, to present their classic art, for Carlos Ezquerra, possibly the single most important artists in British comics over the last 50 years, they went a different route (I’d suggest he’s a good subject for an Apex, it’s not as if there isn’t enough material out there).

Arguably this is a far more fitting tribute. Whereas the subjects of the other work considered so far (Mike McMahon, Brian Bolland and soon the late great Kevin O’Neill)’s careers really took off in 2000 AD, Carlos was already well established as an artist in the UK, working on comics such as Victor, IPC stable mates like Battle and Action (for which he drew the inadvertently infamous comic neutering cover) before moving onto 2000 AD. It’s these latter comics, the rights to which are owned by Rebellion / Treasury of British Comics, publishers of this book, which are the focus for this volume.

 What is surprising is the variety of work that Carlos undertook in that lengthy career. Mainly known for his action, war and sci fi work this volume collates examples from each Carlos era; the early romance days, through to the intense war work on Battle, the dense and bizarre sci fiction work of early and “Strontium Dog”, to the looser style that developed during the 2000 AD run of that strip although it does side step the weird dayglo / Chernobyl computer colouring period around “Judge Dredd”. Carlos’ style is the very definition of “gritty” but such was his versatility that he mastered comedy as well, you only need look at “Tharg the Mighty” strips that have been included here  Carlos can do funny and wacky. And he was fast. Very fast. Perhaps the most glaring omission is his masterful and imaginative double page spreads, most notably from “Strontium Dog Journey into Hell”.

Tying it all together is Michael Molcher’s narrative providing an insight to the development of Carlos’ art and career, a fascinating insight into his background and features commentary and quotes from friends, colleagues, family and the great man himself.

As a collection of strips, it is a bit restricted, and collects one offs or perhaps the odd episode from a multi parter. The multi part epics is where is built up a head of steam and from your writer’s perspective the best example would be “Necropolis”. But there are some rare curios included, lots of one off Battle stories and representation from all the major characters he had a hand in Rat Pack, Major Easy, El Mestizo, Strontium Dog, Durham Red and at least a nod to Fiends of the Eastern Front, the most notable exception is his work on Third World War.

In terms of style, there still isn’t anyone like him. Famously, Mike McMahon was tasked with aping his style in the early days of the Prog’, but soon developed a very distinctive style (s) of his own, but he is probably the only one. Despite not having any obvious adopters of his very distinctive style, his influence and impact on British comics is immense.

It’s a fitting tribute to a supremely talented artist, character designer and creator.

Reviews & articles on Carlos’ work:

 

Bob The Galactic Bum 1-4 & Meg’ 266-273

Carlos Ezquerra

Just a Pilgrim & Just a Pilgrim : Garden Of Eden by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra

The Stainless Steel Rat Deluxe Edition

 

Strontium Dog : Search & Destroy

 

Carlos Ezquerra: Long Live The King!

Nemesis The Warlock : The Final Heresies

 

Nemesis the Warlock:  The Final Heresies

Pat Mills, John Hicklenton, David Roach, Kevin O’Neill, Carl Critchlow, Paul Staples, Chris Weston, Clint Langley & Tony Skinner

Review by Luke Williams

So. Here we are, a year or so after release date. The third and final volume of the lovingly bound collections of Nemesis the Warlock. Handsome volumes that they are, these stories have been collected numerous times, so the question is does this add to the collections you may already have?

This final sequence, though stretched out over a period of 10 years or so, begins in a period of transition for the Prog’; the mid 500s – early 600s just before Slaine : The Horned God. We have Zenith and ABC Warriors “The Black Hole” (referenced here) but we also have Rogue Trooper : “The Hit”, significantly, it also saw the launch of Crisis Fleetway (2000 ADs then publishers) first move into “mature” comics, with a significant  contribution from Nemesis co creator Pat Mills on political strip Third World War.

As far as Nemesis is concerned, Bryan Talbot had already left, his startling and talented replacement John Hicklenton had made his bonkers and controversial debut on the strip with “The Two Torquemadas”. If the difference between O’Neill and Talbot was jarring; and the subsequent switch to Hicklenton fried your brain, then the shift from the LSD nightmare that was Hicklenton to the smooth, beautifully rendered and finely detailed art that is David Roach’s debut is instantly sobering.

Considering the subject of “Purity’s Story” Hicklenton could have been a poor fit. Roach’s work is far easier on the senses than the overload that is Hicklenton’s art, and, to be completely politically incorrect, Roach draws beautiful women. It’s Purity’s origin story; detailing from her perspective how she and Nemesis met, and her connection to Torquemada. It’s a breather in what had become a protracted and increasingly personal chase / battle sequence between the two mortal enemies. The inherent contradictions in Nemesis’ character are further explored and some home truths are explained to Purity as Mills and Co set up the series for its denouement.

John Hicklenton is back in the saddle for “Deathbringer”, book 9, where his craziness in the later episodes comes to the fore in character design and the fight sequences, it’s really quite disturbing. Its also here that there is a little bit of cross pollination between Mills’ strips – not directly, but definitely in tone. Mills buy now was writing Third World War in Crisis, the plot – such as it is; is that Nemesis & Purity have trailed the Grandmaster to an alternate 1989. Due to time dilation (or something) Torquemada has been in Britain for many years and now heads up a paramilitary police force and owns a chain of bed and breakfasts. After the inevitable fight, drawn in lovingly gory detail the relationship between Nemesis & Purity is forever changed. One things is for sure, Hicklenton could draw an incredibly grotesque Torquemada.

And then; in the Prog at least; nothing.

Not for years.

However, this volume collects the abortive attempts to build to what was inevitably going to be the climax of the strip. It seemed like either editorial or probably more likely Mills had lost interest, Slaine was riding high following the massive success of “The Horned God”; ABC Warriors with Bisley and SMS had been a hit with Kev Walker fully painting the next storyline (admittedly a few years away), Toxic was a twinkle in his and partners’ eye, and Mills and Kevin O’Neill had found cult success in the US with “Marshal Law”.

First off is the “Shape of Things to come” drawn by Paul “Finn” Staples from Prog 824, 4 years after the “Deathbringer”. “SOTTC” effectively resets the strip back to its roots, eschewing the development by Talbot, Hicklenton and Roach. Three parter series “Hammer of the Warlocks” drawn by a young and lurid Clint Langley, picks up the plot thread from “SOTTC” and… doesn’t do a lot with it.

The highlights from this period, included here as a coda rather than within the main storyline  are “The Tomb of Torquemada” – full colour Kev O’Neill originally published in the short lived series of Poster Progs. “The Bride of the Warlock” drawn by great “should have been” Nemesis artist Chris Weston – which sees Candida recovering from her breakdown and being wooed by the Warlock. It’s a bit silly, but has fantastic visuals by Weston.

On the other hand, possibly the most painful to read would be the single episode “Warlocks & Wizards” and the series “The Enigmass Variations”, both painted by Carl Critchlow, the latter co written by Mills’s then creative partner Tony Skinner. Both strips were hampered by poor printing technology making the art very dark, or as it has been described, like someone painted with mud, which unfairly reflects on Critchlow’s work. But more crucially, the stories are just hammy, painful dialogue and a silly plot.They aren’t part of the storyline proper, but they are probably the character’s nadir and presumably included for completeness.

The strip finally ends in 1999 with Book X, imaginatively titled “The Final Conflict”, drawn for the most part by genius Henry Flint – “the 2000 AD artist’s artist” –perfect for the strip and of all the artists who followed Kevin O’Neill on the strip, probably the one most in spirit with its co-creator. As you’d imagine, this is the final battle, were back in Termight, but this time it’s a three way fight, Purity, Torquemada and Nemesis, before a suitably appropriate fate befalls the mortal enemies, the final episode fittingly drawn by Kevin O’Neill for the first of the bumper end of year progs: Prog 2000, celebrating the new millennium.

Also in this collection is the pseudo sequel Deadlock starring the titular ABC Warrior, again drawn by Henry Flint, but this time chasing a serial killer and being tracked by President Purity Brown, who is finding life as a politician more It means the strip has gone full circle, as Mills & O’Neill had mooted the idea of Deadlock being the character zooming around Termight in the early days.

Finally, Mills and O’Neill returned to Nemesis and Torquemada one more time for Prog’ 2000, the 2000^th issue, which didn’t really add anything to the story, but is fittingly the final strip in this book and of course, sadly, it was the final Nemesis strip O’Neill drew.

And that… is that.

There are some extra bits and bobs in here that may be of interest. There’s a nice collection of covers and pin ups, including work from artists not usually associated with the strip, such as Garry Leach, Liam Sharp, Colin Wilson & Simon Bisley. The introduction from Pat Mills gives nods to his artistic collaborators and how Torquemada as a villain has influenced his other strips.

There’s no doubt that the strip had begun to lose its way from Book 6. Collected, readers new to the strip may not be able to see the effect that extended break had on the strip, or perhaps this long term reader is overplaying it. What is clear is that the one offs and short series between Books 9 & 10 indicate that Mills and editorial didn’t know how to wrap this up, or perhaps had just lost interest.

It’s a handsome, hardback and book ribboned; sitting attractively with the other two on the shelf if such things matter to you.  Better print quality, the reproduction of Carl Critchlow’s pages aside, and a more appropriate size tan the “phone books” volumes that previously collected the strip. Whether these volumes are the best reprints is another argument, if it wasn’t for the fact that the Titan volumes seemingly were designed to fall apart after 2 readings I’d say they were still the best.

Worth buying? Well, yes – if you are a Nemesis fan and have the other two it seems silly not to get the last one doesn’t it? Assuming of course you can get one, Rebellion says they were limited to 350.

It’s a beautiful package, only let down by some of the story content, and occasional poor colour reproduction.

Nemesis The Warlock : A Potted History. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4

Nemeis The Warlock : The Early Heresies The Latter Heresies

ABC Warriors : A Potted History. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Dredd Vs Death : Hiya Toys 1/18 Scale Action Figure Double Pack : Review

    

Review by Luke Williams

So, this is my 5th Judge Dredd figure and 4^th Judge Death. I’ve got the Citadel lead figures from the 80s (badly painted by yours truly), perhaps the most ambitious examples were from 3A  : 2 versions of Joe and one of Death, finally there is one of each from the 90s Re:Action line.

3As figures were prohibitively priced, had some weird choices of subject (Robo Hunter first? Really?) albeit beautifully made, not particularly robust and took forever to arrive. The Re:Action figures are kind of showing their age now, a little dated – technology, materials and detaileding has moved on. My patient Wife has allowed me to display them around the house; posed, they can be found on on shelves, by games consoles and on bookcases in the living room and landing they, where they gather dust and I occasionally look at them affectionately. So obviously I had to buy the Hiya Toys versions.

I’ve had these examples for a few months. As ever with action figures (or dolls as my Wife insists on calling them) they sat sealed in their pack for a few weeks as I deliberated over whether I should break that seal and inspect the contents. Inevitably, I succumbed, and was pleasantly surprised.

Standing around 10cm tall the figures themselves feel robust and well made, they are finely detailed with a  nice wash to make the clothing and accessories suitably weathered. Death is split between spirit and physical form, so only the top half of the figure is articulated. Old Stoney Face however, is articulated at the knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and neck has interchangebale hands, a lawgiver and daystick Personally, I can’t seem to pose them in anything other than going in looking like they are going in for a hug rather than being able to recreate a scene from one of their altercations, but perhaps that will come with practice; or will inspire a new Dredd / Death tale in the Prog’.

I’d already pre-ordered a lot of the rest of the line : Cal, Anderson, Mean Machine, Giant, Hershey Dredd (full colour) all four Dark Judges and most excitingly a Klegg!  : because I have more money than sense. After ordering the first few from a firm whose name begins with the letter Z and ends in Avvi and having a lot of communication apologising for delays, but no figures, despite me seeing them in the wild in Forbidden Planet in Cardiff I switched to another supplier. Time will tell whether I should have just waited and bought from Fleabay.

For £34.95 it’s a nice pack, good quality figures, catching the spirit of both characters well. Cynically, I wonder about them being  “limited to 3000 pieces but whether you are persuaded by advertising puff or not, can’t help yourself and like me have to buy different versions of the same figure you shouldn’t be disappointed with these and they bode well for the rest of the line : should they ever arrive.