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” :
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).
Everything Comes Back To 2000AD 