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

Dan Abnett is the new Wagner and Grant : Discuss

By Luke Williams

As a writing team and working solely, John Wagner & Alan Grant were incredibly prolific in the 80s, supplying “new” Eagle and 2000AD with a significant amount of material for long stretches at a time while maintaining a high quality.

 In as much as Wagner and Grant fulfilled the function of being the “core” of 2000AD for a chunk of the eighties, Dan Abnett has fulfilled that role for the past 20 years. This is about praise, where praise is (over) due, on the Abnett droids House of Tharg output and the impact he has had on the Prog’.

Following many other Marvel UKers such as Alan McKenzie, John Tomlinson and Lee Sullivan over to the Galaxy’s Greatest during the early nineties creative vacuum, Dan Abnett has made a huge contribution to the Prog’, most notably  during the “Second Golden Age”  with a range of strips with trademark witty dialogue, strong characters and dark humour. This article is not meant to be a complete and detailed overview of Mr. Abnett’s output. That would be difficult. Abnett is a writing machine, and there is no way yours truly has the time to cover everything he has written. All the while he is working on the Prog’ he was still beavering away on his DC and Marvel work such as Resurrection Man, Titans, Aquaman etc, plus innumerable books set in the Warhammer universe and his off- beat independent work such as the Lords of Misrule and Wild’s End.

This is a brief overview of his work on the Galaxy’s Greatest, occasionally veering into hagiography. So, in no particular order:

His first big hit in the Prog’ was Sinister Dexter debuting in the 1995 2000AD Sci Fi Special. For better or for worse, has been a regular feature in the ever since. For the first few years of its run it was an almost omnipresent presence as much as Strontium Dog was in the 1980s. It’s the tale of two “gun sharks”, hit men with a skewed moral code in the future European city of Downlode. Heavily indebted to Pulp Fiction, the strips back to basics approach of snappy dialogue, catchphrases, clever wordplay and extreme violence often in short bursts of single episode or 2-4 episode strips, made it a hit. Since then it has developed into a sprawling science fiction epic, with forks in the road like Downlode Tales, reboots  and as many false endings as the Lords of the Rings : The Return of the King.

One of the few Abnett strips that failed to gain traction was Sancho Panzer a future war strip starring the titular mercenary roaming the planet if Vainglory Five in a huge sentient tank called Mojo, drawn by art god Henry Flint. Developed as an ongoing strip, only one series was published and mysteriously hasn’t been collected. It seems a no brainer for at least a floppy with the Meg’.

Aside from his artistic partners, Abnett has worked with a slew of co writers on other projects within the Prog’. Notably, Abnett teamed with Steve White on “Rogue Troopers” attempting to merge and make sense of the disparate Rogue Trooper continuities of Friday / original RT (also covered here) alongside their respective supporting casts. Making sense of that little lot was no mean feat, whether he, White and his artist compadres (including Edmund Perryman and Steve Tappin) succeeded is debatable, being kind, perhaps the best thing to say is that they made the best of a bad job. Abnett also wrote a short series of the Rogue Trooper spin off Venus Bluegenes.

Also with co writer White, but this time with Gary Erskine the same team from Dark Horse’s  fighter jet  thriller Hypersonic on art Abnett wrote the perfectly  respectable, possibly almost forgotten  / ret conned out of existence,  Pat Mills baiting Flesh : Chronocide which saw the return of Trans Time Employee Earl Regan to the Prog’ in the 1990s.

The White / Abnett team also created the short lived Black Light with John M Burns. A cross between the BBC series “Spooks” and the “X Files”, riffing on the fad for conspiracy theories and black ops just as they were becoming the plot device du jour.  Black Light were a team charged by the US President to track down and eliminate rogue government agencies.  It lasted three series. Fun while it lasted.

With a couple of short lived series behind him, Abnett was given Durham Red to bring back from banality. Eschewing her bounty hunter background, he and artist partner Mark, thrust her into the far future in a hard sci fi reboot. Abnett & Harrison cast her as a mutant messiah caught in an apocalyptic war between the mutant and human races. After completion of the series, he returned to the character in the alternate universe “Scarlet Apocrypha”, setting the characters in some unfamiliar settings and a team of stellar artists, such as Carlos Ezquerra, John Burns and Enric Romero.

Perhaps his most prolific partnership is with Richard Elson. The first Abnett / Elson teaming was the sentient killer car short story Roadkill. The duo followed that with the epic sci fi “last human in a galactic conflict” story, the 3 book Atavar. They followed that with the incredibly popular Kingdom, another hard sci fi post apocalyptic series; a mash up of “Mad Max” / “Island of Dr Moreau and Starship Troopers  mash up. 

Genetically modified dogs defend a hibernating humanity from an alien insectoid race. The series has the hallmarks of Abnett:  clever wordplay, humour and action with a hard sci fi edge. Gene the Hackman is one of a breed monosyllabic human dog / hybrids created to protect a hibernating humanity from the invasion of “them” a race of insectoid aliens, now overrunning the Earth. With Kingdom currently on hiatus, Abnett and Elson have moved onto the fantasy stylings of Feral and Foe. The story of a wizard and mercenary who had a fought a war on the wrong side side and were now paying the price, taking the crummiest jobs to appease whatever warlord they’ve upset most recently.

Wardog, a short lived licensed strip in the Meg’, notable for some early work by the underappreciated Patrick Goddard, inked by Dylan Teague and coloured by soon to be regular contributor Richard Elson. An action series  tie-in to never released game from 2000ADs owners Rebellion, starring a soldier whose mind has been wiped and had a bomb in his head which gives him a short period of time to complete missions.

Partnering with Henry Flint again, he revived the much loved Gerry Finley Day creations The V.Cs. One of the Prog’s earliest future war strips, it’s a tale of small groups of Starship Troopers patrolling the solar system in search of the aggressive and murderous “Geeks” and alien race intent on the extermination of the human race. Reviving the series, Abnett and Flint, later replaced by Anthony Williams, create an almost completely new cast but maintain continuity by carrying over original VC Steve Smith. Its told as one long story but broken up into shorter stand alone episodes that Abnett would use again in Grey Area, which doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary, but consider that most series in 2000AD are now written as 10-12 parts to collect. The series is surprisingly affecting, more sophisticated, with a harder edge than the, original reflecting the older readership.

Initially, Abnett wasn’t a regular visitor to the Dreddverse. This changed with “The Black Atlantic” a strip set in the toxic waters between Brit Cit and the Big Meg and starring a bunch of Mutant pirates. In this short lived series Steve Roberts had great fun designing the various mutations.However, it was Abnett’s next Dreddverse project, this time partnering with Colin MacNeil that really hit the spot. “Insurrection”, was the beautifully drawn and compelling third and by far the most successful attempt at a space judges story. With no assistance from Mega City One, a coalition of uplifts (genetically enhanced apes) self determining robots the Judges of colony word of K Alpha 61have stopped and invasion by the Zhind an aggressive alien race. Declaring independence from the Big Meg, the various factions of the planet reunite to resist an attempt to re-impose authority by MC1 Justice Department.

On completion of “Insurrection” Abnett and Phil Winslade took a supporting character from the series and created arguably the most successful of the Dreddverse westerns . A mysterious Judge arrives on the colony world of Bedrock to take over as Marshall, but all is not what it seems. Whip smart dialogue, beautiful art and an extended storyline and a strong supporting cast has led this to become a favourite of Meg’ readers, even spawning a “Lawless” musical.

In Brink Abnett and artist Ian Culbard bring a slow burn, downbeat, unsettling strip light years away from Sinister Dexter’s goofy violence. Bridget Kurtis is a police officer working one of the many space stations that carry the flotsam and jetsam of humanity, refugees from the Earth’s environmental collapse, but the colonies   An unexpected hit for the Prog’,  Brink is a distinct change of pace from his other work. A hard sci fi detective gothic body horror mystery in space, tinged with gothic body horror.

Grey Area, the intergalactic equivalent of UK Border Force, but for all of  Earthco created by Karl Richardson has developed from a series of short episodic strips to a sprawling long term police procedural building to a sprawling soap opera style anti racist rant for the as this. The titular Grey Areas the first point of entry and holding zone for extra terrestrial migrants to Earth, policed by the E.T.C – Exo Transfer Control Squads. Like many strips in 2000AD it has strong anti racist themes and preaches tolerance, without being too on the nose, it has seen a series of artists a series of artists, including Mark Harrison, Patrick Goddard and Lee Carter.

On its debut The Out, was suspected as a spin off or thematic sequel to The Ballad Of Halo Jones. Book one was a deep space road movie. Our heroine, journalist Cyd, travelling through the “Out” : deep space, like an intergalactic hobo, recording what she sees and reporting back to an unresponsive office on distant Earth.  After a series of one offs and character building book 2  sets up the long game, seeding plot points and developing a larger overarching narrative.

Where many 2000AD strips run to 10 -12 episodes for subsequent collection, The Out, Grey Area and The V.C.s  are made up of shorter arcs that can read well separately, but fit into the larger narrative, ideal for new readers who are soon drawn into the ongoing storyline without feeling completely lost.Abnett is at home on the slow burn moody pieces as well as the high concept action fests orientated.

He really brings his “A” game to the Prog. He has quietly become an invaluable asset to the Prog’, and with a string of hit series to his name, he’s the spine. By dint of output and quality, for the Prog’ he is the 21^st century Wagner and Grant.

Where can you get some of this stuff :

Check out the webshop for trade paperback collections and digital editions, but also

Black Light in Meg’ floppies 336 & 337, alongside Roadkill

Brink is being collected in s series of trades, but a significant chunk of it in 2000AD Ultimate collection 107& 108

Durham Red : 3 trades (mainly out of print) , plus 2000AD Ultimate collection 59, but no sign of teh “Scarlet Apocrypha” sadly.

Surprisingly Flesh :  Chronocide was reprinted, in Meg’ floppy 312

Grey Area has been collected in a series of trade paperbacks & 2000AD Ultimate Collection 109 & 110

Insurrection in Judge Dredd Mega Collection 54 and two trade collections

Kingdom trades and 2000AD Ultimate Collection 60 & 61

Some of Lawless can be found in Judge Dredd Mega Collection 90 but there also a series of trades.

The OutBook One has been collected in a trade. Book Two has just finished in the Prog, so that will follow

Sinister Dexter. Seemingly endless, it’s been reprinted in a series of trades, 2000 AD Ultimate Collection 67, 68, 69, 137and Meg’ floppies 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, plus spin off Downlode Tales  in floppies 330, 334, 335

The VCs was reprinted in 2000AD Ultimate Collection 105 & 106

Venus Bluegenes can be found in meg floppy 318

Wardog was released as a trade, but is out of print. However, it’s a free download on the website.

Black Atlantic, Sancho Panzer & Atavar, haven’t been reprinted. Strange, considering some of the other stuff reprinted in the floppies. Feral & Foe is also missing a collection, but it’s a recent strip and perhaps too new to reprint in the Meg’ floppy.

America : Lost & Found

In lockdown, Luke though he’d read more. But what he’s done is bought more to read, leaving him with a teetering, potentially cat flattening tower of books and comics next to the bed. In amongst that, he’s drawn out this new(er) edition of the Dredd classic.

2000AD Prog 2100

Time for another jumping on Prog .There hasn’t been a lot to love in 2000AD lately, but there is a lot of promise in 2100…..

Strontium Dog : A Potted History : Part 3 of 5 . Alpha sees Red / Rock & A Hard Place / Ch’ ch’ ch’ ch’ changes / Sibling Rivalry / End Of The Road

Johnny is still in a bit of a dark place, but Durham Red comes along and provides a bit of light (and sauce). But that doesn’t last very long, and soon Johnny’s life becomes even more turbulent. Not to mention terminal. Coupled with creator changes, both visible and behind the scene the series comes unstuck.