By Luke Williams
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.
Everything Comes Back To 2000AD 